Welcome to installment No. 7 of ‘The Cob’s Archive Dive’, where each week, I’ll share Associated Press headlines and excerpts from past articles printed in the Falls City Journal. No matter what your age, 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:

September 26, 1970 – Headline: Nebraska Blackshirts Lead Win Over Army

Nobody’s saying precisely what Nebraska football coach Bob Devaney told his Cornhuskers during the halftime intermission Saturday, but whatever it was, it was enough to prompt a second half surge good for a 28-0 victory over Army. An offensively unimpressive first half – although the defense was superb from start to finish – had put Nebraska in the dressing room ahead only 7-0. Fumbles and penalties had kept the Huskers off the scoreboard until less than five minutes remained in the second quarter when Jerry Tagge hit Johnny Rogers with a 43-yard touchdown pass.

“Coach Devaney gave us a good talking to at halftime,” Rogers said. “And we knew what he meant.” In any event, the Huskers settled down, racked up two touchdowns in the third quarter and scored again early in the fourth quarter.

(Bob Devaney had a much different personality than Tom Osborne, and you can bet he let his team know what he wanted to see from them. It was Devaney’s fiery attitude and Osborne’s cool demeanor that worked.)

September 25, 1980 – Headline: ‘Huskers may Find Lions To be Crabby’

Penn State’s football trip to Lincoln last season was a frustrating and humbling experience. Nebraska racked up 553 yards in total offense for a 42-7 win against Penn State’s All-American defensive tackles.  Crab-blocking had taken the “awe’ out of the Nittany Lions awesome tackles. “Nebraska doesn’t come straight at you. All they did was that leg-blocking and that’s frustrating,” said Matt Millen. “Those guys would be monkeying around at your feet with those leg-blocks. It’s not physical, but it’s effective,” said Bruce Clark. “The point is you don’t block shoulder to shoulder against big, strong guys like that. The crab-block is a matter of leverage,” said Cletus Fischer, Nebraska’s veteran offensive line coach. Nebraska will carry a 2-0 record and a No. 3 national ranking into the nationally televised contest. Penn State is also 2-0 and holds the 11th spot in the AP poll.

(While Nebraska has always been known for their big powerful offensive lineman, offensive line coach Cletus Fischer taught technique and methods to give players an advantage.)

September 7, 1990 – Headline: Mickey Joseph to Start at Quarterback

Mickey Joesph will start at quarterback for Nebraska against Northen Illinois, Cornhusker coach Tom Osborne said Thursday. Mike Grant, who started against Baylor, is still nursing a bruised knee. About 300 tickets are still available for Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium, NU ticket manager Joe Selig said. Nebraska’s junior varsity will open its five-game season Friday against Snow Utah Junior College at 1 p.m. in Memorial Stadium.

(This headline carries three significant storylines about Husker football. 1. Nebraska’s competitive QB competition. 2. Only a day or two before the game there were still tickets available. 3. Nebraska still had a Junior Varsity which helped players hone their ability and gain experience.)

September 10, 2000 – Headline: High Husker Drama

Notre Dame battled top-ranked Nebraska to the wire before the Huskers protected their No.1 status with a spine-tingling 27-24 overtime victory. Two touchdowns behind, 21-7, midway through the third quarter, Notre Dame romped back into a tie on two sensational runs – a 100-yard kickoff return for a TD, then an equally-dazzling 83-yard punt return for another touchdown. In all the Irish totaled 317 yards in kick returns, but when all the returns were in, Nebraska had just enough to pull it out. With the game going to overtime Nebraska won the toss. On offense first, the Irish made the eight-yard line, but after being sacked on third-down they settled for a 29-yard field goal to take a brief 24-21 lead. The overworked Irish defense got within two plays of possible victory as the Huskers were third-and-nine at the 24. That’s when Nebraska QB Eric Crouch made what he called the biggest play of the day. Throwing from the spread formation he hit tight-end Tracey Wistrom with the back breaking nine-yard gainer to the 15. The rest was easy. Alexander ripped up the middle for 8. Crouch then faked to him again, pulled the ball back and ran around left end to the end zone for the win.

HuskerNation turned Norte Dame Stadium into a sea of red. The red clad fans appeared to fill about a third of the 80,232 seats in the stadium. Adding insult to wounded pride, Husker fans chanted “Husker, home game!” Although NU was allotted just 4,000 tickets, some 20,000 to 30,000 fans made the trip from Lincoln. Clearly, many were able to buy tickets from Notre Dame fans. “Disappointing, very disappointing,” said Notre Dame AD Kevin White.

(Husker fans have an always will travel well, especially if Rhule gets them back on the winning track)

Be sure to look for next week’s edition as the ‘Cob’ dives into each week’s headlines of the season 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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