1. The 1994 and 1997 football poll controversies
In 1994, Penn State finished 12-0 after beating Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Coach Joe Paterno openly lobbied for voters to pick the Nittany Lions over undefeated Nebraska. But the 13-0 Huskers won the Orange Bowl and were voted No. 1 in both polls. In 1997, NU entered the bowl season No. 2 in both polls behind Michigan. But the Huskers lobbied after beating Tennessee in the Orange Bowl and ended up with a split national title.
2. The 1962 Nebraska at Michigan football game
In Bob Devaney's second game as coach, the Huskers — coming off a 3-6 season — went to Ann Arbor and won 25-13. Devaney, in his autobiography, said: “I'm not so sure I don't cherish it as much as any game I ever coached. The win over Michigan is the one that put us on the map.”
3. The 1964 Michigan at Nebraska basketball game
This ranks as one of the most shocking Husker upsets ever. Michigan came to Lincoln ranked No. 1 and led by future NBA players Cazzie Russell and Bill Buntin. But NU won 74-73 on a last-second shot by Fred Hare from Omaha. And this wasn't any last-second shot. Hare grabbed his own missed shot in the lane and, facing away from the basket, flipped it in over his head.
4. The 1995 Nebraska at Michigan State football game
The Huskers pounded the Spartans 50-10, with I-back Lawrence Phillips jumping into the Heisman Trophy race with 206 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Less than 12 hours after the team arrived home, Phillips was charged with assaulting an ex-girlfriend, starting a season-long soap opera over whether he would play again.
5. Kevin Cosgrove
The name says it all. The Wisconsin defensive coordinator was hired by Bill Callahan to run the Blackshirts. Instead, he ran them into the ground. The Husker football defense fell to school-record depths and nearly to the bottom of Division I-A in four years under Cosgrove. Where does he coach now? Back in the Big Ten at Minnesota.
6. The 1983 Nebraska at Minnesota football game
It was the night the Metrodome scoreboard nearly overheated. The Huskers scored 21 points in every quarter to smash the Gophers 84-13. “I think the turning point in the game,'' Minnesota coach Joe Salem said, “was the opening kickoff.” The Gophers stopped Nebraska on its first three plays, then gave up 12 touchdowns.
7. The 2000 volleyball match between NU and Wisconsin
The Huskers beat the Big Ten school in the NCAA final to finish an undefeated season and claim their second national title. NU had a new head coach that year — John Cook, who had been the coach at Wisconsin before returning to Lincoln a year earlier to follow Terry Pettit as coach-in-waiting.
8. Volleyball matches in 1996 and 2008 between NU and Penn State
These five-game knockdown drag-outs in the NCAA tournament — in 1996 in the regional final, in 2008 in the national semifinal — are still talked about in volleyball circles. The 2008 match, in which NU rallied from two down to force a final game, was considered an instant classic.
9. The NU and Northwestern men's basketball teams
The two schools have met just four times, which is probably just as well. They are two of the three BCS conference teams (South Florida is the other) without an NCAA tournament victory. Nebraska is 0-6. Northwestern has never reached the tourney.
10. The dust-covered rivalry between Nebraska and Iowa
These border-state schools have played football only twice in the past 28 seasons and haven't met at all in men's basketball in 34 years. Everyone's powder should be dry if this rivalry gets sparked and occurs annually.
— Lee Barfknecht
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