Most Hawkeye football fans can instantly visualize the atmosphere in Iowa City on a college football Saturday.
As game time draws near inside a sold-out Kinnick Stadium, more than 70,000 fans clap in unison to the sounds of “Back in Black.”
Then, “Enter Sandman” completely unleashes the crowd.
There is no doubt whether Iowa football has its share of fans, but to fans of the Hawkeyes’ soon-to-be new conference mate, football is more than just a sport. It’s a entire culture.
ESPN.com senior college-football writer Ivan Maisel said in a phone interview there are definite similarities between the two programs, but he thinks the Cornhuskers’ followers are more intense.
For an example, Maisel cites Nebraska’s annual Red-White Spring Football Game, which was held on April 19 this year.
Unlike Iowa’s spring game, tickets aren’t free.
The Cornhusker sold more than 22,700 tickets to the annual event by 5 p.m. of the day they went on sale.
Compare that with an estimated 23,502 who attended the Hawkeyes’ spring festivities — for free. Compare that Iowa number — again — to the 77,936 who ultimately packed Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium, second to only defending national champion Alabama (91,312) in terms of best spring-game attendance in 2010.
“It all speaks to how devoutly they follow the Huskers,” Maisel said. “That’s not a knock on Hawkeye fans. It’s just that the status of football in that state [Nebraska], I think to me it’s just different from what it is in Iowa.”
Steve Spratte redshirted as a freshman wide receiver at Nebraska in 2008 before eventually transferring to Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he is now a junior.
The Waukesha, Wis., native said he knew football was big in the state before arriving for his freshman year, but he wasn’t aware of exactly how big until he came to Lincoln and it “slapped him in the face.”
Spratte describes a game day in Lincoln with one word: “Electric.”
“Once you get inside [Memorial Stadium], there’s the tunnel walk for the home team,” Spratte said. “Everyone’s in red and black and just screaming.”
Both Spratte and Mike Palmer, who earned a bachelor’s from Nebraska in May and will head back to Lincoln for law school in August, credited the lack of any professional sports teams as part of the reason for the colossal importance of Nebraska football, similar to Iowa.
But unlike the Hawkeyes, the Huskers also boast five national titles (1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997). Palmer credits that prolonged success and tradition for the team’s die-hard fanbase.
“You don’t have to ask what people are doing in the fall on Saturdays,” Palmer said. “It’s not necessarily something to do, it’s a part of the culture, and they bleed Husker red.”
That “Husker-red” blood is paraded no more prominently than before a Nebraska home game in Lincoln.
“Everybody’s got their [red-and-white] shirts,” Palmer said. “Tailgating in different areas.
“You get the chills walking around.”
Almost as soon as Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten became official, message boards, Twitter, and blogs alike were flooded with many Hawkeye faithful discussing a potential rivalry between Iowa and Nebraska.
And like many loyal fans of both schools, Maisel is anxious to see how it plays out.
“With two schools with that kind of tradition and are that close to one another, it’s a shame that they haven’t been playing, even if they are in different leagues,” Maisel said. “Hopefully, this will get them together, and we’ll all benefit from it.”