Nebraska Plans Football Special Events

The University of Nebraska Athletic Department is pleased to announce the lineup of special events that will take place at each football game this fall. The Huskers are set to begin their first season in the Big Ten, with conference play starting in October.

Nebraska's season will kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 3 at 2:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium against Tennessee-Chattanooga with a salute of the past, as the 1971 National Championship Football Team will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a special team reunion. The championship was Nebraska's second title in football, giving the school back-to-back championships under head coach Bob Devaney. The first game will also include a pregame presentation of the Brook Berringer Scholarship, in honor of former Husker quarterback Brook Berringer, who died in a plane crash in 1996, with members of the Berringer family on hand to present the scholarship.

The following week, when the Huskers take on Fresno State on Sept. 10 at 6 p.m., the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame will honor the Class of 2011 in a pregame salute. The official induction banquet will be held the previous evening in the West Stadium Club. The Class of 2011 includes former Nebraska standouts Mike Brown, Ralph Brown II, Lawrence Pete, Carel Stith and Bob Terrio; State College inductees Jimmy Jones of Nebraska-Omaha and Dave Meyer of Midland Lutheran; Coach Award recipient Leo McKillip of Dana College; and special merit award winners Bruce and Darla Evertson of Kimball, Neb. and Jay and Kim Noddle of Omaha .

The game will also include the Alumni Band performance, with several former members of the Nebraska Marching Band taking the field for pregame and halftime, and a special recognition of the 10-year anniversary of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

In the final home non-conference game, which will be played against Washington on Sept. 17 at 2:30 p.m., longtime Nebraska athletic trainer and new National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame Inductee Jerry Weber will be saluted, and the George Sullivan Scholarship will be presented before the game. Several members of the Teammates mentoring organization will also be on hand for the game for their annual outing and celebration of success.

While the team will play its first Big Ten Conference game on Oct. 1 against Wisconsin in Madison, the first home conference matchup will be a headline event against Ohio State in prime time on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. The game has been selected for Homecoming, with a parade on Friday, the annual decoration contests on campus and the Homecoming king and queen crowned at halftime. Nebraska All-American and Outland Trophy winner Will Shields will also be saluted at the game for his upcoming National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame induction in December. Other former Hall of Fame members will also be invited back to campus for this historic event.

After a bye week and a road trip to Minnesota, the team will return to Memorial Stadium to take on Michigan State on Oct. 29. The game will include a pregame salute to Jake Young, the former Nebraska All-American offensive lineman who was killed in a bombing in Indonesia in 2002, and the presentation of the Jake Young Scholarship in his honor. The game will also mark Red Cross Day, with volunteers for the organization on hand to collect donations to help the Red Cross's efforts both in the Midwest and across the nation.

The following week, the team will play Northwestern on Nov. 5, with a special Military Salute to honor all veterans. Several members of the Nebraska National Guard as well as other active-duty soldiers will be on hand for the game, and the names of all Nebraska soldiers killed in the war on terror will be scrolled at the game to honor their sacrifice.

In the final home game of the season, Nebraska will take on Big Ten rival Iowa in a Friday matchup on Nov. 25 at 11 a.m. The team's seniors will be honored in a pregame introduction for Senior Day, and the game will also include the presentation of the Nadine Stannard Scholarship. U.S. Marines will be stationed outside the stadium at the game to collect new, unwrapped toys and monetary donations to Toys for Tots, which distributes the toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community.

The Nebraska Alumni Association will also have several special events taking place throughout the season. On Fridays before each home game, fans are invited to the Wick Alumni Center Holling Garden on campus for Football Fridays, featuring great speakers, game analysis, family activities and fun with other fans. These events are free to the public (food and drink available for purchase) and last from 4:30 p.m. until 7 p.m.

Fans traveling to the away games at Wisconsin, Minnesota, Penn State and Michigan can meet with their fellow Nebraska fans at the Alumni Association's Husker Huddle events outside the stadiums at those locations. Please contact Sarah Haskell at (402) 472-2841 or shaskell@huskeralum.org for more information about Nebraska Alumni Association events, or visit www.huskeralum.org.

2011 Husker Home Football Special Events/Salutes

Saturday, Sept. 3 - Tennessee at Chattanooga
(Red Out Around the World/1971 Team Reunion/Brook Berringer Scholarship Presentation-pregame)

Saturday, Sept. 10 - Fresno State
Nebraska Football Hall of Fame / Alumni Band

Saturday, Sept. 17 - Washington 
(Teammates/Honor Hall of Fame Athletic Trainer Jerry Weber/George Sullivan Scholarship Presentation (pregame)

Saturday, Sept. 24 - at Wyoming (Laramie, Wyo.)                     

Saturday, Oct. 1 - at Wisconsin* (Madison, Wis.)
(Alumni Association Husker Huddle/Plane Trip)

Saturday, Oct. 8 - Ohio State* 
(Homecoming/Will Shields NFF College Football Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute)

Saturday, Oct. 22 - at Minnesota*+ (Minneapolis, Minn.)
(Alumni Association Husker Huddle/Bus Trip)

Saturday, Oct. 29 - Michigan State*
(Red Cross Day/Jake Young Scholarship Presentation-pregame)

Saturday, Nov. 5 - Northwestern*
(Military Salute/Veteran's Day/Master's Week)

Saturday, Nov. 12 - at Penn State* (University Park, Pa.)
(Alumni Association Husker Huddle)

Saturday, Nov. 19 - at Michigan* (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
(Alumni Association Husker Huddle/Plane Trip)

Friday, Nov. 25 - Iowa*
(Senior Day/U.S. Marines Toys for Tots/Nadine Stannard Scholarship Presentation)

* Big Ten Conference Game; + UNL Student Migration