Former Penn State running back Curt Warner remembers the plays well.
The No. 8 Nittany Lions were down by three points to the visiting No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers, and with time winding down, the Lions needed to go 65 yards.
Led by All-American quarterback Todd Blackledge, the Lions were moving down the field, and the ensuing plays were enough to ruin the Huskers’ chance at a national championship.
Tight end Mike McCloskey hauled in a 15-yard pass in front of the Lions’ sideline, and with 8 seconds left, Blackledge’s low throw somehow found its way to tight end Kirk Bowman.
Though some Huskers’ fans still insist McCloskey was out of bounds and that Bowman trapped the ball, the Lions went on to win the national championship.
As for Nebraska, the nationally televised game in University Park was its lone loss of the season — a record good enough to land the team a spot in the Orange Bowl.
“It was a good call,” Warner said with a chuckle. “We didn’t have any replay so that’s all that matters … We just had a little extra space on the sidelines.”
If that 1982 matchup — still regarded as one of the Lions’ most memorable games — is any indication of what the future holds, then Penn State fans should consider themselves lucky. Nebraska’s addition to the Big Ten means an opportunity to rekindle a rivalry, even though Nebraska Athletic Director Tom Osborne isn’t looking for one.
The two schools have met on the gridiron just 13 times since 1920, with the Lions leading the all-time series 7-6. Still, there’s a case for a rivalry.
Just as disheartening as the 1982 loss was for the Huskers, the Lions didn’t have a chance to play for the 1994 national championship while Nebraska did. Despite both teams boasting undefeated seasons, the Lions went to the Rose Bowl while Nebraska defeated Miami 24-17 in the Orange Bowl. With both Penn State and Nebraska undefeated, the voters deemed Nebraska No. 1.
“There’s certainly no animosity on our part,” said Osborne, Nebraska athletic director and football coach from 1973-1997. “The voters decided what they wanted us to do. We came out on the short end sometimes and we came out on the positive side sometimes. But that’s just football and that doesn’t change our feeling about those schools.”
Osborne said it’s too early to determine if a Penn State-Nebraska game would make a good regular season finale. Though the athletic directors will continue working to build Nebraska’s Big Ten schedule for 2011, those who experienced the rivalry firsthand can’t wait to see it renewed.
The teams played each year from 1979-1983 — the height of the rivalry — and the five-year period shed light on the quality football team and top-notch fan base Nebraska had, Warner said.
Nebraska’s passion for college football, coupled with its respect for the opposition, is something former All-America receiver Kenny Jackson said also separated the Huskers from other programs.
“They fit in the Big Ten because they fit in culturally and emotionally,” Jackson said. “I’ll never forget playing in Nebraska and beating them at their place, and the people in Nebraska gave us a standing ovation.”
That game was in 1981, when Warner racked up 238 rushing yards and the Lions knocked Nebraska out of the rankings for the first time since 1977. It wouldn’t be the last time the Huskers’ fans applauded the opposition.
Osborne said he told Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany about the standing ovation the fans gave Ricky Williams in 1998 after the former Texas Longhorn rushed for 150 yards to beat Nebraska.
Legendary coach Bobby Bowden even sent an open letter to the Lincoln and Omaha newspapers in 1980 praising Nebraska’s fans for the class they showed after his Florida State Seminoles beat the Huskers.
It’s the amount of respect the fans have for the athletes and the traditions of other football programs that helped Delany initially extend an invitation to Nebraska.
“I thought, ‘Wow, that’s special,’ ” Delany said of the standing ovation story Osborne shared during their meeting. “They’re really doing some good things here because when you’re proud of something like that, that’s a distinguishing characteristic and it made an impression on me.”
But through the years when Penn State and Nebraska met, the attention the games received often stemmed from two high-profile programs that just happened to be led by two coaching icons.
When Osborne stepped down as head coach in 1997 he left the program with 255 career victories and was coming off his third national championship. The former congressman’s first national championship came in 1994, something Penn State historian Lou Prato said probably still angers the Penn State fan base since both programs were undefeated that season.
“I’m a real good friend of Joe Paterno’s and I think a great deal of him,” Osborne said. “The longer you’re in athletics the more you realize that you win some and you lose some. You feel bad when you lose, but you walk away from it and there’s no carryover. I’m still friends with the same people and I hope it doesn’t affect anybody in the Big Ten. I know it certainly doesn’t affect us here.”
The friendly relationship between Paterno and Osborne is something Nebraska football historian Mike Babcock said is among the most striking in the sport.
Both coaches’ success helped start the rivalry, and with Osborne now being the athletic director and Paterno still patrolling the sidelines, Babcock said both figures will play a prominent role in maintaining the schools’ rivalry.
“You just don’t have a whole lot of meetings between the programs, but when they have met they’ve been important,” Babcock said. “Both programs are so successful and there’s that tradition, and any time you match tradition there’s always that potential that people will start talking about rivalries.”
Barring any more additions to the Big Ten — something Delany said he wouldn’t rule out until the original 12- to 18-month time frame set in December expires — Penn State and Nebraska will be the two newest teams in the conference.
Babcock said the Huskers’ addition to the conference is something many Nebraska fans wanted since 1905, when they wrote editorials in favor of joining what was then known as the Big Nine.
Both Penn State and the Huskers know what it’s like to give up old rivalries to join the Big Ten.
With the Lions surrendering their status as an independent to join the Big Ten and the Huskers now giving up their usual rivalries with Big 12 foes such as Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma, there’s potential for the two schools to bring a new rivalry to the conference even though other schools have more history with the Huskers.
Nebraska’s most-common Big Ten opponent is Minnesota, with 51 meetings. Nebraska won the last 14 games.
Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema publicly called for an end-of-season game against Nebraska, and Badgers Athletic Director Barry Alvarez played for Nebraska.
But Osborne doesn’t see any one team emerging as Nebraska’s marquee Big Ten rival.
“It’s hard for us to identify any one team we would label as a rival,” Osborne said. “When I was coaching I always said our rival was whoever we were playing next Saturday. I didn’t pay much attention to those kinds of things. But I am sure there are a lot of schools that would like to play us and we look forward to being a part of it.”
Though Prato said Penn State fans like to consider Ohio State their biggest rival, the drama between the Lions and the Cornhuskers’ previous meetings is tough to overlook.
The two programs will be the farthest apart geographically, but the memories of the games are anything but distant.
The triumphant celebration as goal posts were carried down College Avenue after the controversial McCloskey catch led to the Lions’ win in 1982, the 1994 national championship debate and even the Lions’ 2003 loss where they surrendered 337 rushing yards is enough to make Warner want to start the rivalry with a clean slate.
“We got ours in 1982 and then they got payback when they were awarded the championship over us in 1994,” Warner said. “They still argue about the ’82 game, and I’ve seen the T-shirt about it. They need to stop complaining because they got theirs, we got ours and now we’re going to see who gets the next one. And that’s how it should be.”