Greatest Moment in Husker Football History - Non-Bowl, Devaney/Osborne Region

[Mavric]

Huskers.com is running a series of Twitter votes to determine the greatest moment in Husker football history.

 

You can vote on Twitter if you like.  But what does HuskerBoard say?

 

Vote in Non-Bowl, Devaney/Osborne Region above.  Vote for the other regions in associated threads.

 

TOP NON-BOWL GAMES: DEVANEY/OSBORNE ERA
 
No. 1: Winning the Game of the Century
If you can recite Lyell Bremser’s call of Johnny Rodgers’ punt return on Thanksgiving Day in 1971, you might be a Husker fan. Even if you can’t, you’ve surely seen it, which qualifies you all the same. The day’s first touchdown sparked Nebraska’s 35-31 victory over No. 2 Oklahoma in a game for the ages.

VS
 
No. 8: Osborne Defeating The Bear
Unranked Nebraska gave one of its most complete, focused efforts of the young Osborne era to defeat the Bear Bryant-led Alabama Crimson Tide 31-24 in Lincoln in 1977. Alabama entered the game ranked No. 4 and finished the season No. 2, with its only loss coming to Nebraska.
 
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No. 4: Huskers Hushing the Buffaloes
Colorado entered the 1994 game ranked No. 2 and confident it would leave Lincoln with a victory over Tommie Frazier-less Nebraska. But the unbeaten Huskers, ranked No. 3, silenced Colorado with a resounding 24-7 victory in Memorial Stadium’s 200^th consecutive sellout.

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No. 5: Huskers Haunting the Buffaloes
Never before had two teams met with the same AP rankings, but both Nebraska and Colorado entered the 1992 game in Lincoln at No. 8, although only team played the part in front of a raucous crowd on a dreary Halloween. Husker fans savored every touchdown, every sack of the 52-7 thumping that ended CU’s 25-game unbeaten conference streak.
 
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No. 3: Playing After the Death of Kennedy
Not until late Friday night, on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, did university officials from Nebraska and Oklahoma, after consulting the Big 8 Conference and NCAA, decide to play Saturday’s game in 1963 as scheduled. There were no pregame ceremonies, and the crowd had a long silent tribute to Kennedy that preceded Nebraska’s 29-20 victory.

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No. 6: Making a Miracle at Missouri
Forever known as “The Fleakicker,” freshman receiver Matt Davison somehow slid his hands between the football and turf to catch a pass deflected off teammate Shevin Wiggins’s foot. The touchdown reception on the final play of regulation and Kris Brown’s point-after kick forced overtime, and quarterback Scott Frost scored on an option keeper to allow No. 1 Nebraska to escape with a 45-38 victory at Missouri in 1997.
 
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2: Osborne Breaking Through Against Sooners
Tom Osborne had lost all five games he’d coached against Barry Switzer and Oklahoma, and the top-ranked Sooners were favored to make it six straight in 1978. But on a cold, bitter day in Lincoln, No. 4 Nebraska forced nine fumbles, recovering six of them, in a 17-14 upset in front of one of the loudest crowds in Memorial Stadium history.

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No. 7: Devaney Winning at Michigan
In only his second game as Nebraska’s coach, Bob Devaney took his underdog team to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and came away with a 25-13 upset of the Wolverines on Sept 29, 1962. Bill Thornton scored two touchdowns as the Huskers played in front of 70,787 fans – then the largest crowd to ever see a Nebraska football game. Some 2,500 fans greeted the team’s return at the Lincoln airport that night.

 

[Mavric]

Really not sure how the Flea-kicker is a six seed. 

 

For my money, the Game of the Century is the only one that is clearly better. 

It's definitely better than #5. 

Maybe the #4 Colorado game also being the 200th sellout gives it a little extra pop but I still go for Frost/Davison. 

#3 is a huge moment for the nation but almost nothing for Husker football.  

#2 would basically be a toss-up - the game where Osborne finally got over the hump vs the game that allowed him to go out on top.

[southernoregonhusker]

I can't think of too many times in my adult years where I ran around the house screaming gloriously, but the flea kicker is one of them.

[Mavric]

5 hours ago, southernoregonhusker said:

I can't think of too many times in my adult years where I ran around the house screaming gloriously, but the flea kicker is one of them.

 

The thing I actually remember most about that game was actually that I missed our TD in OT.  I was in the dorms in Lincoln and we got two different ABC feeds.  The one we had on in our room didn't get back from commercial in time and completely missed our score.  All of the sudden there were guys running down the hall yelling and we had no idea what was going on.

[knapplc]

5 hours ago, southernoregonhusker said:

I can't think of too many times in my adult years where I ran around the house screaming gloriously, but the flea kicker is one of them.

 

4 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

The thing I actually remember most about that game was actually that I missed our TD in OT.  I was in the dorms in Lincoln and we got two different ABC feeds.  The one we had on in our room didn't get back from commercial in time and completely missed our score.  All of the sudden there were guys running down the hall yelling and we had no idea what was going on.

 

I was at work during that game and missed most of it. I caught snippets on the radio and knew that Missouri was playing us far tougher than expected.  It was dead, so they sent me home, and I caught Missouri's touchdown to go ahead late in the game. I watched the ensuing kickoff, hoping we'd run it back, but we didn't.

 

There was a little over a minute left, we were not a passing team, and it was 60 or 70 yards to the end zone. I turned the TV off in disgust because I didn't want to watch the loss. 

 

I probably turned it back on just after we'd crossed midfield. So it wasn't off long.

 

When Davison caught that carom I jumped around in my living room and knocked a ton of stuff off the bookshelves with all the shaking in the house.  I remember quickly putting it all back upright before my wife got home. 

[Ulty]

I was at that Missouri game, with the marching band on the far side of the field. Couldn't see a damn thing that happened in the endzone. The clock hit 00:00, students started rushing the field to attack the goal posts, refs were talking, and then the announcer said "Touchdown Nebraska." Confusing, but awesome. Didn't know how it happened until watching the reply the next day.

[BigRedBuster]

I'm not surprised that nobody is voting for the 1962 win over Michigan because nobody, including me, probably was either born or old enough to remember it.

 

But, if you think about it, Devaney had just taken over a program that had been absolutely miserable for a long time under Bill Jennings.  It was really the first glimpse that the fans had...of....hey, maybe we have something special here.  Devaney ended up taking a 3-6-1 team from the previous year and went 9-2 and started building the dynasty.

 

I would have loved to have been around at that time to feel the shock and excitement in the fan base.

[TGHusker]

From my youth, I barely remember NU's win against LSU for the NC in 1970.  However, I vividly remember the Game of the Century a year later.  Late Thanksgiving food at my uncle Jack and Carol and everyone sitting around the TV watching.

 

I think the flea kicker game really is # 2 or 3.  It allowed us to go on to win the NC and really establish the imprint of Dynasty on that era of Nebraska football. 3 NC in 4 years and playing for 4 in 5 years. 

[I am I]

2 hours ago, BigRedBuster said:

I'm not surprised that nobody is voting for the 1962 win over Michigan because nobody, including me, probably was either born or old enough to remember it.

 

But, if you think about it, Devaney had just taken over a program that had been absolutely miserable for a long time under Bill Jennings.  It was really the first glimpse that the fans had...of....hey, maybe we have something special here.  Devaney ended up taking a 3-6-1 team from the previous year and went 9-2 and started building the dynasty.

 

I would have loved to have been around at that time to feel the shock and excitement in the fan base.

I voted for it. 
largest ever crowd against the powerhouse Michigan. Righted the ship and headed us to 40 yrs of greatness. 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Osborne's breakthrough against Switzer/Oklahoma was huge. A weight lifted off Husker Nation. But we had less than a week to enjoy it. Lost to Missouri the next Saturday, lost the inside track to the National Championship, and got a rematch against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl that every Nebraskan knew we were going to lose. Some of us remember the 1981 NU vs OU game more fondly. Oklahoma was having an off year but Turner Gill was hurt and Nebraska had to go back to the drab Mark Mauer, who had been blamed for the Husker's 1-2 start. Not only did the Huskers win, they absolutely smoked the Sooners in Norman, 37-14. We coasted on that for a year. 

 

The 1994 game against a very high-powered Colorado team may have been Osborne's single best coaching job.  Colorado played a variation on our own option game with Kordell Stewart pitching back to eventual Heisman Trophy winner Rashan Saalam. IIRC, it was Osborne - not the DC - who decided to assign a spy to Stewart on every play.  An LB who wouldn't hesitate to see how the play was developing, but just aim himself straight at Stewart. If Stewart made a late pitch to Saalam, he'd hit Stewart anyway. It risked giving Salaam more big yardage plays, but the strategy was to spook the hell out of Kordell Stewart and it worked. 

[Mavric]

 

[Mavric]