The Cornhuskers had this past weekend off.
They opened this week as an eight-and-a-half-point underdog against USC where NU will play this Saturday afternoon at 2 pm MDT.
Will NU pull an upset, get blown out or lose another heartbreaker?
I have been following Big Red since 1969. I hope the upcoming NU at USC game will not be added to my list of ten-ten heartbreakers.
1. November 26, 1976 – Oklahoma 20, NU 17. The Cornhuskers let OU drive 84 yards during the games 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. October 12, 1974 – Missouri 21, NU 10. After a summer of verbal abuse from a co-worker who hailed from Missouri, the Cornhuskers were supposed to offer revenge. NU blew a 10-0 fourth quarter lead. As a 15-year-old, I felt like a dog left abandoned on a country roadside.
3. 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.
4. 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. And then, the roof caved in.
5. 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 stifled us, and the party was over.
6. December 5, 2009 – Texas 13 Nebraska 12. Texas boots a 46-yard field goal on the final play of the game to rob Nebraska of the Big 12 Championship.
7. September 7, 2019 – Colorado 34, Nebraska 31 (OT). The Huskers let a 17-point lead late in the third quarter slip through their fingers and then couldn’t score in overtime. The game was played in Boulder, but there were as many fans in red as there were in black.
8. November 17, 1984 – Oklahoma 17, Nebraska 7. Trailing 10-7 late in the game, Nebraska had the ball six inches from the Oklahoma goal and couldn’t convert on a fourth-down run. But it was only one of several costly mistakes made by Nebraska that day. Oklahoma was not a better football team than Nebraska, even though the scoreboard said differently.
9. November 22, 1986 – Oklahoma 20, Nebraska 17. Ouch! Nebraska led by 10 points entering the fourth quarter but couldn’t stop Oklahoma as the Sooners drove 94 yards in 11 plays to score a late fourth quarter touchdown. OU got the ball back and kicked the winning field goal with six seconds left in game.
10. August 31, 2023. Minnesota 13, Nebraska. The Matt Ruhle era began with heartbreak. Minnesota won the game by connecting on a 46-yard field goal on the final play of the game. I lost sleep that night over this loss. Nebraska would lose two more games in 2023 on the final play of the game vs. Maryland and Iowa – by identical 13-10 scores.
One more. It wasn’t a loss, but on November 11, 1972, Nebraska, ranked second in the nation at the time, tied Iowa State, 23-23, on a muddy field in Ames. The Cyclones scored on a touchdown pass with 23 seconds left in the game. However, their kicker missed the extra point that could have provided ISU with an incredible upset.