Will NU football ever dominate again like in the 90s?

[HuskerMoon]

Can we dominate like we did in the 90's? I don't know, the game and the players aren't the same as they used to be. If Nebraska can overcome some hurdles like having great players and play calling on both sides of the ball and bending a growing number of spoiled children prima donna football players over the knee and spanking their ass and teaching them to be men.., then someday... maybe... I think I'd like to see a Conference championship since we haven't one of those in 12 years... and maybe One national championship would be a good start, you know the thing that the majority of college football teams out there will only ever dream about winning. It's been 14 years now since we've won one of those and I don't know about you but I'd be as happy as a puppy with two peters to see Nebraska win one of those again..

[Parl Celini]

Only time will tell.

[billdozer15]

Answer: No

Reason: Scholarship Limits and Prop 48

[junior4949]

I see everyone is looking at USC and Ohio State, but what about Florida's run? As conferences get bigger, the odds of it happening again diminish. Conference title games seem to be killers. Even in the Big 12, the title game has cost a few a shot at a NC and should have a couple of other times. Another reason the odds diminish is the amount of money flowing into college football. Take Nick Saban for example. He's got titles at two different schools. If a team gets on a roll, another college steps forward and pays the coach more money.

[Nexus]

Yeah, these things do seem to run in cycles. But I’m thinking we had several factors work in our favor back during the 90s—factors that we won’t see again. Here are three:

• 
  
• Fairly easy conf schedule in the 90s. OU was down. Rest of the Big 8 wasn’t much of a threat.
  
• Can’t have prop 48 partial qualifiers anymore.
  
• Seems to be a LOT more parity in college football now as compared to back then.
  

 

I wonder whether NU's dominance of the 90s can be repeated by any team. Look at USC's run a few years back. They were great for a few years. But USC's run wasn't even close to NU's run in the 90s.

 

There are a couple of ways to interpret the competition level of the Big 8 during our championship run from '93-'95, however bear in mind that in '93 the Big 8 had four teams ranked in the Top 20 at the end of the year. '94 saw three Big 8 teams ranked in the Top 20 with Nebraska being #1 and Colorado #3. And even more impressive in '95 there were four Big 8 teams ranked in the Top 10 when it was all said and done.

 

People seem to forget that Nebraska did have to work hard for some of those conference wins during that stretch, except for the '95 season. One other reason that doesn't get brought up enough (if at all) about why the '95 Huskers gets a lot of love among sports media as being the #1 team of all time is because of the way the Big 8 as a whole finished that season.

 

1995 Big 8 Season Ending AP Rankings:

 

#1 - Nebraska

#5 - Colorado

#7 - Kansas State

#9 - Kansas

 

Generally speaking though, the Big 8 would usually have 4 teams with either a .500 or worse record while the other 4 teams would usually crack the Top 25.

[Hercules]

Get an offense like Oregon and look out.

Yeah, that would be a start. But I'll bet even Oregon would've dropped a game or two playing a B1G10 sched last year instead of cruising through the Pac-10 conf.

 

Not if they had our defense.

[NUance]

Yeah, these things do seem to run in cycles. But I’m thinking we had several factors work in our favor back during the 90s—factors that we won’t see again. Here are three:

• 
  
• Fairly easy conf schedule in the 90s. OU was down. Rest of the Big 8 wasn’t much of a threat.
  
• Can’t have prop 48 partial qualifiers anymore.
  
• Seems to be a LOT more parity in college football now as compared to back then.
  

 

I wonder whether NU's dominance of the 90s can be repeated by any team. Look at USC's run a few years back. They were great for a few years. But USC's run wasn't even close to NU's run in the 90s.

 

There are a couple of ways to interpret the competition level of the Big 8 during our championship run from '93-'95, however bear in mind that in '93 the Big 8 had four teams ranked in the Top 20 at the end of the year. '94 saw three Big 8 teams ranked in the Top 20 with Nebraska being #1 and Colorado #3. And even more impressive in '95 there were four Big 8 teams ranked in the Top 10 when it was all said and done.

 

People seem to forget that Nebraska did have to work hard for some of those conference wins during that stretch, except for the '95 season. One other reason that doesn't get brought up enough (if at all) about why the '95 Huskers gets a lot of love among sports media as being the #1 team of all time is because of the way the Big 8 as a whole finished that season.

 

1995 Big 8 Season Ending AP Rankings:

 

#1 - Nebraska

#5 - Colorado

#7 - Kansas State

#9 - Kansas

 

Generally speaking though, the Big 8 would usually have 4 teams with either a .500 or worse record while the other 4 teams would usually crack the Top 25.

Yeah, good point. I had forgotten (or hadn't realized) the Big 8 was so deep--especially considering OU was down during that time. I am surprised to see that KU was ranked so high. I thought they'd always sucked before Mangino rolled into town. Didn't realize they spiked up in the mid 90's.

[Big Red 40]

If a true "star" QB (and/or maybe RB) emerges from the pack, i think dominance could definitely happen. We have solid players but you need "that guy" on offense who you can count on in a big game to lead the team down the field and win. Thats the difference in a 10-12 win season and a National championship IMO. Mid 90s teams would have been very good without Frazier and Phillips but maybe not dominant. No Tebow = No Championship. No Vince Young = Same, and even last year Auburn never would have been there let alone win without Cam Newton. Their coach even admitted that.

[Enhance]

If a true "star" QB (and/or maybe RB) emerges from the pack, i think dominance could definitely happen. We have solid players but you need "that guy" on offense who you can count on in a big game to lead the team down the field and win. Thats the difference in a 10-12 win season and a National championship IMO. Mid 90s teams would have been very good without Frazier and Phillips but maybe not dominant. No Tebow = No Championship. No Vince Young = Same, and even last year Auburn never would have been there let alone win without Cam Newton. Their coach even admitted that.

Good post. The quarterback is without question the most important player on the team, and he has to be a good leader for a team to be successful. If you look at all of the championship teams in the last few years almost all of them had impressive quarterbacks with strong leadership skills and Heisman-like seasons.

 

LSU from 2007 is the only team I remember that didn't really have a quarterback like that. If I'm not mistaken, they rotated two quarterbacks part of the year.

[MCAT800]

I guess it is possible. Hell we are just an offense away from being a 1 loss BCS team in 09 to probably in the NC game this year in just Bo's first three seasons.

[mnhusker]

Yeah, these things do seem to run in cycles. But I’m thinking we had several factors work in our favor back during the 90s—factors that we won’t see again. Here are three:

• Fairly easy conf schedule in the 90s. OU was down. Rest of the Big 8 wasn’t much of a threat.
  
• Can’t have prop 48 partial qualifiers anymore.
  
• Seems to be a LOT more parity in college football now as compared to back then.
  

 

I wonder whether NU's dominance of the 90s can be repeated by any team. Look at USC's run a few years back. They were great for a few years. But USC's run wasn't even close to NU's run in the 90s.

 

This was my first thought also ......... it aint like is used to be, as they say.

[mnhusker]

Yeah, these things do seem to run in cycles. But I’m thinking we had several factors work in our favor back during the 90s—factors that we won’t see again. Here are three:

• Fairly easy conf schedule in the 90s. OU was down. Rest of the Big 8 wasn’t much of a threat.
  
• Can’t have prop 48 partial qualifiers anymore.
  
• Seems to be a LOT more parity in college football now as compared to back then.
  

 

I wonder whether NU's dominance of the 90s can be repeated by any team. Look at USC's run a few years back. They were great for a few years. But USC's run wasn't even close to NU's run in the 90s.

 

 

The USC thing is what I thought when I read the question.

[Haspula]

Maybe. We need another tommie frazier and ahmad green to make that happen

[jsneb83]

Maybe. We need another tommie frazier and ahmad green to make that happen

Well we have Frazier's cousin and another RB named Green.

[deedsker15]

NO