In the Big 8? From 1963 to it's end in 1995 the Cornhuskers never lost 2 Conference games. Indeed they had 7 undefeated season and one 6-0-1 year. Why? Because the only great team they faced on a regular basis was Oklahoma.
Those wonderful years, plus the large rosters allowed them to recruit, and keep some fine players. The NFL waited until a kid's class graduated to draft him. That meant NE was playing a lot of Seniors.
When they became part of the Big 12 they rightly chafed at Texas getting the lion's share of the money.
They accepted the Big 10's offer. Their fans bitterly complained about not playing PSU, MI and tOSU because those were the teams they wanted to see. Teams on Nebraska's level. They did well for a handful of years. Then they didn't. Why?
- In the Big Ten even the bad teams can rise-up and beat ya on occasion.
- They lost their recruiting base in TX
- Rosters were shortened and the NFL started taking Jr.s
- Without the guarantee of being on National Television weekly and getting to a New Year's Day Big Bowl on a regular basis the allure of spending the year(s) in Lincoln, NE was gone.
As was the chance of Nebraska being a regular fixture in the race for the National Championship. Their fans though, as attested to this week with their proclamations of "destroying the Gophers!" will never accept the reality of their current, and future, situation.