Looking Back Over 4 Seasons in the Student Section

Today is Senior Day for the 2016 seniors. It’s also kind of a senior day for me as well as it will be my last Nebraska home game as a student. So today I’ve decided to look back over some of the best and worst games in the student section.

Fun fact: Nebraska has gone 0-3 on Senior Day during my time as a student.

8/31/2013: Nebraska 37 Wyoming 34

This was my first game in the student section. It was a rough introduction to the student section as I watched in horror as Nebraska nearly squandered a 21-point lead. After the game, I told my roommate Tommy that I didn’t drink, but that I might start if I had to watch any more games like that.

9/14/2013: Nebraska 21 UCLA 41

This was the first time Memorial Stadium ever attempted a blackout. For one day the Sea of Red was meant to be the Black Sea. Well as it turned out only about 30% of the stadium wore black and it ended up looking like the stadium had contracted some sort of venereal disease. Because of that, and the fact that Nebraska blew an 18-point lead and ended up losing by 20, I vowed I would never wear black to Memorial Stadium again. I still haven’t despite other attempts at a blackout.

10/5/13 Nebraska 39 Illinois 19

Not a terribly memorable game. What was memorable was the guy directly in front of me threw up before the game and I had to deal with the stench the whole game. In case you were curious, he had eaten Mac and Cheese recently. Still, Nebraska cruised to an easy win and Kenny Bell had a fantastic one-handed catch.

11/02/2013 Nebraska 27 Northwestern 24

This of course was RK3’s Hail Mary to Jordan Westerkamp. I’ve already talked about this game in an earlier posting and it’s 1 a.m. and I’m too tired to tell it again so you can read it here. 

11/16/2013 Nebraska 28 Michigan State 41

Nebraska blew its chance to win the division and I drowned my sorrows in the sweet sweet embrace of spinach artichoke dip from the dining hall for the rest of the evening.

9/06/2014 Nebraska 31 McNeese State 24

Probably the most entertaining game I’ve ever seen Nebraska play against an FCS team. Not sure if that’s a good thing, but we all got to witness Ameer Abdullah make a play that made us question whether or not he was really flesh and blood and not some sort of cyborg engineered in a top-secret government lab to do football stuff.

9/20/2014 Nebraska 41 Miami 31

This may be the most special game to me during my time here as a student. It’s the first game my wife and I went to together. I’d asked her out earlier that week. She said no, but we still wound up going to the game together and I guess it all worked out in the end. Great game too. Ameer Abdullah ran for 200+ yards and the Hurricanes started 2 on-field brawls. Yep, we got the full Miami Hurricanes experience. 

Kacey and I watching Ameer Abdullah rush for 200+ yards against Miami

11/07/2015 Nebraska 39 Michigan State 38

I’ve never been so elated and frustrated at the same time as I was once this game had concluded. Nebraska got a break, beat a top 10 team that would eventually make it to the playoffs, and improved on the season to, wait for it, 4-6 overall. Sure this was a fun game, but that 2015 season was just one long, never-ending nightmare. I still wake up in a cold sweat some nights after having night terrors of Tommy Armstrong’s 3^rd and 7 pass floating harmlessly to the ground against Illinois.

9/03/2016 Nebraska 43 Fresno State 10

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been to a game quite like this. Such a mix of excitement for the upcoming season mixed with mourning over Sam Foltz. I still remember when Sam introduced himself as the starter on the big screen before the season opener in 2013. My first impression of our new freshman punter was that he was very hairy.

9/17/2016 Nebraska 35 Oregon 32

I never thought any game could top the 2014 Miami game in terms of noise and energy level. Boy was I wrong. It physically hurt to be at this game. I thought I was going to rupture an eardrum. That’s how Nebraska games should feel. And now I’m going to completely ignore the fact that Oregon’s gone 1-6 since that game. Still a fun game. 

Well now I’ve got one more. It’s a bleak 11 a.m. game against a team that’s been outscored 121-6 in their last 2 games. With Tommy Armstrong probably sitting this one out, I’ve got a feeling we’re going to make Maryland look a lot better than they are. Hey and maybe the Purdue Boilermakers will knock off Wisconsin for us and...bahahahahahaha that's hard to type with a straight face. 

My prediction is Nebraska wins 27-25 in a cold, ugly slugfest.