characteristics of classic husker teams

[NUinID]

Obviously, most of you guys are looking most prominently at the glory years of the 90's for your classic husker team. A lot of those characteristics were definitely true in the 90's, but I when I think of most of TO's I think of a well coached tough team that runs the ball very well, but may be a little lacking in talent at some skill positions and at the second and third levels on the defense.

NU always had good RB and O and D lines, but were usually a little short at WR, LB, and DB talent. For years there was always at least one over achieving walk on starting in the secondary sometimes 2. I think it had to do more with the teams we faced in conference than anything. No one in the big 8 passed the ball all that well so they wanted sure tackling run support guys in the secondary.

They other thing I always think of was that the reason why NU was always good was because it was reload not rebuild. NU was very much a wait your turn team. No one was expected to play much until they are Jr's Because of this the team was well coached and mature. I always remembered OU having some flashy freshman RB or QB or LB that would just come in and be ready to play. Those types of players were few and far between at NU.

Those are my memories o a classic NU football team. Now when you threw in the speed of the 90's then things peaked.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Individual plays and individual players might struggle or even fail.

But the battle would always be won in the trenches.

By the fourth quarter Nebraska would own you.

 

[TGHusker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc3kJp2RFaw

Watching this video makes me think of how boring our O had become under Bo. Scott Frost - the running QB- showed off his passing skills on the 1st TD drive. The announcers several times how difficult it was to defend our O - so many formations, so many options, etc The thing that set those teams apart was that they controlled the LOS as others had mentioned.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc3kJp2RFaw

Watching this video makes me think of how boring our O had become under Bo. Scott Frost - the running QB- showed off his passing skills on the 1st TD drive. The announcers several times how difficult it was to defend our O - so many formations, so many options, etc The thing that set those teams apart was that they controlled the LOS as others had mentioned.

Well technically our offense under Bo was under Shawn Watson and Tim Beck, who operated a pretty exciting offense using lots of different options and formations, but usually got hell for it when it didn't work, which sometimes happened with our inferior offensive line, ball handling issues, and a historically weak defense that didn't allow us to be patient.

 

[NUinID]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc3kJp2RFaw

Watching this video makes me think of how boring our O had become under Bo. Scott Frost - the running QB- showed off his passing skills on the 1st TD drive. The announcers several times how difficult it was to defend our O - so many formations, so many options, etc The thing that set those teams apart was that they controlled the LOS as others had mentioned.

Well technically our offense under Bo was under Shawn Watson and Tim Beck, who operated a pretty exciting offense using lots of different options and formations, but usually got hell for it when it didn't work, which sometimes happened with our inferior offensive line, ball handling issues, and a historically weak defense that didn't allow us to be patient.

Very true, you are watching a well oiled machine against Tennessee in 1998. I don't remember anyone saying TO offense looked so great when it was getting shut down by Miami in 1989 or when they get their a$$ handed to them by GT in the Citrus Bowl. Same basic offense different players.

 

[BigRedBuster]

If I had to break it down to one thing it would be that they controlled the line of scrimmage. Accomplish that and most of the other stuff will take care of itself.

This and speed on defense. No more slow a$$ line backers that Bo seemed to recruit.

That's fine about the defense if you don't want to count anything prior to 1992. Prior to that, we did pretty good on defense until we went against teams with speed that our DBs had to keep up with. Then we got burned bad.

I would go with extreme discipline in their assignments and controlling the LOS.

TO used to say if everyone on the field does their job and is good at the little things. Win the small battles. The big battle (game) takes care of itself. In other words, you didn't need WRs worried if the QB is going to do his job or RBs worried if linemen are doing their job or linemen worrying if the RB was doing his job. Everybody did THIER job within the system and everything else clicked.

 

[HuskerMerc44]

I can't help it, being born 1988 and experiencing the 90's like i did; I have to say that the men of the 90's teams... they are what Nebraska is. Frazier, Berringer, Green, Benning, Peter brothers, Wistrom, Taylor, Ellis, and many many more guys.

Classic Nebraska as far back as I can remember; wasn't always about Tom, (albeit he was a HUGE part of us), but the walk on program he founded... and those that grew up in Nebraska, (Yep Me, I met Tom as an 8 year old. Prior to that I already planned and wanted nothing more than to play for him) and other states nearby... that wanted to bleed and live Husker greatness for Tom. I am not full of all the answers, I just have personal perspective.

I just wish I was older than I was. I grew up promising myself id play for Tom.... then Solich... and we all know how that ended.

Above all. GBR.!!!

 

[TGHusker]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc3kJp2RFaw

Watching this video makes me think of how boring our O had become under Bo. Scott Frost - the running QB- showed off his passing skills on the 1st TD drive. The announcers several times how difficult it was to defend our O - so many formations, so many options, etc The thing that set those teams apart was that they controlled the LOS as others had mentioned.

Well technically our offense under Bo was under Shawn Watson and Tim Beck, who operated a pretty exciting offense using lots of different options and formations, but usually got hell for it when it didn't work, which sometimes happened with our inferior offensive line, ball handling issues, and a historically weak defense that didn't allow us to be patient.

Very true, you are watching a well oiled machine against Tennessee in 1998. I don't remember anyone saying TO offense looked so great when it was getting shut down by Miami in 1989 or when they get their a$$ handed to them by GT in the Citrus Bowl. Same basic offense different players.

Basically, not all about the "Xs and Os" but the Jim and Joes - need good players to execute a good plan.

 

[junior4949]

It appears as most are only looking at the run in the 90's. Great defense and particularly fast defenses didn't come about until the early 90's when it became well known that top ranked offenses would run circles around us. McBride realized that speed was the key. In our eight year bowl loss streak, we scored 99 points to our opponents scoring 207. Does this scream great defense? The only two bowls in this stretch where we were even competitive was the 88' bowl and the 93' against Florida State. Again, it was the early 90's when we switched gears from a power defense to a speed defense. The one thing about the defense that even most old timers would comment on was the fact that almost every time the ball was put on the turf we ended up with the ball. Nebraska defenses have not always been great, but they typically have been extremely stout.

On the offensive side of the ball, we typically always fielded a pretty good OL. We also typically had at least one if not more stud RB's. We were pretty much up and down with regards to the QB position as we had some good and some not so good. The WR position was usually held by guys who weren't the biggest or most athletic, but they were darn good blockers.