Why 1994-1995 Nebraska was so great...

[DuckTownHusker]

Spoiler, it's mental toughness.

I'm not even gonna touch a single football stat in this post.

But I was thinking about all the stuff surrounding 1995. LP's issues are well documented. Tommie vs Brook. Osborne said it was one of the most emotionally and spiritually draining seasons he coached, just due to all the off-field stuff. Ahman Green cracked into the starting lineup - not solely due to talent, but to all the other things swirling around the program including injuries.

I really can't pick a Husker team in the last 20 years that would have had the mental stamina to work through some of those issues and continue their march to the sea. We've seen whole seasons get flipped around because Taylor Martinez got stepped on by his own lineman. Compare that to Brook playing a road game with deflated lungs that they had to blow back up with a straw. Matt Turman coming off the bench and preserving the winning season. God, I freaked out every time I saw Martinez or Armstrong go down hard, knowing the next drive would be the backup QB handing off the ball three consecutive times for a RB dive.

I don't have the answer, but we haven't had that kind of resilience in a long time.

 

[HuskerFaith]

Spoiler, it's mental toughness.

I'm not even gonna touch a single football stat in this post.

But I was thinking about all the stuff surrounding 1995. LP's issues are well documented. Tommie vs Brook. Osborne said it was one of the most emotionally and spiritually draining seasons he coached, just due to all the off-field stuff. Ahman Green cracked into the starting lineup - not solely due to talent, but to all the other things swirling around the program including injuries.

I really can't pick a Husker team in the last 20 years that would have had the mental stamina to work through some of those issues and continue their march to the sea. We've seen whole seasons get flipped around because Taylor Martinez got stepped on by his own lineman. Compare that to Brook playing a road game with deflated lungs that they had to blow back up with a straw. Matt Turman coming off the bench and preserving the winning season. God, I freaked out every time I saw Martinez or Armstrong go down hard, knowing the next drive would be the backup QB handing off the ball three consecutive times for a RB dive.

I don't have the answer, but we haven't had that kind of resilience in a long time.

That’s the missing piece to this whole puzzle in my humble opinion. And it has to be the whole team. You can recruit 4*and 5* players but if they don‘t have that important characteristic -mental toughness- ..... they are just a good team. You would have to admit there where many many good Osborn teams but it took a SPECIAL group of guys To have those great Teams .....and they all had mental toughness. Not just “we are going to beat everybody“ .... It was “we are going to dominate everybody” type mentality. It was a special group of guys back in the glory days 60-3 is the proof.

 

[HuskerFaith]

I watched the fiesta bowl against Florida last night. #1 vs #2 Florida was one of the best offenses in the country, beat like 5 or 6 ranked teams, 2 of which where top ten teams. The domination in that game was astounding. Off the top of my head it was like 629 yards vs 269 yards. With 524 yards rushing. Against the number two team in the nation. Most lopsided 1vs2 matchup since 1945. Glorious ........ let’s toast to the glory years boys

 

[Goal-line]

Spoiler, it's mental toughness.

I'm not even gonna touch a single football stat in this post.

But I was thinking about all the stuff surrounding 1995. LP's issues are well documented. Tommie vs Brook. Osborne said it was one of the most emotionally and spiritually draining seasons he coached, just due to all the off-field stuff. Ahman Green cracked into the starting lineup - not solely due to talent, but to all the other things swirling around the program including injuries.

I really can't pick a Husker team in the last 20 years that would have had the mental stamina to work through some of those issues and continue their march to the sea. We've seen whole seasons get flipped around because Taylor Martinez got stepped on by his own lineman. Compare that to Brook playing a road game with deflated lungs that they had to blow back up with a straw. Matt Turman coming off the bench and preserving the winning season. God, I freaked out every time I saw Martinez or Armstrong go down hard, knowing the next drive would be the backup QB handing off the ball three consecutive times for a RB dive.

I don't have the answer, but we haven't had that kind of resilience in a long time.

Answer is: Better athletes,

 

[Prairie Sage]

To use Keith Jackson's term it boiled down to the "big uglies." We had studs on both sides of the line. Guys who went on to the pros, on both sides of the line. That means big holes for running backs and an less time for opposing quarterbacks to throw the ball. And, they were nasty.

 

[TFrazier]

Why 1994-1995 Nebraska was so great...

Nebraska won all of the games played?

 

[gazelle]

I believe 10 of the 11 defensive starters that night went on to have pro careers. Interestingly, the one defensive starter who didn't have a pro career (Terrell Farley) was probably the best playmaker on the defense. That team was just stacked with ridiculous talent all across the board. We will never have a team like that again.

 

[alabamahusker]

Answer is: Better athletes,

When you have better athletes and a mental toughness and a mindset like they had....
you get 95 Nebraska

 

[Power of Corn]

Many intangibles were maximized that yr too. Team chemistry, self discipline, resilience all those things help to build mental toughness. If our team could get 75-80% of that intangible efficiency back, that gets em to 9-10 wins last yr.

 

[MR863HUSKER]

I would like to see SOME resemblance of that team, ANY resemblance, right now...I need, WE NEED, that....Soooo...PLEASE Coach Frost, BRING IT ON !!!!!!!

 

[OKC Trap]

I watched the fiesta bowl against Florida last night. #1 vs #2 Florida was one of the best offenses in the country, beat like 5 or 6 ranked teams, 2 of which where top ten teams. The domination in that game was astounding. Off the top of my head it was like 629 yards vs 269 yards. With 524 yards rushing. Against the number two team in the nation. Most lopsided 1vs2 matchup since 1945. Glorious ........ let’s toast to the glory years boys
[/QUOT

Best bowl game I’ve been to. Gator fans talked a ton of junk in the bars in Tempe before the game but were nowhere to be found afterwards & Spurrier’s contorted face was just spectacular.......except I feel like I’ve been making that face for the last 20 years....

 

[huskerman1]

I would like to see SOME resemblance of that team, ANY resemblance, right now...I need, WE NEED, that....Soooo...PLEASE Coach Frost, BRING IT ON !!!!!!!

This team does not play the same style of football. More finesse. That team played smash mouth, grind you into the dirt football. I hadf a t-shirt that said 'NU National Champions, football, the way it was meant to be played

 

[HuskerFaith]

i heard that (about the junk) but I also heard the Florida players where talking trash before the game too. Makes it all the sweeter for the players. Hope the Huskers gained a ton of respect after the gators where being handed their a** through out the game. As for Spurrier ..... loved every time they did a close up during the game. I love spurrier tho but you saw a lot of coaches doing those faces that season With good reason, but he was the most animated of all of them.
You lucky dog for witnessing that in person.

 

[Fort Husker]

Spoiler, it's mental toughness.

I'm not even gonna touch a single football stat in this post.

But I was thinking about all the stuff surrounding 1995. LP's issues are well documented. Tommie vs Brook. Osborne said it was one of the most emotionally and spiritually draining seasons he coached, just due to all the off-field stuff. Ahman Green cracked into the starting lineup - not solely due to talent, but to all the other things swirling around the program including injuries.

I really can't pick a Husker team in the last 20 years that would have had the mental stamina to work through some of those issues and continue their march to the sea. We've seen whole seasons get flipped around because Taylor Martinez got stepped on by his own lineman. Compare that to Brook playing a road game with deflated lungs that they had to blow back up with a straw. Matt Turman coming off the bench and preserving the winning season. God, I freaked out every time I saw Martinez or Armstrong go down hard, knowing the next drive would be the backup QB handing off the ball three consecutive times for a RB dive.

I don't have the answer, but we haven't had that kind of resilience in a long time.

I think there's a lot of merit in the idea that mental toughness has been a key ingredient missing the last 20 years. And it transcends past more than one coaches we've had.

I think to the 2009 Big XII title game, Adi kicking the ball out of bounds when he was needed the most. The 2010 loss to a Texas team that should have been completed outmanned by NU, guys dropping TD passes left and right. Everyone looking for someone else to make a play. Think of how many games in the Pelini era where Nebraska jumped out to an early lead - 2012 Ohio State, 2013 UCLA, 2014 Wisconsin to name a few - only to be completed smacked as soon as adversity hit. I think of 2015 Wisconsin when they missed a kick and Jano bulled for a TD but they still couldn't close the deal. Everyone seemed to play so tight. And I think you've seen it a lot losing close games in the Frost era. Letting Colorado claw back in two games it shouldn't have, letting Northwestern make that absurd comeback in 2018, not putting away a hobbled Purdue team in 2019.

But how do you instill mental toughness? It's one of those intangibles that's difficult to assess and even trickier to fix.

 

[All 'N' 011808]

I think there's a lot of merit in the idea that mental toughness has been a key ingredient missing the last 20 years. And it transcends past more than one coaches we've had.

I think to the 2009 Big XII title game, Adi kicking the ball out of bounds when he was needed the most. The 2010 loss to a Texas team that should have been completed outmanned by NU, guys dropping TD passes left and right. Everyone looking for someone else to make a play. Think of how many games in the Pelini era where Nebraska jumped out to an early lead - 2012 Ohio State, 2013 UCLA, 2014 Wisconsin to name a few - only to be completed smacked as soon as adversity hit. I think of 2015 Wisconsin when they missed a kick and Jano bulled for a TD but they still couldn't close the deal. Everyone seemed to play so tight. And I think you've seen it a lot losing close games in the Frost era. Letting Colorado claw back in two games it shouldn't have, letting Northwestern make that absurd comeback in 2018, not putting away a hobbled Purdue team in 2019.

But how do you instill mental toughness? It's one of those intangibles that's difficult to assess and even trickier to fix.

When we see mental toughness surface, it will be because of the leaders within the team.