1980 and 1981 Nebraska Football

[sandiegohawk]

Was just looking through some old schedules and ran across the 1980 and 1981 Nebraska seasons.

Nebraska's non conference games those years were:
'80: Utah, Iowa, Penn State, Florida State
'81: Iowa, Florida State, Penn State, Auburn

It is a shame that schools can't schedule like that anymore.

 

[MichHusker]

Was just looking through some old schedules and ran across the 1980 and 1981 Nebraska seasons.

Nebraska's non conference games those years were:
'80: Utah, Iowa, Penn State, Florida State
'81: Iowa, Florida State, Penn State, Auburn

It is a shame that schools can't schedule like that anymore.

It's not 1980 anymore. Starting next year, we add the extra conference game - leaving only three non-conference games. At 9 conference games (each school has either 4 or 5 home conference games) the goal is to get to 7 home games. To get to 7 home games, you need to provide guaranteed payouts to lesser visiting teams who do not require a home/away series. Keep in mind, each home game is worth something like $10-15 million in direct revenue (at least for Nebraska) which financially supplements all the other sports.

 

[jimbosc]

I hear you but the reality of revenue generation from home games limits how many Power 5 conf teams that can be scheduled as non-conf games. And we go to 9 B1G conference games in 2016 - if the conference is good (teams in Top 25) the non-conf does not matter relative to the playoff series. And assume that will go to 8 teams in the playoffs while you schedule future games. So no more FCS teams for Nebraska. Oregon, Wyoming and Fresno St is about as good as we can expect going forward.

 

[jimbosc]

I believe we have Colorado and Oklahoma for future Home and Home series.......

 

[Row80]

I'm pretty sure that in the early 80's Florida State was not considered a powerhouse, or at least they were not well-known powerhouse. Their defeat of us introduced them to most of the college football world.

 

[Truehuskerfan]

I'm pretty sure that in the early 80's Florida State was not considered a powerhouse, or at least they were not well-known powerhouse. Their defeat of us introduced them to most of the college football world.

Neither was Utah or Auburn. Or Iowa for that matter. Florida State wasn't in a conference at that time and had to pretty much go play any major program that would take them in order to get better known.
People have tried to do this before with looking at past nonconference schedules and then transporting that to today and asking why nobody schedules like this anymore. The answer at least in part is nobody scheduled like that back then either because those schedules weren't nearly as formidable back then as they would look today.

 

[sandiegohawk]

Row80 said: ↑
I'm pretty sure that in the early 80's Florida State was not considered a powerhouse, or at least they were not well-known powerhouse. Their defeat of us introduced them to most of the college football world.

Neither was Utah or Auburn. Or Iowa for that matter. Florida State wasn't in a conference at that time and had to pretty much go play any major program that would take them in order to get better known.
People have tried to do this before with looking at past nonconference schedules and then transporting that to today and asking why nobody schedules like this anymore. The answer at least in part is nobody scheduled like that back then either because those schedules weren't nearly as formidable back then as they would look today.

FWIW in 1980 Florida State went 10-2 and the two loses were by 1 @ Miami and by 1 to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
Iowa won the Big Ten in '81 season and went to the Rose Bowl.
Auburn won the SEC in '83 so it wasn't long after those games they were very good.
Utah did win 8 games in 81 but they were in the WAC back then (I think)

 

[Truehuskerfan]

Row80 said: ↑
I'm pretty sure that in the early 80's Florida State was not considered a powerhouse, or at least they were not well-known powerhouse. Their defeat of us introduced them to most of the college football world.



FWIW in 1980 Florida State went 10-2 and the two loses were by 1 @ Miami and by 1 to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
Iowa won the Big Ten in '81 season and went to the Rose Bowl.
Auburn won the SEC in '83 so it wasn't long after those games they were very good.
Utah did win 8 games in 81 but they were in the WAC back then (I think)

Yes, Florida State was a good team, but like I said they were not in a conference and were desperate to play any big-name school that would have them. It's telling that they played us in Lincoln 4 times and we never played them in Tallahassee. Bobby Bowden himself would say that playing Nebraska really helped put them on the map. Yes Iowa won the Big Ten in 1981. But they were bad for years before that, so when they were put on our schedule, nobody would have thought of them as a quality opponent. Auburn had been a great team in the past, but they were pretty mediocre in the years before we played them. Yes, Utah was in the WAC and far from even being mentioned as a future major conference school.

 

[9and4]

Hey, in 1975 and 1976 we played LSU, Indiana, TCU and Miami.

Of course, TCU went 1-10 and 0-11 in those years, and was utterly non-competitive in the Southwest Conference; LSU went 4-7 and 6-4-1 (and tied Nebraska in 1976); Indiana went 2-8-1 and 5-6; and Miami finished 2-8 and 3-8.

Those might sound like major programs in today's landscape, but they were cupcakes in the day, along the lines of Kansas since Mangino's departure.

In those days, the top 2 or 3 teams (Nebraska/Oklahoma, Michigan/Ohio State, UCLA/USC) in each major conference tended to be much, much better than the rest of the conference, and the dregs in each major conference were absolutely horrible.

Other than KU and possibly Oregon State, there are no major conference cupcakes. Look at Colorado. Yeah, they were 4-9 and 1-8 in the Pac-12, but they came within just a few points of beating UCLA, USC and Utah. Even KU and Oregon State rose up this year and nearly defeated TCU and Oregon, respectively.

All of this is to say that comparing schedules from 35 to 40 years ago to today isn't remotely possible. College football has changed too much.

 

[redwine65]

I went to the 81 penn state game in lincoln, they kicked a lot of field goals.