 |
 |
 |
|
(UWIRE) LINCOLN, Neb. -- Spring games are football as you've never seen it.
There are all kinds of sights you're unlikely to find at any other time of the year beyond the rare sighting of Kody Spano in action -- although, to his credit, the freshman-to-be played very well for being so new to the program.
After all, spring games are just practices operated as a simulated game, but with a couple exceptions.
The points don't matter -- unless you're concerned about your postgame meal -- the rules don't always apply, and everyone is rooting for everyone.
The annual Big Red lovefest has grown into an even stranger creature than it once was. All the ingredients of spring games past are still there, but ticket demand has skyrocketed to unknown proportions, which may actually be the exhibition's most curious facet.
A total of 80,149 fans nearly filled Memorial Stadium to see how the Cornhuskers stacked up against themselves. Some of those fans got in free by virtue of N-Cards or drug free pledges (more on that later).
A majority probably got in at the cost of the 10-dollar face value of tickets. That in itself was impressive considering Missouri drew fewer than 30,000 at three bucks a head.
I don't think it's any stretch to say it trumped Alabama drawing more than 92,000 bodies at no charge in 2007.
But that some fans sitting in the stands likely paid multiple times the ticket's face value, probably up to and over the century mark, astounds me. Credit fanaticism and the opportunity to catch a sneak peek of Nebraska's new coach, Bo Pelini.
To be fair, there was more to see than just that. There were new players, new schemes (however basic) and, as an added surprise, a new tunnel walk video that scrapped ridiculous computer-generated airplanes and harkened to Nebraska's illustrious history.
Then the game started, and linebacker Tyler Wortman deflated a stadium with a forced fumble and recovery on what was intended as a tributary option play.
Oh well. At least the defense is going at it.
There were other fun moments in the game, such as when the Red team declined a delay of game penalty. Another instance was when time officials allowed for a do-over on a play late in the first half, and also that kickoff return that would have been a touchdown had coaches not marked the ball at the 20 for the return team in an effort to keep reps moderately even between both teams.
