An Election Day poll from Sam M.

Which is the Best Nebraska Team that DIDN'T Win the National Championship?


  • Total voters
    52
My first instinct was to go wt 83 but I remember talking to a player from that era (to remain unnamed) and how he felt that 82 team was more balanced and overall a better team.  83 could have, would have, should have gone down in the record books as the best ever... if they had a better D. The D hurt them in the Orange Bowl when it counted the most.  82 team got screwed by officials 2x in that PSU game - otherwise they would have been perfect.  I have no doubt we would have won a rematch. 

The 99 team had an outstanding D - outside of the fumble going across the goal line at texass - they too would have been perfect and would have gotten revenge on FSU in  a bowl game.  The media of course was dying for a FSU/VT championship game and they got it.  NU was better than both of them.  We had fumblitis in 99 and it cost us that one game.  Frank's tenure at NU may have been longer if he had won a NC in 99 - perhaps he gets better recruits and the meltdown in Colorado doesn't occur in 2001- who knows :dunno

93 team - I don't think they are on the same level as 99,82 or 83 - but they played their hearts out against media darling FSU and beat them in everything but the final score -  It is so easy to have seen Tom with 3 more NCs. and NU wt 4 more when we look at 82,83,93,99 

 
All 4 in the poll should've had nattys.  I had trouble picking between 82 and 83 but I'm a little biased, I was at UNL those years. I voted for 83 but I'm not convinced 82 wasn't the better team. 83 rolled up some sick offensive numbers but some of that was at the expense of lesser opponents. 93 is sure right in the mix too but I gotta go with 82 & 83 both being better. 99 is clearly 4th of these. Ah the good ole days when we coulda shoulda won it all, seemingly every year.
I agree that both 82 and 83 were better than 93.  The 93 team was a great team, but I don't remember them being dominant throughout the year.  They quietly took care of business each week.  The building blocks for the 94 and 95 teams were still young players, although they had a dominant senior in Trev Alberts.  They also were helped a ton when KU went for 2 at the end of their game in Lawrence.  I know most National Championship teams need breaks and luck along the way, but that was a very lucky break.

 


1404160082005-dmrdc5-5rjzgkngqo719d0ydm82-original.jpg


 
I agree that both 82 and 83 were better than 93.  The 93 team was a great team, but I don't remember them being dominant throughout the year.  They quietly took care of business each week.  The building blocks for the 94 and 95 teams were still young players, although they had a dominant senior in Trev Alberts.  They also were helped a ton when KU went for 2 at the end of their game in Lawrence.  I know most National Championship teams need breaks and luck along the way, but that was a very lucky break.
93 team and the phantom clip or block in the back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ITuAu-W54

 
I'm not too upset about the FSU game because I think the loss was a huge motivator for the next season.
It was a huge motivator, but you try telling 17-year old me that NU didn't get screwed.  At that point, we felt like Osborne was never going to get his national championship.

 
It was a huge motivator, but you try telling 17-year old me that NU didn't get screwed.  At that point, we felt like Osborne was never going to get his national championship.




I cried myself to sleep that night but I was young enough to not be pissed off at the calls.

 
I'm not too upset about the FSU game because I think the loss was a huge motivator for the next season.


It was a huge motivator, but you try telling 17-year old me that NU didn't get screwed.  At that point, we felt like Osborne was never going to get his national championship.
Yeah, hindsight after 3 Nattys is WAY different than it was at the time. It was like a curse TO couldn't escape. Even when we knew we were the best team in the country seems like something would always go wrong. FSU just happened to be the last straw before the dam broke.

 
All the close calls over the years did make the '94 championship oh so sweet and the celebration so much fun.  Hashtag 72nd and Dodge.


All those close calls and the seven straight bowl losses made the 3rd quarter against Miami in 1994 almost unbearable, though.  I was sure we were going to lose, again, and it was the worst.

Then Miami got tired, they forgot about Schlessinger, and the final like ten minutes was amazing.

 
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