The Nebraska Cornhuskers had a very successful football program back in the 70s and early 90s, including back-to-back wins in 1970 and 1971. They would then win three-out-of-four games from ’94 to ’97.
Nebraska’s Fall From Glory
The Huskers weren’t just winning games. They were completely wiping the field with their opponents. Just to put it into perspective, Nebraska had a 60-3 record during the ’93-’97 run. In 1995, the average scores of the Nebraska games were 52-13.That’s a whole lot of winning and not a whole lot of losing.
Nebraska was just bigger and better than all their competition. Head coach Tom Osborne became a legend in Lincoln, NE and in the college football world because of their dominating performances week after week. After the 1997 season, Osborne walked away from the game with the most wins as head coach in Big Red football history. Assistant coach Frank Solich was then promoted to head coach.
And Nebraska has never been the same since.
The “Solich Curse”
And I’m not putting the blame on Solich. Any Husker fan would tell you that he was not the one who started this whole mess. As a matter of fact, some people would argue that the reason Nebraska is “cursed” is for the way they handled head coach Frank Solich’s situation.
Solich was fired after a 9-3 record (58-19 all time) and since then Nebraska has gone through five head coaches and only FIVE bowl game wins. For a program that won three out of four championships, this is not a stat you want to see. Is that enough to say the Cornhuskers are cursed? Solich himself seems to think so.
Frank Solich addresses ‘the curse’ that is very real to some #Husker fans:
“We’ve got nothing to do with curses…let’s just say it’s gone now if there’s ever been one.” @Channel8ABC pic.twitter.com/xMmoDPls3P
— Lauren Michelson (@LaurenMichelson) April 21, 2023
But we’re not done.
Derek Peterson from Saturday Tradition points out that after the 2024 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes, Nebraska has lost 17 one score games in a row.
The losses have been in some of the most painful ways you could possibly dream up. Turnovers at the worst time possible. Missing field goals. Taking control of the entire game but losing their grip in the last 5 minutes of gametime. You name it, we’ve seen it.
The final nail in the coffin? It’s 2024 and every single Nebraska sports team seems to be gaining momentum. The women’s basketball team played in (and almost won) the Big 10 Championship. The men’s team is looking to make their first trip to the March Madness tournament in over 10 years.
The football team signed 5 star, #1 QB Dylan Raiola to their team. We had a prestigious alumni as our athletic director who hand picked our new football coach. The AD has been working tirelessly on a stadium renovation that will cost millions. Things are finally on the upswing.
Falling Back to Earth
The higher you climb, the further you fall. On Wednesday morning, March 13th 2024, Nebraska fans around the country woke up to shocking news. Huskers Athletic Director Trev Alberts is expected to leave Nebraska for the same position at Texas A&M.
This was shocking. It doesn’t make any sense. The AD that saw his salary DOUBLED in November and is in the middle of planning a stadium renovation after hiring a new head coach is now leaving? Throw in the fact that Alberts was a Nebraska alum, an All-American football player, and even has his jersey retired with his name etched on the stadium, fans didn’t know what to think.
The initial thought was, maybe he’s trying to pressure the Board of Regents to hire a president (something they have been putting off for over 200 days…) and it’s all a bluff. There’s no way he’s actually leaving. That is until later that afternoon when the news was made official. Alberts was out the door before anyone knew what was happening.
To make things worse, it was leaked that Alberts not only left his staff in the dark about his contemplations on moving on, he informed them via email.
This almost immediately made him one of the most hated people in the state of Nebraska. If there’s one thing everyone knows about Nebraska fans, we’re passionate.
Now as the University begins the search for a new President and Athletic Director, fans are once again reminded of the infamous “curse”. Just when we thought things were looking up, we’re blindsided once again.
There are a lot of reasons why Alberts bailed on the Nebraska job. Maybe leadership higher up behind the scenes isn’t very stable. Maybe Alberts has higher ambitions and wants to continue bolstering his resume. Regardless of his personal decisions, he has to know he is leaving Nebraska at a very inopportune time and caught everybody very off guard by doing so.
The Future
How bad is this for Nebraska? The conversation will eventually turn to head football coach Matt Rhule. What does his future look like now that two important positions at Nebraska have been vacated?
Husker faithful will continue to hold on to hope. It’s what we’re best at. As I’m typing this, Nebraska is warming up for their Big 10 tourney game against Indiana.
Spring practice will get underway and eventually the spring game will come through, giving us many more exciting topics to cover. The sun will rise on a new football season and life will still be good.
The curse? Sure we’ve lost a lot of one possession games. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a bowl game, let alone a bowl victory. But Nebraska athletics are slowly gaining momentum and we’re not going to let something like a shady ex-AD ruin that for us. GBR for life!
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