Pregame Perspective: Current of dissatisfaction runs deep

Categories: 2017 Football
By Tad Stryker on 11/4/2017

This week’s Pregame Perspective reveals a Nebraska fan base that clearly was looking for something better than a .500 football season.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said they are not satisfied with NU’s 4-4 start.

Late Saturday morning, before the Cornhuskers played Northwestern, I talked to Husker fans along 12th Street, near the Nebraska Union on campus and around Memorial Stadium, seeking 100 answers to this question:

“What is your level of satisfaction with the Huskers’ football season thus far?”

A solid majority (58 percent) said they are “not satisfied” and another 18 percent called themselves “extremely unsatisfied.”

A smaller group (16 percent) called themselves “unsure” about the season so far.  One of them said, “I’m not real strong one way or the other, but I feel terrible for diehard Husker fans.”

Seven percent said they were “satisfied” (a common theme among this group is they believe the Huskers have overachieved so far).

One Husker fan from South Florida said he is “very satisfied” with the Husker season.

“I have excellent pride in where I went to school,” he said. “I’m very satisfied with them no matter what they do.”

Two men identifying themselves as Iowa Hawkeye fans also voted “very satisfied,” but were not included in the results.

Those who were not satisfied had a variety of things to say.

“We’re Husker fans, whether the team is good or bad, but I’m not satisfied,” said one. A group of Husker fans who said they traveled from Chicago for their fourth Husker game this fall said they were generally disappointed with the season.

“I know they’ve had a lot of injuries, but I’m extremely disappointed,” said one.

I labeled the five choices with letters (A for “very satisfied,” B for “satisfied,” C for “unsure”, D for “not satisfied” and F for “extremely unsatisfied.” A former Nebraska school teacher tried to vote “Z” before settling for an “F” grade.

“I left at halftime of the Ohio State game,” the former teacher said. “I’ve never left a game that early.”