1983 What could have - should have been - old article

TGHusker

Heisman Trophy Winner
When you are old enough to relive the experience - the grief doesn't go away but in the same way nether does the appreciation.

I came across this old article and wanted to share it. About the 1983 team - the Gill, Fryar, Rozier offense, the pipeline, the walkons - everything that became a Husker trademark in the Osborne years.

If the 1983 team had just a slightly better D or one completed 2 pt conversion- we might be talking about the all time greatest team in college football (of course the 1995 Huskers hold that distinction - some debate - maybe 1971team.)

This article talks about the great respect other schools had for Nebraska and what they had built at that point.

Turner Gill was one missed conversion from a national champions, a terrible out of bounds call at PSU from another, and had a 3rd in sight against Clemson. A great run by a great group of players.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=P6ofAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fNYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2566%2C3518242

 
I can't bare to read that article. Osborne shoulda had about 6 championships. So much heartbreak over the years. It hurts knowing that's out there. (I'll read it tomorrow, I'm sure).

Yet, until I got married and then had kids, I never had as much joy in my life as when when we fianlly won those championships. Especially 97 knowing Tom was done. I just stood there hugging my friends, completely and utterly satisfied. Number 1

 
When you are old enough to relive the experience - the grief doesn't go away but in the same way nether does the appreciation.

I came across this old article and wanted to share it. About the 1983 team - the Gill, Fryar, Rozier offense, the pipeline, the walkons - everything that became a Husker trademark in the Osborne years.

If the 1983 team had just a slightly better D or one completed 2 pt conversion- we might be talking about the all time greatest team in college football (of course the 1995 Huskers hold that distinction - some debate - maybe 1971team.)

This article talks about the great respect other schools had for Nebraska and what they had built at that point.

Turner Gill was one missed conversion from a national champions, a terrible out of bounds call at PSU from another, and had a 3rd in sight against Clemson. A great run by a great group of players.

http://news.google.c...=2566%2C3518242
Our D was statistically pretty bad that year. I think it was Rimington or some other lineman that said something to the effect that our 1982 team was just as good as the 83 team. I don't recall where I saw that video, maybe someone else can remember.

I was only 3 for this one, so it doesn't resonate as much for me, but that 94 Orange Bowl against FSU had me crying like a little b!^@h afterward. Mostly because I knew we were the better team and had it stolen from us. Thank God we won it the next year. I couldn't take much more by that point LOL.

I'm glad I don't take this stuff so seriously anymore either. One good thing about getting older I guess : )

 
When you are old enough to relive the experience - the grief doesn't go away but in the same way nether does the appreciation.

I came across this old article and wanted to share it. About the 1983 team - the Gill, Fryar, Rozier offense, the pipeline, the walkons - everything that became a Husker trademark in the Osborne years.

If the 1983 team had just a slightly better D or one completed 2 pt conversion- we might be talking about the all time greatest team in college football (of course the 1995 Huskers hold that distinction - some debate - maybe 1971team.)

This article talks about the great respect other schools had for Nebraska and what they had built at that point.

Turner Gill was one missed conversion from a national champions, a terrible out of bounds call at PSU from another, and had a 3rd in sight against Clemson. A great run by a great group of players.

http://news.google.c...=2566%2C3518242
Our D was statistically pretty bad that year. I think it was Rimington or some other lineman that said something to the effect that our 1982 team was just as good as the 83 team. I don't recall where I saw that video, maybe someone else can remember.

I was only 3 for this one, so it doesn't resonate as much for me, but that 94 Orange Bowl against FSU had me crying like a little b!^@h afterward. Mostly because I knew we were the better team and had it stolen from us. Thank God we won it the next year. I couldn't take much more by that point LOL.

I'm glad I don't take this stuff so seriously anymore either. One good thing about getting older I guess : )
I talked to a couple of the guys from the 82 team at a Oklahoma Husker Club event in Tulsa a few years ago - and they said the same thing - Jamie Williams being one. The D was better and the 82 team overall may have been better. They felt robbed by the PSU game - guy catches the ball 2-3 yards out of bounds and the homer ref calls him in bounds.

 
When you are old enough to relive the experience - the grief doesn't go away but in the same way nether does the appreciation.

I came across this old article and wanted to share it. About the 1983 team - the Gill, Fryar, Rozier offense, the pipeline, the walkons - everything that became a Husker trademark in the Osborne years.

If the 1983 team had just a slightly better D or one completed 2 pt conversion- we might be talking about the all time greatest team in college football (of course the 1995 Huskers hold that distinction - some debate - maybe 1971team.)

This article talks about the great respect other schools had for Nebraska and what they had built at that point.

Turner Gill was one missed conversion from a national champions, a terrible out of bounds call at PSU from another, and had a 3rd in sight against Clemson. A great run by a great group of players.

http://news.google.c...=2566%2C3518242
Our D was statistically pretty bad that year. I think it was Rimington or some other lineman that said something to the effect that our 1982 team was just as good as the 83 team. I don't recall where I saw that video, maybe someone else can remember.

I was only 3 for this one, so it doesn't resonate as much for me, but that 94 Orange Bowl against FSU had me crying like a little b!^@h afterward. Mostly because I knew we were the better team and had it stolen from us. Thank God we won it the next year. I couldn't take much more by that point LOL.

I'm glad I don't take this stuff so seriously anymore either. One good thing about getting older I guess : )
I talked to a couple of the guys from the 82 team at a Oklahoma Husker Club event in Tulsa a few years ago - and they said the same thing - Jamie Williams being one. The D was better and the 82 team overall may have been better. They felt robbed by the PSU game - guy catches the ball 2-3 yards out of bounds and the homer ref calls him in bounds.
And then the receiver trapped the ball on the game winning catch in the end zone in the waning seconds.

 
I can't bare to read that article. Osborne shoulda had about 6 championships. So much heartbreak over the years. It hurts knowing that's out there. (I'll read it tomorrow, I'm sure).

Yet, until I got married and then had kids, I never had as much joy in my life as when when we fianlly won those championships. Especially 97 knowing Tom was done. I just stood there hugging my friends, completely and utterly satisfied. Number 1
Yea, I can easily count 3 national championships lost by one play 82 PSU out of bounds, 83 2 pt conversion, 93 - too many bad ref calls against FSU (phantom clip, not called goal line fumble, etc) plus a couple sooner magic plays - Keith Jackson- that most likely kept us from playing a bowl for a championship - not to mention Clemson game, possibly the whole team was sick in 1996 against Texas, and the Missouri fluke after beating OU in 1978. Of course we saved one nati'l championship with the flee kicker in 1997. Frost to foot to Davidson.

 
When you are old enough to relive the experience - the grief doesn't go away but in the same way nether does the appreciation.

I came across this old article and wanted to share it. About the 1983 team - the Gill, Fryar, Rozier offense, the pipeline, the walkons - everything that became a Husker trademark in the Osborne years.

If the 1983 team had just a slightly better D or one completed 2 pt conversion- we might be talking about the all time greatest team in college football (of course the 1995 Huskers hold that distinction - some debate - maybe 1971team.)

This article talks about the great respect other schools had for Nebraska and what they had built at that point.

Turner Gill was one missed conversion from a national champions, a terrible out of bounds call at PSU from another, and had a 3rd in sight against Clemson. A great run by a great group of players.

http://news.google.c...=2566%2C3518242
Our D was statistically pretty bad that year. I think it was Rimington or some other lineman that said something to the effect that our 1982 team was just as good as the 83 team. I don't recall where I saw that video, maybe someone else can remember.

I was only 3 for this one, so it doesn't resonate as much for me, but that 94 Orange Bowl against FSU had me crying like a little b!^@h afterward. Mostly because I knew we were the better team and had it stolen from us. Thank God we won it the next year. I couldn't take much more by that point LOL.

I'm glad I don't take this stuff so seriously anymore either. One good thing about getting older I guess : )
I talked to a couple of the guys from the 82 team at a Oklahoma Husker Club event in Tulsa a few years ago - and they said the same thing - Jamie Williams being one. The D was better and the 82 team overall may have been better. They felt robbed by the PSU game - guy catches the ball 2-3 yards out of bounds and the homer ref calls him in bounds.
And then the receiver trapped the ball on the game winning catch in the end zone in the waning seconds.
Oh, that we had ref review in those days. The next year, the 1983 team beat PSU I think 42-0 in the kickoff classic

 
When you are old enough to relive the experience - the grief doesn't go away but in the same way nether does the appreciation.

I came across this old article and wanted to share it. About the 1983 team - the Gill, Fryar, Rozier offense, the pipeline, the walkons - everything that became a Husker trademark in the Osborne years.

If the 1983 team had just a slightly better D or one completed 2 pt conversion- we might be talking about the all time greatest team in college football (of course the 1995 Huskers hold that distinction - some debate - maybe 1971team.)

This article talks about the great respect other schools had for Nebraska and what they had built at that point.

Turner Gill was one missed conversion from a national champions, a terrible out of bounds call at PSU from another, and had a 3rd in sight against Clemson. A great run by a great group of players.

http://news.google.c...=2566%2C3518242
Our D was statistically pretty bad that year. I think it was Rimington or some other lineman that said something to the effect that our 1982 team was just as good as the 83 team. I don't recall where I saw that video, maybe someone else can remember.

I was only 3 for this one, so it doesn't resonate as much for me, but that 94 Orange Bowl against FSU had me crying like a little b!^@h afterward. Mostly because I knew we were the better team and had it stolen from us. Thank God we won it the next year. I couldn't take much more by that point LOL.

I'm glad I don't take this stuff so seriously anymore either. One good thing about getting older I guess : )
I talked to a couple of the guys from the 82 team at a Oklahoma Husker Club event in Tulsa a few years ago - and they said the same thing - Jamie Williams being one. The D was better and the 82 team overall may have been better. They felt robbed by the PSU game - guy catches the ball 2-3 yards out of bounds and the homer ref calls him in bounds.
And then the receiver trapped the ball on the game winning catch in the end zone in the waning seconds.
Oh, that we had ref review in those days. The next year, the 1983 team beat PSU I think 42-0 in the kickoff classic
It was 44-6..........and it wasn't really that close..........

 
Those were the years I was a student at UNL. Literally did not know how good we had it 81-82-83-84. Absolutely expected to win every game we played and most by an easy margin. And no, we never left a game early even when we were up by 60. Ahhh the good ole days.

 
I can still clearly remember that whole 83 game, but especially the final conversion. I was at a friends house. We had feasted on smoked turkey legs and smoked lake trout. We made that final touchdown and the whole room was just exploding. Then it came time for the 2 point conversion. I was on my hands and knees about 3 feet from the TV screen. The ball was snapped...the bit of a roll out by Gill..the throw..the tip and the ball bouncing on the turf. It was over. I never felt anything so sudden in my life before or after. All that hype and adrenalin and promise of the moment....sky high one second and numb the next. The room was just dead silent. A few expletives followed and everybody just left and went home. Still an unbelievable moment, and despite the loss, probably one of my favorite moments of husker football memory.....both for the monumentally huge set that Tom O exhibited by going for the win and for the immense national respect we garnered in the media and in the football world in general. That was the point, in my opinion that lead to Husker Domination years later. That particular moment.

 
I was at my grandparents house for the '84 Orange Bowl. I was 7 years old, and fell asleep near halftime, right after the fumblerooski. I remember running upstairs the next morning and asking my grandma if we won. She simply said "No". Although I remember Husker games during that era, I was really too young to understand the significance. I thought that '83 team was unbeatable.

I still love the option that Gill ran on 4th down and Jeff Smith's run down the sideline to put NU in position to win the game. I have no idea why TO ran a rollout pass for the 2 point conversion, but it was open. The pass was slightly behind Smith, and that darn Miami defender got a fingernail on it.

 
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