bethelbacker
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WHEN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IS NOT ENOUGH
On Monday, Jan. 2, 1984, the undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers lost the Orange Bowl and lost the national title when the Miami Hurricanes beat them 31-30. Nebraska's powerhouse offense featured Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier at running back, future first-round draft pick Irving Fryar at wide receiver and All-American Turner Gill at quarterback. During the 1983 season, the Huskers averaged 52 points and had scored at least 63 points in five games.
Gill was shattered. His pass to running back Jeff Smith on a two-point conversion attempt would have given Nebraska a 32-31 victory, but was tipped away by Miami safety Ken Calhoun at the last moment.
The pain welled up in him as he walked off the field. "It hurt from the inside," Gill says. "Like it was coming on me from somewhere deep."
Days later, at a college all-star game, he felt numb as he walked the sidelines behind the bench, replaying that last pass in his head: "I could see him catch it. I could erase the throw and start over, throw it just a little further out, beyond that other guy's fingertips."
Now, as a head coach himself, it's not the pass Gill replays but the moment just before it, when Huskers coach Tom Osborne decided to go for two points. A point-after kick would have tied the game and secured the national championship, but Osborne wanted something more. The guys on the team had whispered it, "13-0," all season. It was a mantra. It was the difference between running and not running one more set of sprints at practice. It was the difference between kicking it and going for two. Every time they said it, they were making a promise. It was who they were, all they wanted.
As time passes and memory softens, you find yourself still holding on to the desire, he says. Turner Gill was once the guy in Huskers red and white, rolling right and floating that ball toward Smith, reaching for No. 13.
Gill, bright blue ball cap on, now the coach at the University at Buffalo, is the guy who knows perfection isn't a number at all: "The chase is the thing, the drive, something inside you that wants to be truly great and won't settle and won't ever be satisfied. That's perfect. That's as close as you can get."
WHEN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IS NOT ENOUGH
On Monday, Jan. 2, 1984, the undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers lost the Orange Bowl and lost the national title when the Miami Hurricanes beat them 31-30. Nebraska's powerhouse offense featured Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier at running back, future first-round draft pick Irving Fryar at wide receiver and All-American Turner Gill at quarterback. During the 1983 season, the Huskers averaged 52 points and had scored at least 63 points in five games.
Gill was shattered. His pass to running back Jeff Smith on a two-point conversion attempt would have given Nebraska a 32-31 victory, but was tipped away by Miami safety Ken Calhoun at the last moment.
The pain welled up in him as he walked off the field. "It hurt from the inside," Gill says. "Like it was coming on me from somewhere deep."
Days later, at a college all-star game, he felt numb as he walked the sidelines behind the bench, replaying that last pass in his head: "I could see him catch it. I could erase the throw and start over, throw it just a little further out, beyond that other guy's fingertips."
Now, as a head coach himself, it's not the pass Gill replays but the moment just before it, when Huskers coach Tom Osborne decided to go for two points. A point-after kick would have tied the game and secured the national championship, but Osborne wanted something more. The guys on the team had whispered it, "13-0," all season. It was a mantra. It was the difference between running and not running one more set of sprints at practice. It was the difference between kicking it and going for two. Every time they said it, they were making a promise. It was who they were, all they wanted.
As time passes and memory softens, you find yourself still holding on to the desire, he says. Turner Gill was once the guy in Huskers red and white, rolling right and floating that ball toward Smith, reaching for No. 13.
Gill, bright blue ball cap on, now the coach at the University at Buffalo, is the guy who knows perfection isn't a number at all: "The chase is the thing, the drive, something inside you that wants to be truly great and won't settle and won't ever be satisfied. That's perfect. That's as close as you can get."
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