The greatest football player to face the Huskers in Lincoln?

[knapplc]

Vince young wouldn't belong on this list even if he had played in Lincoln, or at least he wouldn't belong in the top ten. He was a great QB, but not that great.

 

The best player I ever watched play here was Barry Sanders. That guy was flat out amazing. But we still beat his butt every year.

Red Grange has to be in your top two. I never saw him, but by all accounts he was an incredible player.

True but back then Husker fans thought Ken Clark was a better runningback.

 

Why do you care what some tiny minority of uninformed fans thought? What an odd comment.

[Spartness]

You can add Penn Stat's RB Curt Warner.

[REDSTEEL]

Vince young wouldn't belong on this list even if he had played in Lincoln, or at least he wouldn't belong in the top ten. He was a great QB, but not that great.

 

The best player I ever watched play here was Barry Sanders. That guy was flat out amazing. But we still beat his butt every year.

Red Grange has to be in your top two. I never saw him, but by all accounts he was an incredible player.

True but back then Husker fans thought Ken Clark was a better runningback.

 

Why do you care what some tiny minority of uninformed fans thought? What an odd comment.

It wasn't a tiny minority back then it was the majority. I'm not excluding myself from that group either. If I remember right Nebraska fans used the score against Barry Sanders as a reason for Ken being a better player. The fact that Nebraska line was so much better then Okie state line might have more to do with Clark having better yards that game.

 

<<<<<< this was for how myopic Nebraska fans can be when they compare former and current Huskers on the team to other teams.

[knapplc]

Vince young wouldn't belong on this list even if he had played in Lincoln, or at least he wouldn't belong in the top ten. He was a great QB, but not that great.

 

The best player I ever watched play here was Barry Sanders. That guy was flat out amazing. But we still beat his butt every year.

Red Grange has to be in your top two. I never saw him, but by all accounts he was an incredible player.

True but back then Husker fans thought Ken Clark was a better runningback.

 

Why do you care what some tiny minority of uninformed fans thought? What an odd comment.

It wasn't a tiny minority back then it was the majority. I'm not excluding myself from that group either. If I remember right Nebraska fans used the score against Barry Sanders as a reason for Ken being a better player. The fact that Nebraska line was so much better then Okie state line might have more to do with Clark having better yards that game.

 

<<<<<< this was for how myopic Nebraska fans can be when they compare former and current Huskers on the team to other teams.

 

Barry Sanders only started one year at OSU - his Heisman year in 1988. His first two years there he backed up Thurman Thomas. So that means that Ken Clark and Sanders would really only have been compared with each other that year.

 

In 1988 Sanders rushed for 2,850 yards, with 3,461 all-purpose yards and 37 rushing TDs. He torched team after team, including Nebraska; although we won the game 63-42, Sanders rushed for 189 yards and 4 TDs.

 

In 1988 Ken Clark had 1,500 yards and 12 TDs. Against OSU he ran for 256 yards and 3 TDs. Clark was good, but you had to have been talking to the most uninformed fans in all Huskerdom if they really, truly thought Clark was even comparable to Sanders. It's difficult to imagine people watching the two run and thinking they were close in skill.

 

Here are the highlights of their head-to-head game. Sanders doesn't come into the action until 4:15 goes by, but it's well worth watching the first four minutes just to see Steve Taylor run circles around the OSU defense. Barry's very first run on this highlight clip should prove to anyone with any kind of football knowledge that he not only was better than Ken Clark, but better than just about any running back, college or pro, ever. You can't have watched this kid play and think he was anything but the best RB on the field, I don't care how much you're drinking.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZxIAPzec1g

 

I was at this game as a freshman. Nobody I talked to in my house, nobody in the stands around us, nobody tailgating before or after this game ever talked about Ken Clark being better than Barry Sanders. Near as I can remember we were just damned glad to have jumped on them early and kept outscoring them, because once Sanders got going he was unstoppable.

[fro daddy]

I was more impressed by Marcus DuPree than Barry Sanders when I saw them in Lincoln.

 

And the very first game I attended had some kid playing for Missery..Gene? Wilder.

We were number 1 for less than a week.

 

There were a couple good players on that team Husker37. James Wilder & Kellen Winslow.

 

Wilder is pretty far up there, but with the number of great backs to play in Lincoln over the years I dont see him cracking that top list. Although he is underrated by many.

 

Winslow might be the best TE ever to play in Lincoln. But probably not in a top players only list.

[REDSTEEL]

Vince young wouldn't belong on this list even if he had played in Lincoln, or at least he wouldn't belong in the top ten. He was a great QB, but not that great.

 

The best player I ever watched play here was Barry Sanders. That guy was flat out amazing. But we still beat his butt every year.

Red Grange has to be in your top two. I never saw him, but by all accounts he was an incredible player.

True but back then Husker fans thought Ken Clark was a better runningback.

 

Why do you care what some tiny minority of uninformed fans thought? What an odd comment.

It wasn't a tiny minority back then it was the majority. I'm not excluding myself from that group either. If I remember right Nebraska fans used the score against Barry Sanders as a reason for Ken being a better player. The fact that Nebraska line was so much better then Okie state line might have more to do with Clark having better yards that game.

 

<<<<<< this was for how myopic Nebraska fans can be when they compare former and current Huskers on the team to other teams.

 

Barry Sanders only started one year at OSU - his Heisman year in 1988. His first two years there he backed up Thurman Thomas. So that means that Ken Clark and Sanders would really only have been compared with each other that year.

 

In 1988 Sanders rushed for 2,850 yards, with 3,461 all-purpose yards and 37 rushing TDs. He torched team after team, including Nebraska; although we won the game 63-42, Sanders rushed for 189 yards and 4 TDs.

 

In 1988 Ken Clark had 1,500 yards and 12 TDs. Against OSU he ran for 256 yards and 3 TDs. Clark was good, but you had to have been talking to the most uninformed fans in all Huskerdom if they really, truly thought Clark was even comparable to Sanders. It's difficult to imagine people watching the two run and thinking they were close in skill.

 

Here are the highlights of their head-to-head game. Sanders doesn't come into the action until 4:15 goes by, but it's well worth watching the first four minutes just to see Steve Taylor run circles around the OSU defense. Barry's very first run on this highlight clip should prove to anyone with any kind of football knowledge that he not only was better than Ken Clark, but better than just about any running back, college or pro, ever. You can't have watched this kid play and think he was anything but the best RB on the field, I don't care how much you're drinking.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZxIAPzec1g

 

I was at this game as a freshman. Nobody I talked to in my house, nobody in the stands around us, nobody tailgating before or after this game ever talked about Ken Clark being better than Barry Sanders. Near as I can remember we were just damned glad to have jumped on them early and kept outscoring them, because once Sanders got going he was unstoppable.

Well the fans I was around in the stadium for the game were clearly talking about how much better Ken Clark was durring the game and after. All I remember of the game was how far ahead Nebraska was before ou state scored. Then the only reason Okie came back was because TO put in second and third string team.

 

Anyway after watching the game I'm more surprised how much better Ken Clark looked then I remember him being for that game at least. I always thought he was one of the most overated rb in Husker recent history, Though a lot of rb's for Nebraska in the last decade fill that spot now.

[REDSTEEL]

Just noticed that the video has Cowboy sports Network. Texas must be mad that OSU beat them to it.

[knapplc]

There's no doubt that Ken Clark was a fine running back. I would just have a hard time hearing anyone say that he was better than Barry Sanders. I would definitely have corrected them if I'd have heard someone say that.

[NUance]

Adrian Peterson is definitely among the best.

 

Another three honorable mention names might be Curt Warner, Danny Fouts and Ahmad Rashad (before he changed his name).

[jayhawk]

Bary Sanders played there (as mentioned)....

 

Oct. 15, 1988 (at Nebraska) Newbraska won 63-42 34 rushes 189 yards 4 TDs; at the time, the 4th-most rushing yards against any Nebraska team.

 

When you consider how otherwise outmatched these guys were (Gundy and Hart Lee were good, but this team was an 11-1 NU team (also lost bowl game) that was undefeated in the Big 8 and finished ranked #10... Oklahoma State was ranked right behind the Huskers, and that was a lot of Barry (and a little of the other guys), as they only won 4 games the next year with him gone...

 

P.S. I have never seen a team fight back from 42-0 like that, they still easily lost... Their poor defense was just completely out of their depth.

[HuskerGBR]

Bary Sanders played there (as mentioned)....

 

Oct. 15, 1988 (at Nebraska) Newbraska won 63-42 34 rushes 189 yards 4 TDs; at the time, the 4th-most rushing yards against any Nebraska team.

 

When you consider how otherwise outmatched these guys were (Gundy and Hart Lee were good, but this team was an 11-1 NU team (also lost bowl game) that was undefeated in the Big 8 and finished ranked #10... Oklahoma State was ranked right behind the Huskers, and that was a lot of Barry (and a little of the other guys), as they only won 4 games the next year with him gone...

 

P.S. I have never seen a team fight back from 42-0 like that, they still easily lost... Their poor defense was just completely out of their depth.

 

Pretty crazy skills by Barry huh? I just like how he would always flip the ball the ref...I wish more guys would do that.

[deedsker15]

did anyone else notice we had more than 500 yards rushing...IN THE FIRST HALF!!!

[NUance]

did anyone else notice we had more than 500 yards rushing...IN THE FIRST HALF!!!

500 yds? Are you f'ing kidding me? That's gotta be an NCAA record, right?

[Blaze1up]

Barry by far

[junior4949]

This may be a bit of a stretch for some/most, but I'm going to go with Darian Hagan. I can't remember a player with more dominance over us. In his three years as starter, his Big 8 win/loss was 20–0–1. In 1990, CU came into our house ranked #9 while we were ranked #3. They completely dominated us in the 4th quarter. While our teams in the late 80's and early 90's weren't all that exceptional, Hagan and CU had our number. Hagan was also only the 6th QB at the time in D1 to rush for 1000 and pass for a 1000 in a season. He was the leader of CU and led them to their one and only NC.