Growing up in the small Nebraska town of Blue Hill, Ben Wademan’s first memories of Nebraska football are from when one of its great eras was getting started. He remembers watching when Nebraska lost to Florida State 18-16 in the Orange Bowl at the end of the 1993 season, coming up just short of the national championship.
“I just remember talking with my dad and asking him, ‘Daddy, which team are we cheering for?’†Wademan said. “He said the red team. And that kind of defined where I went from there.â€
Nebraska would win the national championship the next two seasons.
Being a fan got really serious for Wademan when he was a student at UNL from 2007 to ’11. He had student tickets each year. He could have maybe graduated one semester earlier, but he wanted one more football season as a student, and that was Nebraska’s first year in the Big Ten Conference.
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He hasn’t missed watching a game since 2002, either in person, watching on TV or listening on the radio.
And if he’s at Memorial Stadium, he’s not leaving early. It doesn’t matter how cold it is, or how bad that game is.
“The 2013 game against Northwestern I remember half of the stadium was leaving and I looked at the guy sitting next to me and said, ‘I’m staying. It’s not ending this way.’ And sure enough, a miracle happened,†said Wademan, referring to Jordan Westerkamp’s 49-yard Hail Mary touchdown reception.
It’s crazy to think about all that happened in Nebraska football from 2000 to 2010. That includes Nebraska playing in the national championship game in the 2001 season, and the Huskers having three different head coaches during the decade.
Wademan, 31, lives in Omaha and is an engineer for a medical device company.
Summing up the era
“It was really an era of hope and disappointment, all in one. It was kind of a roller coaster ride. We felt really close to breaking through so many times, but it kind of seemed like we kept stumbling over our own feet whenever we’d get close enough.â€
Era-defining players
“To me, there were four that stood out. First, you have to go with Eric Crouch winning the Heisman Trophy in 2001 and taking the team to the national title game. He was an incredible player and incredible athlete. No. 2 is actually Josh Bullocks, the safety. When Bo Pelini came in 2003, he suddenly went from kind of an average guy on the team to an All-American player and setting the school record for interceptions (in a season). He was a big part of that turnaround in Frank Solich’s last year. Another one was Zac Taylor. He was one of the few shining moments from the Bill Callahan days. He took us to the Big 12 title game in 2006, and was the Big 12 offensive player of the year. And then, of course, the last one is the man, the myth, the legend, Ndamukong Suh. I don’t think you could ever put a list together without him. By the time that he got to his senior year, I don’t think there was any debate who the best player in the country was. He was the absolute most dominant player at any position, and almost won us the Big 12 title alone as defensive tackle, which is pretty incredible.â€
Era-defining moment
“Probably the one that stood out to me is the 2008 game against Colorado with Alex Henery’s (57-yard game-winning field goal). And really the reason that it stood out to me was it was a game against a team that you really felt like you should have been blowing out, but still, at the end, we needed a miracle to win it. That was my sophomore year in college. I was in the student section and I remember right after Joe Ganz took that huge sack to put us back to the 40-yard line watching Alex Henery run out on the field thinking, ‘He can’t be serious. This is nuts.’ But sure enough right after he made the kick obviously the entire place just exploded and the next thing I know I was running up and down the student section taking my shirt off in the freezing cold. That was a pretty amazing moment.â€
Oh, the heartbreak
“To me, they don’t get any more heartbreaking than that 2009 Big 12 title game, losing to Texas when they put 1 second back on the clock. Bo Pelini running onto the field with his arms up in the air believing that, hey, we just won the conference title for the first time in a decade. And then watching Mack Brown walk on with one finger up and the officials giving them the second back. That was about as crushing as it gets. Every tough Husker loss since has been compared to that one and it’s like, nope, that doesn’t even touch it.’â€
Era-defining game
“This might sound a little strange, but I would say it would be the 2001 Colorado game (62-36 loss). Even today it felt like that was our fall from power. From sitting as one of the game’s elite to suddenly we were getting beat up. And we’ve been trying to recapture that ever since. Before we knew it, we kind of lost our identity as who we were as Nebraska.â€
Describe Memorial Stadium during this era
“We were frustrated but loyal and loud as ever. Two of those moments were that 2008 kick against Colorado. I remember after (Henery) made that kick it sounded like an explosion in that stadium. And then the 2009 game against Oklahoma that entire game I’ve never heard such energy sustained for four quarters. The fans were still dedicated to this team 100%. But you could tell that there was this frustration that, hey, we eventually got to break through. And it unfortunately didn’t happen that decade.â€
The radio voice you came to love
“Greg Sharpe, the voice of the Huskers. Whenever I heard his voice come on the radio, I knew it was about to be kickoff time.â€
Those damn …
“That’s got to be the Longhorns. I don’t know if there is any other candidate, to be honest. Obviously the 2009 (Big 12) title game stands out as the most heartbreaking. But you can go all the way back, in 2002 we had the heartbreaker at Memorial Stadium (27-24 loss), 2006 we had the heartbreaker (22-20 loss). Even in 2007 — when we were an awful team — we still gave them a run for their money in Austin (28-25 loss).â€