NU passion runs long, deep

LINCOLN — It's often remarked how Nebraska football pulls our very, very wide state together.

But it's a passion that unites us not only geographically, but also over the arc of time. The proof of that is The Streak.

Nebraska's run of consecutive football sellouts has spanned almost half a century now, across three generations.

So it was appropriate Saturday — when NU fans filled Memorial Stadium for the 300th consecutive time — that the milestone was marked with a night of nostalgia.

The Cornhuskers wore jerseys and helmets resembling those donned by Bob Devaney's troops on Nov. 3, 1962, the day the unprecedented streak was born. The uniforms were vintage, and the performance was, too, as a team that's been a faded power in recent years pounded Louisiana-Lafayette 55-0.

Devaney's children were introduced, about two dozen 1962 Huskers led NU onto the field, and retro fashions could be spotted in the all-time record stadium crowd of 86,304.

The Streak has taken us from Presidents Kennedy to Obama, from coaches Devaney to Pelini.

It outlived the Cold War and outlasted a half dozen recessions. It even survived the Bill Callahan era.

Where The Streak will end, who knows? As fireworks exploded Saturday night high in the autumn sky, there was no end in sight for the state's enduring Big Red passion.

— Henry J. Cordes

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