Welcome to installment No. 14 of ‘The Cob’s Archive Dive’, where each week, I’ll share headlines and excerpts from past articles printed in the Falls City Journal. Hopefully you’ll find a piece of Husker football history that makes you feel the sights and sounds of gameday.
On this day in Cornhusker Football History:
November 4, 1970 – Headline: ‘Huskers Schedule games with LSU’
Nebraska has scheduled a home and home football series with Louisiana State in 1975 and 1976, Bob Devany NU football coach and athletic director announced. “This series will add a great deal to our fine football program,” said Devany. “We try to play the best possible football each fall, and we want to meet the best possible opponents. We certainly have scheduled a school with great football tradition like Nebraska when we get LSU.”
(What a difference 56 years makes, it is completely the opposite take from Matt Rhule and today’s college football.)
October 25, 1980 – Headline: Nebraska Pummels Colorado
The game matched the nation’s best offense against a defense which ranked as the country’s worst. The No.1 rushing team in the nation churned out an impressive 403 yards on the ground and added another 111 through the air. Colorado, meanwhile, had surprising success against a Nebraska defense which was also No.1 in the country. The Buffaloes generated 240 total yards and crossed midfield three times in the first half. But turnovers killed all three scoring threats, and Nebraska took a 31-0 halftime lead. It could have been worse, with I-Backs Jarvis Redwine and Craig Johnson sidelines by injuries on back-to-back plays late in the first quarter Saturday, sophomore Roger Craig the No.3 man at the position, entered the game. All Craig did was rush for 176 yards and three touchdowns to pace the ninth-ranked Cornhuskers to a 45-7 Big Eight football victory. Nebraska coach Tom Osborne admitted the pre-game build up had him worried.
“Boy, am I glad that’s over,” said Osborne. “I’m pleased to be past this game and on to Missouri. We were expected to win this game, and that makes it difficult to prepare.”
(Nebraska was deep at I-Back in the 80’s and Osborne continued that practice through his coaching career.)
October 8, 1990 – Headline: Osborne Has Pride for K-State
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne couldn’t help but have pride – in Kansas State. “I was proud of their football team,” Osborne said Saturday after his unbeaten, 8th ranked Cornhuskers piled up a flurry of fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat the plucky Wildcats 45-8 and prove once again how misleading final scores can be. At halftime Kansas State trailed only10-2 and had held Nebraska, which had come into the game leading the NCAA with more than 380 rushing yards, to 77 yards on the ground.
As both coaches noted, the telling factor was Nebraska’s enormous advantage in eh kicking game. The Huskers had 177 yards in punt returns to go with Tyrone Hugh’s school record 153 yards on kickoff returns. His 99-yarder was the longest since Ron Clark returned a Kansas State kickoff 100 yards in 1949. “They ran back kicks pretty much at will,” Snyder said. “We talk to our players all the time about the kicking game,” Osborne said.
(There are three phases to the game, offense, defense, and special teams. Special teams and kicking games are often forgotten, but the teams that excel at special teams are usually the ones who are winning games. Especially close ones. Rhule and his staff cannot overlook that part of the game.)
October 14, 2000 – Headline: Cornhuskers Finally Get Defensive
The Nebraska defense sent Texas Tech a message by roughing quarterback Kliff Kingsbury on the second snap. When the Huskers came away with his right sleeve, everyone understood they meant business. The Cornhuskers emphatically proved they're No. 1 again and plan to keep it this time by crushing the Red Raiders 56-3 on Saturday night. Although Nebraska gained 540 yards and scored its most points in 32 games, it was the defense that deserves the most credit for handing Tech the worst loss in its history.
"We went out there with an attitude and purpose, we went out there relentless," linebacker Carlos Polk said. "From the opening play, we wanted to make a statement."
Eric Crouch ran for two touchdowns and threw for another, all in the first half, and the defense held the Red Raiders to 200 yards, 289 below their average. The renowned Blackshirts, which went from inconsistent to intimidating, struggled the last three weeks as Notre Dame took them to overtime, Missouri played a tight first half and Iowa State was within one in the third quarter. This time, the Cornhuskers plowed through Tech's young blockers and rattled Kingsbury into interceptions The Nebraska backers were louder at the outset of the fourth quarter as their call-and-respond chant of "Husker!" "Power!" serenaded the thousands of Tech fans heading for the exits.
(While born in Nebraska, I spent my high school years a few miles from Lubbock. I went to countless Tech games before ever stepping foot in Memorial Stadium. So, I never missed a Husker game against Tech in Texas. I’ve been on both sides of this game, from this 56-3 thumping to Callhan’s first season and the 70-10 drilling my Huskers suffered. I can tell you, there were no “Husker” “Power” chants that night as we slinked out of town.)
Be sure to look for next week’s edition as the ‘Cob’ dives into each week’s headlines as they once appeared in the Falls City Journal.
GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FAST VIOLENT!!
All headlines and excerpts were gathered from Associated Press articles, and most but not all were published in the Falls City Journal. Home - Falls City Journal - Falls City, NE
Photographs were gathered from multiple sources.
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