Thanks to all who participated in our "favorite Husker/super Tweet" contest last week!

We've picked our two winners!

The first is schuskerfan, who wrote the following about his favorite Husker:

"Mike Minter was the man. I also got to follow him with the Carolina Panthers being right up the road. I believe he is still their all time leading tackler. I remember in preseason practice in Charlotte he hit someone so hard he pretty much messed his whole side up knee,ankle,hip."

The second was our Twitter winner, @scottsteff, who retweeted our special message out to the Twitter universe!

We will have another contest this week...so be watching for it! And Go Big Red!

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A big hearty thanks to everyone who participated in our "Where Were You In '62" nostalgia blog; we so loved reading about the Husker ties that bind and the memories that resonate with the Big Red Soul of Nebraska football.

Out of the 34 comments, we randomly selected a winner for the excellent Devaney Era DVD - and that winner is FLHusker1! He'll get to kick back and enjoy an era of greatness in Nebraska football - with one of its most legendary coaches - just for sharing his memory with Husker Locker!

For those of you who missed his memory, here it is:

I was seven years old in the fall of 1962. My sister was a freshman at the University and was able to get tickets for the rest of the family. It was my very first game and I will never forget it. We had seats in portable bleachers that were on the track. My most vivid memory of that game is of the Missouri players coming past us at halftime. Their locker room was right behind the portable bleachers. I remember seeing a lot of blood on their uniforms. Pretty impressive to a seven year old kid.

My other memory is of it being the Homecoming game. I remember the displays at the sororities and fraternities. My favorite was the one they had of a Monster mashing a Missouri player. Bobby Pickett's "Monster Mash" was a hit song the fall of 1962.

What a terrific memory, huh? Hey - if you want to buy the Devaney Era DVD, we heartily recommend it - it's outstanding! Click here!

And guess what? Another contest coming next week...with another prize! What for it on Monday!

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Check them out!

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Throwback, indeed.

Nebraska’s football team celebrated the 300th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium with a record crowd and a 55-0 walkover win past Louisiana-Lafayette that recalled the dominating defenses of the 1990s, when victories were secured by halftime and the wave kicked in by the third quarter.

For the night, ULL gained 222 yards -just 70 in the second half. NU notched its first shutout of the Pelini era, and the first since 2006, when Nebraska beat another Sun Belt Conference opponent, Troy, 56-0.

"We're in the right galaxy now," head coach Bo Pelini said. "Where last year we were a few solar systems away."

In front of 86,304 thrilled fans Saturday night, NU's defense burned like a hot star, as senior safety Larry Asante returned an interception 74 yards for a touchdown to cap off a 21-point second quarter and give the Cornhuskers (3-1 overall) a 34-0 halftime lead. Pelini dialed up a heavy blitz, and ULL quarterback Chris Masson threw wildly of his target and right into Asante’s waiting hands, who cut to his right, found the sideline, and sprinted home.

"Great play by Larry," defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. Asante actually bruised his leg as he broke for the ball, and ran for the touchdown on adrenaline, Pelini said. X-rays at halftime were negative.

Previous to that score, NU had forced and recovered a fumble at ULL’s 27-yard line to set up another touchdown drive. Redshirt freshman Sean Fisher recovered a third-quarter fumble and redshirt freshman Cameron Meredith notched a nine-yard sack, too.

"It's big for us after last week," Fisher said, referring to NU's 16-15 loss to Virginia Tech. "Obviously last week was pretty tough. So to come out here and get a shutout, kind of hold them like we did, gives us confidence."

On offense, junior quarterback Zac Lee reverted back to his efficient self from the first two games, finishing 15-18 for 238 yards and a touchdown. He hit a number of passes on third-and-long, including a 43-yarder to Curenski Gilleylen early in the third quarter that set up another Nebraska touchdown.

"I've come to know that that's Zac," said senior wide receiver Chris Brooks, who set career highs for catches (3) and yards (50). "You just count on him to do that."

Junior running back Roy Helu pitched in 83 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

NU started scoring with a 10-play, 71-yard drive that culminated in an Alex Henery field goal. On Nebraska’s next drive, Lee flipped a backwards swing pass to Helu, who hit the sideline sprinting and slashed his way 39 yards down to the ULL four-yard line. On the next play, Helu fumbled at the one-yard line, the ball bounded into the end zone and was recovered by tight end Ben Cotton for a touchdown. Henery booted a 47-yard field goal to close out scoring in the first quarter.

Rex Burkhead’s 33-yard punt return set up NU’s second touchdown, a four-yard pass from Lee to senior Chris Brooks. Junior nickel back Eric Hagg forced a fumble on ULL’s next drive, recovered by Matt O’Hanlon at the Ragin Cajuns’ 27-yard line. Helu scored three plays later on a two-yard touchdown plunge.

The Huskers tacked on two more touchdowns in the fourth-quarter, both from true freshmen. Rex Burkhead caught a shovel pass from Cody Green and zigzagged 22 yards for a score, stiff-arming a defender at the 5-yard line. Green finished scoring with a 24-yard gallop on a zone read play.

Field position was strongly in NU’s advantage all night, as Henery pooched two punts inside ULL’s two-yard line. Nebraska started four drives inside ULL territory.

"I was pretty confident how our team would respond," Pelini said. "I said they'd come out and play with passion and play with great effort and that's what happened."

Fans were also treated to a celebration of Husker tributes throughout the game. Turner Gill, Frank Solich, Barry Alvarez, Keith Jackson and Barry Switzer all taped messages for the 300th-consecutive sellout, with Alvarez relaying a message from Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who applauded NU's fans for their support and class. After the game, fireworks and a long video detailing the history of the program since Bob Devaney took over in 1962 kept fans in their seats and players standing on the field.

"I was just trying to soak it all in," Fisher said. "It's a really cool experience."

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Amidst the hoopla, hype and good cheer of NU’s 300th-consecutive-sellout celebration, complete with throwback uniforms, a return of the 1962 team and some swank new additions to the Osborne Complex, there is a game to be played and won and some Ragin Cajuns’ to be sent packing back to Lafayette, Louisiana.

“Our job is to play our football and celebrate that thing by us playing Nebraska football, and that’s with passion, great effort and executing to our standard,” head coach Bo Pelini said.

There are recruits to impress, too. At least seven out-of-state guys, possibly more, will be in the stands. It’s the biggest visitor weekend, probably, until a home tilt with Oklahoma.

If NU struggles – or football heavens forbid – loses to Louisiana-Lafayette, it’ll be one big party, completely pooped. Geraldo opening Al Capone’s empty tomb. Any of the Super Bowls in the 1980s. Tang. The final episode of “Dallas.” Tyson vs. Spinks. Tyson vs. anyone in the last ten years.

You get the picture. On to the keys.

Drop Dead Red: Nebraska suddenly can’t run the ball in the red zone. Twenty carries this year for all of 39 yards, and one-third of that was on the first red-zone run of the season, vs. Florida Atlantic. What gives? And what gives with the 7/13 touchdown/trip ratio, which is hardly the hallmark of an efficient offense?

Here’s what: Defenses don’t respect Zac Lee yet. Not enough. ULL won’t either. It’ll stuff that box as soon as NU gets in scoring territory, hoping to force Nebraska into first-and-second-down passes. Arkansas State got burned by it. Virginia Tech did not. A lot of it is up to Lee and his receivers.

Conversely, ULL’s red zone attack isn’t too overpowering either. When a team is 69th in total offense but only 97th in scoring offense, the gap indicates troubles near the goal line.

Field Position: A fact you shouldn’t let escape your attention: The Cajuns are only averaging 55.5 yards on their kickoffs. Folks, just so you know – that’s awful. Adi Kunalic averages 69.2 yards. That’s a lot of potential return opportunities for Niles Paul and Rex Burkhead, who should be catching the ball around the 10-yard line for most kickoff returns. That’s at least 10-15 yards of field position each drive that swings in NU’s direction – and more, if Paul and Burkhead can bust a big return. Kunalic’s a serious weapon in 2009, more than he’s been in recent years.

Heavy Dose of Helu: After Roy Helu’s career-defining performance at Virginia Tech, muted because of a sudden loss, does NU keep going with the hot hand, or save Helu’s legs for the Big 12 season? The former option gives Nebraska the luxury of making sure Helu’s confidence is sky high heading into the bye week, while the latter option reduces wear and tear.

Does Helu always run like he knows how good he is? Not necessarily. He hasn’t turned in his masterpiece quite yet. His humility is a credit to his character, but it doesn’t mean the junior from the Bay Area should second-guess himself.

It’s Blitz!: The name of a terrific album by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, it’s also an apt description for the attacking defense of the Ragin’ Cajuns, who frequently send zero blitzes – that’s man-to-man coverage, everywhere on the field – at quarterbacks with the intent of rattling them into mistakes. ULL doesn’t get a lot of sacks or tackles for loss; indeed, the blitz trademark is so well-known that teams scheme around it.

But it can work on lesser-experienced quarterbacks who don’t like the image of seven guys wanting to tear their heads off. Just like last week, Zac Lee’s going to have to be tough in the face of adversity and deliver throws with ice water in his veins. Easier to do at home than it is on the road.

The 300 effect: Expect the Memorial Stadium crowd to be loud and vibrant as the game begins. Nebraska needs to put ULL in the corner and exploit that emotion from opening kickoff. Memorial Stadium isn’t the toughest place in America to play. Until you’re down 14. Once those Huskers sniff blood, they bring it.

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Yes, 300 consecutive sellouts is an impressive thing.

“They’ve sold out every game since my mom was born,” Nebraska center Jacob Hickman said.

It’s the state’s trademark, for better or worse, one that’s soothed a family farm crisis in the 1980s, water battles on the Republican River, brain drain and bright flight, immigration raids, 9/11, the meth nightmare, Whiteclay, West Nile, Lawrence Phillips, the firing of Frank Solich, Bill Callahan, Steve Pederson, the rising tide of troubling violence in Omaha and a political culture that, even in this populist land, is getting more toxic by the day.

"Even with a certain degree of excellence on the field," athletic director Tom Osborne said, "it’s still kind of unthinkable that people come through all kinds of weather, and ups and downs, to be here every week…there’s no question that whatever success we’ve had here is due in large part to their faithfulness and loyalty and their devotion to the football program."

Through every bit of that pain, we’ve sought glory and community in Memorial Stadium, a handful of times in the fall. And rarely has it failed us.

Will the time come when we fail it?

Maybe. You hope not. The college football fan base, even at Nebraska, is changing for worse. And, yes, I put the responsibility on the fans themselves, not ESPN, not “the times,” not “the world we live in.” For, after all, it’s we who live in that world. The world doesn’t make us. We make it.

Nebraska fans are still among the best and most gracious in America, but we worry too much about what ESPN says, or whether we’re keeping up with Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and USC. We only think Pederson planted that seed in our brains. Truth is, he got it from somewhere, some of NU’s boosters, quite frankly, and the assorted cognoscenti out there who equate their own business acumen with understanding an enduring human culture. Winning made Nebraskans restless. And the way Nebraska won, too. Then again, a lot of Americans were restless in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was a strange time, triumphant and tragic, private and public, with the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, the 2000 election and 9/11 as its centerpieces.

Do we worry too much about winning? Yeah, we do. It’s probably always been that way to some extent – I’m not one to carelessly look back on mythic “golden days” – but the influx of money and attention into college athletics has turned every weekend into a pressure cooker, a do-or-die, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately atmosphere where heroes and villains change outfits on a weekly basis.

That’s a nice line for TV ratings, but, to be a little crass: Who gives a rip about TV ratings? Or ESPN? Or Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, USC, Miami, Missouri, Ohio State or Michigan. Or maybe the better question is: Why do we give a rip about those things? Did it ever define the culture here? Do you walk down Stadium Drive before a game, feeling the warm embrace of TV waves emanating around you? Do we feel lonely or something, hoping for the affirmation of a celebrity like Kirk Herbstreit, who, after years of loathing the Huskers, openly scoffing at their history, suddenly is in their corner because his former teammate is the head coach?

A 24-hour news cycle – which, again, didn’t simply “come into being,” but arose with our tacit assent – peppers us with questions, thoughts and shivs in logic. The daily media assault on NU’s program is…interesting, to say the least. I can’t say I’m not a part of it, but the sheer number of stories and angles being churned out of fall camp and practice – there is no stone left unturned. If there is, trust us – some fan on the Internet is all over it.

“There’s so much more expectation, there’s so much more criticism of these kids,” said Dennis Claridge, NU’s quarterback in 1962, when the sellout streak began. “You’ve got to remember their age. It’s a big step up. They were all stars in high school and now you come here, they’re aware from home, they’re competing for a position against great players, there’s enough stress on them already.”

What have we allowed the Web to make us? Creatures without a moment of reflection. Like Bo Pelini after the Virginia Tech game, we wear whatever raw emotion is within us. Whatever frustration in our life – it comes out on the Internet. The online fights I see between Husker fans! What are they about? Anger, really. Personal anger. It just gets projected onto the football team. It’s easier to type rage than it is handwrite or speak it. Rage seems simpler in courier and arial fonts, although some among us are becomingly alarmingly casual with loose tongues.

I hear them, sometimes, at games. Where are they learning it? Their parents. TV. Radio. From people paid to piss them off, to deliver a black/white version of the world that sells ads. Some of whom don’t appreciate the game of football –its meaning, its culture - for a half-second. Getting suckered into that is an active choice, when you take it to the football stadium.

If this seems like a sour column in light of NU’s achievement, think of it, instead, as sobering. Older generations of fans brought us to this point by staying committed and positive. Even in some tough years. Most of them weren’t “lean,” exactly, but the Huskers have endured their share of tough, ugly losses. Each home game, they’d come back, hopeful. And the fans next to them rarely let them down.

One of the things I enjoy doing most in this job is our 50 Husker Fans, 50 States series, where we talk to fans who get to Memorial Stadium once a year, at best, and maybe only a couple times in their lifetime. And it’s the (extra)ordinary stories they tell that truly reveal the magic of our shared culture. It’s really nothing more than bonding over a football team. But that bond – that’s the stuff of life. It lasts longer than a TV show.

Petty things, like who stands to cheer and who doesn’t, or whether the students have good enough seats, need to be set aside on game day. Memorial Stadium was never about being vicious, a Temple of Doom from the Indiana Jones movies. Rather, the place is a warm spirit the color of its sea of fans. Remember that.

“When you’ve been other places as I have,” Pelini said, “and you’ve been around the country, the visiting people who come into this stadium and the respect that people walk out of here with our fan base, it something that really touches people that come in here. It’s something to be proud of.

“Opposing teams, opposing coaches say ‘Wow, it’s different here than anywhere else.’”

Said Osborne: "It’s a place where you feel comfortable bringing your children, your grandparents, whoever. You don’t have to be nasty, you don’t have to be ugly, to be good. Sometimes that gets lost in our culture today."

Don't let it get lost here.

Husker fans should give themselves a nice pat on the back for 300 sellouts. And a gentle talking-to for 300 more.

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By now, most Husker fans know the sellout streak began Nov. 3, 1962 in a 16-7 loss to Missouri on Homecoming, and hit 300 on Sept. 26 vs. Lousiana-Lafayette. Here’s ten moments in between worth remembering:

Nov. 17, 1962: Nebraska’s first win in the sellout streak was actually the second game, a nondescript 14-0 victory over Oklahoma State.

Nov. 23, 1963: The day after John F. Kennedy was assassinated was the same day, Bob Devaney said at the time, he had the greatest victory of his coaching career: A 29-20 win that sent NU to the Orange Bowl. Bowl officials needed a Big 12 champion, and Nov. 23 was officially the last weekend of the season. So NU-OU went on, despite the objections of some. The Huskers staked a 29-7 lead and held on for victory. Coincidentally, it was Nebraska’s first win over a ranked opponent during the sellout streak, as well.

Nov. 9, 1968: A loss that would live in more infamy, really, than any loss until the 2007 season. NU lost to woeful Kansas State on Homecoming, 12-0, in limping home to a 6-4 record that had some Husker fans ready to fire Devaney.

Sept. 8, 1973: Tom Osborne’s first career win as a head coach, a 40-13 triumph over UCLA.

Sept. 17, 1977: Just one week after getting stunned by Washington State at home, NU pulled off a major upset on national television, beating No. 4 Alabama 31-24. A close, well-played game, the Huskers needed every one of Rick Berns’ 128 rushing yards to win.

Nov. 11, 1978: The game Osborne absolutely had to have, a 17-14 win over top-ranked Oklahoma. Osborne often points back to that game as the turning point in his tenure at Nebraska, and he needed six lost OU fumbles to get it. That’s how good, that year, the Sooners were.

No. 26, 1982: The first time play was simply stopped on the field after NU’s Scott Strasburger made a late interception of an OU pass, and overjoyed fans just began to rush the field. Oranges pelted the field. Osborne made a plea on the public address speaker for fans to get off the field.

Nov. 21, 1987: The Game of the Century II, dominated by No. 2 Oklahoma, which beat No. 1 Nebraska handily, 17-7.

Oct. 15 1988: Nebraska scores 42 points in the first quarter of its game vs. Oklahoma State, then watches the Cowboys, with Barry Sanders, control the rest of the game, with a final score of 63-42 in favor of the Huskers. Sanders may be the single greatest opposing player ever to compete in Memorial Stadium. He rushed for 189 yards that day.

Oct. 31, 1992: Often believed to be the craziest night during a sellout streak, a 52-7 blowout win over Colorado, with whom Nebraska was tied for 8th in the national polls, on Halloween, in the pouring rain. CU threw an interception on its first drive and never really had much of a chance. After winning three of the previous six games in the series, the Buffaloes didn’t beat NU again until 2001.

Oct. 29, 1994: No. 3 Nebraska beats No. 2 Colorado 24-7 in as fine a coaching performance as Osborne has ever given. His offense is deadly efficient when it needs to be, and the defense harasses CU quarterback Kordell Stewart for an entire game.

Nov. 4, 1995: The return of Lawrence Phillips after a six-game suspension for beating up his girlfriend. Phillips entered the game in the second quarter to a smattering of boos.

Oct. 31, 1998: The first home loss in seven years, a 20-16 setback to Texas. Ricky Williams plays well, but it’s a redshirt freshman by the name of Major Applewhite who truly saves the Longhorns’ hide.

Sept. 20, 2001: The first college football game after 9/11, as firefighters and police officers are honored during the Tunnel Walk instead of players. Never has the Memorial Stadium crowd been moved or choked up. Ditto for the reporters in the press box.

Oct. 27, 2001: Thunder-to-Stuntz-to-Crouch for a 20-10 win over Oklahoma the most memorable win of the Frank Solich era.

Now: What is YOUR favorite sellout story? Tell us a tale from one of the Husker home games you've attended - it can be any of the games above or just your own - and we'll pick one Husker to win an awesome throwback poster! Offense or defense - your choice!

Put your answer in the comment section below!

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