It is hard to believe that it has been 50 years since Bob Devaney coached his last game for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
It also has been 50 years since Johnny Rodgers was portraying college football’s artful dodger and frustrating opposing defenses en route to winning the Heisman Trophy.
Those memories are like yesterday, not half a century ago.
Allow me to share three games from the heart of the 1972 season.
On October 21, 1972, the Cornhuskers played the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence. With Lyell Bremser’s voice booming through my radio and my German Shepherd, Wolffang, alongside, I walked along the gravel roads of Lancaster, Saunders, and Seward Counties for six miles in a steady drizzle.
The Cornhuskers got off to a shaky start, and the first quarter ended in a scoreless tie.
Early in the game, KU blocked a Rich Sanger punt and recovered at the NU six-yard line. NU’s Dave Mason saved the day when he intercepted a David Jaynes pass in the end zone and killed the Kansas threat. It probably was the turning point for Nebraska, as David Humm then hit Frosty Anderson with a 30-yard TD bomb.
The portion of the brain that provides memory is an interesting apparatus. Most people can recount where they were and what they were doing when JFK was shot or when some other world-changing event was occurring … and I knew exactly where I was when Nebraska bolted to a 14-0 lead over Kansas that rainy Saturday afternoon.
I was strolling along a gravel road in eastern Seward County heading south, exactly two miles west of our home, with my AM-only radio secured in my left arm, when Humm uncorked a 72-yard bomb to Johnny Rodgers. It was a play that killed any momentum Kansas still possessed and basically put the game away.
I’m sure the sparrows, pheasants, skunks, raccoons, deer, cattle, and horses keeping a watchful eye on me from their nearby trees and pastures were somewhat perplexed to see a skinny human jumping up and down and then dancing down a gravel road as a happy reaction to a voice that came with no visible attachment.
Nebraska went on to score two more touchdowns and lead, 28-0, at halftime, and then doubled its score in the second half to claim a 56-0 win.
I was rain-soaked from head to toe but made it back home in time to watch the final minutes of Colorado’s 20-14 upset over Oklahoma on television.
Despite the drizzle, it was a perfect college football Saturday.
Nebraska returned home to record its fourth consecutive shutout of the season the next week, 34-0 over Oklahoma State, and I learned what a true corn husker was.
Well, sort of.
During my long walks in the countryside, while listening to Lyell, I would invade the farmer’s fields that had corn ready for harvest. I’d pick three or four ears, shove them in my pockets, and continue walking. One-by-one, I would pull the husks from the ears and then nervously rub my thumb on the ripened kernels. The pressure from my thumb would loosen the kernels, and they would fall from the cob to the ground. I adopted this exercise as my superstitious good luck ritual for several years, especially during close games.
A November 4 trip to Boulder, Colorado, provided the second opportunity of the season to watch Nebraska play on color television.
NU’s red pants never looked redder as the Corncobs rolled over Colorado, 33-10, playing their finest game of the year.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Colorado fans’ finest hour. It had snowed the week of the game, and the Folsom Field personnel did a pathetic job clearing Mother Nature from the stands. Black and gold-clad Colorado fans pelted red and white-clad Cornhusker fans — and the NU marching band — with snowballs, and the ABC cameramen had no problem showing the nation the true colors of Boulder, Colorado.
Johnny Rodgers also displayed his true athletic colors. The Buffaloes were chasing their tails as Rodgers secured the Heisman Trophy by returning five Colorado punts for 144 yards.
The 23-point Nebraska victory moved NU up to No. 2 in the UPI Coaches Poll and winning a third consecutive national championship was looking more promising. After all, this was a Cornhusker victory over a Colorado team that had defeated Oklahoma only two weeks earlier.
More memories of the 1972 season will be shared in the weeks to come.