Gage County
Banned
Bailer was a common opponent that year too. Michigan beat them in the Big House 3-38. Nebraska beat them in Waco 49-21, it also rain 4" during the game.
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Nebraska vs. Michigan ..... in 1997
- Thread starter Mavric
- Start date
Wasn't bashing BYU. I was pointing out that Wisconsin was supposed to win that game easily.
Well obviously we had a higher scoring, and more dynamic offense, along with one of the best, if not THE best play callers running it. Also our defense completely destroyed the #3 team in the nation, a team which went on to win the NC the next year. That was a quality win, and showed MUCH better than the anemic 21-16 win over #8 Washington St. I watched both games. It was clear after the Nebraska game, that NU was much more dominant on the field. And I have no doubt that Nebraska would have beat Michigan by at least 14 points had they played at that time. The Michigan defense simply could not have shut down Ahman Green, Scott Frost and that physical offense, and vise versa, Our defense would have had similar if not better results against Griese than they had against Manning.
And I am not convinced that the Michigan defense was actually that good. They played all year in a conference which by all accounts was a run heavy and top heavy conference. If they had played in the Big 8 I think their PPG goes up into the 15 point range where Nebraska's defense averaged 16.
Better Coach: Nebraska
Tougher, more mobile QB: Nebraska
Higher scoring Offense: Nebraska
Better Offensive Line: Nebraska
Better RB: Nebraska
Defensive Speed: Nebraska
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knapplc
International Man of Mystery
The Big Ten was a paper tiger that year. Sagarin's final rankings put an undefeated Michigan 4th behind Nebraska (an historically highly ranked team in his rankings), Florida and Florida State.
Nebraska led Colorado 10-3 at half and 27-10 at the end of three. Colorado scored two garbage-time touchdowns to make the score look close, but the game was never in doubt.
And when comparing Nebraska/Colorado to Michigan/Colorado, remember that Michigan played them in their first game of the year and Nebraska played them in their last regular season game. And, that was Colorado's red-letter game (literally), the ONE game they had to win. They have no such rivalry with Michigan.
I mean... Nebraska played an extra game (Big XII Championship against Texas A&M) and hammered the Aggies.
And then, Nebraska hammered the Volunteers. The Volunteers would have beaten 1997 Michigan, no question.
MichiganDad3
All-American
Michigan played 6 top 25 teams when they played. At the end of the season, only 3 of the teams Michigan played were ranked, with the best ranking at 9. Nebraska played 5 teams that finished in the top 25, including 2 top 10 teams. I don't know what happened with Colorado, we were killing them, and let them come back.
I'm not sure your "facts" are as factual as you'd like to believe.
Michigan maybe played a slightly tougher but by a pretty thin margin. Florida looks to have played the toughest schedule.
Michigan beat 3 teams that finished the year ranked (#16 Penn State - 9-3; #12 Ohio State - 10-3; #9 Washington State - 10-2)
Nebraska beat 5 teams that finished the year ranked (#18 Washington - 8-4; #8 Kansas State - 11-1; #23 Missouri - 7-5; #20 Texas A&M - 9-4; #7 Tennessee - 11-2)
Your claim about Michigan beating six Top 25 teams is deceptive. Michigan played Colorado, Notre Dame, Iowa, Michigan State and Wisconsin who were ranked earlier in the year. They finished 5-6, 7-6, 7-5, 7-5 and 8-5 respectively so they weren't nearly as good as those initial rankings suggest and all finished the year unranked.
Michigan beat Colorado at home the first game of the year. The Huskers played at Colorado the last game of the year. On the road. What had become a rivalry game. And Nebraska was up 27-10 until Colorado scored two late TDs to get closer. Also, Michigan beat Colorado by 24 which I believe is a three-score game.
Also, every computer ranking that I could find - Sagarin, SRS, Congrove, Howell - has Nebraska as the better team.
That would be my rebuttal if a Michigan fan were to bring up those points, which I think you just did.
MichiganDad3
All-American
Tougher conference? Here are the results of the bowl games.
Michigan W
Purdue W
Penn ST L
Wisconsin L
Ohio ST L
Iowa L
Michigan St - L
Nebraska W
Kansas St. W
Texas A&M L
Oklahoma ST L
Missery L
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Gage County
Banned
Bill McCartney was Bo Schembechler's defensive coordinator at Michigan prior to getting the HC job at Colorado. Lloyd Carr was the d-backs coach at the time. It's wasn't a rivalry based on tradition but it certainly was a rivalry game.
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knapplc
International Man of Mystery
The coaching fraternity is pretty small. We could make similar connections between half the teams that play in week one. Doesn't mean they're rivalries.
Gage County
Banned
Whatever
Gage County
Banned
Just 3 years earlier, #7 Colorado beat #4 Michigan with Kordell's Hail Mary. Just another similar connection?
You must be a BYU fan and I must not have any football knowledge because I didnt expect them to beat Wisconsin. I think the spread was around 24 points, so I am not alone..
knapplc
International Man of Mystery
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Gage County
Banned
in 96, #11 Michigan went out to Boulder and avenged the Hail Mary, Colorado was 5th in the nation. 97 was the rubber match between McCartney and his former d-backs coach. Are you sure it was just another game?