All right. This has been well covered so far, so I went in a few different directions. I've got six cobbled-together seasons for you. I ***think*** I haven't used any of these games twice, and I think I have pretty good explanations for all of them. So here we go:
The Most Fun Games
1 2009 Florida Atlantic - The first home game of what could have been a championship year if we'd had much of an offense. Huskers win 49-3.
2 2013 Southern Miss - The Huskers lead throughout the game, including two first-quarter Pick-Sixes for the Blackshirts. 56-13
3 2010 Washington - Taylor Martinez RIPS the Huskies en route to a 56-21 win.
4 2012 Idaho State - NU's 73 points represent the highest score from 2008-2019. Everyone scored & we cleared the benches early.
5 2010 Kansas State - Bill Snyder's birthday in Manhattan. Martinez & Roy Helu run roughshod over Snyder's defense, 48-13.
6 2013 Purdue - Nothing worked for struggling Purdue as NU scored at will. Only a last-second TD prevented the shutout. 44-7
7 2011 Minnesota - Kenny Bell scored on an 80-yard reverse & NU led 34-0 at halftime on their way to a 41-14 blowout.
8 2010 Missouri - Roy Helu's record-setting game & a thrilling goal-line stand highlighted this romp. Huskers win 31-17.
9 2013 Michigan - A defensive struggle early until Ameer Abdullah's late heroics, going Superman into the end zone, earned a 17-13 win.
10 2015 Michigan State - NU was 3-6 when undefeated & sixth-ranked Sparty came to town. NU scored two TDs with under two minutes to play to shock Michigan State. And Brandon Reilly was forced out of bounds. NU wins 39-38.
11 2019 Maryland - There hasn't been much to like in the last two years, but this trouncing of Maryland was a welcome respite in the midst of three rotten seasons. Huskers triumph 54-7.
12 2010 Colorado - The Rex Burkhead Show as he runs & throws for TDs, and NU bewilders the Buffs, 45-17.
13 2008 Clemson - Dabo Swinney's Clemson team had a late lead on the Huskers, but the firm of Swift, Peterson & Henery pulled NU ahead - and late heroics by Eric Hagg & Matt O'Hanlon sealed the win. 26-21.
The Worst Games
1 2018 Colorado - Frost's first* game. NU trailed early 14-0 but fought back for a 28-20 lead. Then the offense broke down & the hated Buffs scored the game-winner with a minute to go. NU loses 28-33 at home.
2 2018 Troy - The very next week, again at home, Nebraska plays an ugly game marred by turnovers to lose to Troy, 24-19.
3 2018 Michigan - THE VERY NEXT WEEK, this time on the road, Nebraska is 0% competitive against a fired-up Michigan, losing 56-10 in a game that wasn't even that close.
4 2008 Virginia Tech - The defense collapsed in the middle of the game, and a garbage late penalty helped snuff out any chance Nebraska had to defeat Tyrod Taylor and the Hokies. VT wins 35-30
5 2019 Ohio State - One of the only games I've ever left early. NU wasn't remotely competitive as the Buckeyes avenged a close game in 2018, leaving no doubt in a 48-7 win. Not even College Gameday's visit could take the stink off this turd.
6 2010 Texas - A personal tragedy - this was my mom's last game. "Red Out Around The World" and "Wear Red, Be Loud" were the rallying cries as a better Nebraska team hosted Texas. But once again it was Texas prevailing in a mistake-filled, poorly-called game, 20-13.
7 2019 Minnesota - Nebraska didn't even show up to play. Rumors of a locker room revolt preceded this debacle as Minnesota reclaimed possession of The Chair, 34-7.
8 2015 Northwestern - Nebraska led 23-20 but couldn't hang on, allowing NW to score ten unanswered points, then run out the clock to lose The Battle for NU, 30-28
9 2008 Oklahoma - OU scored on their opening drive, then picked off NU's first play of the game for another TD. It went downhill from there. Nebraska trailed 35-0 at the end of the first quarter & 49-14 at half. Sooners win a laffer, 62-28
10 2013 Michigan State - Five turnovers on NU's side of the field were turned into 24 Sparty points, and Michigan State embarrassed the Huskers on their home field, 41-28.
11 2017 Penn State - The Nittany Lions scored at will against a weak Blackshirts defense. PSU led 56-24 before three garbage-time TDs pulled NU a little closer. The final score definitely did not reflect the ineptitude, 56-44
12 2017 Iowa - One week after the Penn State beatdown, Iowa came to Memorial Stadium and dropped another 56 points on the Blackshirts. Nebraska led 14-7 midway through the 2nd quarter before allowing seven unanswered Iowa touchdowns. 56-14
13 2012 Wisconsin - The Big Ten Championship Game. The only two NU highlights were Kenny Bell's totally legal hit and Taylor Martinez' amazing TD run. The rest of the game was completely non-competitive, as NU once again gets blown out on a national stage, 70-31.
The Weirdest Games
1 2018 Akron - Cheating a bit here, but I was in the stands and watched the opening kickoff. Then the lightning started and, three hours later, the game was completely canceled. An odd omen for the start of the Frost Era.
2 2016 Wyoming - The final score, 52-17, belies the fact that this was a very tight game heading into the fourth quarter, as NU clung to a 24-17 lead. The Huskers scored four fourth-quarter TDs to pull away, but this was a nail-biter.
3 2013 UCLA - Nebraska led 21-3 in the second quarter and looked ready to avenge 2012's close loss in Los Angeles. Then UCLA ripped off 38 unanswered points in what is one of the most baffling turnarounds in any game I've attended. NU loses 41-21.
4 2018 Purdue - 1-3 Purdue, including a loss to Eastern Michigan, spanked Nebraska from the start, leading 20-7 at halftime. The Boilermakers cruised to a 42-28 win thanks to sloppy play by the Huskers.
5 2009 Missouri - Suh & the Blackshirts were dominating, but NU still trailed 12-0 heading into the fourth quarter thanks to Zac Lee's inept offense. But then that offense exploded, starting with a long TD pass to Niles Paul, and the Huskers cruised to a 28-12 come-from-behind win.
6 2009 Texas Tech - One week later the offense was in slumberland again, including letting a backwards pass get scooped up for a score while in the TT red zone. Every pass their QB threw up was caught despite having Prince Amukamara, Eric Hagg & Alphonso Denard in the defense. Suh was handled one-on-one by Brandon Carter & was largely ineffective.
7 2009 Iowa State - The Fumble Game. One of the most baffling losses in Husker history, including Niles Paul's no-contact fumble that bounced along the sideline before turning into the field to be recovered by a Cyclone. Craziest game I ever saw.
8 2012 Michigan - Billed as a battle between Taylor Martinez & Dennard Robinson, it turned into a FG battle dominated by the defenses after Robinson left with an injury. Nebraska scored the game's only two touchdowns en route to a 23-9 win.
9 2011 Northwestern - The Wildcats seemingly knew every play we called (there were rumors of sign-stealing) and we could not stop their little dump pass over the middle. All game long the better team looked inept, and Northwestern eked out a 28-25 win.
10 2011 Penn State - Penn State's first game after the firing of Joe Paterno in the wake of the Sandusky scandal. The atmosphere was eerie, but was helped by Ron Brown's profound pre-game prayer. Nebraska pounded out a 17-0 lead against a sleepwalking PSU, but the Nittany Lions woke up and Nebraska had to hold on for a 17-14 win.
11 2010 Texas A&M - The Big XII's most egregious "F-U" to a departing Nebraska. An ugly game marred by a 16-2 disparity in penalties, featuring zero touchdowns, five field goals and one sexual assault caught on film (for which the offended NU player was penalized). Ten years later it's still hard to believe this game really happened.
12 2019 Iowa - I really thought we had this game. Tied it up late, heading to overtime where I thought we had momentum, only to see the most conservative coach in college football, Kirk Ferentz, turn on the Air Raid offense, starting their final drive at their 26 with 41 seconds to go. The defense couldn't stop Iowa and, for the second straight year, they beat us with a walk-off field goal as time expired. Prevented Nebraska from going to a bowl game, too.
13 2015 UCLA - The Foster Farms Bowl, a game in which 5-7 Nebraska backed in, had the Huskers down 21-7 midway through the 2nd quarter and the announcers crowning UCLA QB Josh Rosen the Next Big Thing... only to see Nebraska come roaring back and score the game's next 30 points for a hugely unexpected come-from-behind victory, 37-29.
I got three more of these, which I'll share a little later.
