Looking Back at 1999

[Mavric]

No idea what brought this up but .... #offseason

A lot of details that are often lost to the sands of time.  But some pretty interesting - and damning - tidbits especially concerning our offense.  Especially if you're not a huge Frank fan.

Now, it is certainly true that this '99 bunch, the last Nebraska team to win a conference championship, could have been going head-to-head against Florida State for a national title had it not been for a bad case of fumble-itis against Texas, including a turnover a yard away from a touchdown. So the 24-20 loss after a 6-0 start is sometimes brought up as one of those games in Husker lore that kept the program from being No. 1 again.

To be fair, you can look at it another way. The 1999 team, which was fumbling it all over the place all season, lived dangerously in some games it won that year too. Heck, Nebraska's conference title drought would go all the way back to 1997 if a Colorado kicker had not missed a 34-yard kick by inches as time in regulation expired after NU had blown a 27-3 lead in the fourth quarter. And there was a game in September against Southern Miss in which NU won 20-13 despite accumulating just 185 yards of offense and eight first downs. Nebraska won because Julius Jackson scored two touchdowns on defense.

There was also this game at Kansas, a week after the Texas loss. It was clear Nebraska was still smarting from the previous week and the offense seemed lost in the wilderness, trailing 9-0 at the half against a KU team that had a 3-5 record.

If there was a Husker season you might wish to go back to and have the current four-team playoff we do now, this one might be right up at the top of the list. Because what it would have given us is one of the best Blackshirts defenses ever against Michael Vick's Virginia Tech team in the semifinals, and then perhaps a national championship showdown with the Florida State squad that had Peter Warrick.

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[Cdog923]

Frank didn't have the playcalling or coordinating chops required to successfully succeed TO, and 1999 was the year it started to show. For instance, look at the reliance Frank had on running from the QB position. If you look at Frank's 3 primary QBs (Newcombe, Crouch and Lord), in the 6 seasons they combined to start, the QB rushed the ball over 150 times a year every year, with Crouch and Lord running it over 200 times from 2001-2003. Compare that with 5 of TO's QBs (Frost, Frazier, Gdowski, Taylor and Gill) from 1981 to 1997, and the QB position carried the ball 150 times twice (Frost in '97, Taylor in '88).

An argument could be made for a lack of recruiting quality during Frank's tenure, but the 1999 and 2000 teams consisted of a majority of TO's recruits. I think the real TL;DR argument is that Frank lacked the talent, imagination, and moxy as a playcaller than Tom possessed in spades. 

 

[Scarlet Overkill]

The conference champ against UTerus - i remember winning that mostly because UT players went for stripping the ball rather than wrapping up to make the tackle.

 

[brophog]

I don't care if it had warts, still one of my favorite seasons.

 

[Mavric]

An argument could be made for a lack of recruiting quality during Frank's tenure, but the 1999 and 2000 teams consisted of a majority of TO's recruits. I think the real TL;DR argument is that Frank lacked the talent, imagination, and moxy as a playcaller than Tom possessed in spades. 

Pretty much this.  I don't think Frank had what it takes to be a head coach at a Power 5 school.  Failing to win the MAC in 13 years pretty much proves this.

But I think it's possible that he could have gotten along better had he not also tried to be OC.  He was a terrible OC who really didn't understand how everything fits together.  Perhaps if he'd let someone else call plays (Gill?) things would have been enough better for him to stick around awhile longer.

 

[The Duke]

Frank Solich is and always will be a Cornhusker to his core, and his Nebraska coaching record speaks for itself.

Every coach at some point in their career has missteps and poor decisions. Frank struggled handling the Newcomb/Crouch QB situation. (In my opinion Crouch should always have been the QB from the start due to how lethal Newcomb was as a receiver.) As mentioned Frank probably also placed too much emphasis on the QB run game. Osborne had his struggles too in relying for to many seasons on the 5-2 defense. Once he switched to the 4-3 with speed it was an unstoppable combination of talent & scheme.

I will always support Frank Solich. That 1999 team was a joy to watch, especially that defense! I truly look forward to the day when we as a fan base can give Frank his just recognition whenever he comes back to be recognised at Memorial Stadium. It could happen this year during the Colorado game.

To this day however, I will also always believe that if Tom Osborne would have stuck around for 4 more years to coach while Crouch was our QB that Nebraska would have won at least 2 more National Championships under his watch.

 

[I am I]

I hate texass 

 

[Danimal]

I hate texass 

We got screwed in that first game against them. OBVIOUS illegal block(could have been called as clipping or holding) on Mike Brown right at the point of attack on their winning drive wasn't called. Ref throws the damn flag and we likely get a stop there. We should have played for all the marbles that season.