Nebraska took high road to victory
Osborne’s last season
marked by intensity
By Mike Kluck
Special Projects Reporter
MIAMI BEACH. Fla. Nebraska
wasn't supposed to be playing in the
1998 Orange Bow l.
The dynasty was supposed to be
over after winning back-to-back nation
al championships in 1994 and 1995. An
1 1-2 season in 1996 was rumored to be
the first steps to the Comhuskers falling
back within the pack.
Colorado, after all, had talent and
experience coming back, and then there
was Big 12 Champion Texas, which
returned James Brow n at quarterback
and Ricky Williams at running back.
But nobody knew about the focus
the Huskers had.
"Starting last January, this was
one of the most focused groups of
players I've ever been around,"
Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said
after the Huskers' 42-17 victory over
Tennessee in the Orange Bowl Jan. 2.
"They knew exactly where they
wanted to be this Jafi. 2nd. The reason
we were here w;as not by accident.
Some of the guys here a lot of guys in
that locker room, you know', made a
commitment to get here, worked very
hard in the offseason, and they
worked hard this fall."
And nobody knew that this was
going to be Tom Osborne’s last season.
Osborne didn't announce his
retirement until Dec. 10, but said he
had been considering retirement
since the beginning of the season.
However, Osborne didn't want to
announce his retirement until May.
“I would have much preferred to
have gone away in the spring,”
Osborne said after the bowl game. "I
think an ideal scenario for me would
have been to go through recruiting,
go through spring ball, and then dis
appear in May.”
Still, when the Huskers opened
their season on a steamy Saturday in
August against a team nicknamed the
Zips, nobody knew what to expect.
Even after Nebraska rolled to a
_ ■ I
59-14 victory over Akron and gained
644 yards, people still didn't know
what to expect.
Akron's two touchdowns late in
the second half, although not coming
against NU's No. 1 defense, still gave
senior defensive tackle Jason Peter
some concern.
"The way we played today won’t
cut it once we really start getting
through the season," Peter said after
the contest. "If we play like this
against Washington, we will lose.”
Before the Huskers could face the
Huskies, they first had to face Central
Florida, a program competing in its sec
ond season at the Division I-A level.
But the Golden Knights were no
slouches for the Huskers, taking a 17
14 lead at halftime before losing 28-24.
The Centra! Florida game also
created the most controversy for
Osborne, who put in backup quarter
back Frankie London in the second
quarter. London led the Huskers in an
eight-play, 65-yard touchdown drive
to give NU its first lead of the game.
Osborne said the move was prede
termined before the game, but when
senior quarterback Scott Frost
returned in the next series, he was
greeted by a chorus of boos from the
Husker faithful.
1 he thing 1 want to get clear to
everyone who was in that stadium,
what we are trying to do is make our
selves a better football team,”
Osborne said. “We are not demoting
Scott Frost; we are putting in Frankie
London because we wanted him to
play when the game was tight."
Frost sent the boobirds into hiding
the following week when NU took on
then-No. 2 Washington in Seattle.
Nebraska scored on three of its
first four possessions to jump to a 21 -
0 lead and went on to a 27-14 victory.
Frost scored the Huskers first two
touchdowns on runs of 34 and 30
yards and finished the day with 97
yards on the ground and 88 yards
through the air.
Junior I-back Ahman Green and
junior fullback Joel Makovicka each
rushed for 129 yards as the Huskers
sent notice to tne rest ot the nation.
“I think a lot of people had written
us off, so this was a statement by the
team,” Frost said. “People are going
to have to watch out for us.”
The win jumped the Fluskers from
No. 7 in The Associated Press poll
and sixth in the coaches’ poll to No. 3
in both polls.
It also set up another battle with
top-20 opponent Kansas State.
Before the game Osborne said the
Wildcats would be the Huskers
toughest opponent remaining on their
schedule. But Nebraska had little
trouble in a 56-26 victory.
Green continued on his pace with
his third game over 100 yards. Green
finished the game with 193 yards and
four touchdowns.
The junior from Omaha Central
. would finish the season with 12
straight games with more than 100
yards rushing. The only game he had
with fewer than 100 yards was against
Akron, where he ran for 99. Green
finished with 2,083 yards including
206 in the Orange Bowl.
“The past few games have showed
us that when we start rolling we are a
very hard team to stop,” Green said
after the Kansas State game. “We
proved to ourselves that we can get
the job done and we plan to get
stronger every week.”
Although Nebraska’s 49-21 victo
ry over Baylor in a rainstorm in Waco,
Texas, appeared to be a typical NU
win, Osborne was disappointed in the
defensive reserves, who gave up two
late touchdowns to the Bears, includ
ing one on the last play of the game.
The defense took note, posting a
shutout the next week against Texas
Tech in a 29-0 homecoming w in at
Memorial Stadium.
The Blackshirts held the Red
Raiders to 127 yards of total offense.
“I thought their defense was every
bit as good as 1 thought they would
be,” Texas Tech Coach Spike Dykes
said afterwards.
rseorasKa s perrormance com
piled with then-No. 1 Penn State’s
one-point victory over Minnesota
moved Nebraska into the top position
in both polls.
The Huskers rolled over their next
two opponents with a 35-0 victory
over Kansas and a 69-7 win against
Oklahoma that marked Osborne’s
250th victory as NU’s head coach.
Osborne also was the coach who
took the shortest time to reach the
250-win plateau - just 25 seasons and
302 games to reach the mark.
“No one wanted to let Coach
Osborne down today,” senior defen
sive end Grant Wistrom said after the
game. “Although he downplays it, we
knew that 250 wins meant a lot to
him. He is the greatest coach in col
lege football, and it would have been
a shame to ruin his chance at 250 vic
tories today.”
Although there were fireworks
after Osborne’s 250th victory, the
Huskers provided the fireworks in
victory No. 251.
With no timeouts remaining,
Nebraska trailed the upstart Tigers by
seven with the ball 77 yards away
from the endzone and 62 seconds
remaining in the game.
Frost drove the Huskers in nine
plays to the Missouri 12-yard line.
Then Nebraska pulled off the play
that will live in Husker history forev
er.
Frost hit Shevin Wiggins with a
pass on the goal line, but immediate
ly the Missouri defender knocked the
ball free. As Wiggins was falling to
the ground, he kicked the ball up. The
ball came back to the turf, and a div
ing true freshman receiver, Matt
Davison, caught the ball inches
before it hit the field.
Nebraska made the extra point
and went on to win the game 45-38 in
overtime when Frost scored on a 12
yard run.
“The ball was just a couple of
inches from the ground,” Davison
said. “A couple of inches from no
national championship.”
Despite the win, the Huskers weren’t
able to maintain their hold on the top
spot in the rankings and fell to third
behind Florida State and Michigan.
NU took out its frustration on
Iowa State the next week, scoring 63
points in the first half while rolling to
a 77-14 victory.
Nebraska closed out its regular
season with a 27-24 victory over
Colorado, which also gave NU the
Big 12 North Division
Championship.
But the score was closer than the
game indicated as Nebraska led 27
10 with five minutes remaining.
The Buffaloes rallied with a
touchdown, an onside kick, another
touchdown, a defensive stand and just
one yard short of a first down at mid
field that could have put CU in posi
tion for a tying field goal.
“On offense, I am disappointed
because we had a chance to go up 35
10 and put them away but we didn’t,”
Osborne said. “On defense I am dis
appointed that we weren’t able to stop
them on two late drives.”
Nebraska s last stop betore a pos
sible national championship game
was a trip to San Antonio and the
Alamodome for a game against Texas
A&M in the Big 12 Championship.
The Huskers made sure there was
no possible chance for an upset - like
1996’s loss to Texas - as NU rolled to
a 37-3 halftime lead and 54-15 victo
ry.
But it was last year’s Big 12
Championship loss to Texas, which
knocked the Huskers out of the
national championship picture and
gave NU its focus for this season and
a return trip to Miami and the Orange
Bowl.
“Our battle cry throughout sum
mer workouts was that we always had
a big chip on our shoulders with what
happened to us in St. Louis,” Wistrom
said. “It was what I focused on in the
heat during the summer. We were
convinced it wasn’t going to happen
again, that we wouldn’t let down with
our season on the line.”
o
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Scott McClurg/DN
WITH NU ATHLETIC DIRECTOR Bill Byrne at his side, Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne adresses the crowd at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center as the Huskers celebrate their national championship.
«
... We wouldn’t let down
with our season
on the line."
Tom Osborne
NU head coach