Tales from the Heart of Huskerland

Match-up : #2 Nebraska vs. #3 Tennessee Date : January 2nd, 1998 Outcome : 42-17 Nebraska We've finally arrived at the 1998 Orange Bowl which means the kickoff to the 2017 season is exactly one week from today! I'm going to miss waking up each Saturday morning, creeping into the living room and flipping on a game from the glory years while I munch on my breakfast. Reviewing these national championship games has been a fun, wacky trip through time. So let's do it one more time! Just a few weeks before the entire country would become obsessed with finding out whether Bill Clinton did or did not have sexual relations with that woman, the college football nation was obsessed with determining who was truly the number one team in the land. At the end of the regular season Michigan was #1 and Nebraska was #2 and of course they would soon play each other in a New Years bowl game and settle it on the field once and for all. Just kidding. That solution makes too much sense....

Match-up: #1 Nebraska vs. #2 Florida Date: January 2, 1996 Outcome: 62-24 Nebraska When Florida came out of the tunnel, I almost had a bit of pity for them. They're just so excited. After Nebraska came out of the tunnel they just ran to their sideline. Florida, however, ran to midfield jumping up and down and climbing all over each other. You can just tell they're thinking "We're going to be national champions!" In a way they're almost like a little kid coming up to you saying they're going to be a firefighter/astronaut/policeman when they grow up. Since you don't want reality to break their hearts just yet, you just smile and nod while saying "Yeah, sure you are." Florida QB Danny Wuerffel was sacked 7 times, once for a safety. My mom and dad went to this game and left 18 month old me at my grandma's. My dad told me before the game Florida fans were "Gator-Chomping" every Nebraska fan they could find. After th...

Match-up: #1 Nebraska vs. #3 Miami Date: January 1st, 1995 Outcome: 24-17 Nebraska Osborne being carried off the field after defeating #3 Miami 24-17 for his first national championship Before the 1995 Orange Bowl Tom Osborne said "If I don't win this national championship, they'll probably put it on my tombstone, but I don't care. I'll be dead." It's hard to believe a sizable portion of Nebraska's fan base once wanted Tom Osborne fired. Actually it's not that surprising when you look at college football on the whole. According to odds makers in Vegas , Willie Taggart is tied for 13th on their list of coaches most likely to be fired this year and the dude hasn't even coached a down for Oregon yet. Yes, welcome to college football, where you're already on the hot-seat before you're even offered the job. Osborne was a missed field goal away from winning it the year before against Florida State. He was a missed 2-point co...

Match-up: #1 Nebraska vs. #2 Alabama Date: January 1, 1972 Outcome: 38-6 Nebraska This game was strictly a formality. The 1971 national championship had been unofficially determined on Thanksgiving Day when #1 Nebraska took down then #2 Oklahoma in the "Game of the Century." Oklahoma was clearly the second best team during the 1971 season, but Alabama was 11-0 going into the Orange Bowl and looking to pull the upset to claim the national title. So this game still held a ton of significance. It would officially give Nebraska their 2nd straight national title and gave Bob Devaney another shot at  Paul "Bear" Bryant , who is arguably the greatest college football coach of all time and easily the greatest coach to ever wear a houndstooth fedora. A Bear wearing a fedora The Bear opted to wear a baseball cap this game instead of his signature fedora, which was disappointing, but perhaps he was just trying to hide in shame from the TV cameras because this ga...