A College Football Dynasty -- the 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 Nebraska Cornhuskers

The Nebraska Cornhuskers of the mid-1990s were, season-for-season, arguably the most sensationally dominant program in college football history. Forged out of a decade of sometimes heartbreaking and other times humiliating post-season losses to the double-headed Sunshine State hydra of Miami and Florida State, the 1993 to 1997 Cornhuskers hit the sport like a flash pot of excellence, burning brighter than any program before or after, but also for only a fleeting five seasons. A slightly longer run at the top might have been enough to land the mid-90s Cornhuskers as the all-time greatest college football dynasty.

1993 -- SENDING UP SMOKE SIGNALS

Big, slow and powerful. By the end of the 1980s, these words had come to define the Nebraska Cornhuskers -- college football's version of the Monsters of the Midway. Nebraska ate lesser squads for breakfast -- smashed them into the dirt -- and punched gridiron equals straight in the mouth like a heavy-weight palooka and, more often than not, remained the last men standing.

But a beast cannot devour what it can't catch. And, once the regular seasons were through, Tom Osborne's teams of the late 1980s and early 1990s saw a string of five straight bowl losses -- all to speedy teams from the South -- with the margins of each defeat growing increasingly wider.

But, starting in 1993, Nebraska's longtime formula for success showed serious signs of evolution. The Huskers were no longer just big and powerful. They were fast, too.

Nebraska powered its way through an undefeated regular season in 1993, playing interloper to the broad desire among fans and media for a Florida State-Notre Dame rematch for the National Title. But a dramatic Boston College upset of the Irish sent the Cornhuskers to meet the Seminoles in the Orange Bowl instead. Due mainly to Nebraska's lopsided setbacks in past bowl games, the 1-loss Seminoles were astonishing 17 point favorites over Nebraska.

These negative assumptions by the odds-makers were immediately quieted as Nebraska took a 7-6 lead at halftime. Undeniable proof that changes were afoot in Lincoln, thanks in no small part to sophomore quarterback, Tommie Frazier.

The Huskers ended the night in a 16-18 loss with a wide-left field goal attempt (ironic from a Seminole standpoint) while a Gatorade-drenched Bobby Bowden looked on. No National Title for the Huskers after the 1994 Orang Bowl, but a few simple inches are all that separates Nebraska from being college football's only three-peat champions.

A TITAN EMERGES AND THE TITLES FOLLOW

The 1994 Cornhuskers used the previous year's heartbreaker versus Florida State as motivation to ensure nothing would stand between Nebraska and the program's first National Title in over two decades. First up in the Big Red's march toward destiny was a Kick Off Classic match against West Virginia -- a team that had been snubbed out of an Orange Bowl berth the previous year despite having finished the regular season undefeated. Nebraska hammered the Mountaineers in East Rutherford 31-0. It was a harbinger of games to come.

Nebraska was rarely challenged in 1994. The two teams that managed to reign in the Husker offense (Kansas State and Oklahoma) could themselves only muster three field goals against the Blackshirts -- combined. Nebraska dispatched its toughest challenger -- 11-1 Colorado -- with remarkable ease, defeating the Kordell Stewart-lead Buffs 24-7.

Pounding its way through the regular season unblemished (and in a metaphysical battle for the top of the polls against Penn State -- a team NU could not, by contract, meet on the field) the Huskers went to the Orange Bowl to face #3 Miami (still in the tailwinds of its own dynasty) on their home turf. Nebraska wore down Warren Sapp and the Miami defense to post a 24-17 win -- an impressive enough outcome to land a consensus National Title for the Cornhuskers despite Penn State's 12-0 finish and Rose Bowl win over Oregon.

1995: THE YEAR OF THE GOAT

The 1993 and 1994 seasons restored much of the luster the Nebraska football program had lost thanks to the post-season defeats to Florida State, Miami and Georgia Tech. Having been voted a consensus champion over a storied program such as Penn State was no modest accomplishment.

Adding speed to the Big Red's traditional attributes of strength and power had been the key to these early dynasty accomplishments. Osborne's staff did its recruiting part which allowed the Huskers to compete on an even keel with the Florida schools. But there was one more element to emerge in 1995 that the two previous squads could not quite master, even with an impressive 24-1 record -- precision.

The 1995 Cornhuskers took all that speed, talent and power of the 1993/1994 units and funneled it into a machine-like execution. The result was a dominance never seen before in the modern realm of college football. No team came close to the size, power, speed and discipline of the 1995 Cornhuskers as the school perpetrated irrefutably the greatest single-season onslaught of domination ever in Division I football.

Nebraska's 1995 schedule and results:

Beat Oklahoma State 64-21
Beat Michigan State 50-10
Beat Arizona State 77-28
Beat Pacific 49-7
Beat Washington State 35-21
Beat Missouri 57-0
Beat Kansas State 49-25
Beat Colorado 44-21
Beat Iowa State 73-14
Beat Kansas 41-3
Beat Oklahoma 37-0
Beat Florida 62-24

The 1995 Cornhuskers outscored their opponents 638-174 for an average final of 53-14.
In twelve games, Nebraska trailed only three times. Once against Washington State and twice against Florida. The 1995 Huskers never trailed any of its opponents after the second quarter.
With the exception of Washington State, Nebraska outscored all of its opponents' final scores by halftime. Six of Nebraska's opponents were outscored by the end of the first quarter.
Nebraska amassed 6,748 total yards while holding opponents to just 3,586 for an average of 562 yards to 298.

All this against a slate that included wins over four teams that finished in the AP Top 10.

Here's a look at those four games:

Nebraska vs. Kansas State. October 21, 1995.

It was Homecoming for the Big Red. The Huskers and Wildcats each brought in 6-0 records, 2-0 conference records and AP Top 8 rankings. (Nebraska was #2)

Kansas State also had statistically the best defense in the country going into the contest (Bob Stoops prowled the KSU sideline as defensive coordinator). And Coach Snyder's men had reason to be confident. The first six Wildcat opponents could only muster six touchdowns and a field goal against the purple jerseys. But by the time the Wildcats left Lincoln, the Huskers would add another seven touchdowns to that tally.

In just four quarters Nebraska outscored what all other Wildcat opponents had put up in the previous 24.

To Kansas State's credit, their vaunted defense did manage to do what no other team did all season. They stopped Nebraska's fearsome running attack, holding the Huskers to 190 yard on 46 carries. But Nebraska used a passing game and a blistering defense (KSU had -19 rushing yards themselves) to score 35 points by halftime. With the score 42-6 at the end of the third quarter, the Wildcats never seriously threatened Nebraska's lead. The final: 49-25.

Nebraska vs. Colorado. October 28, 1995.

Just a week after the Kansas State game, Nebraska headed to Boulder to face what would be the Huskers' most formidable opponent of the regular season.

Colorado was 6-1 and ranked #7 in the AP poll. The Buffalos had posted convincing wins over Wisconsin, Texas A&M and Oklahoma but a recent loss to Kansas would have CU itching to prove themselves against their designated nemesis. The Buffalo offense was on a roll, nailing its first seven opponents with 38 touchdowns. And, outside the Kansas game, the defense was pretty stingy, too.

But Nebraska was none too impressed. The Huskers smoked the Buffalos with 467 total yards and 44 points. And, yet again, a contest versus a Top 10 conference opponent was over by halftime.

Nebraska vs. Kansas. November 11, 1995.

The Jayhawks were 8-1 and ranked 10th in the AP when the Cornhuskers showed up in Lawrence late in the season.

Let's see... a one-loss, top-ten conference opponent. Does this sound familiar?
The outcome will, too. Nebraska 41, Kansas 3.

Nebraska vs. Florida. January 2, 1996.

The Florida Gators entered this National Title match-up 12-0 and ranked #1 in the country. Held next to the Cornhuskers' 11 wins, Florida's own regular season rampage looked even more dominating than the Huskers'. The Tennessee Volunteers, for example, lost just one game that season. And it was 62-37 at the hands of Florida.

Indeed, conventional wisdom had it that Steve Spurrier was fielding a gridiron juggernaut the likes of which had never been seen before. The prognosticators' predictions came down squarely on Florida's side by a roughly 5-3 ratio. One Tampa sports writer chided, "The Cornhuskers aren't playing Kansas anymore" in predicting a Florida blowout.

Well... a rematch with Kansas might have provided a more competitive match-up in Tempe. The Gators got destroyed.

Florida held a 10-6 lead at the end of the 1st quarter. The only time Nebraska trailed past the 1st quarter the entire season. But the party would not last as, moments into the second period, Lawrence Phillips smashed through a bevy of Gator defenders for a 42-yard touchdown run. It was the start of a 29-0 second quarter scoring explosion.

Nebraska ran all night to the tune of 524 yards (while holding Florida to -28 on the ground). Nebraska put another 105 yard through the air -- though, they probably didn't need them as the Florida thrashing would finally end with the Huskers up 62-18. A 93 yard kick-off return after Nebraska's final touchdown would give the Gators 24 points in all.

It was Nebraska's second consecutive National Title, NU's 25th straight win and a fitting Swan Song for not only Tommy Frazier and a bevy of remarkable Nebraska seniors, but also for the Big 8 conference.

NEW CONFERENCE, SAME OLD CORNHUSKERS

With the graduation of Tommie Frazier and the departure of troubled running back, Lawrence Phillips, the Huskers were bound to take a small step back as the program looked for ways to replace key components to what had been the greatest team assembled in school history (if not in all of college football).

Husker fans looked to prodigal son, Scott Frost, to do the heavy lifting at quarterback. The transition seemed a smooth one in the opener -- a 55-14 smashing of Michigan State (eerily reminiscent of the Husker/Spartan match-up of the year before), but the Nebraska juggernaut's 26-game win streak (and 39-game regular season win-streak) came to a crashing end the following week in the Arizona desert.

The ASU Sun Devils -- a team Nebraska murdered 77-28 in 1995 -- had a new gunslinger at QB by the name of Jake Plummer. Arizona State was destined for an 11-0 run in 1996 and might have ended up with a share of a National Title were it not for a 17-20 Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State. But the shining moment for ASU's season came in blanking the once unstoppable Cornhuskers 19-0 in Tempe.

The shutout loss was the last of just three skunkings in Osborne's 307-game career. While some schools might have thrown the panic switch at such a resounding defeat, the 1996 Cornhuskers ratcheted up its high-octane offense once again to tear a wide open gash through the inaugural Big 12 season. Nebraska bulldozed the usual suspects Kansas (63-7), Missouri (51-7) and Iowa State (49-14) but they also manhandled their long-time nemesis, Oklahoma, 73-21, handing the Sooners their worst loss ever.

With Arizona State and Ohio State locked into a commitment in Pasadena, a passage to a fourth straight National Title game opened for the Cornhuskers as an undefeated Florida State sought a worthy opponent for the Sugar Bowl, having just knocked off previously undefeated Florida. It would be Nebraska's chance at revenge for the 1993 near-miss against Bowden and the Seminoles.

But a South Division Big 12 school had other ideas.

The Texas Longhorns of 1996 weren't exactly a Vince Young-era caliber burnt orange. But they had plenty of moxie. Leading 30-27 with less than 3 minutes left in the game and pinned on the UT 28 yard-line on 4th and inches, quarterback James Brown rolled left and tossed a pass to a wide-open Derek Lewis who streaked 61 yards down the sideline to set up a final game-sealing touchdown.

The Huskers would not get their 4th straight National Title berth -- a frustration that did not bode-well for ACC Champs, Virginia Tech, whom Nebraska slobber-knocked 41-21 in the Orange Bowl. And, while an 11-2 campaign and an Orange Bowl romp might be a dream season to most schools, the mid 90s Cornhuskers felt a tinge of embarrassment by their efforts.

Quarterback Scott Frost vowed to do better in 1997.

THE OLD COACH'S SWAN SONG

No one knew at the start of 1997 that it would be Tom Osborne's last season to patrol Memorial Stadium's sidelines. With a 242-49-3 record thus far as head coach (atop 286-52-5 as Nebraska's OC), Osborne could have already retired a legend. But 13 more wins and another National Title were on deck for the final season. Tom Osborne never was the sort to rest on laurels.

The season started low-key enough as the Huskers began the year ranked 6th in the AP poll (Nebraska's lowest ranking since the start of the dynasty in 1993). But a 27-14 defeat of #2 Washington in Seattle and a 56-26 clobbering of #17 Kansas State in Lincoln soon had Nebraska back in National Title contention, reaching pole position by mid season.

But, exactly as it was in 1994, Nebraska was locked into another metaphysical battle with a Big 10 school for voting rights. This time, Michigan. With the Cornhuskers and Wolverines dispatching their slates without blemish, the Big 10's contract with the Rose Bowl meant that the two schools could not meet on the field to decide the National Champion.

Nebraska won the beauty contest in the early-going as the Huskers manhandled conference foes such as Texas Tech and Kansas -- out-scoring the Red Raider/Jayhawk duo in consecutive weeks by a combined 64-0 -- and then delivering another humiliation to the Sooners in a 69-7 bloodbath.

Michigan, meanwhile, ascended to a #4 in the rankings by taking care of business all season, but not in such dominating fashion as displayed by the Huskers, until Nov. 8, when the MOs of the two schools reversed. 8-0 Michigan went to Happy Valley to face 7-0 #2 Penn State and, while the Wolverines blasted out to a 24-0 halftime lead (en route to a 34-8 shellacking), #1 Nebraska went to Columbia, Missouri and found themselves in a brawl with the unranked 6-3 Tigers -- an overtime game that ended with the infamous Scott Frost pass to Shevin Wiggens' foot to a sswan-diving Matt Davison's arms. Known as "the flea kicker" the unlikely play preserved Nebraska's undefeated season. It won ESPN's Espy for "play of the year". But more than a few poll voters found Nebraska a little too lucky for their taste. Especially when compare with Michigan's dominant performance against Penn State.

The next morning, Michigan was #1 in the AP poll while Nebraska slipped to #3.

Michigan was never again as dominant as they appeared in Happy Valley, beating Wisconsin by 10, Ohio State by 6 and Washington by 5. But it was enough to keep the Wolverines ahead of Nebraska through the final AP poll. Nonetheless, the coach's poll left room for a title split, so long as the Cornhuskers could impress in the final month of play.

The Cornhuskers finished 1997 with a close scrape against rival Colorado in Boulder, but perpetrated a few more blowouts -- 77-14 over Iowa State, 54-15 over Texas A&m in the Big 12 Championship and 42-17 over third-ranked Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.

As Peyton Manning and the Volunteers left the field in Miami scratching their heads and the decisions of poll voters yet to be determined, Osborne gave a farewell speech to his team:

"The ring is nice, the trophy's nice. I hope we get it, we deserve it. But if we don't, we did every thing we could..."

Stoic words that personified the Osborne dynasty. Play the game, let the pundits sort out the rest. More often than not, the Cornhuskers of the mid-90s left no confusion as to the best team in the game. They made the pundits' jobs easy.

The five-seasons of the Osborne dynasty featured 60 wins, just 3 losses and four National Title berths with three crowns won. Nebraska's offense racked up 2694 points over that run while the Blackshirts held opponents to 918 for a 43-14 per-game average. The Cornhuskers played 13 Top 10 teams between 1993 and 1997 and beat 11 of them by a mean score of 40-18 while spending all 85 weeks of the dynasty ranked in the AP Top 9 with 64 weeks in the Top 5 and 16 weeks residing at the very top.

A breathtaking run by a college football program that was virtually unstoppable for five straight seasons.

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