And let "The Countdown" begin....

[HSKRNOKC]

Just 4 short weeks gentlemen and we will be in the midst of HUSKER FOOTBALL!!!!

[TheCropDuster]

27 Days!!!

 

 

 

#27 Irving Fryar

 

Drafted No. 1 Overall by the New England Patriots

1983 First-Team All-American (AP, UPI, Walter Camp, Kodak, Football Writers, Football News, Sporting News)

1983 First-Team All-Big 8 (AP, UPI)

1983 Two-Time Husker Player-of-the-Week (Minnesota, Missouri)

1983 Big 8 Player-of-the-Week (Minnesota)

1983 Chevrolet Player-of-the-Game (Missouri)

1982 Second-Team All-Big 8 (AP, UPI)

1982 Two-Time Husker Player-of-the-Week (Iowa, Iowa State)

 

Part of Nebraska’s “Triplets” with Turner Gill and Mike Rozier, Fryar became the 17th player in Nebraska history to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft and the Husker’s first overall No. 1 selection when the New England Patriots made him the first selection in the draft. With Fryar’s selection as the top NFL pick and Mike Rozier being the top pick of USFL, the “Jersey Jets” swept the top spots in the pro football drafts. The most explosive player at Nebraska since the days of Johnny Rodgers, Fryar was a consensus All-American as a senior, becoming only the second receiver since the dawn of two-platoon football to earn consensus All-American honors while playing on a team that led the county in rushing (NU’s Freeman White was the first in 1965). Despite playing on team that led the county in rushing twice and finished second once, Fryar still wound up second all-time at Nebraska in receiving yardage (1,196) and in a tie for sixth in catches with 67.

 

As a senior, Fryar ranked second in the conference in all-purpose yardage (1,267 yards, 105.6 per game), fifth in punt returns (6.3 average on 18 returns), sixth in receiving (40 catches for 780 yards), and eighth in scoring (64 points, 5.3 per game). Helped boost an already healthy team rushing average by gaining 318 yards on just 23 carries (13.8 average) Top game of his career, yardage-wise, came against Minnesota, when he earned Big 8 player-of-the-week honors after piling up 253 all-purpose yards against the Gophers, rushing for 92 yards on three carries (and a 41-yard TD), catching two passes for a position-record 138 yards and two touchdowns (68 and 70 yards), and returning three punt for 23 yards. Picked up Chevrolet player-of-the-game honors for his seven catches (good for 95 yards and two touchdowns) on national television against Missouri. Those seven catches were his career high. Grabbed at leas one pass in every game except vs. Syracuse, when he left early in the first quarter after suffering a concussion.

 

One of the fasts Huskers in history, Fryar covered the 40 in an electronically-timed 4.43 seconds. Also had a vertical leap of 37 inches and 315 pound bench press. Led the league in punt returns as sophomore and junior before turning the lead over to teammate Jeff Smith as a senior. Returned three punts for touchdowns in his career. Set a freshmen team recorded with 432 yards receiving for unbeaten 1980 squad. Son of David and Ailene Fryar and was born Sept. 28, 1962.

 

 

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

Fall practice starts TOMORROW!!!

[skersOVRsc]

Fall practice starts TOMORROW!!!

Tick Tock. Are the practices open this year?

[TheCropDuster]

26 Days!!!

 

 

 

#26 Wonder Monds

 

Drafted in 4th Round by the Pittsburgh Steelers

Signed with Toronto of the CFL

1975 First-Team All-American (Football Writers)

1975 Honorable Mention All-American (AP, UPI)

1975 First-Team All-Big 8 (AP, UPI)

1974 Second-Team All-Big 8 (AP, UPI)

 

Nebraska’s third All-American in 1975, Wonder was a two-year starter and three-year letterman.

 

Big and could fly, was cited a pre-season All-American. Wonder lived up to the expectation and was a First-Team All-American (Football News) as a senior. Wonder was in on 34 tackles, 17 unassisted, along with recovering one fumble, breaking up two passes and blocking a punt. He was a first-team All-Big 8 performer as a senior.

 

 

 

#26 Tom Rathman

 

1992 Inductee, Nebraska Football Hall of Fame

Nine-Year NFL Veteran, San Francisco and Los Angeles

Two-Time Super Bowl Champion

Third-Team All-American, 1985

All-Big Eight, 1985

 

One of the top fullbacks in the nation in 1985, Rathman broke the school fullback record for rushing yards with 881 yards, smashing the record of 717 set by Dick Davis in 1967. Rathman, an All-Big Eight pick by the Associated Press, gained those yards on 118 carries, averaging 7.5 yards a carry. An outstanding blocker, Rathman also showed a penchant for the big play with touchdown runs of 60 yards vs. Florida State, 32 vs. Illinois, 84 to break a 7-7 tie late in the third quarter against Colorado, 37 vs. Kansas State, 32 vs. Iowa State and 44 vs. Kansas. Rathman scored 12 touchdowns in his career, tying the school fullback record set by predecessor Mark Schellen in 1982 and 1983. Rathman rushed for over 100 yards three times on the season--113 vs. Florida State, 115 vs. Colorado and a career-high 159 on nine carries vs. Kansas. He was fifth in the Big Eight with his 80.1 rushing yards-per-game average.

 

 

[dustinl15]

 

 

 

#26 Wonder Monds

 

 

That is some crazy hair.

[tattooedhusker]

wait...i think...yeah that's NIRVANA's cage fighting coach!

[TheCropDuster]

25 Days!!!

 

 

 

#25 George Sauer

 

Played for the Green Bay Packers

1995 Nebraska High School Hall of Fame

1971 Nebraska Football Hall of Fame Inductee

1954 College Football Hall of Fame Inductee

1933 All-American

 

George Sauer was one of Nebraska’s most historic players during the 1930's. Coach D.X. Bible glowed when speaking of the Sauer, "He was probably my best all-around athlete. He was great at carrying the ball and he was one of the best on defense. He simply rolled up his sleeves and met the ball carrier head on."

 

The Cornhuskers All-America selection led Nebraska to a 23-4-1 record in three varsity seasons. Sauer stood 6-2 and weighed 195- pounds. In three varsity years he rushed for 1,570 yards, passed for 701, and did the punting

 

In 1932 Sauer was central to the Husker's stellar record of eight wins and only one loss. That solitary loss was to undefeated Pittsburgh. The Husker defensive line, led by Sauer, held off the steel-town squad until the slashing Panthers scored the game's only touchdown in the fourth quarter. Games against big teams like the Panthers were bringing national attention to the Huskers. Players, like Sauer, did not go unnoticed. At the end of his senior season he led the voting for players in the New Year's Day All-Star game. Sauer distinguished himself by intercepting passes and scoring the only touchdowns of the game. After the game news writer Lawrence Perry commented that Sauer, "stands clearly as the premier ball carrier in the nation."

[AuroranHusker]

Also, FB Mark Schellen of "The Scoring Explosion" era was #25.

[cmb23]

26 Days!!!

 

 

 

#26 Wonder Monds

 

 

Nebraska football is....O-TAY!

 

[HUSKER 37]

Congdon was a #29. ...

 

#29 will always be Todd Brown , to me.

 

Todd Brown

Holdrege, 1978

 

Todd Brown, the first Nebraskan to eclipse the 50-foot mark in the triple jump, still holds the state record with a leap of 50 feet, 2 ¼ inches. In 1978, Brown set the triple jump record while winning three Class B championships at the state meet. He also won the long jump and 100-yard dash at the state meet. The previous year, Brown took home the gold in the Class B triple jump and placed second in the long jump. Brown also competed in football for the Holdrege Dusters and was selected to play in the 1978 Shrine Bowl. He competed in football and track at the University of Nebraska as a 3yr starter at SE. In 1983, Brown was selected in the sixth round of the NFL draft by the Detroit Lions. He went on to play five years in the Canadian Football League for the Montreal Concordes, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Todd Brown

Holdrege, 1978

 

 

Now Building Churches

[TheCropDuster]

24 Days!!!

 

 

 

#24 -- Nebraska 24, Miami FL 17

 

Byron Bennett’s 45-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left in the final second of Nebraska’s 18-16 loss to Florida State in the 1994 Orange Bowl game. With that miss, an 11-game Cornhusker winning streak ended. And the run to Coach Tom Osborne’s first national championship began.

 

Nebraska’s focus for the 1994 season was finishing the business that had been left incomplete on the night of Jan. 1, 1994, in Miami. The actual process started with a 31-0 victory against West Virginia in the Kickoff Classic in late August, and it concluded with a come-from-behind, 24-17 victory against Miami, on the Hurricanes' home field, in the 1995 Orange Bowl game. To a degree, that game characterized the season.

 

An important subplot of 1994 involved the Cornhusker quarterbacks. Junior Tommie Frazier, a two-year starter, opened the season as if he might run away with the Heisman Trophy before being sidelined by blood clot problems in his right knee after the fourth game.

 

Frazier’s misfortune represented an opportunity for junior Brook Berringer, who came off the bench to lead Nebraska to the Big Eight championship and the Orange Bowl game. Berringer was 7-0 as a starter, passing for 1,295 yards (14th on Nebraska’s all-time, single-season list) and 10 touchdowns, in what amounted to only eight full games. He threw just three passes in the first three games.

 

When Berringer was slowed by a partially collapsed lung, a problem that occurred in back-to-back games, sophomore walk-on Matt Turman stepped up and directed the Cornhuskers. Although Berringer had been cleared to play, Turman gained a 7-6 lead against Kansas State at Manhattan that ended 17-6.

 

Turman had come on to replace Berringer the previous week, directing Nebraska to 23 second-half points in a 32-3 victory against Oklahoma State in the Cornhuskers’ Big Eight opener.

 

The quarterback sequence was somewhat similar in the Orange Bowl victory. Frazier, who had been included on the travel roster for the final regular-season game at Oklahoma (but did not play), started against Miami. Berringer replaced him and got Nebraska on the scoreboard in the second quarter, with a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Gilman. Then Frazier returned to finish it and earn game MVP honors.

 

Nebraska trailed the Hurricanes 10-7 at halftime and fell behind 17-7 less than two minutes into the third quarter. But during the intermission, Osborne had described to the Cornhuskers the way the second half would go if they maintained their composure and continued to play smart physical Husker football. They did.

 

Afterward, Osborne’s halftime speech was made public. It was eerily prophetic.

 

Even though Nebraska finished its business by going 13-0, it remained for voters in the Associated Press and USA Today/CNN polls to certify the Cornhuskers as national champions. Penn State also went through the season undefeated and untied at 12-0. The Nittany Lions argued to no avail.

 

Nebraska began the season ranked No. 4 by the Associated Press, moved to No. 1 after the Kickoff Classic, then inexplicably dropped to No. 2 following a 42-16 victory at Texas Tech. Sophomore safety Mike Minter suffered a season-ending knee injury during the game televised by ESPN.

 

In many ways, Minter was to the defense what Frazier was to the offense. His loss was significant; a fact underscored during an unexpectedly close, 42-32 victory against pass-happy Wyoming.

 

The Cornhuskers dropped to No. 3 in the AP poll after the Kansas State victory, before finally moving to No. 1 following the Colorado game. The Buffaloes came to Lincoln undefeated, untied and ranked No. 2 by the AP and No. 3 by USA Today/CNN. Nebraska was No. 2 according to the coaches. The Cornhuskers remained No. 2 in the USA Today/CNN rankings another week, before ascending to the top spot on the strength of a 45-17 victory over Kansas, despite a Penn State victory against Indiana.

 

Nebraska earned the voters’ respect with an offense that featured one of the best lines in school history and a new 4-3 defense that allowed only 55 points in conference play. Led by linebacker Ed Stewart, a consensus All-American, the Cornhuskers ranked second in the nation in scoring defense, fourth in total defense and rushing defense and 10th in pass defense.

 

The offensive line included Outland Trophy winner Zach Wiegert at tackle. Along with winning the Outland, Wiegert was a consensus first-team All-American. His linemate Brenden Stai earned All-America honors of his own at guard.

 

Rob Zatechka, the other tackle, was a four-time academic All-Big Eight selection who graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in biological sciences. Along with Joel Wilks, the other guard, and center Aaron Graham, the only non-senior among the starters, the group was nicknamed the "Pipeline.’’

 

Nebraska led the nation in rushing, with sophomore Lawrence Phillips gaining 1,722 yards, the third-highest single-season total in Cornhusker history. He finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

 

Phillips, Graham, Wiegert and Stai all earned first-team all-conference honors on offense.

 

Stewart, Troy Dumas, Donta Jones, Barron Miles and Tyrone Williams represented the defense on the All-Big Eight first team. Stewart, Wiegert, Zatechka and Terry Connealy were the Husker captains.

 

A crowd estimated at 14,000 to 15,000 stood in line and braved frigid temperatures for an opportunity to cheer the Cornhuskers at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on their return from Miami.

 

"We didn’t just win this for ourselves, we won this for the whole state of Nebraska,’’ Connealy said.

 

 

 

 

[Foppa]

24 Days!!!

 

 

 

#24 -- Nebraska 24, Miami FL 17

 

Byron Bennett’s 45-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left in the final second of Nebraska’s 18-16 loss to Florida State in the 1994 Orange Bowl game. With that miss, an 11-game Cornhusker winning streak ended. And the run to Coach Tom Osborne’s first national championship began.

 

Nebraska’s focus for the 1994 season was finishing the business that had been left incomplete on the night of Jan. 1, 1994, in Miami. The actual process started with a 31-0 victory against West Virginia in the Kickoff Classic in late August, and it concluded with a come-from-behind, 24-17 victory against Miami, on the Hurricanes' home field, in the 1995 Orange Bowl game. To a degree, that game characterized the season.

 

An important subplot of 1994 involved the Cornhusker quarterbacks. Junior Tommie Frazier, a two-year starter, opened the season as if he might run away with the Heisman Trophy before being sidelined by blood clot problems in his right knee after the fourth game.

 

Frazier’s misfortune represented an opportunity for junior Brook Berringer, who came off the bench to lead Nebraska to the Big Eight championship and the Orange Bowl game. Berringer was 7-0 as a starter, passing for 1,295 yards (14th on Nebraska’s all-time, single-season list) and 10 touchdowns, in what amounted to only eight full games. He threw just three passes in the first three games.

 

When Berringer was slowed by a partially collapsed lung, a problem that occurred in back-to-back games, sophomore walk-on Matt Turman stepped up and directed the Cornhuskers. Although Berringer had been cleared to play, Turman gained a 7-6 lead against Kansas State at Manhattan that ended 17-6.

 

Turman had come on to replace Berringer the previous week, directing Nebraska to 23 second-half points in a 32-3 victory against Oklahoma State in the Cornhuskers’ Big Eight opener.

 

The quarterback sequence was somewhat similar in the Orange Bowl victory. Frazier, who had been included on the travel roster for the final regular-season game at Oklahoma (but did not play), started against Miami. Berringer replaced him and got Nebraska on the scoreboard in the second quarter, with a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Gilman. Then Frazier returned to finish it and earn game MVP honors.

 

Nebraska trailed the Hurricanes 10-7 at halftime and fell behind 17-7 less than two minutes into the third quarter. But during the intermission, Osborne had described to the Cornhuskers the way the second half would go if they maintained their composure and continued to play smart physical Husker football. They did.

 

Afterward, Osborne’s halftime speech was made public. It was eerily prophetic.

 

Even though Nebraska finished its business by going 13-0, it remained for voters in the Associated Press and USA Today/CNN polls to certify the Cornhuskers as national champions. Penn State also went through the season undefeated and untied at 12-0. The Nittany Lions argued to no avail.

 

Nebraska began the season ranked No. 4 by the Associated Press, moved to No. 1 after the Kickoff Classic, then inexplicably dropped to No. 2 following a 42-16 victory at Texas Tech. Sophomore safety Mike Minter suffered a season-ending knee injury during the game televised by ESPN.

 

In many ways, Minter was to the defense what Frazier was to the offense. His loss was significant; a fact underscored during an unexpectedly close, 42-32 victory against pass-happy Wyoming.

 

The Cornhuskers dropped to No. 3 in the AP poll after the Kansas State victory, before finally moving to No. 1 following the Colorado game. The Buffaloes came to Lincoln undefeated, untied and ranked No. 2 by the AP and No. 3 by USA Today/CNN. Nebraska was No. 2 according to the coaches. The Cornhuskers remained No. 2 in the USA Today/CNN rankings another week, before ascending to the top spot on the strength of a 45-17 victory over Kansas, despite a Penn State victory against Indiana.

 

Nebraska earned the voters’ respect with an offense that featured one of the best lines in school history and a new 4-3 defense that allowed only 55 points in conference play. Led by linebacker Ed Stewart, a consensus All-American, the Cornhuskers ranked second in the nation in scoring defense, fourth in total defense and rushing defense and 10th in pass defense.

 

The offensive line included Outland Trophy winner Zach Wiegert at tackle. Along with winning the Outland, Wiegert was a consensus first-team All-American. His linemate Brenden Stai earned All-America honors of his own at guard.

 

Rob Zatechka, the other tackle, was a four-time academic All-Big Eight selection who graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in biological sciences. Along with Joel Wilks, the other guard, and center Aaron Graham, the only non-senior among the starters, the group was nicknamed the "Pipeline.’’

 

Nebraska led the nation in rushing, with sophomore Lawrence Phillips gaining 1,722 yards, the third-highest single-season total in Cornhusker history. He finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

 

Phillips, Graham, Wiegert and Stai all earned first-team all-conference honors on offense.

 

Stewart, Troy Dumas, Donta Jones, Barron Miles and Tyrone Williams represented the defense on the All-Big Eight first team. Stewart, Wiegert, Zatechka and Terry Connealy were the Husker captains.

 

A crowd estimated at 14,000 to 15,000 stood in line and braved frigid temperatures for an opportunity to cheer the Cornhuskers at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on their return from Miami.

 

"We didn’t just win this for ourselves, we won this for the whole state of Nebraska,’’ Connealy said.

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best moments of my life. So excited I was there to see it.

[husker rob]

we all were there in heart for that game

[Foppa]

we all were there in heart for that game

 

In all honesty, Rob, it was so much fun, but I wish all my other friends could've been there for it, or I could've been in Lincoln with them. Sure, my boy and I partied it up in Miami, rubbed it in their face, and probably should've gotten shot, but I sunned out on South Beach the next day basking in the sun, when I knew all my other buds were screaming on 'O' street the night before and at the Devaney for the celebration. That said...I wouldn't trade it for anything!

 

And to be honest, Miami fans were actually very cool, and congratulated us. Very surprising. I'd go back again and hang with'em. College football is the best.