Best Husker Team to Not Win a National Title Tournament

Jeremy said:
'83 Huskers, hands down. Incredible team, and it's too bad things ended the way they did.
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I agree, that was the best team to not win it all. I’m a little partial to the 82 & 83 teams because that is when I was a student at UNL.  Another interesting poll might be to ask if people would’ve preferred kicking the extra point and actually winning it that way or if they’re content with losing it by going for the win. It was an extremely tough loss at the time but I’ve accepted it and am actually happy TO went for the win. I’m not sure how many would agree with me though.

I think 82 is a solid #2 because of how we got screwed on the Penn State out of bounds call. We likely end up #1 without that one bad call. 93 is a close 3rd because it was only one made kick away. All 3 teams were incredible but that 82-83 scoring explosion with the triplets was really something. Things probably get more debatable after those 3.

 
2009 hands down.  It's insane to think just how good that defense was and how bad the offense was at times.  Games against Va Tech and Iowa State should have been wins.  The title game.....the damn title game, the greatest performance by a nose tackle in the history of the game.  Even with a SHRED more on offense that team goes 11-1, wins the title game and probably  beats Alabama .

 
Redux said:
2009 hands down.  It's insane to think just how good that defense was and how bad the offense was at times.  Games against Va Tech and Iowa State should have been wins.  The title game.....the damn title game, the greatest performance by a nose tackle in the history of the game.  Even with a SHRED more on offense that team goes 11-1, wins the title game and probably  beats Alabama .
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You're thinking the only game we lose is to Texas Tech?  That game was a real outlier for the defense.  The offense didn't help them though.

From the write up on Husker Max.

No. 15 Nebraska outgained a potent Texas Tech offense, but two long scoring drives and an 82-yard fumble return for a touchdown were enough to give the Red Raiders a 31-10 win.
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That, plus 12 penalties and an interception.   :facepalm:

 
MichiganDad3 said:
I can't improve on this list. IMO, 1999 was the worst. That was a great team, and the MNC was fumbled away against Texas. The Huskers out gained Texas by 429-275, and a horrible pitch by Crouch cost us the winning TD (one of 3 lost). It would have been nice to get some revenge against the Seminoles. I also wonder what the effect would have been on Frankie.
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1999=  Great D but we fumbled going across the goal line.  I think we beat FSU or VTech without issue if we had a chance to play them.  We go on and beat (dominate) another well respected Tenn team in the bowl game.

82,83,93,99 are obvious.    Of those teams I think 82 was the most well rounded team,  83 the most exciting to watch & 93 had the most heart. 

I'll throw out a dark horse.  1978 - We finally get the OU monkey off our back and then we in the emotional let down, get surprised by MO.  If we had beaten Mo, OU wouldn't  have gotten another crack at us in the Orange Bowl - which shouldn't have happened.  We end up losing 2 games but we may have been playing for it all without that emotional let down against MO.  That year Bama won the AP MNC and USC won the coach's MNC.    So NU would have had a real shot at it. 

 
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Guy Chamberlin said:
The 1983 team was probably better than three of our national championship teams, and would still be in the GOAT discussion for all of college football if not for a single play.
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yes, they remind me of the GOAT in NCAA basketball that never won it - the Houston, five slamma jamma team, that lost in the last second upset to NC State in the championship game 1982 I believe.  Great talent all the way around and great O.  Our 83 team with that 82 D would have been unstoppable. 

 
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TGHusker said:
yes, they remind me of the GOAT in NCAA that never won it - the Houston, five slamma jamma team, that lost in the last second upset to NC State in the championship game 1982 I believe.  Great talent all the way around and great O.  Our 83 team with that 82 D would have been unstoppable. 
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Yeah, even Osborne likes to give an edge to the 82 team, citing the D. 

But 83 was an offensive machine and the D wasn't far behind. It's just that when the offense averages 50 points a game, the second -- and third -- string D starts playing in the third quarter. 

 
And that 1999 team ended the season #2 after LEADING THE NCAA IN FUMBLES!

I know you're not supposed to fumble, but you gotta be pretty good to hand the ball over that many times and still go 12 - 1.

(And they avenged the one loss in dominant fashion)

 
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Guy Chamberlin said:
Yeah, even Osborne likes to give an edge to the 82 team, citing the D. 

But 83 was an offensive machine and the D wasn't far behind. It's just that when the offense averages 50 points a game, the second -- and third -- string D starts playing in the third quarter. 
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True - that probably tilts the D #s the wrong way.  The 83 O would be a terrible thing to defense against even today.. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
The 1983 team was probably better than three of our national championship teams, and would still be in the GOAT discussion for all of college football if not for a single play.
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I think I still would give 95 the edge as GOAT wt 83 next and 71 after that - I think those 3 teams in their respective 'era' could be argued as the greatest pushing 2001 Miami  to # 4.

 
TGHusker said:
I think I still would give 95 the edge as GOAT wt 83 next and 71 after that - I think those 3 teams in their respective 'era' could be argued as the greatest pushing 2001 Miami  to # 4.
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At the end of the season, those undefeated 1971 Huskers had beaten the #2, #3, and #4 ranked teams. Not sure anyone else ever did that. It will always be my favorite team because I was a kid and I got everyone's autograph at the Clock Tower Dairy Queen. 

You mention "era" and that comes into play, fairly or not. Such different size and speed of athlete, such simpler style of play. I don't think the first two NC teams could hang with '83 and the others. I'm willing to give '95 a solid edge -- that was the perfect storm of Nebraska football. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
At the end of the season, those undefeated 1971 Huskers had beaten the #2, #3, and #4 ranked teams. Not sure anyone else ever did that. It will always be my favorite team because I was a kid and I got everyone's autograph at the Clock Tower Dairy Queen. 

You mention "era" and that comes into play, fairly or not. Such different size and speed of athlete, such simpler style of play. I don't think the first two NC teams could hang with '83 and the others. I'm willing to give '95 a solid edge -- that was the perfect storm of Nebraska football. 
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 Yes, the 71 Huskers have to standout  as the most dominant of all teams prior to the 1980s.   No one came within 24 pts of them except OU, at OU in the Game of the Century.  They clobber #2 Bama in the Orange Bowl  and had previously clobbered # 9 Colo earlier in the season and shut out a Iowa State team 37-0 that finished # 17 in the final poll.   I think the only team comparable to them is the 95 team.  Those 2 teams are in a category of their own. 

 
One fact that  really stands out in our discussion of the greatest team to never to have won the MNC -  It is a fact that is so easily over looked because us older Husker fans are too familiar or too comfortable with our history.   That fact is that Coach Tom was not only a great coach but an 'all time' great coach who will probably not get the credit that his history deserves.  We wouldn't even be having this discussion if it weren't for the fact that Tom fielded teams so consistently good that we Husker fans and dare I say all of college football took it for granted. Without a doubt, I think Tom is deserving of 3 more national championships (82, 83, 93 - 82&93 literally stolen by the refs, and 83 by his courageous choice to go for 2).  But we could reasonably say that the 78 team (see my previous post ) and the 96 team (hopes destroyed by flu on game day) could have/would have/ should have been been champs if one  thing could have been changed.  We also could mention the 81 team -  a 2 loss Husker team had moved up to # 4 to play undefeated Clemson.  # 2 and #3 had already loss.  NU fought back in the 4th quarter to only lose by a TD to a highly regarding Clemson team.   Again consistency.  Tom never finished outside of the polls and has the most wins of any coach in his first 20 years.

From this website:

https://sites.google.com/site/nebraskafootballhistory/tom-osborne

Taking over from  legendary NU coach Bob Devaney after he retired was a big task, but Tom Osborne managed to succeed with flying colors.  He won 255 games in only 25 years, the fastest for any major college coach in history.   He won or shared 13 conference, and 3 national championships.  

                                High Points

  • Consistent,  never won fewer than 9 games or lost more than 3, in 25 year career
  • Ranked in final polls all 25 years, 21 of those in either the AP and/or Coaches top 10
  • Last 5 years - 60-3 with 3 National Championships
  • 201 All Conference Players
  • 55 All Americans
  • 14 Major Award Winners
  • 171 Players drafted into NFL
  • 12 Conference Championships won/shared
  • 3 National Championshihps
  • 46 Academic All Americans
  • 255-49-3 over 25 seasons

   


Major college winning percentage 1973-1997 - Teams that were D1A at
the end of the span, some did not play D1A all years, and the major
college division did not split into D1A and D1AA until 1978.

Source Stassen.com
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#  Team                       Win-Pct    W      L      T   Games
 1 Nebraska                   0.83550    255    49     3     307


Team records  (Current IA Teams) ranked by % vs opponents that were ranked in polls at game time,  AP or Coaches.  Years 1973-1997  Minimum 20 games vs teams ranked at game time.

Source (for chart below)  - .cfbtrivia.com  Great site for information
______________________________________________

  #  Team              Win-Pct    W      L     T    Games
 1   Nebraska          0.64019    68     38    1     107
 

Team records  (Current IA Teams) ranked by % vs opponents that were ranked in final polls, AP or Coaches.    Years 1973 -1997  (minimum 20 games vs teams that finished ranked in final polls)

Source (for chart below)  .cfbtrivia.com    Great site for information
__________________________________________________
 #    Team              Win Per.    W      L       T     Games
 1   Nebraska          0.58081      57     41      1      99
 
 
Team records vs opponents that finished the season with winning records.  1973-1997. Ranked by winning %.  (includes bowl games)
 
Source - http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt_menu.php
 
 _____________________________________________________
  #   Team           Win. %        W     L   T   Games
  1  Nebraska        0.70245      113   47   3   163 
 
Team records  (Current IA Teams) ranked by % vs opponents that were ranked in top 10 in final polls,  AP or Coaches Polls.    Years 1973-1997 (min. 10 games vs teams ranked in top 10 in final polls).

Source (for chart below)  -  cfbtrivia.com   Great site for information
__________________________________________________________


 #   Team               Win-Per     W     L      T   Games
 1  Oklahoma            0.41667     22    31     1     54
 2  Notre Dame          0.40769     26    38     1     65
 3  Florida St.         0.38235     19    31     1     51  
 4  Alabama             0.37209     16    27     0     43
 5  Nebraska            0.34615     18    34     0     52 
 

Team records vs opponents  that played in bowl games at end of year, also includes bowl games played by teams.  1973-1997, ranked by winning %.  Note * below 
 
Source - http://www.cfbtrivia.com/cfbt_menu.php
 
 ____________________________________________________________
    #       Team                          Win. %         W       L       T       Games
    1   Nebraska         0.66239   77   39   1   117
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 2 Penn State                 0.78405    235    64     2     301
 3 Michigan                   0.77667    229    63     8     300
 4 Alabama                    0.75497    227    73     2     302
 5 Ohio State                 0.75415    223    70     8     301
 6 Oklahoma                   0.74232    214    72     7     293
 7 Brigham Young              0.73237    227    82     3     312 
 8 Florida State              0.72297    212    80     4     296
 9 Notre Dame                 0.72203    211    80     4     295
10 Miami-Florida              0.70242    203    86     0     289
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