1983 What could have - should have been - old article

grandpasknee said:
I can still clearly remember that whole 83 game, but especially the final conversion. I was at a friends house. We had feasted on smoked turkey legs and smoked lake trout. We made that final touchdown and the whole room was just exploding. Then it came time for the 2 point conversion. I was on my hands and knees about 3 feet from the TV screen. The ball was snapped...the bit of a roll out by Gill..the throw..the tip and the ball bouncing on the turf. It was over. I never felt anything so sudden in my life before or after. All that hype and adrenalin and promise of the moment....sky high one second and numb the next. The room was just dead silent. A few expletives followed and everybody just left and went home. Still an unbelievable moment, and despite the loss, probably one of my favorite moments of husker football memory.....both for the monumentally huge set that Tom O exhibited by going for the win and for the immense national respect we garnered in the media and in the football world in general. That was the point, in my opinion that lead to Husker Domination years later. That particular moment.
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Agreed- one of, no the most, bittersweet moment ever as a Husker fan. Gut wrenching on the incompletion but immense pride in going for the win. That one play absolutely shaped our future, up through the 90's.

 
On paper, the '82 squad may have been better. That team had Rimington, Roger Craig and Jamie Williams. It was probably a slightly better defensive squad. It arguably played a slightly tougher schedule with Auburn at Auburn, an Iowa squad that went to the Rose Bowl the previous year, and a better OU team (1983 was probably Switzer's worst team).

Hard to say, but in my mind, both of those teams were damn special. They also happen to be the first that I remember clearly, being in my late 30s now.

If they ever do one of those "Missing Rings" series for college teams, '82 and '83 are both on top of the list. In my mind, those will always be the ones that really got away.

 
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ColoradoHusk said:
TGHusker said:
OH HSKR FAN said:
Everyone talks about the failed 2 pt conversion in that game. Was there also a missed FG in that game as well?
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That I cannot remember - I'd have to go back and look at the articles.
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It looks like there were 2 missed FG's by Nebraska. But, back then, FG's of any length were far from sure points. I am pretty sure NU's kicker was a "straight-on style" kicker.

http://www.huskermax...83/13miami.html
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I was an excellent "toe jam" style kicker. Had I learned soccer style at an early age I might have played well into my adult years. I had one heck of a strong left leg!

 
ColoradoHusk said:
I was at my grandparents house for the '84 Orange Bowl. I was 7 years old, and fell asleep near halftime, right after the fumblerooski. I remember running upstairs the next morning and asking my grandma if we won. She simply said "No". Although I remember Husker games during that era, I was really too young to understand the significance. I thought that '83 team was unbeatable.

I still love the option that Gill ran on 4th down and Jeff Smith's run down the sideline to put NU in position to win the game. I have no idea why TO ran a rollout pass for the 2 point conversion, but it was open. The pass was slightly behind Smith, and that darn Miami defender got a fingernail on it.
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The play call was ok and it was the execution that was a hair off. However, I wondered why we didn't run option again against a tired UM defense and the maestro Gill with the speedster Smith.

 
Knoxville Husker said:
ColoradoHusk said:
I was at my grandparents house for the '84 Orange Bowl. I was 7 years old, and fell asleep near halftime, right after the fumblerooski. I remember running upstairs the next morning and asking my grandma if we won. She simply said "No". Although I remember Husker games during that era, I was really too young to understand the significance. I thought that '83 team was unbeatable.

I still love the option that Gill ran on 4th down and Jeff Smith's run down the sideline to put NU in position to win the game. I have no idea why TO ran a rollout pass for the 2 point conversion, but it was open. The pass was slightly behind Smith, and that darn Miami defender got a fingernail on it.
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The play call was ok and it was the execution that was a hair off. However, I wondered why we didn't run option again against a tired UM defense and the maestro Gill with the speedster Smith.
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NU probably had their 2 point conversion play decided prior to the game. I am still surprised they TO went with a pass, but can't go wrong with the ball in Gill's hands to decide the game.

 
That was a painful, painful game for me. Only rivaled by the '83 Orange bowl in terms of most hurtful losses ever.

1982_10_04_-_Todd_Blackledge.jpg


 
TGHusker said:
When you are old enough to relive the experience - the grief doesn't go away but in the same way nether does the appreciation.

I came across this old article and wanted to share it. About the 1983 team - the Gill, Fryar, Rozier offense, the pipeline, the walkons - everything that became a Husker trademark in the Osborne years.

If the 1983 team had just a slightly better D or one completed 2 pt conversion- we might be talking about the all time greatest team in college football (of course the 1995 Huskers hold that distinction - some debate - maybe 1971team.)

This article talks about the great respect other schools had for Nebraska and what they had built at that point.

Turner Gill was one missed conversion from a national champions, a terrible out of bounds call at PSU from another, and had a 3rd in sight against Clemson. A great run by a great group of players.

http://news.google.c...=2566%2C3518242
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In 1981 against Clemson we had a great shot to be the first two loss team ever to win the championship. We lost by a TD to a great Clemson team with the Fridge and Homer Jordan at QB. Pretty sure we would have won had Freshman Gill not been out injured.

This was all happening when I first moved to Lincoln, 1980-1982 seasons was when I lived there. You used to be able to go into the locker room if you said you were a team relative, at least if you were a 10-11 year old kid. I still have a program page with tons of autographs including Roger Craig.

 
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ColoradoHusk said:
Knoxville Husker said:
ColoradoHusk said:
I was at my grandparents house for the '84 Orange Bowl. I was 7 years old, and fell asleep near halftime, right after the fumblerooski. I remember running upstairs the next morning and asking my grandma if we won. She simply said "No". Although I remember Husker games during that era, I was really too young to understand the significance. I thought that '83 team was unbeatable.

I still love the option that Gill ran on 4th down and Jeff Smith's run down the sideline to put NU in position to win the game. I have no idea why TO ran a rollout pass for the 2 point conversion, but it was open. The pass was slightly behind Smith, and that darn Miami defender got a fingernail on it.
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The play call was ok and it was the execution that was a hair off. However, I wondered why we didn't run option again against a tired UM defense and the maestro Gill with the speedster Smith.
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NU probably had their 2 point conversion play decided prior to the game. I am still surprised they TO went with a pass, but can't go wrong with the ball in Gill's hands to decide the game.
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Yes but the ball was not in his hands anymore when he threw it! I would have felt much better seeing an option pitch to Smith than a forward pass!

 
I was 10 and remember that final play like it was yesterday, and I remember I bawled like crazy when they lost...

 
Great article. Brings back some memories, that one.

This got me to thinking:

they've made you worry about a bizarre play the last few years (like the guard around against Oklahoma a few years back). Everyone who plays them worries about a crazy play.
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That's one thing we don't do much anymore--run trick plays. It seems like Osborne would run a trick play every so often. At least one or two per year. And I think doing that would keep opponents on their toes. They would spend film time and practice time preparing for that "bizarre" play that they knew Osborne had in his back pocket. I suspect it would take away valuable practice time of our opponents during game week, when they could instead have been practicing for the offensive plays we run 90% of the time. Today though we don't run as many trick plays. How many spectacular trick plays have we run in the past half decade? Any? Certainly nothing in the league of the Fumblerooski or the Bounce Pass. Oh well. Just something I thought about when reading that article.

 
NUance said:
Great article. Brings back some memories, that one.

This got me to thinking:

they've made you worry about a bizarre play the last few years (like the guard around against Oklahoma a few years back). Everyone who plays them worries about a crazy play.
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That's one thing we don't do much anymore--run trick plays. It seems like Osborne would run a trick play every so often. At least one or two per year. And I think doing that would keep opponents on their toes. They would spend film time and practice time preparing for that "bizarre" play that they knew Osborne had in his back pocket. I suspect it would take away valuable practice time of our opponents during game week, when they could instead have been practicing for the offensive plays we run 90% of the time. Today though we don't run as many trick plays. How many spectacular trick plays have we run in the past half decade? Any? Certainly nothing in the league of the Fumblerooski or the Bounce Pass. Oh well. Just something I thought about when reading that article.
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You are right - seems less imagination now a days. The bounce pass - I thought that was executed great against OU in 83 - completely caught them off guard. We don't even run screen passes anymore!

 
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