The Huskers were indeed a major bowl flop in the 80s.... i.e. 1983 vs. the Canes in the OB. That '95 team had Lawrence "she wouldn't listen" Phillips and Tommie Frazier at Qb who was from Florida.
This is pretty cool......we have a daily recruiting tracker...... DOC!! Maybe you can do lunch or Dinner with the Houston group!!
I have to say the 83 Husker team loss was not even close to a flop, it was one of the greatest teams to play a year of football and inspite that they lost it was from a gutsy call from the caliber of coach we wish we all had....He could have gone for the tie and easily secured a championship but had too much of a winner in him not to do so.
Dave: Ralph: Thanks, Ralph, for the history lesson. Does anyone wonder why MCG has no credibility here? In this case, he's revising historical facts to suit his personal viewpoint.
I think there may be hope for Dave. He's just tainted with the stain of BCS goggles. As the BCS fades into the sunset, I'm hoping some of these good fans hop off hyperbole highway and appreciate the game for what it is.
Yeah.... my own personal viewpoint supported by nothing other than my faded memory..... :lol: From 1978 through 1993 Nebraska raced through regular seasons only to fail miserably in their bowl games for most of those years including 7 losses in a row from 1987 thru 1993. Their bowl record was 4-12 in those years. They played in 9 Orange Bowls, 2 each of the Sugar and Fiesta and one each of the Cotton, Citrus and Sun. The Huskers in those years won a crap load of games and spent a lot of the time very highly ranked..... until bowl time.
And after all those years tinkering down in the basement, Dr. Tom unleashed the monster that went 60-3 in 4 years. Along with other accolades, he managed to surpass the '71 team that was rated the #1 team of all-time, prior to the '95 team. All Husker fans know of our past Dave, bowl failures included, but it's the accomplishents cemented in CFB history, and our unique culture that we're most proud of. There's a train whistle in the distance Dave....do you hear it yet?
Seems as if perhaps you and I, AJ are the only ones here that do understand that Nebraska bowl history..... :wink: A really lousy.... probably terrible time period bowl wise for Nebraska fans followed by the pinnacle in the mid-90s. Damned if Florida didn't catch Nebraska at a very...very bad time. :wink:
I decided to look up whatever it is that Dave thinks is important. The thing about bowl records is that they can be very misleading (either way). So the first year I pull up is the starting point of Dave's rant (1978). That year Nebraska was beaten by conference foe Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. It was a team they had beaten earlier in the year. The next year, (79) they lost to Houston in the Cotton Bowl (when Houston was actually great) by 3. In 1980, they beat Mississippi State (SEC! SEC! SEC!) in the Sun Bowl. In 81, they lost to Clemson (when Clemson was as good as they ever were) by 7. In 1982, they beat LSU (SEC! SEC! SEC!) in the Orange Bowl. So far, I'm a solid 5 years in and the only problem I can find with the Huskers is that they obviously aren't playing enough SEC teams. So anyway, onto 1983. The vaunted "Scoring Explosion" was beaten in one of the greatest college football games ever played because Dr Tom went for 2 and didn't get it. This was the birth of the Miami dynasty (the team they played). BTW, before you try to paint that Nebraska team as overrated, consider that season they beat Penn State (in the heart of the Paterno Pedo dynasty) 44-6. That's forty flipping four to 2 field goals. That Nebraska team beat Pac10 champion, and Rose Bowl Champion UCLA 42-10 I could go on, but I won't bore everyone else. The point is, you're losing a lot of context in your sweeping generalizations. Furthermore, you had more than a few teams winning national titles against the Huskers (Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami etc). Those are big damned games. You gotta be someone to be in those big damned games year in and year out. You don't just get there by walking through a cupcake schedule. Furthermore, a whole lot of those losses are very close games. It's not like they didn't belong. Where were your Gators all that while? In 1978, the Gators were 4-7. In 1979, they were 0-10-1 with a tie against Georgia Tech which proves only that smart guys are capable of screwing up a sure thing too. You went 8-4 in 80 with a bowl win against Maryland (moving on up like the Jeffersons) In 81, you were 7-5 with a bowl loss to West Virginia. In 82, you went 8-4 with a bowl loss to Arkansas. Seriously, how dare you wag your finger of judgement at a program that was a bastion of greatness for nearly half a century for having the audacity to lose a few games that were so big, the only way a Florida Gator was going to see it was on TV... Florida didn't 'catch them at a bad time. ****, more than 90% of your history is a pretty damned good time to play you. There's no denying the great runs of Spurrier and Meyer. Those runs are up there with the great runs of all time. That's 16 combined years of a program that has been playing since 1906. Where's the rest of the greatness?
As great as the Huskers have been they had a streak of bowl lossees why is that so hard for everybody to admit? Why is everybody trying to find some modifiers to explain it? The lost a bunch of bowls in a row. It happens. They fixed it and won a bunch. Not a big deal.
You could go on but I see you chose to conveniently stop when things really went downhill at bowl time for Nebraska.... culminating in the 7 game losing streak that began in 1987. I guess I could have just given the stats from 1983 through 1993 when the only team it seems that Huskers could beat was LSU.... and losing to everyone else. As AJ alluded to even Neb fans remember the 80s as a dark period in their history bowl wise and yet you do go on for whatever reason and defend that bowl ineptitude. Well said Terry.
And Corey.... you deny that UF didn't catch one of Nebraska's all time great teams in the Fiesta Bowl in '95? Really? :lol: :roll:
Oh no, I just stopped looking, there was nothing conspiratorial about it. I don't deny their run of bowl futility. My point is, you have to be awfully damned good to be in those big games in order to lose them. My other point was, who else was so good for so long? My final point was, those Nebraska teams often played more than 'just their weak conference' as you insinuate. Those teams beat some really good programs (often badly) along the way.
Corey you and I have long disagreed on what a demanding schedule does to a team. I contend a tough schedule wears teams down.... prevents them from achieving maximum motivation and performance week in and week out. You tend to say none of that matters. So.... I say it's a lot easier to gear up for that one or two tough games in a season while skating through the rest. I think that was especially so in the days of less parity and larger overall scholarship numbers.