Ten years.
Ten years of Colorado fans yearning for the return of their rival and 10 years of many Nebraska fans pretending a rivalry didn't exist while snapping up any available ticket for Saturday's matchup of Huskers and Buffaloes.
NU hasn't crossed the western border in football since 2009, a 28-20 Husker win watched by a Folsom Field crowd of which one-third were dressed in red.
The red caravan began creeping along Interstate 80 on Thursday, and figures to reach a crescendo Friday evening.
But just how much red will filter into Boulder this time?
“We’ll see what happens. I’ve read a couple articles. I don’t pay too much attention to it. I know our fans travel well. I know Nebraska will never have an issue trying to get fans to hold on to their tickets for games," said Nebraska coach Scott Frost in the closest thing to a jab at the opponent this week. "I’m grateful to Nebraska fans, that (showing up) is something we never have to worry about."
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A report earlier this week in The Denver Post stated the average ticket price for a single NU-CU ticket was $292. That put Saturday's game behind only concerts by the Rolling Stones ($333) and Elton John ($313) as the most expensive average ticket for any event in the Denver/Boulder area in 2019.
More than any Broncos game. More than any Nuggets or Avalanche or Rockies game. Nebraska-Colorado is the hot ticket. A matchup of teams that combined to win nine games last season demanding top-of-the-market prices.
"I think it’s a matter of waiting and seeing, because I know there’s a lot of people who said they didn’t get tickets but they still plan on being in Boulder; where can they watch the game in Boulder or close to Boulder," said Wendy Frenzel, acting president of Coloradans for Nebraska. "Just from all the emails, everything that all of our partners are getting, it’s going to be quite full of red."
This Saturday will mark one day short of 18 years that Nebraska went to Notre Dame in 2000 and the Husker faithful turned Notre Dame Stadium into their own personal playground. Some estimates had as many as 25,000 Husker fans in the stadium that day. The grainy television footage from NU's overtime win made it look like more.
Nebraska may not get that many into Folsom Field. CU has tried to make it difficult for Husker fans to gobble up tickets, forcing the game to be purchased as part of a season ticket package, giving NU 3,000 tickets for opposing fans.
Will all that matter? Maybe, maybe not.
Longtime Colorado sports information director Dave Plati saw the hottest days of the series in the 1990s. He watched both programs go their separate ways into new conferences and lose their way on the field. He remembers that Nebraska trip to Notre Dame.
"When you're not prepared for it, you're like, 'Whoa,'" Plati told the Journal Star this summer.
So Colorado has tried to prepare. Plati recalled a Buffaloes home game against Wisconsin in 1994, one year after the Badgers won the Rose Bowl. CU had one of its best teams — a squad that went 11-1, losing only to the Huskers. And Wisconsin "had 10,000 fans out in our frickin' quad (on campus) watching the game on a big screen because they couldn't get tickets," Plati said.
"The schools that travel well, you want your fans in the stadium. It’s really more of a compliment to Nebraska that they travel so well that you want to try to do what you can to have more of your fans in the stadium."
Colorado athletic director Rick George has pleaded for civility between the fan bases. Nebraska defensive tackle Darrion Daniels, who wasn't even in Lincoln last year, for Pete's sake, said he has beef with the Buffaloes.Â
Frenzel expects Nebraska fans from more than 30 states to converge on the Front Range, whether they can get into the stadium or not.
But leave it to a youngster to sum up perfectly the emotions that still burn.
"Besides the rivalry," NU freshman linebacker Garrett Nelson said, "is there anything you need to get your piss hot? I mean, not really."