Save the date

We're partying in Nebraska in 2029 if one simple thing happens before then. You're invited.

Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Kindly save the date Oct. 1, 2029, if you’re a Nebraska football fan. There may be a party on that day, of indeterminate size for now, but I’m planning to be there. As the person who perhaps pays the most attention to the esoteric fact I’m about to share, I might have to organize the party. So be it.

By reading this, you’re invited. If there’s a party.

The party will officially be a go only if Alabama falls out of the Associated Press poll by that date. It’s nothing against the Tide, it’s more that the Huskers’ all-time record for consecutive weeks ranked in the AP poll (348) is kind of the last big one the program has left. Alabama has the second-longest streak (261), and it’s active.

The Tide need 87 more consecutive weeks. If my math is correct, that should put us at October of 2029 assuming college football hasn’t consolidated further into NFL Lite and the Associated Press still exists to put out a poll on roughly the same calendar it has in the past, neither of which is a given.¹

I care about this streak for two big reasons.