Despite Texas' Poor Season, a Nebraska Win Would Mean the World to Husker Nation

As soon as the final second of the 2009 Big 12 Championship ticked off the clock (for the second time) at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, this game has been the big one.

Husker fans circled this date in red as soon as they hung up their schedules to usher in the 2010 Nebraska football season.

This was to be the revenge game of all revenge games, a chance for redemption and the perfect opportunity to defeat a foe which has been a nagging, burnt orange thorn in the side of the Cornhuskers ever since the inception of the Big 12 Conference.

With the conference shake-up drama that unfolded earlier this year, a daily soap opera that culminated with Nebraska's departure to the Big Ten, the importance of this Saturday's titanic clash only grew.

It became the final guaranteed chance for the Huskers to take their best shot at the team that's almost always seemed to have their number, the team that's repeatedly escaped Nebraska's grasp by the slimmest of margins, and the team that has arguably been the preeminent program of the conference they have shared for 15 years (no disrespect intended, Oklahoma fans).

Since then, a fly has landed in the ointment. No one expected Texas to be this bad.

Make no mistake, Texas is still a quality opponent, but after a thumping at home by the UCLA Bruins followed by a loss in the Red River Shootout, Bevo just ain't what he used to be.

With the departure of Colt McCoy, his favorite target, Jordan Shipley, and a host of other talented Texas players from the 2009 squad, college football experts, pundits and fans alike expected the Longhorns to experience a "rebuilding" season in 2010.

What they didn't expect was for Texas to go from the 2010 BCS National Championship game against Alabama to an abrupt expulsion from both major Top 25 polls. No one believed that, after only the fifth game of the 2010 season, the proud Longhorn program would be fighting for respectability in the "others receiving votes" category.

When October 16th finally arrived, and along with it what an entire state hoped would be a bovine bloodbath on the hallowed turf of Memorial Stadium, it was supposed to bring with it a matchup worthy of the long-standing reputations of these two storied programs.

Instead, a thick cut of the glamour has been carved away and a surprisingly good (and hungry) Nebraska team will make their famed tunnel walk only to greet a sickly calf of a team trying desperately not to become the first to lose three straight games in the Mack Brown era.

A game that, at first glance, seemed to have serious BCS ramifications for both sides has lost a bit of its luster.

To many this won't matter.

Despite their painfully apparent mediocrity at 3-2, Texas is still Texas and they're still the program that has frustrated the Huskers at almost every turn.

As if necessary, here's a quick recap:

1996: The "flu-game." UT signal-caller James Brown stunned a weakened Blackshirts squad in the Big 12 title game when, on 4th-and-inches, he rolled out and completed a pass to TE Derek Brown. Priest Holmes struck pay dirt the very next play and ruined Nebraska's hopes of a national championship three-peat.

1998-99: Texas ended the Huskers' 47-game home winning streak in a 20-16 win. The following year, the Longhorns won by four points in Austin, though they were repaid in the conference championship by Nebraska, 22-6.

2002: Despite a record-breaking rushing effort (just recently broken by Taylor Martinez) by then Nebraska QB Jammal Lord, the Longhorns intercepted Lord with nine seconds remaining and took to the chilly, night air, returning home with a three-point victory under their over-sized belt buckles.

2006: As snowflakes swirled upon the battlefield, Nebraska needed just one first down to seal the deal and get the burnt orange monkey off their backs. Wide receiver Terrence Nunn caught the pass to effectively end the game, but a jarring blow by CB Aaron Ross caused Nunn to cough up the ball and Texas rallied to win by two.

2007: The Huskers carried a 17-9 lead into the fourth quarter in Austin, but Jamaal Charles ran roughshod over the Nebraska D in the final 15 minutes. A late TD by Maurice Purify couldn't salvage a Husker win as the Longhorns prevailed by a mere three points.

And finally, 2009, and the infamous "added second."

This writer is not here to discuss the correctness of the call. Impartial historians seem to agree that it was the right decision by the officials. The Huskers' adulation (as well as mine and that of a good showing of Nebraska fans in attendance) turned to shock and disbelief as Texas got a "second" chance and kicked a field goal to win 13-12.

As abrupt as that ending was to the Cornhuskers and their fans, perhaps what was more galling was the supreme confidence that many Longhorn fans had prior to that game. No one gave Nebraska and its ailing offense a chance. On this very website, a cocky Texas student sarcastically urged UT fans to save their money and skip the title game as, in his opinion and that of virtually everyone else not wearing red, Nebraska didn't have a prayer.

However, by the end of that evening and after seeing their Heisman-hopeful quarterback tossed around like a rag doll, every Longhorn fan knew how to correctly pronounce Ndamukong Suh and grudgingly realized that they had dodged a Big Red bullet.

Granted, while Bo Pelini's initial reaction following the game, and his demand to see Big 12 commissioner, Dan Beebe, immediately afterwards, left a sour taste in the mouth of many fans, Nebraska's included, it showed Pelini's willingness to fight for his players. The loss, coupled with their coach's fiery passion, galvanized the team and spurred them on to a 33-0 drubbing of the Arizona Wildcats in the Holiday Bowl.

It also inspired Husker DB Will Richards to provide his teammates with red wristbands with the brief, but certainly not subtle inscription, "00:01/Finish" on them, another display of team unity and a reminder of unfinished business.

And of course there has been the offseason creation of the "Red Out Around the World" website, sanctioned by the university, to bring Husker fans together in hopes of defeating the 'Horns. Initially, the slogan of the site was "Wear Red, Be Loud, Beat Texas." The last two words, to put it mildly, didn't please Coach Pelini and have since been removed, but the message is still clear.

Texas' knack for defeating the Huskers isn't (and hasn't) been the only motivator for the players, the fans and the program. As always, there's a bit of politics involved.

NU's athletic director and legendary former coach, Tom Osborne, has been quite candid about the university's dissatisfaction over several developments within the conference over the years: the decision to move the Big 12's headquarters from Kansas City to Dallas, the loss of Nebraska's annual rivalry game with Oklahoma and the 11-1 vote to move the conference championship game to the supposedly neutral site at the "Death Star" in Arlington, Texas.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess who cast the lone, dissenting vote.

All of this has colored some people's perception concerning Nebraska's move to the Big Ten, but Osborne has stood his ground with his assertion that the university (82-year members of the conference, dating back to when it was it was the Big Six) needed to secure its place in the ever-changing world of college football.

After the Pac-10's courtship of the Big 12's South Division (minus Baylor, plus Colorado) it's hard to blame the Huskers' patriarch for wanting to protect the program's future and avoid the unpleasant fate that Nebraska might have suffered had another conference managed to lure the perceived jewel of the Big 12 and its wealthiest institution, Texas, to greener pastures.

Obviously, that hasn't swayed the hearts and minds of the supporters of Nebraska's North Division neighbors. A bold-lettered banner emblazoned with the single word "TRAITOR" hanging in Bill Snyder Family Stadium was clearly shown during the broadcast of the Huskers' 48-13 dismantling of Kansas State.

All these ingredients have reached a boil like a bubbling pot of Texas chili and all of it has played a part (although by varying degrees) as the clock has wound down to the Huskers' faceoff with the Texas Longhorns tomorrow.

And while it's unfortunate that the game won't have the sizzle that many predicted it would, a Nebraska victory, especially a decisive, brutal one would mean the world to the inhabitants of Husker Nation.

It might not benefit the Huskers as much as it would, could or should have, especially on the eve of the first BCS rankings of the season, but that elusive, tantalizing win would go a long way to closing an ugly chapter in Nebraska football history and beginning a new one in big, bold scarlet letters.

So, if on game day, the Husker fans seem a little less gracious and fail to live up to their long-standing, good-natured reputation, remember that it's been a long time coming.

A well-deserved feast of Texas beef, no matter how prime.