Nebraska VS Penn St -- 1994

[zrob]

Nebraska's talent in 1994 included:

Nebraska - 4th in Total Defense

OL Zach Wiegert - 10th in Heisman Voting, 1st Team All American, Outland Trophy Winner

OL Brendan Stei - 1st Team All American

OL Rob Zatecha - 1st Team All American

LB Ed Stewart - 1st Team All American

RB Lawrence Phillips - 8th in Heisman Voting, 2nd Team All American, 3rd YPG 1722, 15th YPC 6.0



DB Baron Miles - 3rd Team All American

QB's Tommie Frazier & Brook Berringer


Other key players:

QB's Tommie Frazier & Brook Berringer, FB Cory Schlesinger, DE Grant Wistrom



Penn State's talent in 1994 included:



Penn State - 1st in Total Offense

QB Kerry Collins - 4th in Hesman Voting, 1st Team All American, Maxwell and Obrien Winner

RB Kijanna Carter - 2nd In Heisman Voting, 1st Team All American, 4th YPG 1522, 1st YPC

WR Bobby Engram - 2nd Team All American, Biletnikoff Winner,

TE Kyle Brady - 2nd Team All American

OL Jeff Hartings - 1st Team All American

 

[barney44]

Nebraska fielded a top 5 defense and a top 5 offense that season, Penn State did not.

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

Zatechka was a 1st team AA?

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

Also, Wistrom wasn’t even a starter, so I’m not sure why you’d include him.

 

[Charlie Marlow]

We would have blown them out second half

 

[Redblood23]

Penn St didn't want any parts of that N team.

 

[CatColumbia]

I think we win this one although I've always felt that '94 against Penn St. would have been a closer game than us against Michigan in '97. Frosty would have picked the Wolverines apart.

 

[Redblood23]

Michigan defense was nice but they wouldn't have scored against hour defense. We would have won by a least 10 in 97

 

[barney44]

Nebraska was a more complete team than both Michigan and Penn State.

 

[Charlie Marlow]

Plus we had the better coach

 

[StrongArm517]

No comparison either year

 

[ellobo]

Michigan defense was nice but they wouldn't have scored against hour defense. We would have won by a least 10 in 97

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

 

[Captain Nick]

Zatechka was all conference maybe. Don't think he was AA.

 

[barney44]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

Thankfully things don't work that way..

 

[CatColumbia]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

We had one "near" slip up in the Missouri game. Aside from that, we took care of business. My prediction of us beating them is simply due to the fact that the way we manhandled Tennessee, who was ranked #3 at the time. Michigan nearly lost to Ryan Leaf in the Rose Bowl. I just think our line play would have wore them down in the fourth quarter, just like we did against Miami in '94.

 

[litespeedhuskerfan]

OL Rob Zatecha - 1st Team All American.....has stuck me with several needles and jammed feel good juice into me on several occasions, you can hear that guy talking a mile away and you know he's coming.

 

[Redblood23]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

Nebraska started out slow that year if I remember correctly. By the end of the season I think N was rolling and any team they played wouldn't have had much of a chance imo.

 

[cubsker]

the numbers favor us both years

https://fivethirtyeight.com/feature...es-on-polls-and-just-used-a-stinking-playoff/

 

[Bugeater]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

Either way you pick, you lose. You can cheerlead all you want for Michigan, but they still would have lost to Nebraska. Deal with it. N

 

[saluno22]

OL Rob Zatecha - 1st Team All American

Zatechka was all conference maybe. Don't think he was AA.

OL Rob Zatecha - 1st Team All American.....has stuck me with several needles and jammed feel good juice into me on several occasions, you can hear that guy talking a mile away and you know he's coming.

You guys do realize there is an easy way to check this...
http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=204763235

He was First-Team ACADEMIC All-American three times (and the 1994 Academic All-American of the Year). He was not an All-American in the traditional sense, but was 2nd-team All-Big Eight. Nonetheless, played in the NFL for about 4 years with the Giants and I'd trust him to give me anesthesia.

 

[vs540husker]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

Michigan failed to score 40 points the entire season. Nebraska scored 40+ 8 times that season, yet Michigan is going to shut down and stop the #1 rush offense and #1 scoring offense and somehow score points on Nebraska's top 5 defense?? Michigan defense was great, but it was best at stopping the pass, #1 in fact, too bad you weren't going to go up against a passing team if you faced Nebraska.
Lets also not forget the fact, Michigan needed the ref's to literally run off the field while Washington State was driving, to preserve the win for Michigan.
I also don't care about common opponents because the transitive property doesn't apply in football. Colorado literally basing its entire season around Nebraska, makes a little bit of a difference compared to Colorado facing Michigan. Just like Michigan playing against Ohio State mattered more to them than their closest game of the year, Iowa.

Nebraska:
#1 offense
#1 rush offense
#1 scoring offense
#5 defense
#3 rush defense
#12 scoring defense
#28 pass defense
Nebraska also had better net punting, better punt return and better kick return stats than Michigan.

Michigan:
44th offense
28th rush offense
44th scoring offense
63rd passing offense
(that mediocre offense would have literally been lucking to score 10 points, if that)
#1 defense
#1 scoring defense
#1 pass defense
#7 rush defense
Defense is what Michigan survived on, but they also only faced 1 top 20 offense, while Nebraska faced 4 top 20 offenses.


I'd argue Kansas State was a better team than Michigan in 97' the problem for them was that they had to go up against Nebraska and their only loss on the season was Nebraska, 56-26. K-state had a a top 5 defense and top 15 offense, but that didn't help them one bit against Nebraska, just like with weeks to prepare and for Osborne's last game, Michigan would have gotten pounded even worse than a Peyton Manning led 3rd ranked Tennessee.

 

[vs540husker]

94' Penn St. could have scored 35 points against Nebraska that year and they'd still lose with that garbage defense they fielded. Their offense was great but as it's been shown time and time again, defense wins championships.

Rush defense:
Nebraska- 4th
Penn St.- 48th

Pass defense:
Nebraska- 10th
Penn St.- 66th

Scoring defense:
Nebraska- 2nd
Penn St.- 30th

Total defense:
Nebraska- 4th
Penn St.- 70th

 

[cubsker]

was checking out 94 colorado, who we whacked 24 to 7 in a game that wasn't that close. they beat wisky, @mich, @texas for their non con.

 

[vs540husker]

Just a reminder on 94' Penn St. with their 70th ranked defense. Only *ONCE* since 1989 has a team without a top 25 defense won a national championship and that was 2010 Auburn who had the 34th ranked defense.

So Penn St. would just happen to beat the odds and be the *ONE AND ONLY* team with a defense that terrible and face a Nebraska team with a top 5 offense and top 5 defense and win?? Fat chance...

 

[Sinomatic]

https://sites.google.com/site/nebraskafootballhistory/1994-penn-state-nu

 

[swissticuffs]

Lol

 

[Suhrreal]

I would have paid good money to see the Blackshirts completely devour Brian Griese while his old man called the game.

 

[Suhrreal]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

We shut down Peyton Manning with Jamal Lewis at RB. Now you expect us to lose to Brian f'n Griese? Okay. Pretty sure Mike Rucker and Grant Wistrom would have had a field day against that Michigan offense.

 

[dckchusker]

The problem with both Penn State in '94 and Michigan in '97 is that they both had chances to make statements in their respective Rose Bowls, and neither did. Penn State's #1 offense did not run wild on Oregon's D, and they gave up 500 yards to the Ducks' mediocre offense. They were tied 14-14 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

For all Michigan's whining, if they had simply scored one more touchdown against WSU, they probably sweep both polls. But they didn't. Sad.

 

[schuele]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd [sic] be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

I tend to think NU-Michigan would have been a pretty close game, but this argument cracks me up. Both teams blew out Baylor - Nebraska doing it in Waco and Michigan in Ann Arbor. So this bit of pretentious, arrogant gasbaggery really comes down to Michigan beating Colorado at home by a larger margin than Nebraska won by in Boulder. Glad many of the people casting votes didn't buy into such a flimsy argument.

 

[jedihusker]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

I've seen this "common opponents" argument brought up by Michigan fans a lot, and while common opponents is certainly a reasonable way to compare teams that never played, there are numerous factors that aren't taken into account when you simply compare the margins of victory.

First of all, Michigan played both Colorado and Baylor at home; Nebraska played both teams on the road. Michigan played Colorado and Baylor the first two games of the regular season; Nebraska played Baylor the 5th game of the season and Colorado the last game of the regular season. Colorado and Baylor were both non-conference games for Michigan, they were conference games for Nebraska. These are all things that can matter in the outcome of a game. Where the game is played is pretty obvious; when it's played matters because of the tendency to play better as the season progresses; the fact they were conference games for Nebraska matters, because I would venture to guess most teams tend to play a little different when it's in conference, and is more important to them.

Michigan beat Baylor by 35, Nebraska beat them by 28, so no great difference there. However, Nebraska was up 42-7 at half against Baylor, and after scoring a TD with a little over 8 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, going up 49-7, Nebraska played the rest of the game without starters. Baylor managed two late TDs in the 4th quarter to make the margin what it was. In fact, Baylor's final TD was scored after they punted and pinned Nebraska at their own 1 yard line, with 7 seconds left. With time left on the clock, and no room to kneel, Nebraska was forced to run a play, and the ball was fumbled and recovered by Baylor in the end zone; meaning their last TD that made the margin slightly different than that of Michigan, was a completely meaningless fumble recovery with no time left.

As for the Colorado game, yes Michigan had a much bigger margin, but there is a big thing to take into account here. This was the second year of the Big 12, and also the second year Nebraska played Colorado for the final game of the season. As was the case the first year, in 1996, and in numerous subsequent years; no matter the relative skill and talent levels of the teams, that final game against Colorado always ended up close. In 1997, the Nebraska game was pretty much Colorado's bowl game, so they got their absolute best shot. Nebraska had control of the game, up 27-10 with a little over 6 minutes left, and the ball in Colorado territory. Then came a fumble, which gave Colorado new life, and they scored two quick touchdowns to make it a game.

I could also point out that while Michigan was done with their season, and only had their bowl game to look forward to, after their final game against Ohio State; Nebraska had to go and play in the Big 12 championship game the week after their final regular season game. In that game, they destroyed then #14 Texas A&M 54-15.

 

[HuskerHusaria]

Tom offered to play Michigan in private to settle things. They turned it down. Tells you all you need to know.

 

[saluno22]

As was the case the first year, in 1996, and in numerous subsequent years; no matter the relative skill and talent levels of the teams, that final game against Colorado always ended up close. In 1997, the Nebraska game was pretty much Colorado's bowl game.

Throw in the fact that there was two weeks to prepare for this game (granted, for both teams). However, I'm sure Nebraska prepared a little differently knowing they had the CCG the following week whereas this was Colorado's marquee game as they weren't going to be bowl eligible (like you said).

 

[Mr.Scary13]

Michigan and NU pplayed two common opponents that year. Michigan won by an average of 29.5 points while NU by 15.5. While 15.5 is a nice, Michigan's average margin was nearly double.

Thus, the only reasonable concuclusion shoukd be:

A) Michigan's O was a little better than you remember

B) Michigan's D was light years ahead of NU's and there is no way NU could score on Michigan

I'll go with A because 8 of the starters on O ended up starting in the NFL also but you can pick B if you like

Nebraska would have killed Michigan. At least a 20 point game.

 

[Pennsyhusker]

These conversations are always interesting and fun, but ultimately useless. Michigan 97, PSU 94, and Nebraska 94/97 were all great teams with loads of talent. It would have been great if they had played each other, but they didn't. At least the voters in 97 recognized the need to split the title. Probably should have split it in 94 too.

 

[SeaOfRed75]

These conversations are always interesting and fun, but ultimately useless. Michigan 97, PSU 94, and Nebraska 94/97 were all great teams with loads of talent. It would have been great if they had played each other, but they didn't. At least the voters in 97 recognized the need to split the title. Probably should have split it in 94 too.

Giving Pedophile St and JoePa Scum another title to claim? No thanks.

 

[scarletred]

These conversations are always interesting and fun, but ultimately useless. Michigan 97, PSU 94, and Nebraska 94/97 were all great teams with loads of talent. It would have been great if they had played each other, but they didn't. At least the voters in 97 recognized the need to split the title. Probably should have split it in 94 too.

Only way we give Penn St a share for 1994 is if they give us our share in 1982...

That would be a fair exchange.

 

[Pennsyhusker]

Only was we give Penn St a share for 1994 is if they give us our share in 1982...

That would be a fair exchange.

Ha. I agree! I was having this exact conversation with a friend of mine at Church last Sunday. I was wearing a Nebraska hoodie and so he jokingly was giving me a hard time about 94. And I told him I would gladly share 94 with PSU if they would share 82 with us. He knew exactly what I was talking about and the controversy. He admitted that the pass was at least two yards out of bounds when caught. lol.

 

[Hawkeye_311]

These conversations are always interesting and fun, but ultimately useless. Michigan 97, PSU 94, and Nebraska 94/97 were all great teams with loads of talent. It would have been great if they had played each other, but they didn't. At least the voters in 97 recognized the need to split the title. Probably should have split it in 94 too.

Also didn't hurt that Phillip Fulmer voted Michigan 4th in the final poll as a favor to T.O. for mentoring him in Fulmers early coaching days at Wichita State.

 

[vs540husker]

Lets also not forget the one and only reason Michigan even got a split in 97', the media loves Cinderella teams and that's exactly what Michigan was, nothing more than a Cinderella that year. It's the one and only shot at a NC since WWII for a storied Big Ten program, the media loves that kind of BS. Nebraska however was in their 4th NC game in 5 seasons, so it was the same old same old and nothing new there.