October 8, 2001 PURPLE FEELING BLUE Kansas State losing streak guilty pleasure for many Husker fans. Admit it. When you saw the final score of the Kansas State-Colorado game your heart skipped a beat. You smiled to yourself with a devilish grin. You may have let out a small yelp. Yes, the mighty Wildcats had just lost their second straight game. And they got shut down at home, mind you. In Manhattan. The purple faithful are feeling blue. Well… all right! Sure, the Cats lost to two good teams, and played Oklahoma a tough game. And, yes it made us Husker fans realize that Colorado just may be for real, and we play them in Boulder the last regular season game of the season. But we have lots of time to worry about the Buffs, so on with those guilty pleasures. I still can’t stop smiling. Over the weekend, I talked to a few Husker fans and they too were experiencing some of their own guilty pleasure upon hearing the outcome of CU-KSU. One even said she shrieked with delight upon hearing the news. What is it about the Kansas State-Nebraska rivalry? Recently it was Colorado who was our top rival. Back when they were winning the conference and beating us now and then. I was a part of a group of fans one year in the 90s at Memorial Stadium on a day when Nebraska thrashed the Buffs. The game was supposed to be much closer, both teams were rated high. I was sitting in the east stadium near a group of cocky CU fans that were chanting C-U, C-U, C-U! By the end of the game, my entire section was chanting C-U later! C-U later! C-U later! Of course, Nebraska’s most storied rival is Oklahoma. Ahh…the Sooners. Barry Switzer, we loved to hate you. These days, the Nebraska-Oklahoma match up, one of the country’s best rivalries, only happens twice every four years, because of the Big 12 dividing into two divisions. In addition, many Husker fans felt bad for the Sooners during their struggling years. When the Sooners starting winning again, many Nebraska fans were happy for them. It didn’t even hurt that much to get beat by them last year. I am glad they won the national championship. More power to them…until October 27th in Lincoln. But remember that rainy, icy, snowy night in Manhattan, KS last year? A Wildcat victory over the Huskers. Ouch. That one hurt. So, what’s the deal with this NU-KSU rivalry? I think the general consensus among Husker fans is that Kansas State is trying to put too much on its plate too fast, so to speak. We give them credit for playing improved football. We were in awe of them rocketing into national prominence. But the problem is K-State fans were greedy. They wanted to win the national championship right away. Now K-State fans are learning that a national championship is not just handed out. Nebraska has a few. But the Huskers toiled and struggled to win them. We took the bitter disappointments and came back year after year to cheer on our team. Many Husker fans believe Kansas State hasn’t paid its dues yet. When you look at college football over the years, Kansas State is not even in the same league as Nebraska. Not even close. Nothing against K-State fans, I know a few and they seem to be fairly nice. But you can’t have it all if you ain’t got it all. Many of you may be saying, “hey, you gotta stick up for the Big 12 conference.” Well, I am. I am most happy for Colorado in their win over Kansas State. Voice your opinion. MissingNebraska.com Index