2023 Nebraska Season Thread

[CWSooner]

That 3-7 1965 season was a blessing in disguise.  Gomer Jones was fired (or maybe resigned) as HFC, and was replaced by Jim McKenzie, 8-year Frank Broyles assistant at Arkansas.  He turned it around and OU went 6-4 in '66, including a win over the (genuine) ancient rival Horns, who had an 8-game streak going in the RRS.

McKenzie died of a heart attack at ager 37 the following April.  We'll never know how good he could have been.  Fortunately, a couple of his assistants were able to take up the reins.  Chuck Fairbanks and Barry Switzer.

Little-known fact.  Homer Rice, who had been at OU as an assistant for McKenzie's single season, but had already accepted the HFC job at Cincinnati, declined to stiff UC when OU offered him the head job in Norman.

I hadn't remembered that OU beat the Huskers 3-in-a-row starting with the '66 season.

[FearlessF]

Forbes looks at the rise of Hudl from a Nebraska startup in 2006 to the global leader in sports video data.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timnewcomb/2020/04/02/how-hudl-went-from-nebraska-startup-to-the-global-sports-video-data-leader/#40e99f3b3672

[FearlessF]

repping the Big Ten...........

Arthur Ashe Jr. Male Athlete of the Year Semifinalists

Mohamed Barry, Football, Nebraska
Rodrigo Blankenship, Football, Georgia
Aaron Boyd, Swimming & Diving, Virginia Tech
Talha Farooq, Wrestling, George Mason
Uriel Garcia, Soccer, Houston-Victoria
Jordan Holly, Baseball, Murray State
Rayden Murata, Tennis, Pacific
Dontelius Ross, Basketball, Jackson State
Matthias Schmid, Golf, Louisville,
Givon Washington, Track & Field, Nebraska

[FearlessF]

In the 2019 fiscal year, completed June 30, Nebraska athletics reported more than $136.2 million in revenues (about $122.4 million in sport-specific revenues) in its annual financial report to the NCAA, more than any year except for 2018. Of that revenue, nearly 71% ($96.1 million) was generated by the football program.

In fact, the football program turned $59 million in profit, among the highest marks in the country. Men’s basketball checked in at $5.9 million in profits, while John Cook’s volleyball program more than pays for itself and beach volleyball.

Even though the other 20 varsity sports at NU combined to lose $21.7 million and the athletic department showed $29.1 million in nonsports net loss (athletic department salaries, operations, etc.), NU still came out ahead by more than $12 million for the year. Of that profit, $10.6 million was turned over to the academic side at UNL, double the 2018 mark.

NU athletics is not only free of relying on any general university funding, but it is also completely debt free and has been since fiscal 2015. NU chief financial officer John Jentz told the Journal Star that it is the only Power Five school that can make that claim.

According to the Knight Commission, a nonprofit group that studies college athletics, the average Big Ten school carried about $12 million in debt in fiscal 2018, the most recent numbers in its database.

No matter how healthy an athletic department is, the numbers above should make clear what has been said often around the country in recent weeks: Nobody can avoid critical problems if the 2020 football season is canceled or radically altered.

Nebraska football in 2019 recorded $30.2 million in ticket revenue and $5.4 million in concessions and merchandise. Those two budget lines alone account for $5 million per home game, and that’s before any conference television revenues or school licensing and sponsorship comes into play.

[FearlessF]

There’s no spring game, but the Athletic Department will stream a simulation of one featuring legendary Husker players at 1 p.m. Saturday.

There’s no spring game, but the Athletic Department will stream a simulation of one featuring legendary Husker players at 1 p.m. Saturday.

[FearlessF]

Perhaps UNL greatest athlete.....................

Sam Francis, a two-sport star for the Huskers in the 1930s, was announced as the fifth member of the 2020 University of Nebraska Athletic Hall of Fame class on Tuesday, April 14. Francis is being inducted posthumously, as he passed away on April 23, 2002, at the age of 88.

Francis was a decorated member of Nebraska’s football and track and field teams from 1934 to 1937. As a fullback on the gridiron, Francis was the 1936 Heisman Trophy runner-up, a consensus first-team All-American and the No. 1 overall pick in the 1937 NFL Draft. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1977 and his No. 38 jersey was retired by Nebraska in 2017. Francis was also one of the top shot putters in the world during his Husker career. A two-time All-American and four-time Big Six Conference champion in the event, Francis was the 1937 NCAA shot put champion, and he finished fourth in the event at the 1936 Olympics.

Francis’ athletic ability was on full display during an 11-month period from August of 1936 to June of 1937. During that time frame, he finished fourth at the Olympics in August, was the Heisman Trophy runner-up and the No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick in December and won both the indoor and outdoor conference shot put titles in the spring on his way to the NCAA title in the event in June.

In addition to his impressive individual resume, Francis helped the football and track and field teams win a combined six conference titles in his three seasons with each sport. Nebraska posted its first-ever top-10 ranking in football in Francis’ senior season (No. 9 in final 1936 AP poll), after he played a key role in the track and field team’s eighth-place finish at the 1936 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

[CWSooner]

Seems like it's a bit overdue.

[FearlessF]

better late than never

would have been much nicer if it had happened before he passed

[huskerdinie]

There’s no spring game, but the Athletic Department will stream a simulation of one featuring legendary Husker players at 1 p.m. Saturday.

There’s no spring game, but the Athletic Department will stream a simulation of one featuring legendary Husker players at 1 p.m. Saturday.

I know they are doing the pre-game National Anthem performed by Steve Warren, a half-time interview with Coach Osborne, the tunnel walk, etc.  Wonder if they are going to have a virtual release of the balloons after the first touchdown?  Got my computer all set to watch it tomorrow.  Should be a hoot.  

[CWSooner]

I know they are doing the pre-game National Anthem performed by Steve Warren, a half-time interview with Coach Osborne, the tunnel walk, etc.  Wonder if they are going to have a virtual release of the balloons after the first touchdown?  Got my computer all set to watch it tomorrow.  Should be a hoot.

I guess you have to be subscribed to HuskerVision (TeleHerbie?), or know the secret Husker code.  I am blocked when I click on that link.

[FearlessF]

well, you're a Sooner, so................

[CWSooner]

So . . . blocked from seeing a simulated football game featuring all-time Husker greats?

What's the world coming to?

[FearlessF]

i was joshing, of course

here's a couple other links......

The game will feature rosters comprised of Husker football legends and streamed live on @Huskers Facebook, @Huskers Twitter and the HuskerFBNation Twitch channel. 

[FearlessF]

https://www.twitch.tv/huskerfbnation

https://twitter.com/huskers

https://www.facebook.com/huskers/