Nebraska beats Colorado and memories of the best Big 8 or Big 12 game of all time!

Nebraska beat Colorado in a crucial game. They will play against Oklahoma or Oklahoma State next Saturday. The Huskers played well. Cody Green did great. Penalties hurt the Huskers and led to two touchdowns by Colorado. If we could only cut down on the penalties. Nebraska has a 50-50 chance to win next Saturday which means it should be a GREAT game.

The following was written in the Nebraska Sports Journal a while back. Good memories; especially with the Big 12 coming to an end for Nebraska. Of course this was back in the Big 8 days.

It was No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 2 Oklahoma in front of 63,000 fans at Owens Field. Never has the quality of a game been so strong. Yes, there has been buildup of many games over the years. This game, however, featured two teams that performed brilliantly all day long. The errors of the game included three turnovers by Oklahoma and one by Nebraska. There was only one penalty the whole day, an offside penalty against Nebraska.

Oklahoma ran the record breaking Wishbone T. Nebraska was able to stop the main weapon of Greg Pruitt's end runs but was not able to stop the keeper, fullback, or most of the passing game.

Nebraska ran the I spread and the I slot. Oklahoma took away Nebraska's passing attack but Nebraska was able to the run the ball effectively. The difference in the game is the play all Nebraska fans remember. It was Johnny Rodger's punt return. It was the play we have heard called by Lyle Bremser a billion times and it is never enough. That play was the difference in the game that day.

Joe Wylie punted the ball high and deep which helped Rodgers' return. Oklahoma was down to him when he caught the ball. You can't describe the run. You have all seen it. Rodgers went 72 yards for the score!! He should have called a fair catch the way they had him covered. Greg Pruitt spun him around. Ken Jones almost had him. He darted, caught his balance, twisted, dodged, disappeared a couple of times and then ran for the end zone. Joe Blahak bumped Joe Wylie out of the way. He put the fans in the aisles. Man, woman, and child!!!

The Cornhuskers twice were able to get 11 point leads that day; 14-3 in the second quarter and 28-17 in the third quarter. Remember the punt return was in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the ballgame. But the punt return forced OU to fight from behind most of the day.

With seven minutes to go in the game, OU's QB Jack Mildren had ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more. Nebraska had the best defense in the country but Oklahoma had 467 total yards. Oklahoma also had a 31-28 lead. It was reported that Devaney lost his temper and yelled at the defense on the sideline "Why can't you guys give Rich Glover some help once in a while?" Rich Glover seemed to be doing it all that day.

Then is was NU's Jerry Tagge's turn to direct NU on the winning 74 yard drive. "Nobody said a word in the huddle but me," Tagge said. "We all just knew what had to be done." And they did it.
The drive took 12 plays and over five minutes. Jeff Kinney ran for 30 yards on two plays early in the drive. He broke a few tackles. Do you remember his torn up jersey? Tagge hit Rodgers on a third and eight with Rodgers making a great catch.

Jeff Kinney ran the ball into the end zone with little time left running behind All American Daryl White. Nebraska won 35-31 and we all felt great for hours, days, months, and years to come.

Alabama, behind Bear Bryant beat Auburn 31-7. A little bit of an upset as Pat Sullivan was the QB for Auburn. He would win the Heismann that year. All American Johnny Musso was the star for Alabama. Alabama was headed to the Orange Bowl to play Nebraska. We had never beaten Bear Bryant.

It was No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 2 Alabama in the Orange Bowl for the National Championship. Jeff Kinney scored a touchdown followed by a 77 yard punt return by Johnny Rodgers. Jerry Tagge ran for a touchdown and so did Gary Dixon before half. NU led 28-0 at half.

Rich Sanger had a field goal and Van Brownson, subbing for Jerry Tagge scored also. NU went on to win 38-6 and beat Bear Bryant for the first time in three tries. Nebraska had won its second National championship in two years!!!!