November 11, 1978 Oklahoma at Nebraska

[pascal]

Legend has it - Osbornes greatest recruiting job was getting Barry fired lol. Not that he did, but Neb never wins those NC’s if Barry is still there. OU owned Tom and us and like today we couldn’t get the big time recruits without a little extra help.

Is that a fact?
Maybe the reason Barry was as successful as he was (make no mistake, he was a brilliant coach) was because he did things under the table. The expose on his program in the late 80's was pretty shocking.

The question is what would an Osborne program do with an OU program on the level.

 

[SeaOfRed75]

You can see Hamilton Hall in the ending shot. I had a couple of classes there back in the day.

The main doors on that place suck. Literally too I think. Since it's a chemistry building I think it has such a good venting system it was slightly negatively pressured.
Always had to pull so hard to open them.

 

[rgrachek]

And they laid an egg the next game.

They didn't really lay an egg. They lost 35-31 against a team who was very different offensively than OU, a team that had some great offensive firepower. It clear that the defense couldn't transition from a mega talented wishbone to a multi-faceted offense with players like Bradley, Wilder, and Winslow in just one week. Had we played them in September or October, we would have played better defensively, but those 3 players were dominate that day.

We had 517 yards of offense that day verses 476 for Missouri, but the weather was as bad as the week before and Sorley was only 7-23 (Bradley was 10-21, not much better). Berns ran for 255 that day.

We just got caught in a trap game after TO's biggest win, and we came up short.

 

[rgrachek]

Is that a fact?
Maybe the reason Barry was as successful as he was (make no mistake, he was a brilliant coach) was because he did things under the table. The expose on his program in the late 80's was pretty shocking.

The question is what would an Osborne program do with an OU program on the level.

I read Switzer's book in the 90s. He denies ever giving a player anything illegal. In fact, he's on record of telling star receiver Hart Lee Dykes to get the F*** out of his office when Dykes asked him to match deals from other schools. Is their proof Switzer bought players? My understanding is that he was told to leave because of the Charles Thompson drug scandal.

 

[Husker.Wed.]

That week I aced a calculus test, went to the game with the "love of my life" girlfriend and we stormed the field. The next week I failed a physics and chemistry test and really started thinking if college was right for me. My girlfriend dumped me and on Saturday I sat "alone" in the student section and watched Wilder run crazy on a cold and gloomy day. Until years later when my dad died that Saturday was the most depressing day of my life.

 

[pascal]

I read Switzer's book in the 90s. He denies ever giving a player anything illegal. In fact, he's on record of telling star receiver Hart Lee Dykes to get the F*** out of his office when Dykes asked him to match deals from other schools. Is their proof Switzer bought players? My understanding is that he was told to leave because of the Charles Thompson drug scandal.

He was just playing semantics. The Charles Thompson story was just one of many.

June 16, 1988: OU reveals that there are 18 allegations of NCAA rules violations, including an Oklahoma alumnus allegedly loaning a used car to a player and paying him for a summer job at which he did not work (an idiotic way of saying they paid players). A Sooner staff member also allegedly offered $1,000 in cash to a prospect if he would sign with Oklahoma. Switzer said of the accused violations, "None of them ever gave Oklahoma a competitive advantage."

December 26, 1988: The Oklahoman publishes an editorial, quoting Switzer about a player who received free use of a car and was paid $6,400 for work he didn't perform. "The kid drives it for a year, a year and a half, two years, whatever it was, and all of a sudden that becomes a hell of a violation," Switzer said.

How The Mighty Fall: Barry Switzer

A blow by blow account of the final year of the Barry Switzer era at OU.

www.news9.com

 

[gomerxx]

Worked at Super Sub that day … amazingly it was super busy that day…shift eventually ended ended … ran to the stadium with my little hat still on and hands reeking of onions … got there late third quarter … helped storm the field … got juiced downtown and for pretty much a solid week after that … flattered my boss and got the next Sat. Off for the Mizzou game…cold and windy as hell and couldn’t stop wilder…oh well

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

I was there. Exorcised some demons that day and literally got shoved over the top rail and on to the field as the game ended. Didn’t participate in tearing down the posts.

Sorry about that shove dingle.

 

[Huskers123456]

Love stories from these old games. Sounds like fun times.

 

[rgrachek]

He was just playing semantics. The Charles Thompson story was just one of many.

June 16, 1988: OU reveals that there are 18 allegations of NCAA rules violations, including an Oklahoma alumnus allegedly loaning a used car to a player and paying him for a summer job at which he did not work (an idiotic way of saying they paid players). A Sooner staff member also allegedly offered $1,000 in cash to a prospect if he would sign with Oklahoma. Switzer said of the accused violations, "None of them ever gave Oklahoma a competitive advantage."

December 26, 1988: The Oklahoman publishes an editorial, quoting Switzer about a player who received free use of a car and was paid $6,400 for work he didn't perform. "The kid drives it for a year, a year and a half, two years, whatever it was, and all of a sudden that becomes a hell of a violation," Switzer said.

How The Mighty Fall: Barry Switzer

A blow by blow account of the final year of the Barry Switzer era at OU.

www.news9.com

I guess my point was that what happened at OU usually involved boosters and wasn't a whole lot different than what was going on at most other schools, including DONU. Back in the 70s and 80s, I personally know MANY players who seemed to have nice cars and got $100 handshakes all of the time. Do you seriously think that the 80-85% of players on scholarship from out of State came to Nebraska just for the atmosphere?

OU won a lot because Switzer was a really good and extremely energetic coach who made players feel excited for playing for him. He improved a recruiting matrix in Texas that Fairbanks and Wilkinson created and was able to get the best talent, then coach them up.

The 1978 OU team from a pure talent standpoint was breathtaking, especially on defense. Also, crafting an offense that got Kenny King, Thomas Lott, David Overstreet, and Billy Sims on the field at the same time was masterful. King, Sims, Roberts, Hicks, Cumby, Hunt, Mathis, Kinlaw, Jimmerson, Babb, and Tabor were all All-Americans.

 

[scarletred]

I guess my point was that what happened at OU usually involved boosters and wasn't a whole lot different than what was going on at most other schools, including DONU. Back in the 70s and 80s, I personally know MANY players who seemed to have nice cars and got $100 handshakes all of the time. Do you seriously think that the 80-85% of players on scholarship from out of State came to Nebraska just for the atmosphere?

OU won a lot because Switzer was a really good and extremely energetic coach who made players feel excited for playing for him. He improved a recruiting matrix in Texas that Fairbanks and Wilkinson created and was able to get the best talent, then coach them up.

The 1978 OU team from a pure talent standpoint was breathtaking, especially on defense. Also, crafting an offense that got Kenny King, Thomas Lott, David Overstreet, and Billy Sims on the field at the same time was masterful. King, Sims, Roberts, Hicks, Cumby, Hunt, Mathis, Kinlaw, Jimmerson, Babb, and Tabor were all All-Americans.

Barry always mentions his 1978 team was his best Sooner team he had..

If I’m not mistaken because of OU losing to Nebraska and Nebraska losing the next week to Mizzou put Penn St in the Sugar Bowl to Alabama for the National Championship..

 

[rgrachek]

Barry always mentions his 1978 team was his best Sooner team he had..

If I’m not mistaken because of OU losing to Nebraska and Nebraska losing the next week to Mizzou put Penn St in the Sugar Bowl to Alabama for the National Championship..

Nebraska lost to Alabama in Game 1. 20-3, and it wasn't that close. But they were 9-1 like us going into the last game of the season and we went ahead of them in the polls because of the OU win (probably an injustice).

Had we beaten Missouri, we would have played Penn State in the Orange Bowl for the NC. Because we lost, we got the Orange Bowl bid anyway because we had the same B8 record as OU, but we won head to head. Alabama went on to play Penn State in the Sugar Bowl, and OU was the highest ranked team not with an automatic bid, so we got them again. Had we played and beaten Penn State we would have been national champions because OU would have likely done Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and if not, we would have had one of those split NCs.

 

[IowaHuskr]

I don’t want to quibble… it was south end zone , pretty sure

Yes the fumble was near the south goal line. Sitting with my dad on the 20 yd. line near the south goal line.

 

[regoratsginrom]

Still the best football game I've ever been to. We sat in the Southeast corner on the goal line so the Sims fumble was close to us. Stormed the field. One of my (dumbass) fraternity brothers ran up and got in David Overstreet's face as he was walking off. Overstreet jacked him pretty good...he deserved it.

 

[zrob]

If NU hadn't lost to Misery, the Crimson Tide never would've had their famous Goal Line Stand.

 

[spartanhusker]

No

Yes the fumble was near the south goal line. Sitting with my dad on the 20 yd. line near the south goal line.

Yes....and it was cold......

 

[spartanhusker]

Ok....my story....
I had been to the KU game maybe a week earlier, and one of my students whose parents were OU people called and said "we are not using our Nebraska tix,,,,YOU CAN HAVE THEM" so I jumped on it! Called my Razorback bro in law to go with me...it was epic! Found a brand new hat in the road after the game!!!
Thoughts:
My first game EVER in Lincoln...but I'd been to 9 AWAY games.....
LOUD, LOUD, LOUD!!!!
9 fumbles by them....lost SEVEN ...we still win.....
Kelly Phelps was hit SOOOOOOO Hard!!!! I thought he dead.....Maddest I EVER saw Tom......
Rick Berns was THE stud.....
Billy Todd...was he our last straight ahead kicker?

Probably one of my top three sports moments!

 

[bigboxes]

Any

Ok....my story....
I had been to the KU game maybe a week earlier, and one of my students whose parents were OU people called and said "we are not using our Nebraska tix,,,,YOU CAN HAVE THEM" so I jumped on it! Called my Razorback bro in law to go with me...it was epic! Found a brand new hat in the road after the game!!!
Thoughts:
My first game EVER in Lincoln...but I'd been to 9 AWAY games.....
LOUD, LOUD, LOUD!!!!
9 fumbles by them....lost SEVEN ...we still win.....
Kelly Phelps was hit SOOOOOOO Hard!!!! I thought he dead.....Maddest I EVER saw Tom......
Rick Berns was THE stud.....
Billy Todd...was he our last straight ahead kicker?

Probably one of my top three sports moments!

I was going to send you an email. The one I have is the wcsks.com address. Do you still use that one? If not, send me an email with your new address, por favor.

 

[schuele]

Billy Todd...was he our last straight ahead kicker?

Kevin Seibel would have been after him. Not sure if there were any others in the 80s.

 

[61bigredfan]

Legend has it - Osbornes greatest recruiting job was getting Barry fired lol. Not that he did, but Neb never wins those NC’s if Barry is still there. OU owned Tom and us and like today we couldn’t get the big time recruits without a little extra help.

Sigh, thanks for crapping on our nice memories. Everybody likes Barry Switzer, I think even his wife he cheated on still liked him but I live in Oklahoma and the number of stories I hear about business deals he was in where Everyone else lost money but him…... But Barry never violated any recruiting rules or Arranged illegal gifts to players or players families???… You ever watched the 30 on 30 about Marcus Dupree?

 

[spartanhusker]

Any

I was going to send you an email. The one I have is the wcsks.com address. Do you still use that one? If not, send me an email with your new address, por favor.

Yes it is the same…. Fire away!!!😂

 

[pascal]

What did I learn today? Barry Switzer was an angel. Who knew?

 

[pascal]

I guess my point was that what happened at OU usually involved boosters and wasn't a whole lot different than what was going on at most other schools, including DONU. Back in the 70s and 80s, I personally know MANY players who seemed to have nice cars and got $100 handshakes all of the time. Do you seriously think that the 80-85% of players on scholarship from out of State came to Nebraska just for the atmosphere?

OU won a lot because Switzer was a really good and extremely energetic coach who made players feel excited for playing for him. He improved a recruiting matrix in Texas that Fairbanks and Wilkinson created and was able to get the best talent, then coach them up.

The 1978 OU team from a pure talent standpoint was breathtaking, especially on defense. Also, crafting an offense that got Kenny King, Thomas Lott, David Overstreet, and Billy Sims on the field at the same time was masterful. King, Sims, Roberts, Hicks, Cumby, Hunt, Mathis, Kinlaw, Jimmerson, Babb, and Tabor were all All-Americans.

Their players were on the overhyped side. How can half your team be All-Americans yet carve out a six point win against unranked Stanford and a one point win against unranked Kansas. KU won one game that year and finished last in the conference.

 

[rgrachek]

Their players were on the overhyped side. How can half your team be All-Americans yet carve out a six point win against unranked Stanford and a one point win against unranked Kansas. KU won one game that year and finished last in the conference.

You can't look at it that way, because things happen in certain games. In both the Stanford and Kansas games, turnovers ruled the day. Also Lott didn't play against KU. Some of the best teams in college football history struggled in some games. Not everyone was 1971 or 1995 Nebraska.

 

[Walleye79]

Legend has it - Osbornes greatest recruiting job was getting Barry fired lol. Not that he did, but Neb never wins those NC’s if Barry is still there. OU owned Tom and us and like today we couldn’t get the big time recruits without a little extra help.

I hear the banjos. Hawkeyes want there number one fan back. Get moving foosball

 

[NUSouth]

I've been watching this video over the last couple of days. Just enjoying how good these teams were. That hit by Ruud against Phelps is legend. "The Hit". Like Tommie Frazier's "the Run". It's cool seeing I.M. Hipp's name come up again. Billy Sims was my favorite Sooner. Easily the most talented guy on that field. Kenny King, too. Amazing game. Weather played a role. I wish I had been older and had gone to the game. Surely, there's some on this board that were at the game in '78

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Was at the game high in the north end zone and it was damn cold. Two things I remember.

First NE was gaining momentum and OU had the ball on my north end zone side on their own 1 or 2. They gave it to Kenny King who broke through the line cut left and went for about 50 yards. You never had a play where you could relax against that OU team.

The other thing was of course the bars were overflowing that night. We actually got the only remaining booth at Arnold’s in Havelock that night so got to celebrate without waiting outside someplace in the freezing cold.

 

[planored]

My 1st ever live game. It was caf. Still remember it like yesterday, I was young

 

[61bigredfan]

My 1st ever live game. It was caf. Still remember it like yesterday, I was young

I think that was the game where the temp dropped about 20 degrees before the game started?

 

[pascal]

As cold as it was, the following week's Missouri game was colder. I missed my ride and had to walk up to North Belmont after the worst (feeling) loss ever. When I got home I was soaking wet and frozen like an icicle. I turned on the TV while I thawed out, they announce we are playing Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
Great day that was.

 

[VandallHuskerJulie]

Fun times. Finally beat the Sooners. Stormed the field - as I recall the goal post was taken to the Waterhole or Brass Rail. Lots of celebrating!

BTW I'm impressed that many of you guys can remember all those details! During my time at UNL the student tickets changed from midfield to the endzone and I have no idea where I sat that day. I do remember it was cold so I'm sure schnaps was the drink of choice.