The 2007-2008 season is one that will not be forgotten very quickly for fans of Husker sports.
The one thing that may get lost in the cracks, though, is the fact that Nebraska won just one Big 12 Conference championship during the past athletic year. The volleyball team shared the title with Texas, marking the fewest conference titles won by Nebraska since joining the Big 12 Conference 12 years ago.
All in all, it wasn't a very good year for Husker athletics overall. Still, in spite of some of the ugly episodes of the previous 12 months -- the football fiasco and firing of athletic director leading the charge -- there were some good highlights this season for Big Red fans.
The women's basketball team qualified for the NCAA tournament and won a first-round matchup, marking just the second time in team history that they advanced to the second round. The Husker wrestling team finished in the top five nationally for the first time in over a decade, the track and field team was once again among the nation's best and the baseball team was ranked as high as No. 5 before a late-season slump took some of the shine off an otherwise-successful spring campaign.
In addition to the football team's worst record in almost half a century, season lowlights included the softball team finishing tied for last in the conference and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 14 years, the women's soccer team tied for last and missed the postseason tournament for the second straight year, and the women's gymnastics squad finished last at the conference meet and missed nationals after finishing in the top six nationally eight times in the previous nine seasons.
In the sweepstakes for the Big 12 conference, the Huskers scored 131 points and finished fourth behind Texas (178), Texas A&M (175) and Oklahoma (135). Texas A&M won the most conference titles this season, taking nine in all, while Texas was second with seven. Sweepstakes points are scored based on a school's finish in each sport (1st place is worth 12 points, 2nd place 11, etc.).
Athletic director Tom Osborne told the Omaha World-Herald that he is pleased with where the Husker athletic program is at right now and feels each team can be competitive nationally and at the conference level next season.
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