The last Nebraska showdown

We missed the UCF game because of Dana's wedding, which turned out to be a lucky break. We tried to catch the game in the Pizza Hut in Osborne, but due to the world's most ominous clouds, we watched an hour of delay programming and the ugliest 2nd quarter of K-State football that I've seen since the Prince era. Not good, friends. When we left for the church I was sure we were headed for our first loss of the season. But somehow, through the power of Dana and Justin's nuptials, Carson Coffman found some leadership and we ended up 4-0.

Unfortunately, that luck did not carry over to our Thursday night ESPN showdown with Nebraska. There was no luck that night. Just high, high hopes....

I hate how well Nebraska travels. Too much red in that stadium. Makes me never want to go to away games.

And then sickening realizations...

I hate you Nebraska, and your history of running quarterbacks. Like Tommie Frazier all over again.

Michael Bishop was in the house, and when I saw him walk out of the tunnel, it felt like such a good omen. We chose new seats for the game, closest to the tunnel and in the corner, where we thought we could see more of the endzone. They were great seats for pre-game.





Pre-game started out great. There was energy, a packed house and skydivers that landed on the field! What could possibly go wrong? I felt nervous in our new seats, even though we got to be next to the players as they came out of the tunnel. I just felt like we were too far away from the endzone crowd to really control the emotion and pace of the game. Although, I'm not sure if there was any seat in the house that felt in control of the game after that botched 4th down attempt. Suffice it to say, Bo did not get mad that night. Taylor Martinez had a record setting game, and I had a hard time moving forward with the same enthusiasm. A loss is always more crushing in football than it is in basketball, but there's just always been something about Nebraska. I know Coach wanted it, and we all wanted it to at least be close. Instead it was embarrassing, and revealed for the first time just how young our defense was.

I'd like to say that I was a good fan and kept the faith, but the truth is that the season felt over for me after that. We had some good ups and downs, more wins and losses, and our first bowl berth since 2006. But beating Nebraska would have been better than all of that. If only. I'll take comfort in not seeing that game on our schedule next year. But I'll take more comfort in seeing Nebraska struggle in the Big 10 next year.