Oklahoma’s Barry Switzer era experienced such hospitality.
"Pretty classy at the stadium, at the hotel, wherever you encounter them,” said Merv Johnson,
OU’s assistant head coach from 1979-94 and now the Sooner radio analyst.
Johnson recalled the 1986 OU-NU game, when the Sooners won 20-17 with a stirring rally. "They were totally stunned,” Johnson said of the Husker fans. "They stayed in the stands. But still, they were complimentary and kind. Nobody said anything about being lucky.”
The Bob Stoops era is no different.
"The more you play up there, the more you understand they appreciate good football,” said Stoops, who has been coming to Lincoln for 20 years with either Kansas State or OU.
"Even 2005, when we won, there were people applauding you. That’s their culture. That’s how they do things. It’s pretty neat.”
Stoops is right. Class indeed is part of the Nebraska culture. "It’s something we’re very proud of,” said Randy York, director of husker.com. "It’s not perfection, but it is sincere and it is overwhelming.”
Why can’t everywhere be like Lincoln? Well, hard to put the knucklehead back in the bottle. Make no mistake, Nebraska has its share of goobers. But its fans seem to self-police. The crowd mentality, which afflicted humans long before layout of the first gridiron, is beaten back in Nebraska.
"Fans around here have a long enough memory, they don’t appreciate a lot of booing or negative thoughts being said about our players or other players,” said Tom Osborne, Nebraska’s coach from 1973-97 and now its athletic director.
"When you go through losing, the worst comes out in people. But there’s enough positive tradition here, it would take awhile for it to take hold.”
The stories of Nebraska class — from Bobby Bowden’s thank-you letter 30 years ago to Jay Walker’s blog — feed off each other.
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