Eric Crouch vs Johnny Rodgers

HANC

HANC

New member
This is a debate sparked on anohter thread, when BennyinChicago posted that he got an autograpahed book by Rodgers........ people mentioned Crouch........ I felt that this would be more appropriate place to discuss or debate the two......because his thread was a positive experienceaoubt JR and didn't want to get off topic.....

Now, with that said....My question is "who had the better RUN" ........Rodger's punt return in the Game of the Century or Eric Crouch's run vs Missouri (which basically was his 'Heisman' run).......

Should get a lot of views and opinions.....probably old school vs new school.....

I for one, am 38......didn't witness personally at age 2 the Rodgers run, but have grown up living Husker History and have seen the run , oh, I'll say 1000 times.........

Personally, I think Crouch's 85 + run vs Missouri was more impressive than the Rodger's punt return.... Both are awesome, but when I see the Crouch run, it gets me a lot more jacked up than the Rodger's run..

Reasons: Crouch turned a busted play into one of the greatest highlights of all time.....he personally made about 5-6 guys completely "whiff" and showcased his speed...... I understand that MU isn't the OU of 71, but Crouch's team, although good, wasn't the NU team that Rodger's played on.....During this run, Eric was "on his own" for 90 % of the run..

Rodgers did a great job of shedding the first 2 attempted tackles with great vision and balance, and then made a great cut across field........BUT, unlike Crouch, he picked up many blocks from teammates, and YES, even as a die-hard Husker, I could see a "questionable" clip or two during the run.....

I would never "down-play" either run........and love both highlights.......just thought this would be a more appropriate forum to discuss Crouch-Rodgers..

(Hell, Tommie's run vs Florida might top both) he just wasn't brought up on the other thread.

 
I almost put that, but the reason I chose not too, was because all he had to do was "catch" the ball........that was more of the "play-call" and "design" than Crouch's athletic ability and great moves.......Yes, the "catch" was on a much bigger stage than his "run"......but I think the "Run" showcased him and ONLY him....

 
HANC said:
***SNIP***
Should get a lot of views and opinions.....probably old school vs new school.....

I for one, am 38......didn't witness personally at age 2 the Rodgers run, but have grown up living Husker History and have seen the run , oh, I'll say 1000 times.........

***SNIP***
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I think that's a salient point. I was about 12 or 13 when The Jet made that run - and perhaps based on the fact that back then you didn't see that kind of thing often (for you less experienced members, you may find this hard to believe but back then you only got to see a couple of games, and all of them on Saturday - the NCAA had a stangle-hold on viewing rights, and gave them only to ABC, which only broadcast a couple that single day of the week; sad but true...), it just impressed the hell out of me.

Also, it came at such an important time - both in terms of that single game and that entire season. A thing of beauty...

 
I am still going to open that can of worms of "Why wasn't Tommie Frazier on the list of the 25 greatest players when he was voted as the best college football QB by ESPN?" I guess I would be more solid on my decision of Crouch or Rodgers if I could have watched Rodgers play his whole career like I did Crouch. I can't really make a decision.

 
BGREDSTUCKN IA said:
I am still going to open that can of worms of "Why wasn't Tommie Frazier on the list of the 25 greatest players when he was voted as the best college football QB by ESPN?"
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The same reason Vince Young, Reggie Bush, and Charles Woodson were on it, all they picked were fan favorites and big names. Personally, I think the greatest player was probably a lineman. (Bob Brown?)

I think Rodgers' Return came at a better time, and actually set the stage for the whole game, whereas we would have beat Mizzou regardless. But I would still say Crouch, it was an incredible run.

 
I had trouble remembering Crouch's run..Is this it?

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I may have been more impressionable as an 11 year old, but the way JR defied gravity when he bent over 120 degrees more than once and still kept his feet was amazing..1st time I'd seen so many defenders so badly faked out of their shoes (I think they counted 5 shoes on the field after the play, not counting OU's kicker).

Crouch's run was spectacular, but didn't seem to cover much of the field..Just ran between the hashmarks. (Which was all that was needed).

I'd almost say it's a tie between Johnny's punt return and Frazier's Fiesta Bowl run.

Mighty glad to have seen them all, though.

An added bonus was the head to head race for the Heisman between Rodgers and OU's Greg Pruit..And Pruit was the 1st defender downfield that JR faked out...I think he finnished 2nd behind JR and just above Rich Glover.

 
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