“In the world of social media and talk shows, they look at that segment that was really a ridiculous segment and they’ve kind of spun that into ‘I hate Nebraska’ because of that segment and I didn’t bow down to the ’95 team, even though I have no problem with anybody who thinks that that’s the best team to ever play.”

The greatest hits of that show attracted more than 294,000 views on YouTube, becoming the first ingredient in a “perfect recipe” that forever damaged his image in Nebraska, Herbstreit said. Ingredient No. 2: his refusal to sugarcoat NU’s struggles.

“Let’s be honest, Nebraska in the years of Tom Osborne and the glory years, they were where Alabama is right now,” he said. “Every year, they were either winning the national championship or a play away from winning the national championship. And it just hasn’t been that way for a long time. I’m not on TV to talk about how wonderful any team is unless it is. So I’ve been very objective in my analysis of Nebraska.”

But the perception that he doesn’t like NU is “the furthest thing from the truth,” Herbstreit said. When the Huskers are good, like they are this season, the GameDay crew gives them credit. They talk about their strengths. They evaluate their games. Just like they do for other highly ranked teams.