Bill Moos chuckled as he considered the question being asked. It had to do with the perception some have expressed about Nebraska being a maverick in the Big Ten, or maybe even a black sheep in certain opinions.
"Well, we were vocal," the Husker athletic director said during an appearance on the 'Sports Nightly' radio show, before adding with a hint of amusement, "And I've got to say it worked."
You bet the Huskers maybe had a bit of "Top Gun" Maverick in them – which many in the fan base have seemed to embrace. Just nothing close to the "You're dangerous" vibes let on by some of analysts. When it comes to the coaches, players, and athletic directors around the conference, Nebraska has had a lot of company in shared opinion the past month even if some weren't as vocal as others.
To the contrary of any suggestions the Huskers were often in their own corner since early August, they were actually generally in the majority within the league's athletic community – maybe even to a unanimous degree on certain topics.
Yes, there was an 11-3 count on the August vote among presidents and chancellors to postpone the fall season in which Nebraska, Ohio State and Iowa were on the short end. But knowing what we do now, you can also safely bet most ADs and coaches were appreciative, not annoyed, when Scott Frost got out front on Aug. 10 to express how much Nebraska wanted to play, setting a tone that others (namely Ryan Day, James Franklin and Jim Harbaugh) would soon carry too. Frost laid out as well as anyone did the key points about how the programs, their athletic departments and communities would be impacted by not playing. That boldness shouldn't be underplayed.
Neither should the fact that ADs across the league were actually quite united on most key points.
“The athletic directors were all in favor of returning to play back in August," Moos told local media during a Zoom call on Wednesday. "And I'm going to take this opportunity to say for six months ... we've gotten to know each other and respect each other. I'm talking about the athletic directors, having been in on Zoom meetings practically every morning, including weekends, and we were solid in the return to play.
"So the pushback when we did not get the vote that we were hoping for, we just went back to work and tried to address – and I think we did successfully – what we needed to accomplish in order to go back and get other chancellors and presidents take another look at this."
Certainly Nebraska and Ohio State may have been the loudest publicly about their desire to play ball, though UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green and Moos didn't dwell on that connection with the Buckeyes when talking to media earlier this week.
“Yes, there was a considerable push to revisit the decision with new information and with new knowledge of how we could safely move for this," Green said. "I think we all understand that this is not a static conversation. You know the world we live in around COVID-19, and mitigating COVID-19, is not one that’s static. It's dynamic, it's fluid. We continue to learn more. Knowing what we know today about point of care antigen tests is considerably more than what we knew going into early August. That is something that has changed dramatically for us. But I will say we pushed hard, and we pushed repeatedly hard, for getting to this point. And I thank my colleagues who did that as well.”
Moos similarly expressed pride in athletic director peers of other schools in the conference, who he said had upwards of 125 Zoom meetings with since March.
It just happens the Huskers were a little more public in saying what they wanted. You'll get no apologies from Nebraska's end on that.
"So we were outspoken, both Scott and me," Moos said. "And again, we're in a different location here in this footprint and it is safe in Lincoln, Nebraska. And I pointed that out from the beginning. The safest place for our young student-athletes is Lincoln, and the safest place in Lincoln is in our facilities and we emphasized that and from the very beginning. And in the end, we're getting the result we want.”
Of course Nebraska wouldn't have minded starting a season in September, though the Huskers only expressed wonder in August if there was any way to still play football during these unconventional times, not ever in leaving the Big Ten as has sometimes been inaccurately portrayed.
But what's done is done, and Moos was more focused this week on celebrating the good news, while Husker officials are busy putting forth their best plans to make sure bad news doesn't show up for an interception.
It sets up as a most abnormal season to fit this strange year of 2020, but that doesn't mean it is going to lack in fascination to any degree. For a senior like Husker cornerback Dicaprio Bootle, it's a beautiful thing to have a season in front of you to chase down goals.
Tweeted Bootle, "This feels like when everybody came back to life in Avengers ready to fight."
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Huskers were vocal, yes, but not as alone as sometimes suggested - 247Sports
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