Husker streak against KU remains
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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
The banner headline on the Lincoln Star’s Sunday sports page read: “Rock Chalk Jayhawks! NU Shocked, 23-13.”
It was October 13, 1968. Richard Nixon was about to defeat Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace for the White House.
The year 1968 was in many ways tumultuous, sometimes even tragic. There were the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. And there were the riots outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
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In sports, the Detroit Tigers overcame Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals to win the World Series.
In music, “Hey Jude” was No. 1 on the charts.
In Parade Magazine, a feature story challenged a taboo of the day and asked its readers, “Should the girl drive on dates?”
Such were the surrounding current events the last time Kansas came into Lincoln and defeated Nebraska at football.
Forty years. Eleven presidential elections. Disco in. Disco out. And, all the while, 19 Husker football wins over Kansas in Lincoln.
Many Husker football streaks have fallen in recent times, but here is one, alongside the 295-game home sellout streak, that still remains.
It hasn’t just been that Kansas has lost every time that it’s visited Nebraska since 1968. It’s how the Jayhawks have lost. Nails have had more success against hammers.
Scores like 63-7, 55-0, 56-6, 54-2. And so on and so on.
Since the Kansas win in 1968, Nebraska has outscored the Jayhawks 807-178 in Lincoln. Average Husker victories have been by 33 points.
Until KU’s last visit to Nebraska — a 39-32 overtime Husker win — Kansas had not scored more than 17 points on a trip here since that win 40 years ago.
It’s been a streak heavy on embarrassments for KU, but also one the Jayhawks feel they can end this Saturday when the two teams collide in Lincoln.
After all, its Kansas that has won two of the last three games between the teams, and it’s Kansas that won a BCS bowl game last season and drummed Nebraska 76-39 on its way there.
So consider Saturday a toss-up game with another Husker streak in jeopardy.
“When you’re playing, you don’t really worry about streaks or records or anything,” Husker senior offensive lineman Matt Slauson said. “We don’t look at who’s ahead in the series, or how big of a streak. It’s all about one play at a time.”
The loss of proud streaks have become commonplace for Nebraska in recent years. Most recently, Missouri ended a 30-year drought without a victory in Lincoln with a 52-17 win this year.
Thirty-four consecutive nine-win seasons circled the drain in 2002. Forty-two consecutive non-losing seasons ended in 2004 along with a 35-year run of bowl appearances.
Nebraska had 36-year winning streak against Kansas snapped in 2005 in Lawrence.
After the win, KU students ripped down the goal posts and dumped them into Potter Lake on campus.
“It’s not something you want to be a part of, but you got to find a way to get through it,” Husker senior Todd Peterson said of being in the program during some of these lost streaks.
“I think part of the reason some of these streaks have fallen is we started thinking about that and stopped thinking about what you need to do as a football player, as a football team. And that’s when things kind of slip apart and you don’t play as well as you need to.”
So Nebraska hasn’t lost to Kansas in 40 years? The Huskers aren’t paying attention to that this week. History lessons are fine and all, but they know the past won’t help them Saturday.
“We can’t focus on that streak because obviously we weren’t a part of all those first wins,” Peterson said. “But the main reason we want to win this game is just to win a football game. And I think everybody that was a part of that streak, that has those wins, would tell you the same thing.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
