The pages of the 2021 calendar have flipped to September. That means cooler weather, shorter days, some rain (hopefully) and football will be in full swing. The NFL begins its season on September 9. The high school and Cornhusker seasons began this past weekend.
Tough games for Alliance and Hemingford. But this Friday night will be another opportunity to renew oneself if you are dressed in a blue or red uniform.
Speaking of red uniforms, or to be precise, red pants – which Nebraska wears when it plays its games on the road – the Corncobs took a blow to the chin last Saturday at Illinois. The ghost of Red Grange handed it to NU, 30-22. The Illini led at one point, 30-9.
Was it a disappointing loss? Sure. Especially since Nebraska beat itself.
But, in my book, it does not even come close to the most disappointing, if not demoralizing losses, I have experienced in 52 years over following the Big Red.
Here are the losses that caused me to need some sort of therapy when the final gun sounded.
1. November 26, 1976 – Oklahoma 20, NU 17. The Cornhuskers let OU drive 84 yards during the game’s final three minutes, and OU scored the winning touchdown with 38 seconds remaining. The Sooners used two trick plays to move the football 79 of the 84 yards. As a 17-year-old high school senior, it was like watching my best friend get shot, stabbed, and then buried.
2. December 5, 2009 – Texas 13, Nebraska 12. A final one second that may have changed the course of Nebraska football for the next 12+ years.
3. October 12, 1974 – Missouri 21, NU 10. After I dealt with a summer of verbal abuse from a co-worker who hailed from Missouri and hated Nebraska, the Cornhuskers were supposed to offer me some facsimile of revenge. NU blew a 10-0 fourth quarter lead. As a 15-year-old, I felt like a dog who had been left abandoned on a country roadside.
4. October 13, 1973 – Missouri 13, NU 12. The Cornhuskers trailed 13-6 with less than two minutes to play but drove the length of the field and scored a TD with one minute remaining in the game. Nebraska’s attempt at a game-winning two-point conversion failed, and Tom Osborne’s first loss as head coach was too much for my 14-year-old psyche to handle. I cried for ten minutes.
5. November 18, 1978 – Missouri 35, NU 31. Nebraska had beaten No. 1 Oklahoma the previous Saturday and simply had to beat Missouri to be invited to the Orange Bowl to play for the national championship. After NU’s Rick Berns ran 82-yards for a touchdown on the game’s first play from scrimmage, the roof caved in.
6. October 23, 1976 – Missouri 34, NU 24. In a seesaw affair on a rainy Saturday at Memorial Stadium, Nebraska finally had taken a 24-23 lead, and the stadium’s crowd was as deafening as any I had ever experienced. Minutes later, a Pete Woods to Joe Stewart pass that resulted in a 98-yard touchdown play for Missouri left us stifled, and the party was over.
7. November 29, 2003 – The Firing of Frank Solich. Some things are right, and some things are wrong. This was wrong — and was a big loss for the Nebraska football program. History has proven it to be true as the hole just keeps getting deeper.
8. December 26, 1975 (Fiesta Bowl) – Arizona State 17, Nebraska 14. Nebraska’s Tony Davis fumbled at the ASU 20-yard line with less than two minutes to play. After starting the 1975 season 10-0, the Big Red dropped its final two games. I had asked Santa for a national championship for Christmas.
9. January 2, 1984 (Orange Bowl) – Miami 31, Nebraska 30. While disappointing, this loss didn’t crush me like it did other Cornhusker fans. Nebraska fought back from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit and nearly won the game. There was never any doubt in my mind that Tom Osborne would go for two.
10. September 7, 2019 – Colorado 34, Nebraska 31 (OT). Nebraska led, 17-0, and gave away an opportunity to crush Colorado as if it were a deadly snake. Somehow, the reptiles – disguised as buffaloes – slithered free and delivered several venomous strikes.