Let's see if I can address a few of the issues:
1. Chat's been discussed, but so far as I know there's not been a decision made on whether to offer it. If we did, I assume we'd use the add-on module for good integration, and that would cost, so it's not something I see happening soon.
2. Yes, we could offer the old skin, but it's a pain to maintain both, since we have to manually update various features - the Countdown Clock, the Previous Game, etc. For that reason, we're going to keep it limited to just this skin.
3. Sub-forums. There's always going to be a battle of "too many" verses "too few." We kept the breakout for the Plan-It Husker primarly because, prior to having all the sub-forums, topics were not getting responses. This way, you can pop in and look for just the area of the country or world that interests you. As for Other Husker Sports - yes, during a season we get an up-tic on the number of posts for a particular sport, but generally speaking, there isn't enough posting going on overall to warrant seperate sub-forums. In-season, we might bet a couple of topics a week. Out of season, it's more like a topic every few months, if that often. We don't think that merging them will cause too much trouble finding topics about a particular sport for that reason.
4. The Nebraska "N." I'll leave that to one of our Mods with graphics or design skills. If they come up with something, we'll use it.
Anything there's this much change, there will be folks who love it and folks who hate it. But generally, if you dislike it, give it time - most people get used to it. And this is a radical change, we know. It's more "saturated" with color, for one thing. But keep letting us know what you like and what you don't like - we can't do anything without your input.