Talk about a drought. This has been an epic drought. As in a conference championship drought. As in 13 long, dry years. You remember, don't you? Certainly you remember December 4, 1999. Nebraska beat a team based out of Austin, 22-6. Our opponent had as many rushing yards as points. And it was the last time our Nebraska Cornhuskers won a conference championship.

Back when Y2K was gonna blow up the world as we knew it;

Back when we were partying with the artist formerly known as Prince;

Back when Friends dominated sitcoms;

Back when a gallon of gas went for $1.22;

Back when Britney Spears was hot;

Back when we couldn't wait for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace;

Back when the world was a little simpler: The World Trade Towers still dominated the New York skyline;

Back when we gave conference championships a nice little golf clap. Yeah, nice hardware, we thought, but certainly not the expectation around here. Those trophies would always collect dust sitting behind the real trophies (hint, there are 5 of those).

We've had our chances the past 13 years. '01 comes to mind before the final game of conference play. '06 comes to mind before a fumble inside our own 20 less than 5 minutes into the conference championship game. '09 comes to mind when 1 man, and I mean one MAN, came within .01 of winning the conference championship damn near by himself. '10 comes to mind, before 17-0 turned into 20-23. But close don't cut it, especially when we're talking about Nebraska football.