This week is the 25th anniversary of the Huskers' heartbreaking 31-30 loss to Miami in the Jan 1, 1984 Orange Bowl. It was a great game, and featured the unforgettable decision by Tom Osborne to go for 2 points and the win with the Huskers behind 31-30 late in the game. The game was a high point in T.O.'s career for that gutsy call.
This week also marks the 20th anniversary of another Orange Bowl versus Miami--the 1989 matchup. You don't hear much about the '89 contest--mostly for good reason. Our Guys lost 23-3 in one of the most methodical beat-downs that an Osborne-coached team ever had. It took a 50-yard field goal from Greg Barrios to avoid a shutout.
But wait, there's more. The '89 clanger was the 2nd straight bowl loss for an Osborne team, and it was the first of 5 straight bowl games where the Huskers went down by double digits. In that run, Florida State and Miami each put the hammer down twice and Georgia Tech once.
In all fairness, these were good teams. (Osborne never really had a bad one.) But there was one important thing missing---that took several years to finally bring to the table.
Speed. Across the field. On both sides of the ball.
You can argue "playmakers"--with in mind Tommie Frazier's and Lawrence Phillips's huge contributions. No argument there. But, when the bowl game losing string was finally broken in the Orange Bowl on Jan 1, 1995, the momentum for that comeback came from the defense.
Which brings us to the last hours before the Gator Bowl between Nebraska and Clemson. And two final thoughts before the guys tee it up:
1) If there's not going to be a playoff in college football, at least let's continue with the regional matchups that bowl games bring. They can indeed serve as a measuring stick for a team and program. We've seen that in several games already, and I think we will for sure in the Gator Bowl.
2) This Old Husker Fan continues to be appreciative of the fact that Bo Pelini is our head guy--this time, because of his experience in the Southeastern Conference--where everyone can pick 'em up and lay 'em down. Having seen firsthand (and reaped the rewards of) the impact that speed can make in a team's profile, I think Bo will always have this characteristic right up there on his shopping list.
Those are the lessons to remember from 20 years ago. They're as important as the T.O. character seminar 5 years before.
GO BIG RED!!!
The Old Husker Fan
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Huskers' Gator Bowl Is A Va Tech Do-Over
Getting wild & crazy on New Year's isn't part of this Old Husker Fan's routine much anymore--but fortunately for me and the other go-zillion Husker fans in the universe, New Year's Day will mean something other than just being part of the huddled masses looking over someone else's shoulder when the Jan 1 bowl games start up. Our Guys will be part of the action in the Gator Bowl against Clemson.
[Speaking of watching college bowl games---heard today that the Florida State-Wisconsin Champs Sports Bowl matchup last Saturday pulled in an audience of 4.6 million. 4.6 Mill for what amounts to an exhibition game (the point of the radio rant) on a CABLE network (ESPN). That was only 700,000 fewer folks watching than the 5.3 million that tuned in to the Celtics & Lakers--the NBA's finest matchup--in prime time on ABC on Christmas Day. Are we football fans or what???]
Back to the thought--and by the way, Florida State figures in here.
I'm not alone in this thought, I'm sure---that the Gator Bowl chance against Clemson is essentially the rematch against Virginia Tech that a lot of us have thought about and talked about since the team got re-started after the OU meltdown. Well, here we are, folks. The guys are playing a bunch with some tough D-backs, some speed in the backfield, and a competitive record--one that we came within, oh, about 57 yards' worth of matching (Alex Henery's FG distance against Colorado).
In other words, this game to me doesn't look like a cakewalk. I think we'll have our hands full to come out a winner.
There are 2 big features of the Clemson outfit that worry me:
First is their backfield speed. Their 2 running backs--Davis and Spiller--have over 2,000 yards rushing combined, and Spiller puts out a 4.25 in the 40. That's serious burning. Plus, it sounds to me like these guys have got the capability of doing ball-control and time of possession with their offense just like we've been so proud of since the Texas Tech game.
I'm still leery of the whole Southern Speed factor anyway--I always am during bowl season. It hit home again seeing how Florida State literally ran away from Wisconsin. Was I the only one watching who had a flashback to the late '80s-early '90s when our guys simply didn't have the wheels to match up in the bowl games? I don't think so.
The second facet of Clemson that bothers me is their D-backs' capability. Clemson had 18 INTs during the 2008 regular season. Apparently they can play a little pass defense. It makes me think of the Colorado game, when CU played Nate Swift and Todd Peterson pretty well and limited their production (combined 6 catches for just 54 yards). This concerns me.
So, how do our guys grab the Gator, so to speak? Here's one opinion--first, on defense--own the line big time across the board. Our guys have done that a lot, and it's helped our 'backers to not have blockers in their grilles. And then--numbers around the ballcarrier and no missed tackles. If we let their guys out, I don't know that we've got the make-up speed to catch them.
On offense--it's gotta be the Joe & Roy show as in Ganz & Helu--with a dash of Marlon Lucky on the perimeter and Mike McNeill in the seams of the defense thrown in. It'll be hugely important for #12 to not just manage the game, but to make some throws in the pass D holes to McNeill and be on target--same with checkdowns or flat-out fly patterns to Lucky, because I think the "Dabo Demons" (had to break that one out) will make darn sure that they don't get beat by #'s 87 and 17. Joe will also need to make those timely runs that he's capable of when the D flies back in pass coverage.
Regarding Helu--make it happen, Roy. Florida State netted 266 yards rushing when they played Clemson. There's gotta be some of that available for you, too. The 'Noles picked up 7.6 yards per rush--you're almost there with 6.7 per carry. Sounds like a plan to me!
As for the score--it looks like the experts have things pegged pretty well on the spread with the Huskers favored by basically 3 points (2 1/2). Let's go with a 27-23 type game. I'd like to see a bigger margin weighted to our side of course--but I'm also in the camp of "1 point's as good as a thousand", so give me a W and make it an even Happier New Year to finish out what's been a positive start to the Bo Pelini era in Husker coaching.
GO BIG RED!!!
The Old Husker Fan
[Speaking of watching college bowl games---heard today that the Florida State-Wisconsin Champs Sports Bowl matchup last Saturday pulled in an audience of 4.6 million. 4.6 Mill for what amounts to an exhibition game (the point of the radio rant) on a CABLE network (ESPN). That was only 700,000 fewer folks watching than the 5.3 million that tuned in to the Celtics & Lakers--the NBA's finest matchup--in prime time on ABC on Christmas Day. Are we football fans or what???]
Back to the thought--and by the way, Florida State figures in here.
I'm not alone in this thought, I'm sure---that the Gator Bowl chance against Clemson is essentially the rematch against Virginia Tech that a lot of us have thought about and talked about since the team got re-started after the OU meltdown. Well, here we are, folks. The guys are playing a bunch with some tough D-backs, some speed in the backfield, and a competitive record--one that we came within, oh, about 57 yards' worth of matching (Alex Henery's FG distance against Colorado).
In other words, this game to me doesn't look like a cakewalk. I think we'll have our hands full to come out a winner.
There are 2 big features of the Clemson outfit that worry me:
First is their backfield speed. Their 2 running backs--Davis and Spiller--have over 2,000 yards rushing combined, and Spiller puts out a 4.25 in the 40. That's serious burning. Plus, it sounds to me like these guys have got the capability of doing ball-control and time of possession with their offense just like we've been so proud of since the Texas Tech game.
I'm still leery of the whole Southern Speed factor anyway--I always am during bowl season. It hit home again seeing how Florida State literally ran away from Wisconsin. Was I the only one watching who had a flashback to the late '80s-early '90s when our guys simply didn't have the wheels to match up in the bowl games? I don't think so.
The second facet of Clemson that bothers me is their D-backs' capability. Clemson had 18 INTs during the 2008 regular season. Apparently they can play a little pass defense. It makes me think of the Colorado game, when CU played Nate Swift and Todd Peterson pretty well and limited their production (combined 6 catches for just 54 yards). This concerns me.
So, how do our guys grab the Gator, so to speak? Here's one opinion--first, on defense--own the line big time across the board. Our guys have done that a lot, and it's helped our 'backers to not have blockers in their grilles. And then--numbers around the ballcarrier and no missed tackles. If we let their guys out, I don't know that we've got the make-up speed to catch them.
On offense--it's gotta be the Joe & Roy show as in Ganz & Helu--with a dash of Marlon Lucky on the perimeter and Mike McNeill in the seams of the defense thrown in. It'll be hugely important for #12 to not just manage the game, but to make some throws in the pass D holes to McNeill and be on target--same with checkdowns or flat-out fly patterns to Lucky, because I think the "Dabo Demons" (had to break that one out) will make darn sure that they don't get beat by #'s 87 and 17. Joe will also need to make those timely runs that he's capable of when the D flies back in pass coverage.
Regarding Helu--make it happen, Roy. Florida State netted 266 yards rushing when they played Clemson. There's gotta be some of that available for you, too. The 'Noles picked up 7.6 yards per rush--you're almost there with 6.7 per carry. Sounds like a plan to me!
As for the score--it looks like the experts have things pegged pretty well on the spread with the Huskers favored by basically 3 points (2 1/2). Let's go with a 27-23 type game. I'd like to see a bigger margin weighted to our side of course--but I'm also in the camp of "1 point's as good as a thousand", so give me a W and make it an even Happier New Year to finish out what's been a positive start to the Bo Pelini era in Husker coaching.
GO BIG RED!!!
The Old Husker Fan
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Huskers vs Clemson Recalls "Conversation" Days
Sports comparison talk is rife with the phrase "...so-and-so is in the conversation." Get going on any "who's best at such-and-such a point..." topic and this line will pop up before the gig is over--
"If (he/they) isn't/aren't the best---he/they are in the conversation." Meaning, of course, that the player or team deserves to be thought of in very high regard.
And as the Huskers prepare for the Gator Bowl against Clemson--the first time these 2 teams have met since the Orange Bowl Jan 1 1982--this is the overall memory that sticks with me. You're reading and hearing lots of game-memory comments from coaches and players about Clemson's 22-15 win: the matchup between Nebraska all-time center Dave Rimington and the "Fridge"--William Perry of Clemson; how the Huskers almost pulled it out despite Turner Gill's absence because of a late-season leg injury; the impact of Danny Ford's lone national title as a head college coach on the community of Clemson, SC.
But--for me--the most important angle to this subject is this--the winner of the Orange Bowl would be the national champion of college football for the 1981 season. In other words, the road to the title went through the Huskers. If our guys had won, they would have won the '81 title. The Huskers were in the conversation.
It gets better. This was the start of a 5-year run during the heart of Tom Osborne's tremendous run as the Husker head man--heck, you could even stretch it to 6 or 7--where at one point or another in the season our guys had the title not several time zones away, but right in their sights--as long as they took care of business. And for 3 years running, whoever won the title had to beat Nebraska to get there--Clemson for the '81 title; Penn State in the famous "extended sideline" game in '82 (Joe Paterno's first title) ; and of course the Miami heartbreaker (featuring Bernie Kosar and Howard Schnellenberger) ending the '83 season and the famous Triplets (Gill, Mike Rozier and Irving Fryar) run in the Orange Bowl Jan 1, 1984.
Three years running!!! Raise your hand if you'd take that again.
And this, my fellow Husker fans, is what Bo Pelini & Co are striving for--to be in the hunt. To be in the conversation.
That's what makes this game special--the echoes of what the Husker program's calling card used to be--and how that trademark is being rebuilt, step by step, practice by practice, game by game.
It's perfect. It feels good. And it adds even more glue to the program's legacy with this appointment in Jacksonville Jan 1, 2009.
Go Big Red!!
The Old Husker Fan
"If (he/they) isn't/aren't the best---he/they are in the conversation." Meaning, of course, that the player or team deserves to be thought of in very high regard.
And as the Huskers prepare for the Gator Bowl against Clemson--the first time these 2 teams have met since the Orange Bowl Jan 1 1982--this is the overall memory that sticks with me. You're reading and hearing lots of game-memory comments from coaches and players about Clemson's 22-15 win: the matchup between Nebraska all-time center Dave Rimington and the "Fridge"--William Perry of Clemson; how the Huskers almost pulled it out despite Turner Gill's absence because of a late-season leg injury; the impact of Danny Ford's lone national title as a head college coach on the community of Clemson, SC.
But--for me--the most important angle to this subject is this--the winner of the Orange Bowl would be the national champion of college football for the 1981 season. In other words, the road to the title went through the Huskers. If our guys had won, they would have won the '81 title. The Huskers were in the conversation.
It gets better. This was the start of a 5-year run during the heart of Tom Osborne's tremendous run as the Husker head man--heck, you could even stretch it to 6 or 7--where at one point or another in the season our guys had the title not several time zones away, but right in their sights--as long as they took care of business. And for 3 years running, whoever won the title had to beat Nebraska to get there--Clemson for the '81 title; Penn State in the famous "extended sideline" game in '82 (Joe Paterno's first title) ; and of course the Miami heartbreaker (featuring Bernie Kosar and Howard Schnellenberger) ending the '83 season and the famous Triplets (Gill, Mike Rozier and Irving Fryar) run in the Orange Bowl Jan 1, 1984.
Three years running!!! Raise your hand if you'd take that again.
And this, my fellow Husker fans, is what Bo Pelini & Co are striving for--to be in the hunt. To be in the conversation.
That's what makes this game special--the echoes of what the Husker program's calling card used to be--and how that trademark is being rebuilt, step by step, practice by practice, game by game.
It's perfect. It feels good. And it adds even more glue to the program's legacy with this appointment in Jacksonville Jan 1, 2009.
Go Big Red!!
The Old Husker Fan
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Huskers' Season Takes Edge Off Winter
Man, woman and child---this winter is feeling a whole lot different--and better--than last winter. A year ago my favorite college football team was a wreck; we had a promise of better things to come but didn't know for sure; recruiting was full of question marks and catcalls; and to top it off, there wasn't another month's worth of practice and bowl-game anticipation to take some of the edge off cabin-fever season. How much suckier can it get??
Jump to this year. The boys won what--4 of their last 5; kicked a little booty along the way; showed some muscle in the run game; made some spectacular plays; got the shake back into Memorial Stadium. And now, to top it off---I'm reading bulletin board chatter with bitching about how one of our guys got screwed by the evil Big XII South in all-conference voting, and I'm getting e-mails about how the Gator Bowl gives us a chance for payback on Clemson after the Orange Bowl back in 1982--26 freaking years ago!!
And my reaction is---YEESSSSSS!!!! Things are getting back to normal!!!
A few comments here about the Colorado game--because in many respects, the events of that game captured Bo Pelini's 1st season as our Head Coach in one afternoon-early evening thrill ride.
The first point is---we as fans, and maybe the program---underestimated just how hard it is to get that winning vibe back. Before the CU game, I read and heard a lot of talk about how the "Vermin"--as my friend Colonel Mustard describes the Boulderites on Huskerpedia--were basically ripe for a beat-down because of injuries, bad offense, blah blah blah. Well, in many respects, that's kind of how we approached this 1st season with Bo and his staff also. I truly thought we'd have 9 wins in the bag right now.
Then, reality kicked in. And the bad guys scored on the 2nd play of the game.
The second point is---the program is truly welded together on all sides--players to coaches, coaches to players, team to the athletic department, athletic department to team. Time and time again this season, this team has pulled back from going into the ditch (especially after Mizzou and OU crashes)--and teams do not accomplish that if they have a problem.
Consider how that played out in the Colorado game. Time after time--2 easy scores for them, we forge ahead, then the fake field goal fiasco, then ill-time fumbles or penalties, the big sack on Joe Ganz late in the game, all followed by Alex Henery's explosive field goal and the Potter-Suh INT/TD capper--our guys faced circumstances where they could have cashed it in--blamed the coaches for bad play calls--blamed each other for some goof-up--blamed the refs for something--but they didn't. They held it together.
The third and final point is---while he's not perfect, Bo Pelini has done enough to show that he's got it going to the point that I'll bet almost every Husker fan is a "BO-liever" right now. And I offer the reaction of the stadium when Suh gave the Buff QB that great stiff-arm on his way to the end zone as proof. The roar of the crowd after Henery's field goal was loud, but it had a sigh-of-relief element to it as well. Kind of like "Oh, thank the Lord. We're ahead." But when Suh brought that INT into the north end zone, there was a good old spine-tingling rattle to that place!!--a sound of power and belief--or, again in ad-agency lingo, "BO-lief."
What a show. What an experience!
I'll have some more thoughts about the season later. But I'll tell you what--the gray skies, subzero wind chill and icy snow pellet-junk covering the back yard don't look all that troublesome. I'll wallow around in some very tasty memories--with more to come before this run is over with.
GO BIG RED!!!
The Old Husker Fan
Jump to this year. The boys won what--4 of their last 5; kicked a little booty along the way; showed some muscle in the run game; made some spectacular plays; got the shake back into Memorial Stadium. And now, to top it off---I'm reading bulletin board chatter with bitching about how one of our guys got screwed by the evil Big XII South in all-conference voting, and I'm getting e-mails about how the Gator Bowl gives us a chance for payback on Clemson after the Orange Bowl back in 1982--26 freaking years ago!!
And my reaction is---YEESSSSSS!!!! Things are getting back to normal!!!
A few comments here about the Colorado game--because in many respects, the events of that game captured Bo Pelini's 1st season as our Head Coach in one afternoon-early evening thrill ride.
The first point is---we as fans, and maybe the program---underestimated just how hard it is to get that winning vibe back. Before the CU game, I read and heard a lot of talk about how the "Vermin"--as my friend Colonel Mustard describes the Boulderites on Huskerpedia--were basically ripe for a beat-down because of injuries, bad offense, blah blah blah. Well, in many respects, that's kind of how we approached this 1st season with Bo and his staff also. I truly thought we'd have 9 wins in the bag right now.
Then, reality kicked in. And the bad guys scored on the 2nd play of the game.
The second point is---the program is truly welded together on all sides--players to coaches, coaches to players, team to the athletic department, athletic department to team. Time and time again this season, this team has pulled back from going into the ditch (especially after Mizzou and OU crashes)--and teams do not accomplish that if they have a problem.
Consider how that played out in the Colorado game. Time after time--2 easy scores for them, we forge ahead, then the fake field goal fiasco, then ill-time fumbles or penalties, the big sack on Joe Ganz late in the game, all followed by Alex Henery's explosive field goal and the Potter-Suh INT/TD capper--our guys faced circumstances where they could have cashed it in--blamed the coaches for bad play calls--blamed each other for some goof-up--blamed the refs for something--but they didn't. They held it together.
The third and final point is---while he's not perfect, Bo Pelini has done enough to show that he's got it going to the point that I'll bet almost every Husker fan is a "BO-liever" right now. And I offer the reaction of the stadium when Suh gave the Buff QB that great stiff-arm on his way to the end zone as proof. The roar of the crowd after Henery's field goal was loud, but it had a sigh-of-relief element to it as well. Kind of like "Oh, thank the Lord. We're ahead." But when Suh brought that INT into the north end zone, there was a good old spine-tingling rattle to that place!!--a sound of power and belief--or, again in ad-agency lingo, "BO-lief."
What a show. What an experience!
I'll have some more thoughts about the season later. But I'll tell you what--the gray skies, subzero wind chill and icy snow pellet-junk covering the back yard don't look all that troublesome. I'll wallow around in some very tasty memories--with more to come before this run is over with.
GO BIG RED!!!
The Old Husker Fan
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