Do you think Nebraska football fans were aching for some positivity this offseason?
On April 21 at Memorial Stadium, 86,818 answered with a resounding "Yes!" at the spring game.
That was the announced attendance for new coach Scott Frost's dress rehearsal with the Cornhuskers, and tickets to the spring game sold out in 25 hours when they went on sale in February. The attendance set a Nebraska record and was the highest-attended spring game in the nation this year.
Frost, the quarterback who helped Nebraska win its last national championship, is back in Lincoln and is being treated like a conquering hero.
"That was special to me, walking out of the tunnel and hearing the fans," said Frost, a native Nebraskan. "That brought back more memories than a lot of other things have. Just the smell of the stadium, with the food in there. It took me back a long time."
Husker Nation hopes Frost can take the program back a long time, too — back to the 1990s, when Nebraska won three national championships in four years under Hall of Fame coach Tom Osborne.
Spring football — like spring itself — ran hot and cold across the Big Ten, and mostly cold in places such as Madison, Wis., and Ann Arbor, Mich., where spring games were canceled due to weather. But Cornhuskers fever is running hot in Lincoln.
Last year under coach Mike Riley, the Huskers stumbled to 4-8 overall and 3-6 in conference play. Even worse, they ended the season on a four-game losing streak and were outscored 166-79 in losses to the Gophers, Penn State and Iowa to close the campaign. Apathy had set in, and Riley, 19-19 in three years, was fired.