Memorial Stadium: The Seventh Decade, 1983-92

The Huskers flirted with championships but soon found themselves overmatched by the nation’s top teams — and then went to work at correcting that

Photo by Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Tenth in a series marking the 100th season of Nebraska football in Memorial Stadium. Pictured above: Ken Clark during his 256-yard rushing day against Oklahoma State, 1988

This 10-year span began with a season that saw a high-octane Nebraska football team famously fall one play short of a national championship. It ended with Huskers pulling out of a slump in big games and striving to rejoin the ranks of college football’s truly elite.

Sold-out games in Lincoln remained a given as Nebraska racked up wins at an 81.6 percent clip, including 90.8 percent at home. A pair of November home losses, however, were particularly costly: In 1984 and 1987, fans in Memorial Stadium watched Nebraska get knocked from its No. 1 perch by the Huskers’ top rivals, the Oklahoma Sooners.

A 2-8 bowl record also left fans with an empty feeling all too often. Lessons were learned, though: Nebraska needed more speed on defense against the nation’s top teams. That issue was being remedied at the end of this 10-year stretch.

The Huskers’ ground game continued to put up big numbers. Nebraska led the nation in rushing yards per game six times and never finished worse than third in that category. Only twice (1986 and 1990) did Nebraska not feature a 1,000-yard I-back. More often than not, there was at least one All-American clearing the way on the offensive line.

Head coach Tom Osborne underwent bypass surgery just shy of age 48 in February 1985 but scarcely missed a beat. He was taking on his usual slate of duties when spring practice began eight weeks later.

The changing TV landscape brought night games to the Memorial Stadium mix for the first time, and a big change was looming in the Athletic Department as well: Oregon’s Bill Byrne was chosen to succeed Bob Devaney as athletic director. That counted as a defeat for Devaney and Osborne, who had lobbied for an in-house successor.

Scroll past the facts box for a sampling of Memorial Stadium games from 1983 to 1992.

Just the Facts: 1983-92

• Home record: 59-6-0 (.908) • Overall record: 99-22-1 (.816) • Conference titles: 1983, ’84,* ’88, ’91,* ’92 (*shared) • All-Americans: Mike Rozier, Dean Steinkuhler, Irving Fryar, Mark Traynowicz, Bret Clark, Harry Grimminger, Bill Lewis, Jim Skow, Danny Noonan, Neil Smith, John McCormick, Broderick Thomas (2), Steve Taylor, Jake Young (2), Doug Glaser, Kenny Walker, Will Shields, Travis Hill. • Major trophies: Rozier (3), Steinkuhler (2), Shields. • Head coach: Tom Osborne, 1973-97.

Boom! 7 touchdowns in 12 minutes

Best of Big Red

1983: Nebraska 69, Colorado 19. Ranked No. 1 and heavily favored, the Huskers led Bill McCartney’s Buffaloes by just 14-12 at halftime. Then Nebraska’s “Scoring Explosion” truly lived up to its name. Half a minute into the third quarter, wingback Irving Fryar took a handoff on a reverse from I-back Mike Rozier, got key blocks from quarterback Turner Gill and split end Ricky Simmons, and sprinted 54 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown. That and a series of CU miscues opened the floodgates, and Nebraska’s two-point lead ballooned to 50 before the record-setting quarter was over.

The Huskers’ seven touchdown drives in the quarter lasted an average of 36 seconds, and Nebraska’s “Triplets” — Gill, Rozier and Fryar — scored five of the seven TDs. If only the Huskers could have saved a couple of these points for January in Florida, where the Miami Hurricanes upset Nebraska for the national championship. | HuskerMax game page

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Spurred to victory

1984: Nebraska 17, Oklahoma State 3. A week after being upset 17-9 at Syracuse, the eighth-ranked Huskers remained in a rut on offense. The No. 9 Cowboys were pitching a shutout into the fourth period, extending the Nebraska offense’s scoring drought to nearly 6½ quarters. A Dale Klein field goal with 13:05 remaining finally broke that dry spell and knotted the score, but more work was needed to avoid a 3-3 tie or worse. Four minutes later, the defense did its part by forcing the Cowboys to punt from their own 15. That’s when the Huskers’ own cowboy delivered the game’s pivotal play.

Shane Swanson, a wingback and rodeo competitor from Hershey, Neb., fielded the kick at the OSU 49. He found running room up the middle and then veered toward the right sideline. Inside the 30, the OSU punter had a shot at a tackle but was sent to the turf by a feint and a sidestep from Swanson, who took it the rest of the way for the go-ahead touchdown. It was still anyone’s ballgame for the next seven minutes until the Huskers sealed the win with a 64-yard pass from Travis Turner to Jason Gamble with 1:49 remaining. Despite scoring just three points, OSU racked up 324 yards of total offense — the highest single-game total surrendered during the regular season by the Blackshirts, who finished No. 1 nationally at 203.3 yards per game. | HuskerMax game page

Danny Noonan wraps up Oklahoma State quarterback Rusty Hilger / 1985 Nebraska football media guide

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Pick-six party

Defensive tackle Chris Spachman's 38-yard interception return puts the Huskers over the 50-point mark against the Fighting Illini.  / Nebraska football media guide

1985: Nebraska 52, Illinois 25. The Husker defense picked off four of senior quarterback Jack Trudeau’s 51 passes and returned two of them for touchdowns in a game that saw the teams combine for more than 950 yards.

The 20th-ranked Illini seemed to have momentum just before halftime, having sliced a 17-0 deficit to 17-10, but a 64-yard pass from McCathorn Clayton to Robb Schnitzler set up a Nebraska touchdown in the final minute of the second quarter, starting a run of 28 consecutive points for the 18th-ranked Huskers. I-back Doug DuBose accounted for 191 of Nebraska’s 456 rushing yards, and Trudeau — who would go on to play 10 NFL seasons — passed for 292 yards for Illinois. The 1985 Huskers would climb to No. 2 in the polls by November before dropping their last two games to Oklahoma and Michigan. | HuskerMax game page

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Shining in prime time

1986: Nebraska 34, Florida State 17. In the first Memorial Stadium night game, the lights shone brightly on Steve Taylor. Nebraska’s sophomore quarterback ran and passed for 269 yards and four touchdowns as the No. 8 Huskers rallied from a 17-10 deficit to defeat the No. 11 Seminoles in the 1986 season opener.

The Blackshirts were stellar in the final 30 minutes, holding FSU to minus-two yards of offense. The game was played after a week of uncertainty involving the eligibility of 60 Huskers who had sold complimentary game passes intended for use by players' family members. | HuskerMax game page

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Extreme ‘Sooner Magic’

1986: Oklahoma 20, Nebraska 17. This might have been the most maddening “Sooner Magic” moment in the NU-OU series. No. 5 Nebraska held a 17-10 lead deep into the fourth quarter and had the third-ranked Sooners pinned at their own 6 with 4:10 to play. On a fourth-and-1 run from the OU 15, quarterback Jamelle Holieway lost the ball on a fumble, but a facemask penalty negated the turnover. The Sooners suddenly had new life — and just as suddenly, a proficient passing game. A 35-yard aerial moved them to the NU 32, and then a 17-yarder to tight end Keith Jackson tied the game with 1:22 left.

Making matters worse, Nebraska used just 32 seconds of clock on a three-and-out to give Oklahoma the ball on its own 35 with 50 seconds to play. On a third-and-12 play, Jamelle Holieway heaved a pass downfield, and Jackson reeled it in with one hand for a 41-yard gain to the NU 14 with nine seconds remaining. OU placekicker Tim Lashar then trotted out and split the uprights for the final nail in the Huskers’ coffin. | HuskerMax game page

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Taylor riddles the Bruins

1987: Nebraska 42, UCLA 33. In the first-ever matchup of top-3 teams at Memorial Stadium, the No. 3 Bruins were determined to bottle up the running game of No. 2 Nebraska. That mission was accomplished, but Steve Taylor made them pay. The Huskers’ junior quarterback threw a school-record five touchdown passes, three of them covering more than 30 yards, while posting an NCAA passer rating of 298.2. UCLA’s Troy Aikman also had his moments, but the Huskers’ aerial show had the Bruins in a 42-17 hole late in the game. UCLA scored nearly half its points in the final four minutes to make the score close.

Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said afterward: "One hundred seventeen yards rushing, that's dismal. That's not even playing football. But I guess when you beat UCLA, you should be satisfied.” The Huskers would rise to No. 1 in mid-November before losing an even higher-profile home contest to No. 2 Oklahoma, 17-7. | HuskerMax game page

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Touchdowns! Touchdowns! Touchdowns!

1988 Nebraska 63, Oklahoma State 42. Less than 20 minutes into the game, big play after big play had given No. 7 Nebraska an astonishing 42-0 lead over 10th-ranked OSU. Behind their star running back, Barry Sanders, the Cowboys turned it into a long afternoon by scoring six touchdowns of their own over the remaining 40 minutes, but they never got any closer than the 21-point final margin.

Nebraska I-back Ken Clark outrushed Sanders, the eventual 1988 Heisman Trophy winner, 256 yards to 189. During the 35-0 first quarter, the Huskers rushed for 299 yards on just 11 attempts, with Clark and quarterback Steve Taylor each topping 100 yards during the first 15 minutes. The teams’ combined 105 points set a Memorial Stadium record that was matched seven years later but has yet to be topped. | HuskerMax game page

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Gdowski tames the Sooners

1989: Nebraska 42, Oklahoma 25. Gerry Gdowski was nearly flawless in his Memorial Stadium finale — and he had fans wishing he had taken a redshirt during one of his previous seasons as a seldom-used backup. The senior quarterback ran for one touchdown and passed for four more while completing 12 of 15 passes for 225 yards against the first OU team of the post-Barry Switzer era.

The victory was the Huskers’ 103rd in the 1980s, tying an NCAA record for wins in a decade. After a lopsided bowl loss to Florida State, however, the 10-2 Huskers would finish outside the final top 10 in both major polls for the first time in 20 years. | HuskerMax game page

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Fourth-quarter collapse

1990: Colorado 27, Nebraska 12. A 12-0 lead and hopes for an undefeated season were swept away by a Buffalo barrage in the final 15 minutes on a cold, rainy day in Lincoln. Colorado running back Eric Bienemy fumbled five times and lost three of them during the first three quarters, but he found the handle in time to score four touchdowns in the final period.

Nebraska ended up with just nine first downs and 232 yards of offense. It was the start of a 1-3 finish to the 1990 season, a swoon that prompted the formation of the player-led Unity Council to instill team discipline and cohesiveness. | HuskerMax game page

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Not the same old ’Cats

1991: Nebraska 38, Kansas State 31. The Wildcats, perennial Big Eight doormats, came to Lincoln and served notice that they were becoming a force to be reckoned with under third-year head coach Bill Snyder. KSU’s passing game had the Blackshirts on their heels all afternoon, and the Huskers trailed for much of the fourth quarter before two Derek Brown scores put Nebraska ahead by a touchdown.

KSU wasn’t finished, though, and the Wildcats drove to the Nebraska 7, where they faced fourth-and-6 with 40 seconds remaining. KSU quarterback Paul Watson had already thrown for 340 yards, and now he found tight end Russ Campbell the right flat, near the goal line. Campbell got both hands on the ball, but Nebraska linebacker Travis Hill ripped it away to ice the victory. | HuskerMax game page

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A Buff-kicking

1992: Nebraska 52, Colorado 7. The Huskers hadn’t beaten an AP top-10 team since 1988. That streak was broken in emphatic fashion to the delight of a raucous crowd on Halloween night in Lincoln.

A plus-six turnover margin, a 428-to-144 yardage advantage, five quarterback sacks, nearly 43 minutes of possession time — it was all Huskers in this matchup of two teams tied for the No. 8 spot in the AP poll. It was the first home start for freshman quarterback Tommie Frazier, and it was the last time the Huskers ran the soon-to-be-outlawed fumbleroosky play. Offensive guard Will Shields did the honors, carrying the ball 16 yards to set up a touchdown just before halftime. | HuskerMax game page

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