Best Nebraska Comeback?

[commando]

the catch by matt davison against Mizzou seems like the biggest case of us snatching victrory from the jaws of defeat....and it kept us in the championship race.

[Joe_5700]

Yeah it's the 95 orange bowl...runner up....97 missouri.

 

The 97 Missouri game was a great comeback. I had already written that game off as a loss. I had to listen to that game on the radio (since I was working at the time) so the way it was announced we HAD lost that game for a few moments. Does anyone have the radio call from the end of that game?

[Spartness]

Wow, this is a hard one. Because of our style of offense in most of the Osborne years, the Solich years, and the crappy teams of Callahan, we never had that game where we were behind -- for example 35-7 -- and came back and won.

 

OK, I found one. This is going way back, but the most dramatic memory I have. I was at the Kansas game in 1970. This was Devaney's first NC team. We pulled ahead 10-0 early in the game. All of a sudden, the Jayhawks exploded for 20 points! And I mean lightning fast! Us husker fans were in shock. Kansas fans were going crazy. The score 20-10 -- Kansas.

 

But then came one of the biggest plays in Husker history. The first play from scrimmage after Kansas' last touchdown, QB Van Bronson dropped back and threw an eighty-yard T.D. bomb to Guy "The Fly" Ingels. He beat a DB who ran a faster 100-yard dash. That touchdown took all the fire out of Kansas and its fans. Final score: NU 41-KU 20.

 

That was the greatest comeback I remember. I never seen another play that turned a game around like that eighty-yard bomb. Do some of you older posters remember that game?

Ahhh, good one. Another big KU upset was back in 1969. I remember reading an article a few years back about the significance of the ’69 KU game. It was Devaney’s 9th year, and in his last couple of years his teams had fallen off a bit with 6-4 records after great successes the first few years. KU had beaten us twice in a row in ’67 and ’68. NU started out 2-2 in 1969. Devaney was actually worried about losing his job if NU dropped the KU game and slid into a losing season in 1969.

 

KU led 17-6 halfway into the 4th qtr in the 1969 game. NU scores two unanswered TDs in the 4th qtr, with a 2 pt conversion on the first one. NU wins 21-17. Devaney’s job is safe. The rest is history.

I was there that day in '69. Actually we were ahead 14-0 in the first quarter and Kansas can back to pull ahead 17-14. In the last minute of so -- I don't remember what yard-line we were on -- NU faced fourth and long. Jerry Tagge dropped back under heavy pressure and was being chased. He finally threw a long ball way over everybody's heads. But a Jayhawk DB knocked down our intended receiver and was called for pass interference. (Those were the days when the ball was placed where the receiver was knocked down, and it didn't matter how uncatchable the football was.) We gained another 15 yards as Kansas was called for un-sportsman-like conduct. We were then pretty deep in their territory and went in to score the winning TD.

[Spartness]

Wow, this is a hard one. Because of our style of offense in most of the Osborne years, the Solich years, and the crappy teams of Callahan, we never had that game where we were behind -- for example 35-7 -- and came back and won.

 

 

 

Hardly anyone comes back from THAT big of a deficit. You can't use that as a measuring stick when only a few teams have ever done it.

 

In fact Osborne's teams rarely had to come back, but despite the notion by the "experts" that Osborne's offense couldn't do it, we did come back a few times. Notably in the 1984 Orange Bowl we were down 17 early and 14 in the 4th quarter and did everything but win. And as mentioned, we came back from 10 down twice in the 1995 Orange Bowl. And people remember the flea kicker in 1997 against Missouri, but we had to move 67 yards in a minute to score.

 

I think those 95 and 97 games were the best comebacks because of the importance. I was at both the 02 and 06 A&M games and they were great, and the 02 did keep us from a losing season, but in some ways I wonder if there would've been a bit more harmony in the fan base for firing Solich after a 6-7 season and no bowl.

I understand what you are saying. But I have seen passing teams a number of times come from behind more than three touchdowns and come back to win. Those years when we got behind more than two touchdowns against top-10 caliber teams, before we had those great teams in the mid-90s, Osborne's teams just didn't have the passing ability to come back.

[Spartness]

Wow, this is a hard one. Because of our style of offense in most of the Osborne years, the Solich years, and the crappy teams of Callahan, we never had that game where we were behind -- for example 35-7 -- and came back and won.

 

 

 

Hardly anyone comes back from THAT big of a deficit. You can't use that as a measuring stick when only a few teams have ever done it.

 

In fact Osborne's teams rarely had to come back, but despite the notion by the "experts" that Osborne's offense couldn't do it, we did come back a few times. Notably in the 1984 Orange Bowl we were down 17 early and 14 in the 4th quarter and did everything but win. And as mentioned, we came back from 10 down twice in the 1995 Orange Bowl. And people remember the flea kicker in 1997 against Missouri, but we had to move 67 yards in a minute to score.

 

I think those 95 and 97 games were the best comebacks because of the importance. I was at both the 02 and 06 A&M games and they were great, and the 02 did keep us from a losing season, but in some ways I wonder if there would've been a bit more harmony in the fan base for firing Solich after a 6-7 season and no bowl.

Also, why didn't you include the rest of my post? That was the main part of it -- that Kansas game. "The Catch" was the most spectacular play I have ever seen, but there never was a game changer like that 80-yard bomb in the Kansas game in 1970.

[VA Husker Fan]

Wow, this is a hard one. Because of our style of offense in most of the Osborne years, the Solich years, and the crappy teams of Callahan, we never had that game where we were behind -- for example 35-7 -- and came back and won.

 

 

 

Hardly anyone comes back from THAT big of a deficit. You can't use that as a measuring stick when only a few teams have ever done it.

 

In fact Osborne's teams rarely had to come back, but despite the notion by the "experts" that Osborne's offense couldn't do it, we did come back a few times. Notably in the 1984 Orange Bowl we were down 17 early and 14 in the 4th quarter and did everything but win. And as mentioned, we came back from 10 down twice in the 1995 Orange Bowl. And people remember the flea kicker in 1997 against Missouri, but we had to move 67 yards in a minute to score.

 

I think those 95 and 97 games were the best comebacks because of the importance. I was at both the 02 and 06 A&M games and they were great, and the 02 did keep us from a losing season, but in some ways I wonder if there would've been a bit more harmony in the fan base for firing Solich after a 6-7 season and no bowl.

 

I understand what you are saying. But I have seen passing teams a number of times come from behind more than three touchdowns and come back to win. Those years when we got behind more than two touchdowns against top-10 caliber teams, before we had those great teams in the mid-90s, Osborne's teams just didn't have the passing ability to come back.

I don't think you've seen as many as you think you have, and certainly not against top 10 teams like the great Oklahoma and Miami defenses. Some of those years were more frustrating when we didn't have any kind of passing threat at all. For the most part though, Osborne ran the offense that usually won or at least kept us from getting too far behind rather than worry about what to do if we got 3 TDs down.

 

The 02 A&M game was a good example of the offense coming back (from 17, wasn't it?) with a poor passing QB.

Also, why didn't you include the rest of my post? That was the main part of it -- that Kansas game. "The Catch" was the most spectacular play I have ever seen, but there never was a game changer like that 80-yard bomb in the Kansas game in 1970.

Because I had nothing to add to it. I don't remember the game. Not that your post was long, but I don't like it when someone includes a very long post to make a comment on a single point that could easily be extracted from the rest of the post.

[FLU]

Yeah it's the 95 orange bowl...runner up....97 missouri.

 

 

Gotta go with this.

[GBRsal]

how about clownahan's only decent win - down by 11 halfway thru the 4th quarter - the double-digit underdog huskers scored 15 points in 4 minutes to beat meatchicken in the 2005 alamo bowl.

[Captain K]

Wow, this is a hard one. Because of our style of offense in most of the Osborne years, the Solich years, and the crappy teams of Callahan, we never had that game where we were behind -- for example 35-7 -- and came back and won.

 

OK, I found one. This is going way back, but the most dramatic memory I have. I was at the Kansas game in 1970. This was Devaney's first NC team. We pulled ahead 10-0 early in the game. All of a sudden, the Jayhawks exploded for 20 points! And I mean lightning fast! Us husker fans were in shock. Kansas fans were going crazy. The score 20-10 -- Kansas.

 

But then came one of the biggest plays in Husker history. The first play from scrimmage after Kansas' last touchdown, QB Van Bronson dropped back and threw an eighty-yard T.D. bomb to Guy "The Fly" Ingels. He beat a DB who ran a faster 100-yard dash. That touchdown took all the fire out of Kansas and its fans. Final score: NU 41-KU 20.

 

That was the greatest comeback I remember. I never seen another play that turned a game around like that eighty-yard bomb. Do some of you older posters remember that game?

I was around for that one, but living on the east coast I was limited to waiting for Dave Diles on the Prudential scoreboard show to find out what happened. Talk about great comebacks, how about NU-KU (believe it was '84) in Lawrence. Came back from like 4 td's down. No not Nebraska. I was following the Miami blowout of Maryland on the Jayhawks scoreboard. Miami was up huge and then, everytime the score was posted, it seemed like Maryland scored another 7. They still show that one on ESPN classic regularly. I believe Frank Reich had to play for Boomer Esiason that day.

[deedsker15]

'00 colorado is up there...all those years in a row of game winning field goals hits its' pinnacle with Josh Brown's time expiring field goal

[huskeraddict]

'00 colorado is up there...all those years in a row of game winning field goals hits its' pinnacle with Josh Brown's time expiring field goal

mmmm...colorado tears

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jrYf6RchkE

[HuskerinHouston]

Kinda surprised this one was not mentioned before... 2006 Nu v Michigan in the Alamo bowl. Great game, I was there and it was a sweet come back. We came from 11 points down and UM almost pulled off a band on the field type scenario.

 

relive the moment here

[deedsker15]

Kinda surprised this one was not mentioned before... 2006 Nu v Michigan in the Alamo bowl. Great game, I was there and it was a sweet come back. We came from 11 points down and UM almost pulled off a band on the field type scenario.

 

relive the moment here

sal got to that about 5 posts before you...sorry

[HuskerGBR]

Gotta go with the 95 Orange Bowl and the 97 Missouri game too. But I have to mention the 08 Colorado game. I really felt like the program turned at that point for some reason...so I think that was a significant moment.

[Spartness]

Speaking of Kansas again, I do remember one of Tom's teams getting behind KU 17-0, and we came back and dominated. But I don't remember what year that was.

 

We had some wild ones with KU. The 1993 game is a great example of that. It wasn't a comeback win -- we won because KU's last play of the game was a missed two-point conversion, which would have beaten us by one. i was at that game at Kansas. That would have taken us out of the NC Orange Bowl game with FSU.