THE BULL
Rarely do I write much about the Nebraska sports arena, but this past weekend, the Husker volleyball and football program hit a chord with me. I say the two teams in order, because Saturday nights volleyball win over Wisconsin was phenomenal, and while the football loss to Indiana was a tough pill to swallow, I might be back to being a Husker believer, at least I think.
Nebraska volleyball, for the “umpteenth” year is out to prove that they truly are the top ranked team in this country. The tenacity, the fight, the relaxed way in which the ladies played against the Badgers was something else to watch.
And while I don’t write much on Nebraska programs, because they are always in the press at much higher levels than the Clay County News, my own personal take is that Husker volleyball is far beyond the real deal.
Even if the ‘‘Skers stub their toes somewhere along the way in Big 10 play during the rest of their grueling season, the team looks ripe for bringing home the natty to Nebraska.
Nowhere can you find a team that buckles down and just hits the court with such power, both mentally and physically, to actually dominate some of the most respected teams in the country week in and week out.
All I have is a big WOW for what this crew puts on the court match in and match out.
As far as Husker football, I’ll paraphrase a Nebraska fan that I talked with Sunday and say that “we’re showing up, but not quite there.” Meaning that the program, at least it seems to me, has come back to a relevant point in the history of the Husker program.
The way Nebraska lost to the Hoosiers was hard to take. Even I quickly shut down the television and had to have some time to digest what happened.
I, for the past 10 years or so, have lowered my expectations because I was tired of getting hyped up for yet another big letdown, and it felt like that this past Saturday.
I was “juiced up” for a big win over a ranked team. It was all there for nearly 50 minutes of game time play, and then all of a sudden, “Hoosier magic” showed up, and for the first time in several years I was slapped in the face because of another Nebraska loss.
As I cooled my jets a little though, watched a few other games and processed the loss to Indiana. And of course watched the whooppin’ of the Badgers by Nebraska on the volleyball court, my sense of what took place on the football field in Lincoln let me believe that Nebraska football is back to a state that we can compete again with the big programs, that back in my youthful days where programs that just weren’t very good, teams like Indiana and Oregon.
Despite that tough 20-17 loss to the defending national champions, I feel that Nebraska is trying to get back to being very relevant in the national ratings, and that we can compete with some of these big powers that have ruled college football for the past decade or so.
Husker volleyball, truly feels like the “pipeline” of talent that keeps streaming into the Husker program is like new blood that just keeps the heartbeat of the program at the top of their game, and at the top of the Division-1 standings, year in and year out.
I’ll always be a Husker until the day I’m no longer able to write the Bull, or fade off into the sunset, so to speak. And while it is hard to be a Nebraska football fan at times, 5-1 is still pretty dang good. Being a Husker volleyball fan is pretty darn easy!
Go Big Red, it’s time to continue with the winning ways and battle hard! GBR.
