When the 1991 season began Nebraska was looking to shake off the after-effects of a late-season disintegration that led to a 1-3 finish. Tom Osborne was also facing criticism for failing to produce a national title since becoming head coach in 1973. Conventional wisdom dictated he couldn’t win big games and his offense was thought to be far too one-dimensional. Despite recent struggles Nebraska began the season ranked #14 nationally, but the team would need consistent play at quarterback if the Huskers were to succeed.
Nebraska opened at home against Utah State under the direction of senior Mickey Joseph. Early in the game Keithen McCant spelled Joseph and helped lead the Huskers to a 59-28 win. The following week McCant got the nod and Nebraska cruised to a 71-14 victory over Colorado State. The next week Nebraska faced a tough challenge in #4 ranked Washington in Lincoln. Despite leading 21-9 in the third quarter, Nebraska could not stop the Huskies who escaped with a 36-21 win. After the loss, the Huskers ran off four straight victories over Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Missouri. This meant Nebraska was 6-1 and ranked 9th headed into a November 2 showdown with Colorado.
Coming off their first National Championship, Colorado began the year ranked 12th nationally. They kicked off their year with a 30-13 win over Wyoming to set up a date with #23 Baylor. Despite the home field advantage, the Buffaloes never got on track and the Bears left Boulder with a surprising 16-14 win. After a blowout win over Minnesota, CU traveled to Palo Alto to meet Stanford. Although few gave them a shot in the game, the unranked Cardinal took down the Buffalos 28-21, giving CU a disappointing 2-2 start to the 1991 season. Despite the slow start, Colorado quickly regrouped to defeat Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas State in Big 8 play. This set up a match up between 9th ranked NU and 15th ranked CU in Boulder.
Nationally, the rivalry was beginning to garner attention. Despite this, Coach Osborne remained low-key.
"I don't believe in having bonfires or trying to psyche the team up with anti-Colorado campaigns or things like that. I've never bought into that philosophy. We've never built up any one team in any special way. A year ago, somehow or another, it got to be that most of the things we did were not of a great deal of consequence because it got to the point with our players where the Colorado game was the whole measuring stick for the season. And then when we lost . . ."
While Osborne attempted to remain unassuming, tight end Johnny Mitchell took upon himself to speak on behalf of the team.
"Colorado is just Kansas State or Kansas to me. I don't think they can compete on our level for a long time. We gave them life the last couple years; I don't think we should have given them that much respect."
The game kicked off under sub-zero temperatures in Boulder. Nebraska got the ball first and appeared to score on its second play from scrimmage when Derek Brown ran 24 yards for a touchdown, however, it was called back due to an illegal procedure penalty. Aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty on third and 15, the Cornhuskers then continued the drive and scored on Byron Bennett's 27-yard field goal. Colorado then came right back on their first possession and took a 7-3 lead on Darian Hagan's 11-yard TD run, which capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive that featured three completions by Hagan.
After the fast start, both defenses settled down and took control. Neither team scored until Jim Harper, who earlier missed a 36-yard field-goal attempt, booted a 27- yarder to put Colorado ahead 10-3 with 6:54 left in the half. This score was set up by Hagan's 27-yard return of a punt from the Nebraska end zone (the starting QB returned punts?).
Nebraska then scored its first touchdown on a 49-yard pass from Keithen McCant to Jon Bostick with 1:17 remaining in the half. Unfortunately, Colorado's Greg Thomas blocked the extra point and the ball was scooped up by Greg Biekert, who returned it 85 yards for two points to give the Buffaloes a 12-9 halftime lead (see video).
In the third quarter Nebraska’s Byron Bennett connected from 35-yards out to tie the game at 12-12. Unfortunately, Nebraska was still struggling to contain Hagan in the second half. The Buffaloes ultimately took a 19-12 lead on Hagan's 4-yard touchdown run with 27 seconds left in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter Nebraska finally managed to tie the game on Derek Brown's 7-yard scoring run with 6:41 remaining in the game.
Very late in the game Nebraska had a final chance to win after driving from its own 46 to the Colorado 23 with four seconds left. Sophomore kicker Byron Bennett, who had already kicked field goals of 27 and 35-yards then came on the field to attempt a game winning 41-yard field goal. Colorado tried to put extra pressure on Bennett by calling three consecutive time-outs and CU fans pelted the field with snowballs before his final kick. When he did try it, Thomas leaped and blocked the ball with his left elbow. The ball rolled out of bounds as time expired.
Individual Statistics
Rushing Nebraska, D.Brown 30-96, McCant 8-11, Lewis 1-6, Hughes 1-(-1). Colorado, Warren 17-55, Hagan 19-40, Hill 8-40, Kahl 3-12, Bussey 1-7, Joseph 1-4, Phillips 1-1, Westbrook 1-1.
Passing Nebraska, McCant 8-20-0-181. Colorado, Hagan 10-22-0-140, Joseph 0-1-0-0.
The dramatic finish left Colorado, 5-2-1, and Nebraska, 6-1-1, and both were 3-0-1 in the Big Eight with three league games remaining. Colorado ended its conference run with wins over Oklahoma State, Kansas, and Iowa State. Nebraska closed out the Big 8 season with victories over Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma to finish the regular season 9-1-1 and ranked 11th nationally. With both teams finishing with identical 6-0-1 conference records the Orange Bowl committee selected Nebraska to go to the January 1st game. The Huskers once again met #1 Miami on their home field. The Hurricanes were bigger, stronger and faster and saddled the Huskers with their first shutout loss since 1973. The Hurricanes earned a share of the national championship with Washington. In a bizarre twist, it was the second straight year that the Huskers lost games to two teams that shared the national title. The Buffaloes settled on an invitation to the Blockbuster Bowl, where they fell to #8 ranked Alabama 30-25.
After Nebraska dominated Colorado for 25 years, the Buffalos began to show signs of life in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Beginning with the upset win in 1986, Colorado won 3, lost 2 and tied 1 of the battles with Nebraska between 1986 and 1991. Although Husker fans still identified Oklahoma as Nebraska’s major rival, the Buffaloes were becoming a force to be reckoned with in the Big 8 conference.
Nebraska came into the 1992 season hoping to improve on their 9-2-1 mark of a year ago. The Huskers once again found themselves looking for help at the quarterback position. They would begin the year with Mike Grant as the starter. However, both fans and coaches knew that hot-shot recruit Tommie Frazier was available on the bench. Nebraska began the year with blowout wins over Utah and Middle Tennessee State. The schedule got tougher, however, in week three as the 12th ranked Huskers had to travel to Seattle to take on the 2nd ranked Washington Huskies. Washington utilized its edge in the quickness department to defeat Nebraska 29-14. After suffering their first loss, the Huskers bounced back to beat Arizona State, Oklahoma State and Missouri. Nebraska was now 5-1 and ready for a Homecoming date with Colorado.
Colorado begin the 1992 season ranked 12th nationally. With quarterback Koy Detmer, the Buffaloes were looking to switch from an option-oriented attack to a pass-first attack. CU began its campaign with easy victories over non-conference opponents Colorado State, Baylor, Minnesota and Iowa. Their conference schedule then kicked off with a tough fought 6-0 victory at Missouri. The following week the Buffaloes hosted unranked Oklahoma and managed to escape with a 24-24 tie. After shellacking Kansas State, Colorado was 5-0-1 as it headed to Lincoln.
This game would mark the only meeting ever between two teams tied for the same spot in the AP Poll, as the teams shared the #8 ranking. To add to the frenzy, it was Halloween night and the home crowd was jacked up despite a constant drizzle. Colorado's T.J. Cunningham fumbled the opening kickoff. CU recovered, but then quarterback Koy Detmer threw an interception on the first play. The Huskers needed just 15 yards for their first touchdown. Nebraska’s second score came just as easily as I-back Calvin Jones took a handoff 47 yards on the first play of a drive. Detmer, who had three interceptions and a fumble, threw an interception on the next drive, and the Huskers turned that into a field goal for a 17-0 lead.
Colorado then had an 81-yard touchdown drive, with all but three of the yards on coming on passes. Then after the Huskers punted, CU had the ball, trailing just 17-7 with 1:49 to play in the half. On the next play, however, Detmer fumbled at the CU 27. Nebraska then set up its final touchdown of the half by dusting off one of its most famous trick plays - The Fumblerooskie. Center Jim Scott appeared to snap the ball, but instead put it back on the ground for 305-pound guard Will Shields, who picked it up and rumbled 16 yards to the CU 5. Of his one shining moment, Shields said:
"I felt great once I got going. I doubt I'll run very often, though. We've got enough quality backs in there."
Nebraska went into halftime with a 24-7 lead, and although they had no intention of letting up, the game was over before they took the field for the start of the third quarter. In the end, Nebraska outgained the Buffalos 428-144 on their way to a 52-7 blowout win. The goalposts came down and Husker fans celebrated their first win over a Top-10 team since 1988. The game also marked the Buffaloes' largest margin of defeat since 1983, when they lost by 50.
While the match up was supposed to showcase Colorado’s “modern” passing offense, it instead highlighted the power of Nebraska’s running game. When asked about the differing styles after the game Osborne said:
"I guess there's always a temptation when things go your way to say, ‘I told you so’. I've been at it long enough to know you shouldn't do that. But at this locale, with this climate, you've still got to be able to jam it at people some. Colorado's defense was on the field so much. You can only take so much pounding. And they had to take a lot of it because they were three plays and out so much on offense."
After its loss to Nebraska, Colorado recovered to win out over Oklahoma State, Kansas and Iowa State. They were 9-1-1 as they headed into the Fiesta Bowl against #6 Syracuse. The Orangeman defeated the Buffaloes 26-22 and Colorado finished 1992 9-1-1.
The momentum of the win over CU carried over into the following week as Nebraska rolled over #13 Kansas 49-7. However, just when the Huskers seemed to be playing their best along came an unassuming trip to Ames, Iowa and a match up with unranked Iowa State. In what remains arguably NU’s most shocking loss, Marv Seiler and ISU defeated the Huskers 19-10. After the ISU loss Nebraska finished the regular season with victories over Oklahoma and Kansas State in the Tokyo Dome. This finish again sent Nebraska to the Orange Bowl where they would face 3rd ranked Florida State. Nebraska played fairly well, but fell to the Seminoles 27-14.
Although the Huskers were big winners against Colorado in 1992, the teams seemed to have pretty similar levels of talent at this point in time. Where the Huskers seemed to lag behind the Buffaloes for a few years prior to this, might things be swinging in the opposite direction?
Comments (1)
That crowd in 1992. written by Cubehead,
November 25, 2009
The crowd in the clip from the Halloween blowout in 1992 is a howling, enraged mob. Are the same people in the stands now, just 17 years older and quieter?
+0
Write comment
Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 November 2009 11:26
DXP Twitter Links
About Bloguin
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics.
Advertisers
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
Bloggers Wanted
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 