Which Win was better?

[True2tRA]

Which fantastic Nebraska victory is the better if the two? The Hail Mary Westerkatch from Kellogg to Westerkamp to win the Nebraska -Northwestern game in the final seconds? Or the greatest comeback in program history where LaVonte David, SJB and the Blackshirts gave the offense the spark they needed to comeback and beat the Buckeyes?

[Abdullah the Butcher]

Where is the poll sir?

[True2tRA]

Where is the poll sir?

Got it now, turns out when you try to do a poll from an iPad, the damn poll box doesnt fit on the screen correctly.

[NUpolo8]

No whale trophy game. Poll invalid.

[LukeinNE]

Ohio State. We won that one by pulling ourselves together and kicking their butts over the last 20 minutes of the game. Northwestern was marked largely by our own incompetence from start to finish and we got lucky.

[sd'sker]

Ohio State. We won that one by pulling ourselves together and kicking their butts over the last 20 minutes of the game. Northwestern was marked largely by our own incompetence from start to finish and we got lucky.

we were pretty lucky against osu. i mean, bauserman wasn't winning a heisman anytime soon.

[LukeinNE]

 

Ohio State. We won that one by pulling ourselves together and kicking their butts over the last 20 minutes of the game. Northwestern was marked largely by our own incompetence from start to finish and we got lucky.

we were pretty lucky against osu. i mean, bauserman wasn't winning a heisman anytime soon.

 

 

We had already cut their lead from 21 to 7 by the time Bauserman took over (aside from the third and long right after Miller was injured). We already had the momentum (and Braxton Miller didn't play defense). The injury just made our victory inevitable.

[hskrfan4life]

So what if Braxton was injured. It happened in the game and nothing you can do. Doesn't make the win invalid.

[sd'sker]

So what if Braxton was injured. It happened in the game and nothing you can do. Doesn't make the win invalid.

that is a really good point that no one is arguing against.

[JJ Husker]

I liked both of these because they did end up in the win column but I voted "other".

95 Fiesta Bowl vs Florida. I think unarguably a better win than the other two, imo.

[HuskerShark]

Of the two, I voted Northwestern because it saved the season. Then I got thinking, and tOSU comeback probably did also.

[Count 'Bility]

Ohio st no doubt. Regardless of what they were going through, that was still a very talented team. And we showed, even at that time, that lack of talent is not the biggesthurdle of yhis team. We showed what we're capable of when we just get the hell out our own way. Yes, we whooped their ass fir the better part of the final 25 minutes.

[Abdullah the Butcher]

Burkhead on the fullback traps to end the game was awesome to see.

[Chaddyboxer]

The win at the big house in Michigan comes to mind...amazing win and Michigan's first home loss under Hoke.

[zoogs]

I'm surprised this vote is currently 9-1 in favor of tOSU and not the other way around. Both were great wins, no doubt. But in my view, the Northwestern win was categorically better.

 

Bauserman

Yes, we capitalized on a 2-play drive after a tOSU turnover to start the 3rd quarter. Prior to this, the NU offense had produced under 3.9 yards per play. When Braxton Miller -- who had at that point produced more yards than the entire Nebraska offense while averaging 10.3 yards per play -- left the game with his injury, the score was 27-13. Great credit to the NU offense for coming alive and stringing together touchdown after touchdown after touchdown before snuffing the final four minutes off the clock. Equally, though, Bauserman was legendary bad. Ohio State sputtered to the tune of 2.9 ypp on their final 17 plays after he went in, with Slingin' Joe going 1-for-10 and a pick. 1-for-10 and a pick, you guys.

 

The Stakes

Ohio State wasn't having the greatest year under interim HC Luke Fickell, but had they held on, both teams would have emerged 4-2. For Nebraska, the season would have been far from over, and when it looked like we were going to get toasted, it also looked like we were facing a potential marquee team in the conference by year's end.

 

As it turned out, Ohio State finished 6-7 that year. It's hard to come back from three scores down against anybody, but having it happen under the auspices of an eventual sub-.500 team that traded its most dynamic offensive threat for its most inconceivable disaster, it absolutely takes a little off the shine of the game's greatness.

 

In 2013, Nebraska would have fallen to 5-3 with Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, and Iowa looming. To bat .500 out of those four was no sure bet (and .500 is what we ended up with, with two close wins and two handy losses) ... and that would've ended the regular season 7-5.

 

The Aftermath

2011's Nebraska team would have been challenged whether they were 4-2 or 5-1, but starting from a decent position, with a tough 6-game conference slate to go. 5-1 (1-1) was definitely a stronger position, and that momentum may have contributed to the Huskers finishing 4-2 rather than worse in those six games. But who knows what would have happened, with that many games? 4-2 should hardly have precipitated a collapse, and had we gone 3-3 instead, avoiding a strong South Carolina team for a bowl opponent might well have seen this decent, but not world-beating edition of the Huskers finish 9-4 and marginally Top 25 anyway, in Tim Beck's shaky first season as OC.

 

In 2013, a loss to then 4-4 Northwestern almost certainly would have ended it for Bo, in my mind. The flames on the seat were white-hot and as previously mentioned, if that loss didn't affect the team they managed to hold serve relative to actual events for a 2-2 finish, November 29 2013 would have seen Bo's first 5-loss season concluded before the bowls had even begun. And remember, per actual events, the heat was clearly getting to Bo & his guys even with that win in tow.

 

We were staring down the barrel of the gun in that impossible, surely final play of the game from midfield, our 3rd string QB out there sporting a 6-for-12 for 55 yards (4.58 yards per attempt), 0 TD, 1 INT day, knowing that if that wasn't the death blow to the season and the Bo Pelini era, it was coming awful, awful close.

 

What happened next was nothing short of a miracle.

 

The Post-Game Atmosphere

 

Bo Pelini was stunned. No words, just tears in his eyes. Pretty sure he was choking up at the post-game interview, too. It was a really touching moment for any fan of the team, whether they supported Bo or not, to see this guy under the weight of so much pressure have it delivered from him in a moment so magical. Everything about that last drive, the catch, the celebration, the week after, heck, the next week's game...that lives on and won't be forgotten. In what had been (and would ultimately continue to be) a brutal, trying season for both the team and its fans, it was that tender spell in the eye of the storm where everyone could get together and feel good about everything again. And that's no exaggeration. 2013 was highly contentious, as anyone following even an arm's length away will remember. I'd be remiss not to mention the other indelible images left from that broadcast -- Westerkamp's elation, RK3 going nuts and looking pretty allergic to something by the end, and the BTN team shutting up to just cut across all the pandemonium for nearly 30 full seconds. Chuck Long chuckling like a proud father seeing his kid walk for the first time. Eric Collins' "IT'S CAUGHT, IT'S CAUGHT IT'S A TOUCHDOWN, WESTERKAAAAAMP!!!!"

 

2011 produced that great locker room video with a jubilant Bo barking at his troops, "How 'bout the biggest comeback win in school history?!?!?!?!" It felt good, for a while. Up to the point where Bo stepped up to the pulpit and used what he should have known was a precarious and temporary position of strength (the bad days will always come) to lash out at his critics, Dirk Chatelain especially. Nobody likes Dirk, least of all Husker fans. But it was ugly, and unbecoming -- easily brushed aside midst the euphoria, not so easily, though, with hindsight.

 

And as we now also know, our proud HC also took that joyous occasion to vent all his frustrations at his fans, Tom Shatel, and anyone else who didn't support him. There are plenty of Husker fans who would just like to forget this ever happened, that he's a changed man, etc, etc. Sure. But for me, it's even more luster removed knowing our Head Coach was relishing in how we'd kiss his a** out the f'ing door as we see what we can do once he's gone. Great stuff, Coach.

 

--

 

In closing, these are two of our best and most enjoyable games in recent years, but for me the NW win just comes out on top in every area. The effect it had on our season, the dramatics it took to deliver the victory, the atmosphere that followed -- everything. Wester-stache-catch is the Matt Davison 'foot' ball of our generation and this game has to rank right up there in terms of spectacular finishes. The Ohio State game would have to rank below a lot of other close ones over the years -- Michigan 2013, Michigan 2005, Texas A&M 2006, Colorado 2008, Missouri 2009, even Texas 2009 (L though it was). The Cardiac Cornhuskers sure haven't lacked for excitement.