I have been around a long, long time. For many years, if we lost a big game (and make no mistake about it, today was a big game), I would scream and yell and be pissed for days. I don’t feel that way tonight. I’ve had a little time to think about it and it comes down to this:
A loss is now just a loss. A season is just a season. There is always next week or next year. In the past (pre Big 12), a loss had the potential to set the program back to the point we might be left behind forever. There was a desperation in each game and season that if we screwed up, it had the chance to derail our long term potential. We were always on the outside looking in and we were at risk of never being on the inside if the team lost the momentum. We should all be forever grateful to the 2013, 2017 and 2018 teams. They showed all of college football what we could be and now we are proud members of the Big 12.
We are now just outside the inner circle (SEC and Big10), but make no mistake, we are very close to being there. We might have had the Big Noon Kickoff because of Coach Prime, but the actual win today was the fan base showing up. Coaches, players and ADs will come and go, but a fan base endures. Why are schools like Nebraska still relevant? Their fan base makes them relevant.
So at the end of the day tonight stings but it is not a mortal wound. The real key to our future is us, the fans. If we show up and support the team in both good times and bad, we will not be ignored. There is too much good in our corner for us not to be a nationally relevant program for the foreseeable future. Keep cranking our grads and be competitive. Catch lighting in the bottle a couple more times and we will be a blue blood.
I hate this loss, but the sky is not falling.
A loss is now just a loss. A season is just a season. There is always next week or next year. In the past (pre Big 12), a loss had the potential to set the program back to the point we might be left behind forever. There was a desperation in each game and season that if we screwed up, it had the chance to derail our long term potential. We were always on the outside looking in and we were at risk of never being on the inside if the team lost the momentum. We should all be forever grateful to the 2013, 2017 and 2018 teams. They showed all of college football what we could be and now we are proud members of the Big 12.
We are now just outside the inner circle (SEC and Big10), but make no mistake, we are very close to being there. We might have had the Big Noon Kickoff because of Coach Prime, but the actual win today was the fan base showing up. Coaches, players and ADs will come and go, but a fan base endures. Why are schools like Nebraska still relevant? Their fan base makes them relevant.
So at the end of the day tonight stings but it is not a mortal wound. The real key to our future is us, the fans. If we show up and support the team in both good times and bad, we will not be ignored. There is too much good in our corner for us not to be a nationally relevant program for the foreseeable future. Keep cranking our grads and be competitive. Catch lighting in the bottle a couple more times and we will be a blue blood.
I hate this loss, but the sky is not falling.
