I work for a former player, he played from 91 to 93, I brought this subject up to him. he has friends on the k state and Colorado teams from the same era.he stated no one truly feared us then but they felt it for a week afterwards. Huskers then would punish you for playing them.our lines would break you. catch that ball and get lit up. return a punt or kick expect a big hit or block. but as stated earlier a lot of that style of play gets flagged these days. no one feared us then but they RESPECTED the HUSKERS for what the brought to the table. smart physical play. Big Red was rarely littered with top notch players, we had some blue chippers but mostly well coached guys who wanted to be the best every damn time the touched the field. walk ons who went toe to toe with the best in the country and usually won because of training and heart. working with in the system as a team. not 4 studs and some other guys as a few of our recent years teams played.