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'Generous donors' buy Nebraska's remaining Week 1 tickets to keep school's football sellout streak alive

Nebraska football's sellout streak marches on.

Two "generous donors" bought all the remaining tickets available for Saturday's game against FCS opponent Fordham, the school said Tuesday. The tickets will be given to kids from across the state of Nebraska who wouldn't normally have the chance to go to a Husker football game.

"We had two generous donors come forward and purchase the remaining tickets for the home opener so that we could provide those tickets to young people throughout the state," Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts said in a statement.

"These donors have a strong commitment to Nebraska Athletics and understand our history and tradition. They also have a desire for young people, who may not otherwise have the opportunity, to experience a Nebraska Football game day at Memorial Stadium."

The purchase of the tickets also pushes Nebraska's sellout streak to 376. Nebraska has sold out Memorial Stadium for every home game dating back to 1962. It's the longest active sellout streak in college football.

And while giving kids the opportunity to attend a college football game is a worthy endeavor, two donors buying the remaining tickets to keep the sellout streak going seems very similar to the lengths that NFL teams would go to avoid being blacked out on television in their home cities. You couldn't blame Nebraska fans for not wanting to pay to watch their team play a far lesser opponent after the team's opener.

Nebraska lost to Illinois in Week 0

It won't be a surprise if the sellout streak ends sometime in 2021, especially if Nebraska struggles again. The Huskers opened the season with a 30-22 loss at Illinois on Saturday to drop head coach Scott Frost's record with the school to 12-21.

Frost, who was the starting QB on Nebraska's 1997 national title team, came to Nebraska from UCF after the Knights went 13-0 in 2017. The Huskers have failed to win more than five games in any of Frost's first three seasons with the school and played poorly in Champaign to open the 2021 season.

Nebraska said in the release announcing the Week 1 sellout that tickets remain for the other six home games at Memorial Stadium over the rest of the season. Will those tickets get purchased by Nebraska fans angling to go to a game or donors wanting to keep the sellout streak alive? The answer to that question may depend on Nebraska's win-loss record.