It’s back

Big Red Fever is back.
You can feel it in the air on game day. 
You can see it on the faces of a whole new generation of Husker fans, lit up with an energy that’s palpable.
You can talk about it with total strangers while filling your tank with gas, or in the grocery store, or wherever you may be. “Hey, how ’bout those Huskers …” Everybody wearing red has an opinion, and a smile, and they are more than happy to share both, a refreshingly positive source of conversation these days.
Indeed, there is a love language being spoken throughout Nebraska this fall that’s been missing to some degree for several years now. The passion never waned, truth be told, but the belief in the Huskers’ ability to consistently get it done, on the field, in the fourth quarter, with the game on the line, had taken a massive, painful hit.
In fact, the best sign I’ve seen to date this season was a message shown during the Colorado game which said with a mix of sarcasm and truth: “So this is the Husker team my Dad talked so much about.”
Yes, this is a Husker team that’s being talked about, and not just here in Nebraska. College Game Day’s Kirk Herbstreet echoed what a lot of sports gurus have been saying this season Saturday when he called the Huskers “a stock to buy now.” Husker Nation already has a portfolio full of Big Red stock, thank you very much Kirk, so we’ve been waiting, hoping and praying that we could one day cash that winning ticket.
We’re only three games in, but “Man, woman and child” is believing that in his second year at the helm Matt Rhule has assembled a squad that will put Nebraska back on the football map. A bowl game was the initial goal, but already that seems like just the tip of the iceberg of what could happen this season.
This team is big, it’s physical, it’s fast, it’s playing with confidence and is so much fun to watch. It doesn’t beat itself, committing only two turnovers so far. We have a running game, we have a passing game with a QB1 that already looks like his major is NFL 101, and we have a defense that plays mean and ugly.
Both the casual fan and college football pundits are saying that this team has ALL the pieces needed to win in the Big Ten. And we’re about to find out.
The preseason is over now, with Illinois coming to town this week on a first-ever Husker version of Friday Night Lights. The place will be rocking, with a 400th consecutive sellout crowd ready to explode with every big play. Whether they are lifelong fans recovering from a decade of disappointment, or a whole new generation of Big Red believers, Husker Fever is back, and it’s contagious!
Kurt Johnson