30 For 30 to feature the 1994-1995 Huskers

'94 was my senior year in high school, in Wisconsin. I watched that Orange Bowl with a few extended relatives who came up. We were all pretty miserable most of the night actually.... none of us thought we were going to win it until we actually did. I graduated in the spring and enrolled at UNL.

The '95 season I lived on campus in Abel, on the same floor as several players. I sat next to Ahman Green in a class where we were sorted by our birthdays; he is two days younger than I am. After that class some of us used to go to the Wendy's across from the Admissions office for lunch. Ahman usually hung out with Frankie London (who some may remember as the most popular player on the team the week after the '97 Central Florida game) and a tackle named Derek Allen who I don't think ended up playing much.

I had student tickets for '95 and '96 and went to every home game for both seasons, roughly 10 rows up from the "B" in "NEBRASKA" in the south end zone.

I spent that Christmas at home but my dad and I flew to Phoenix from Chicago Midway on Southwest and had a layover in Kansas City where about a million Nebraska fans got on the plane. We were in Sun Devil Stadium for that game. I sat on the first row of the second deck at about the 35 yard line. Tommie's run started right on the yard line directly in front of us and went to my right.

We were in the group that heckled Lee Corso. One of the best damn nights of my whole life.

I transferred out after my sophomore year and ended up never finishing school, but I at least got to be on campus during a pretty electric time.

 
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The '94 championship I was in Orange County for a family trip to visit relatives for the holidays, I was 9. One cousin was about 3-4yrs old at the time and wanted to watch one of her toddler learn-to-speak-Spanish VHS tapes instead of the game, my uncle told his daughter, "Brittany, Uncle Pete is watching the big game and if you change the channel you'll make him cry, and you don't want to make a grown man cry." I spent most of the game shooting pool and playing a video game with my cousin until my older brother accused me of not being a true Nebraska fan for not watching the game. That comment struck a nerve and since then I have never missed a game that didn't conflict with obligations out of my control.

 
These ESPN shows are rarely about the on-field product. A documentary about a dominant team that went unchallenged on the field would be very uninteresting. A heavy focus on Lawrence Phillips is obvious.

 
I was young during this great era, so to me at the time I remember these players all walking on water. I didn't know back stories, I didn't know off the field drama at the time, all I knew at the time was Nebraska football was world beaters, and good old fashion country living.

So if they do show some of the other stuff, it will be interesting to me.

I think a Lawrence Phillips 30 for 30 would be a little more entertaining though.

 
unlfan said:
Ulty said:
These ESPN shows are rarely about the on-field product. A documentary about a dominant team that went unchallenged on the field would be very uninteresting. A heavy focus on Lawrence Phillips is obvious.
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Exactly my concern. They won't just show/talk about a bunch of 45 to 10 blowouts. There has to be a "conflict", if you will. It's storytelling 101. Obviously, the opponents didn't provide that. Enter off the field stories, most of which probably don't paint Nebraska in a very positive light.
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I wonder if they'll touch into the recent death of LP or how things unfortunately turned out for him. I was wondering if they'll go into Christian Peter's troubles also.

Hopefully they mostly focus on just how dominating the 94 & 95 Huskers were. The story of Brook Berringer and what kind of guy he was is something I hope they cover also. The same with Tom Osborne and what kind of person he was/is.

 
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Did Nebraska have it's dark moments during '94-'95? Absolutely. Compare to Miami is it as bad or worse? I don't think so but admittedly I am biased. The LP stuff was bad and they will talk about it.

Now, compare our coach at the time to the staffs of SMU, Miami and USC. Those 30 for 30's followed some controversy among staff and players alike. We have one of the most respected coaches to ever hold the position, not just here but anywhere.

I'm not nearly as worried about this being a smear campaign as some of you are.

 
1995 Redux said:
I was 8 when we finally beat Miami in '94. My Grandpa who was on the fence about TO, due to us continually falling just short, finally said "Maybe he isn't so bad after all" at the games conclusion. I went and cut out a big red N out of construction paper and taped it to my bedroom door.

My mom got me a "Looking for more in '94" poster that you could write scores on. I recently found it and put it in a frame and hung it in my Husker themed bar room.
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What does that have to do with picking up hot chicks on PlayStation network?

Oops, wrong thread.

 
Positive, negative, or balanced, this is only a good thing for the future of the program.

It gives the younger crowd a chance to see exactly how great of a program we had under TO.

Maybe it will inspire future recruits to choose Nebraska or even current players on the team to push themselves harder.

We all know how many people watch these documentaries.

They are all on Netflix too.

 
teachercd said:
This will be interesting...as we know a few weeks ago I had a thread about "cheating and unethical" behavior...this 30 for 30 might/could show some of that...I wonder how some of the fans will respond to that.
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I remember that topic ;-)

I don't really think "cheating and unethical" applies to the problems of the mid 90's teams. Those teams just happened to have some characters and others with some legal troubles. I wouldn't catagorize any of it as cheating and you would have to really twist some of the situations to even say any of it was unethical. I know there is a certain group who believe TO's actions were unethical but I'll never see it that way. I think he just got burned a few times while trying to do the right thing for some questionable players.

 
southernoregonhusker said:
I'd be surprised if this was a puff piece. A lot of dirty laundry is going to get aired because that's what the tv audience wants.
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It's all common knowledge though, no bombshells will be dropped. The general populus understands that LP isn't a standard representation of the program.

 
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Knowing ESPN, I wouldn't get my hopes up for a fantastic story on our beloved 94/95 Huskers. Don't be surprised if they put LP at the forefront of things - his troubles at NU, the controversial suspension and reinstatement, all the way to his death. ESPN will do anything to place Nebraska in a bad light. They have a history of doing this so I don't think it'll change.

 
The controversies don't mean that much without them happening to a championship team. I expect them to show a decent amount of game action to frame that.

The championships aren't much of a story (outside of Nebraska) without the controversies and tragedy, so expect to see a decent amount on that too.

Where the emphasis is, is the question. I'll wait and see it before reacting either way.

I'm pretty encouraged by the link in The Duke's post #5 that the story of how the team pulled together during the turmoil will be a significant part. This doesn't sound like a hatchet job. We shall see.

 
suh_fan93 said:
unlfan said:
Ulty said:
These ESPN shows are rarely about the on-field product. A documentary about a dominant team that went unchallenged on the field would be very uninteresting. A heavy focus on Lawrence Phillips is obvious.
Click to expand...
Exactly my concern. They won't just show/talk about a bunch of 45 to 10 blowouts. There has to be a "conflict", if you will. It's storytelling 101. Obviously, the opponents didn't provide that. Enter off the field stories, most of which probably don't paint Nebraska in a very positive light.
Click to expand...
I wonder if they'll touch into the recent death of LP or how things unfortunately turned out for him. I was wondering if they'll go into Christian Peter's troubles also.

Hopefully they mostly focus on just how dominating the 94 & 95 Huskers were. The story of Brook Berringer and what kind of guy he was is something I hope they cover also. The same with Tom Osborne and what kind of person he was/is.
Click to expand...
Jason Peter went on 1620 about 5-530pm yesterday. He said Christian is going to speak about his side of the story for the first time. Not verbatim, but he said, "both were ordered by the court not to talk about the incident, but one went on to make a career out of it." Added along the lines that it's time Christian speaks his side of the story.
He also said this 30 for 30 started rolling at least 9 months ago.

 
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