(State College) -- The tone of yesterday's Penn State-Nebraska game was one of mutual respect, and Nebraska fans remarked at how welcomed they felt by the host team. Nebraska’s athletic director, Tom Osborne, had urged Cornhusker fans not to stick out this weekend after a week of turmoil following the news of a sexual abuse scandal. But Shane Valverde, originally from Nebraska and now living in Virginia Beach, proudly wore red for the game. He says Nebraska feels deeply for Penn State. "We have a lot of respect for the Penn State program. Paterno, Osborne, they go back a couple of generations, almost," he says. "So our ties I think are pretty strong and, you know, it’s kind of like two kids on the block growing up together their entire lives, you know?" Nebraska won the game, 17 to 14. It was Penn State’s last home game of the season, and the first in 46 years without Joe Paterno as a head coach. Paterno was fired last Wednesday in the fallout resulting from charges of sexual abuse against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.