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If you could surgically remove one thing from Nebraska history, what would it be?


knapplc

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Just to get the hypotheticals really going, let's remove Frank Solich from the programs memory bank. Does anyone see us losing anything of significance without him? I do this to see where we go after TO retires. Or maybe he coaches a few more years. Or.......

i remember reading somewhere that Tom didn't want to retire when he did. Tom retired when he did so that frank could have the Nebraska job instead of moving elsewhere to be a head coach

 

I believe I remember that as well. Maybe that is what we remove (TO Retirement) thus all things happening subsequently would not have happened?

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Lawrence Phillips from ever joining the roster......

 

Howabout, LP from answering that phone call and going to SF's apartment? Maybe he doesn't spiral if without that one event. I've gotta say he was the most dominate RB I've ever seen in a Husker uniform. But he sure did invite a sh#tstorm of controversy.

There's no way we can say that a single phone call turned him into the monster he became. No one just has a Good or Evil switch, there is more to it than a single event. LP surely would have done something else stupid to embarass the university even if that one night didn't happen. He continued to do horrible things long after that.

 

I think even his teammates from the time, on the best team in history, have noted that he was one of the best football players they had ever been around. But, I think we would have been fine without him and without the tarnish that he brought to an otherwise outstanding time period.

 

 

I absolutely agree, we would have been fine without him and he was definitely a stain on the era and the perception of our program. But, there are 2 things I would personally have missed if he never put on the N. 1- The way TO handled his situation had a huge positive influence on my thoughts of TO as a person. I realize it had the opposite effect with many naysayers but I couldn't be more proud that TO tried to do what was best for LP as a person, even if hindsight shows us he should've just cut him loose. I bleed husker red through and through, always have-always will but, I am an even bigger fan of Dr. Tom Osborne. 2- I would've missed never seeing him carry the rock. Personal issues aside, he was a beast of a runner and, by all accounts, a selfless teammate with an exceptional work ethic. I am glad that we got to experience those things even though the negatives outweighed the positives in the end.

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I'd say the "Nebraska! Nebraska!" Alma mater that was crammed down our throats from 1996-2001 but the University has done a good job scrubbing it away themselves.

 

And the Runzas are tempting as well.

 

I'm trying to think of the "one thing" that was the catalyst for the, well for lack of a better term, "gravitation" of the program. And obviously there isn't one. But here my best shot.

 

The tenure of Tom Osborne's assistants post Tom Osborne' coaching career.

 

They never fully respected Frank as the CEO., and that put him in an impossible situation of the get-go.

 

If they let him build his crew right away, who knows? In either case, things would have started moving a lot quicker than they did.

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Read the book Anotomy of an Era. I'm bout 90% through the first volume. Still have yet to see one single negative comment about LP from his teammates and other personnel of the program at that time. In fact, there's a hell of a lot more negative feelings thrown towards Frazier from teammates than Phillips. That's a perfect example of what happens when no one's looking out after someone with HIS best interests at heart (TO) after they've had probably the toughest upbringing possible. Now usually, I'm a hardass type that says at some point you need to take responsibility for yourself at some point and so on, but the more I've learned about Phillips, the more I've moved from that stance and gained a better understanding of youth and what happens to them when they have no proper direction or established home/family life. It's really unfortunate, cuz all the guys really like Lawrence.

 

Well said Mr. Accountability. I am also currently reading that book. Just got through the Darlington chapter. It is eye opening not seeing ANY negative comments about LP, except of course about the tragedy of the bad things he has done. Maybe the thing we should want changed is LP's upbringing.

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Read the book Anotomy of an Era. I'm bout 90% through the first volume. Still have yet to see one single negative comment about LP from his teammates and other personnel of the program at that time. In fact, there's a hell of a lot more negative feelings thrown towards Frazier from teammates than Phillips. That's a perfect example of what happens when no one's looking out after someone with HIS best interests at heart (TO) after they've had probably the toughest upbringing possible. Now usually, I'm a hardass type that says at some point you need to take responsibility for yourself at some point and so on, but the more I've learned about Phillips, the more I've moved from that stance and gained a better understanding of youth and what happens to them when they have no proper direction or established home/family life. It's really unfortunate, cuz all the guys really like Lawrence.

 

Well said Mr. Accountability. I am also currently reading that book. Just got through the Darlington chapter. It is eye opening not seeing ANY negative comments about LP, except of course about the tragedy of the bad things he has done. Maybe the thing we should want changed is LP's upbringing.

If youre to Darlington, I believe youve seen the part where Tomich was gonna kick Frazier's ass...........?

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Unpopular Opinion Alert--Was Brook Berringer all that great of a QB for NU?

 

Don't get me wrong, he was a great person, citizen, and it was a tragedy that he died so young. I also agree that we probably don't win the national championship in 1994 without him, but let's not make him out to be this amazing QB in Husker history. Go back and check out the games he started in 1994. Other than the CU game, he didn't have a huge impact on those games. He was more of a caretaker/game manager for the last half of the season, and the team rode the defense and LP the last half of the year, until Frazier came back in the OB.

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Unpopular Opinion Alert--Was Brook Berringer all that great of a QB for NU?

 

Don't get me wrong, he was a great person, citizen, and it was a tragedy that he died so young. I also agree that we probably don't win the national championship in 1994 without him, but let's not make him out to be this amazing QB in Husker history. Go back and check out the games he started in 1994. Other than the CU game, he didn't have a huge impact on those games. He was more of a caretaker/game manager for the last half of the season, and the team rode the defense and LP the last half of the year, until Frazier came back in the OB.

 

He embodied what it meant to be a Husker! The respect he is deservedly getting is more than for playing time or being the best that ever was!

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Unpopular Opinion Alert--Was Brook Berringer all that great of a QB for NU?

 

Don't get me wrong, he was a great person, citizen, and it was a tragedy that he died so young. I also agree that we probably don't win the national championship in 1994 without him, but let's not make him out to be this amazing QB in Husker history. Go back and check out the games he started in 1994. Other than the CU game, he didn't have a huge impact on those games. He was more of a caretaker/game manager for the last half of the season, and the team rode the defense and LP the last half of the year, until Frazier came back in the OB.

 

 

As I've already said, you don't separate the person from the talent. Being a great person and citizen is part of being a great quarterback - not the entirety, but part of it.

 

Even if it wasn't, though - exactly how many quarterbacks from Nebraska have been drafted and/or played in the NFL? You don't have to be a Manziel or a Frazier to be a great quarterback - an AJ McCarron can be equally as great.

 

He was elite status as a person and as a teammate, and he was good enough to certainly be drafted as a professional quarterback. Count him as great in my book.

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yeah, the legacy of Brook Berringer was more about the man, not the football player. He coulda played anywhere with his skillset and just didnt quite fit i what we did, but the bottom line is, when his number was called, he still got the job done. And then he went back to sittin in '95. Not to mention, he was gonna have a far more successful pro career than Frazier, becuase that's the type of style he fit.

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Unpopular Opinion Alert--Was Brook Berringer all that great of a QB for NU?

 

Don't get me wrong, he was a great person, citizen, and it was a tragedy that he died so young. I also agree that we probably don't win the national championship in 1994 without him, but let's not make him out to be this amazing QB in Husker history. Go back and check out the games he started in 1994. Other than the CU game, he didn't have a huge impact on those games. He was more of a caretaker/game manager for the last half of the season, and the team rode the defense and LP the last half of the year, until Frazier came back in the OB.

 

He embodied what it meant to be a Husker! The respect he is deservedly getting is more than for playing time or being the best that ever was!

 

What does that even mean "he embodied what it meant to be a Husker"? Again, I am not saying anything bad about how he was as a person or his character, I am just going with his on the field performance. Let's say Frazier doesn't come back in and lead NU in the 4th quarter against Miami. Do the thoughts about Berringer change if he is remembered as the QB who threw a 4th quarter INT against Miami when we had first and goal from the 3 yard line?

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Let's say Frazier doesn't come back in and lead NU in the 4th quarter against Miami. Do the thoughts about Berringer change if he is remembered as the QB who threw a 4th quarter INT against Miami when we had first and goal from the 3 yard line?

 

 

You forget that Frazier started the game and threw an interception right away, getting benched in favor of Brook.

 

So let's say he doesn't lead us to a 4th quarter comeback - do the thoughts about Frazier, the greatest demi-god untouchable titan of the best quarterbacks for Nebraska ever, change if he is remembered as the QB who threw us out of any chance to win that game right away and got benched?

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