Husker Dan: Two More Nails in the Coffin?

I spent the first 14 years of my life living in a house in a blue collar neighborhood in north Omaha.  And many years later after Mrs. Husker Dan and I started our own family, the City of Omaha let it be known that my little house was soon going to be razed and if any of us wanted to go through it one last time, we’d better do so quickly.

So several of my birth family and my then five year old son, Brian, got to tour the home one last time.  (I had explained to my son that this is where I used to live when I was his age.)

HONEY, I SHRANK THE HOUSE!

First of all, it was hard to believe how small the house seemed to the five of us who lived there.  All the furniture and appliances were gone, all the fixtures (sink, bath etc.) had been ripped out.  And the basement, where my brother and I used to play and my mother used to wash clothes, was filled with about three feet of standing water.

In short, the house was a dump.  And after touring the house for a few minutes, Brian looked up at me and said, “Why would anybody want to live here?”

And of course, he was right.  But he hadn’t been born yet and never got to see the rich oak wood floors, or the beautiful rugs that adorned the living and dining rooms.  Brian never saw the furniture, the big old radio that sat in the family room. He never got to enjoy the aroma of my mom’s freshly baked bread, or the beautiful smell of her dumplings and roast pork dinners.

So why am I telling this story in a column that’s supposed to be about Husker football?  Good question.

Because Brian is like those younger Husker fans who have never seen what a dominating Husker Nebraska football team is like  They can’t remember when Nebraska last won a conference championship (’99) or when Nebraska last played for a NC (’01).  All they’ve seen in their lifetimes is a football program stuck on mediocrity.

ANOTHER NAIL IN THE COFFIN

And Nebraska’s 54-21 blowout loss to a then 4-5 Minnesota Gopher team Saturday afternoon was yet another nail in the coffin of a once proud Nebraska football program.

I feel so sorry for Husker head coaches Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne and all the former Husker players who who have put their pride and sweat equity into developing the Husker program into a national championship level.

There are two more nails (Penn State and Iowa) yet to be hammered into the coffin before things start to get better for Nebraska fans.

FROSTY, THE GO MAN?

It is my sincere hope that Scott Frost is named the new Husker head coach right after the Mike Riley Era comes to a merciful end on November 25th.

Remember, it’s always darkest before the dawn.

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