HARALD DREIMANIS/ SUNDAY JOURNAL-STAR Bare skin dotted the sea of red Saturday at Memorial Stadium as temperatures soared into the high 90s. Even south stands have changed It's a whole different ballgame. Memorial Stadium is all different now. And so are the fans, in apparel and expectations, I hadn't seen a Nebraska home football game for 22 years until Saturday. Those were the not-so-good old days. As a youngster growing up in Lincoln, I used to spend my Saturdays sitting in the knot-hole section at the south end - just a set of bleachers on a hill. The boys were on south end and the girls' knothole section was on the north. Somehow, by game's end, there always seemed to be boys who ! had migrated to the north end. But very few girls headed south. Instead, the main diversions on the south side were games of tag and touch football under the bleachers or in the open field behind them. Diversions were needed because by the late stages of the games, the Huskers were usually out of it. Occasional highlights Not always, mind you. There were some high points. I'll never forget seeing Bobby Reynolds zig/zag and zag/zig and zig/zag back and forth across the field in his famous "question-mark run" against Mizzou in 1950. That run had quite a strange look from behind the end zone. Or how about 1959 when Ron Meade and Pat Fischer ran from a "tandem quarterback" formation (yep, both lined up behind the center), and NU ended Oklahoma's long conference winning streak with a 25-21 victory? But winning seasons were few and far between in the mid-'50s and early '60s. More frequent lowlights The low points? Well, how about 1961 when Bill Jennings' lads failed to muster a first down in a 7-0 loss in the mud to Colorado? Or the epitome of distress hopes were high after Nebraska went to the Orange Bowl after the 1954 season, so how did NU open the '55 season? By losing 6-0 Dave Wohlfarth | against Hawaii. At home. Executive Sports Editor Things took a turn for the better when Bob Devaney took over in 1962. In fact, the last game I saw was when Devaney's 1963 team beat Oklahoma, 29-20. That was the day after President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas. In honor of those memories, I decided to sit in the south stands Saturday. Right where the old knot-hole section used to be. More people, more red The most striking difference is the swarm of people - 75,943 of them. Crowds in the 25,000-30,000 range used to be the norm. And almost everyone wore red on Saturday. Red shorts, red pants, red shirts, red polkadots. Red bobbles on headwear, red paint on faces. Red everywhere. I had heard a radio station advise fans to wear lightcolored clothing to combat the heat. It was over 100 degrees in the south stands, but the dress code was definitely red. It used to be wear whatever was clean. There was a mixture of old and young, men and women, in the south stands. The band played the songs, but wore snappier uniforms. And the stadium itself looked huge with the two new ends. The scoreboards and press box were new to me. There were souvenirs of every quirk. Runza sandwiches to eat. And, of course, the wave. The fans, as always, seemed loyal, but much more | Loyalty a la Larry Stone, a 48-year-old farmer from Murray who has sat in the south stands ever since they were built. "I haven't missed very danged many games," Stone said. What about the farming chores? "We work Sundays and take Saturdays off." Or Jim Long, a 57-year-old doctor from Alma. He likes the south stands because even though "you lose your depth perception, you see the holes open up." Expectant were the many who anticipated a Nebraska rout when Tom Rathman broke a 60-yarder early. That would have been a season's worth of thrills in 1957, when NU was 1-9. ...and disgruntled ones But the south-standers became impatient when the NU offense sputtered. "Get rid of (Travis) Turner. He can't pass," one shouted. "Well, neither can (McCathorn) Clayton," another said. "Yeah, but at least he can run," the first countered a Some things never change. The "coaches" in the crowd used to yell about John Bordogna in 1951 when NU went 2-8. Saturday's frustrations grew as the shadows crept: across the field. But a late Clayton scramble and Rathman ramble gave hope until an FSU interception with 3:19 left to play. The fans' exodus began, even though the Huskers later got one last shot before bowing. "We've got a good defense, but no offense," said a man walking down the aisle. Later, on 10th Street, two young guys were discussing the game. One said, "You've got to remember, this is just a game. But it sure is disappointing. When was the last time we started out a season 0-1? I'll bet it's been four or five years." Those guys weren't there for that 1955 debacle against Hawaii.