Barry Sanders Magical '88 Season

"I loved Nebraska and I was running their offense," Burkholder (Sander's HS coach) said. "In the spring when I went up there to the coaching clinic, [Huskers assistant] Frank Solich and I were talking and I said, 'Frank, why you didn't want my little running back?' He said, 'What running back?' I showed him the tape. He watched it for two minutes, then went roaring down to the main secretary to ask who in the world evaluated the Wichita North film. Frank was totally upset.
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Ahhhh, woulda, coulda, shoulda.  Barry Sanders was the shiftiest, hardest to tackle running back in all of football history.  Hands down. 

Can you imagine having  Barry Sanders from 1984-88?  Our string of national titles would have started 10 years earlier.  *sigh*

 
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He makes the guys trying to tackle him look foolish.  And they're gifted athletes in their own right.  Simply amazing!

 
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NUance said:
Ahhhh, woulda, coulda, shoulda.  Barry Sanders was the shiftiest, hardest to tackle running back in all of football history.  Hands down. 

Can you imagine having  Barry Sanders from 1984-88?  Our string of national titles would have started 10 years earlier.  *sigh*
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If I remember right we were only taking one small back that year and Terry Rodgers  was a senior as well.  Terry didn't play much but Barry would have been huge in Lincoln.

 
As I always say, greatest ever, privilege to have watched him. Wish he would have been drafted by Green Bay instead of the dud Tony Mandarich.

Would have broken all the RB records without breaking a sweat in a proper organization, instead drafted by the Lions, leaving the game early due to in he's own words "Lions loosing culture" I hope one day I get to see another RB like him again.

The thing was not necessarily he's long runs, but the 5 yarders, or the broken plays due to one of the worse O lines in the NFL. He was so perfectly balanced and would react 2-3 moves ahead of the defenders, perfect RB in ability and mind.

There are some videos on youtube on what the defensive players thought of him, those are the best testimonies regarding he's legacy.

 
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Barry Sanders truly was one of the best to ever play the game and very fun to watch. In the 88 season he averaged over 200 yds/game. Nebraska held him to 189 yds (at the time, the 4th most ever allowed  by the blackshirts) while our very own Ken Clark rushed for 256 yds. Huskers won 63-42.  Too bad Barry got stuck with the hapless Lions. I can't even imagine what he would've done on a good team in the NFL 

 
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JJ Husker said:
Barry Sanders truly was one of the best to ever play the game and very fun to watch. In the 88 season he averaged over 200 yds/game. Nebraska held him to 189 yds (at the time, the 4th most ever allowed  by the blackshirts) while our very own Ken Clark rushed for 256 yds. Huskers won 63-42.  Too bad Barry got stuck with the hapless Lions. I can't even imagine what he would've done on a good team in the NFL 
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JJ would there happen to be anywhere to watch that game? Sounds awesome.

 
Sanders looked great, but not quite NFL great, need to watch more of these college games with him.

As far as the game, !st quarter, how can I say this..blowout...blow out... BLOW OUT! 35-0?

Didn't expect that, Total murder, death kill

Huskers game plan was way ahead of Oki st and they took everything they gave them. A really fine game.

 
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Michiganball said:
Sanders looked great, but not quite NFL great, need to watch more of these college games with him.

As far as the gamer, !st quarter, how can I say this..blowout...blow out... BLOW OUT! 35-0?

Didn't expect that, Total murder, death kill

Huskers game plan was way ahead of Oki st and they took everything they gave them. A really fine game.
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Yeah, that 1st quarter...wow. I didn’t remember how this game went but that was total domination. Nebraska got 3 scores out of the first 5 times they even touched the ball. I thought Barry looked really good. He had a few of his trademark side hop moves that just made defenders look stupid. Unfortunately for Okie State he was the only bright spot to their day.

 
Greatest scat back in the history of the game.

Wasn't effective in short yardage situations, usually disappeared in the playoffs.  His lack of help on some of those Lions teams is greatly exaggerated.

 
The Dude said:
Greatest scat back in the history of the game.

Wasn't effective in short yardage situations, usually disappeared in the playoffs.  His lack of help on some of those Lions teams is greatly exaggerated.
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Yea the foot work was like ballet, but more manly :lol: . Have to watch some of more of he's college games but on the Lions not effective in short was because everyone knew it was going to be a Berry run and the flood gates would open with most their team flooding the backfield. Similar happened in the playoffs.

It was very predictable and Wayne Fonts to me was like 50 pounds of dead weight on these players with he's predictable calls. QB's were dud's or very mediocre, though Moore and Perriman were good WR. Still it was almost always a Berry run instead of a proper screen, Wayne wanted Berry to do all the work for him.

Was not a fan of the O line either, they were meh, I've watched interviews with opposing players who didn't have very kind words regarding their opposition, there were two words they said playing Lions "Stop Berry".

 
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