There was a little concern from some coming into the week but on Tuesday Nebraska’s athletic director Trev Alberts announced during his appearance on Husker Sports Nightly that Saturday’s contest between NU and Indiana would be sold out, keeping alive the nation’s longest streak.
Saturday’s contest will be sellout No. 386, according to Huskers 24/7.
“I’m really, really proud of that and grateful and thankful to our fans,” Alberts said during the radio appearance. “We said it would be a week-by-week basis and we’re making a lot of progress on the rest of our home games. Husker Nation continues to just respond.”
As of last Thursday, there were still more than 1,000 tickets available for Saturday’s now sold out game.
Additionally on Tuesday night, Alberts revealed that Nebraska will return to a slightly modernized version of the vintage Herbie Husker, the team’s longtime mascot. “2023, I think, is the 50th year of the original Herbie. So we have it done. It’s completed. But we want to give time to retailers and others to get things ready,” Alberts said. “But we will have the new mascot to get ready for the 2023 season. And part of this, we talked earlier about our roots and Cornhuskers and being a part of agriculture, and so I think the original Herbie complete with corn and overalls will be a part of what we look like going forward.”
Part of the challenge is the original Herbie was hand-drawn and when you try to put it on apparel it makes it more difficult, Alberts added. But there has been work done to create the “slightly updated and modernized version of the original Herbie … and I think that will be a nice touch for fans as well.” Alberts said he hopes for it to be out early next year, available to retailers when it’s unveiled.
