Games I’d Love to See Again
7 comments so far
May 3, 2007 by
We live in a great era as college football fans where most every game is broadcast in some manner and any game can be found on DVD. Throw in the 1995 Orange Bowl and you can relive the magic of Tom Osborne’s first national championship. But things weren’t always so good. Some of the best Husker memories are just that – memories. Sure you can find grainy highlights, or “cliff-notes” versions of an old game that usually run under an hour. But to me, unless I can get the “broadcast feed” it’s hard to really relive the moment. That’s why I put together a little “wish list” of Husker broadcasts I’d love to see again (though some were never broadcast to begin with). Maybe if I scoured E-bay I might track down one of these gems. But in all likelihood, you either had to see it or be there to experience it (and some of these were played even before my time).
1971 NU’s 17-12 Orange Bowl win over LSU that propelled the Huskers to their first national championship.
1972 NU’s 38-6 Orange Bowl win over Alabama that gave Nebraska their second straight national championship.
1973 NU’s 40-6 Orange Bowl rout of Notre Dame, Johnny Rodgers had a game for the ages accounting for five touchdowns.
1974 Huskers dominated the Longhorns 19-3 in the Cotton Bowl.
1977 Unranked NU upsets #2 Alabama in Lincoln 31-24.
1978 NU-OU game, Huskers upset Sooners 17-14 in hard-hitting contest.
1980 NU beat #11 Penn State 21-7 in State College as the blackshirts rang up 9 sacks and Jarvis Redwine ran wild.
1981 NU beat #19 FSU 34-14 as Roger Craig, Irving Fryar, and Tony Felici all had big days.
1982 NU beat #11 OU in Lincoln 28-24 in a tight game, OU back Marcus Dupree showed why he was such a star.
1983 NU gutted out a tough win and came back twice in Norman 28-21 behind a big day from Mike Rozier.
1986 NU beat #11 FSU 34-17 as Steve Taylor starred
1987 NU beat #3 UCLA 42-33 as Steve Taylor outdueled Troy Aikman
1988 NU beat #10 Oklahoma State 63-42 in a shootout, Barry Sanders exploded during perhaps the greatest season a college back ever had.
1988 The Huskers sent Switzer out a loser in this bruising 7-0 battle in Norman.
1991 Calvin Jones rolled for 294 rushing yards and 6 TD’s in a 59-23 win over KU, that the Jayhawks once led 17-0.
1991 Nebraska won the Big 8 for the first time in years with a 19-14 win over Oklahoma with big games from Johnny Mitchell, Calvin Jones, and Keithen McCant.
1992 Nebraska beat #8 Colorado 52-7 in a game that turned the tide in the Huskers favor against the Buffs for close to a decade.
By 1993, the athletic department did a better job of capturing and offering fuller broadcasts, so thankfully most of NU’s great run in the 1990’s and beyond are available to enjoy once more. But the games above are ones that you have to either remember or imagine.
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Mase May 03 07
Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing some of those again (1992 Colorado) or for the first time (1980 Penn State) either. I also find it hard to get a good, high quality copy of some of the more recent games (2005 Alamo Bowl). You would think that with the Nebraska program, they would make more of these "gems" available - and in good quality, as suggested with the original broadcast...and people would buy them if they were decent priced.
Jason May 03 07
FYI, a company that is run by "Osborne Family Enterprises" has lots of game videos on their site.
Steve May 03 07
Jason,
Thanks for the tip. I'd seen that site, but sadly it still carries those abbreviated versions of past games (e.g. 1980 Penn State runs 37 minutes). To me rewatching highlights is a whole different experience than rewatching games with broadcast announcing teams.
'sa blang thang May 06 07
Wow, I just glanced thru some of the games listed and I would love to see 'em all again. Is that possible?
I kinda like thoroughly enjoyed our thrashing of N.Western in the Alamo Bowl('o2?) in that they had been talking smack the whole year and we just basically sent them back down to the gutter--with their tail between their legs! I remember just yelling in raging joy as we kicked but the whole game!
Wasn't Barnett their coach then?
Gregory May 06 07
I was fortunate to attend the '78 Okie game, I was 14, but I understood the magnitude of the accomplishment for Osborne, having followed the team, game by game, 3 full seasons before that. Didn't have a great seat, (nose bleed, atop the south endzone) but, it was a great thrill! Also, Okie's offense was incredible, my favorite Oklahoma offense, of Barry's era. Thomas Lott at QB, Sims, Overstreet and Kenny King, I remember that team almost as well as Nebraska's. An almost guaranteed 4 yards (or more) a pop!
The '92 Buffy game, I remember because of young Tommie, who you could tell was already the perfect Quarterback for Osborne's system. A true forshadowing, of things to come.
darren May 07 07
Like 'sa blang, I'm trying to think of some more recent (Solich) contest that merit second watching. The Northwestern game was fun in the same way watching a cocky 14-year-old get beat up by his 20-year-old brother is. :-0
The 1999 Fiesta Bowl with #6 Tennessee is my recent pick. Going 96 yards and 99 yards on the ground on consecutive drives was the very essense of power football. Un-freaking-believable.
'sa blang thang May 07 07
Gregory,
(Ze here), I was in the NU marching band at that '78 OU game! The unfortuante thing is we lost to MO in the end and ended up with a rematch of OU in the Orange Bowl(which we lost). I also got to travel with the band to Miami for that one!
OU had some pretty ridiculous talent on the '70s.