After an eight-year postseason drought, bowl-bound Nebraska has plenty to be thankful for

Matt Rhule has turned around every college football program he has coached, leading Temple and Baylor to bowl games in his second season. But changing the trajectory of blueblood like Nebraska? That took a bit more work.

“It’s the same arc and trajectory, but this one weighs a little heavier on you because of the history of it,” Rhule told CBS Sports this week.

After eight years, four athletic directors, three head coaches, and enough frustrating close losses to fill a lifetime (a 7-29 in one-score games over the last five seasons), Nebraska finally has reason to celebrate. The Huskers (6-5) ended the nation’s longest bowl drought among Power Five teams with a 44-25 win last week against Wisconsin, but not without some trepidation.

“Everybody felt it was inevitable, but there’s so much PTSD built up over the last seven years, people were beginning to question i — even during the game — until that interception at the very end,” Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen said. “People were used to waiting for bad things to happen.”

In a suite filled with friends and National Guardsmen, comedian, actor and lifelong Nebraska fan Dan “Larry the Cable Guy” Whitney watched as fans stormed the field — something he couldn’t have imagined happening in the 1990s, when Tom Osborne was winning conference and national titles.

“It was the coolest thing,” said Whitney, perhaps the most famous Nebraska fan on the planet. “It was almost like we won the national championship. I know that’s sad, especially for people like me in my age group that started at probably four or five years old. … My first 42 years of Nebraska, we won nine, 10, 12 games a year and went to a New Year’s bowl game almost every year. It was expected. I mean, you lost two games (and)…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/after-an-eight-year-postseason-drought-bowl-bound-nebraska-has-plenty-to-be-thankful-for/

Author : Brandon Marcello

Publish date : 2024-11-28 14:16:00

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