1984 Nebraska football came into the season looking to bounce back from the heartbreak to end all heartbreaks. They came within one play of winning a national title in 1983 before an upset loss to Miami in the Orange Bowl, a game where Cornhusker head coach Tom Osborne eschewed playing for a tie and a […]
After being one of the nation’s top three programs in the 1970s (along with USC and Alabama), the Oklahoma Sooners had slid backward the past three years. They lost four games each year from 1981-83. 1984 Oklahoma football wasn’t seen as likely to reverse the trend, ranking #16 in the preseason polls and behind conference […]
Don James had turned the Washington program into one of significance, earning three Rose Bowl bids (1977, 1980, 1981) in a Pac-10 long dominated by USC and UCLA. The last couple years had seen Washington come up short of New Year’s Day, settling for Aloha Bowl trips both times. The 1984 Washington Huskies opened the […]
For over two decades the Raider organization had been synonymous with excellence. It was even the organization motto—whether the team was in Oakland or Los Angeles there was a “Commitment To Excellence.” And they backed it up on the field. For the 21-year period from 1965-85, the Raiders had twenty winning seasons, fifteen playoff trips, […]
1983 Illinois football was celebrating the 20th anniversary of their last trip to the Rose Bowl. Since that 1963 season they had been off the football map. When Mike White became the head coach in 1980, it had been six years since the good folks of Champaign had even seen a winning season. READ GREAT […]
1983 was the year of The Great Rebuild for Georgia athletics. The basketball team saw star forward Dominque Wilkins leave early for the pros. Dawg hoops responded by going to the Final Four. The 1983 Georgia football team was no less impressive—they lost Herschel Walker, one of college football’s all-time greatest running backs, early to […]
Pat Dye took over the Auburn program in 1981, when Alabama’s Bear Bryant ruled the state, the SEC and was larger than life in the nation itself, including a recent run of national championships in 1978-79. Dye went 5-6 his first year, but improved to 8-3-1 a year later and was establishing his program as […]
Fred Akers had taken over the Texas coaching job in 1977 and promptly went undefeated before losing the national title to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. That loss foreshadowed some difficulties, at least relative to Texas expectations over the next few years. READ GREAT 1980s SPORTS MOMENTS The Longhorns lost three of their next […]
The Miami football program had been in the doldrums when Howard Schnellenberger took over as head coach in 1979 and after a 5-6 opening year, promptly went 25-9 over the next three seasons. The 1983 Miami Hurricanes were clearly a team on the rise, but no one could have guessed they would win one of […]
In the annals of great teams that never won it all—in any sport—the 1983 Nebraska football team is as renowned—even as revered–as any. They spent a regular season crushing all comers. In the Orange Bowl they played for the win when a tie would have been sufficient. And they missed a national championship by the […]
1982 Pitt football was a team of great expectation. It was the senior year for quarterback Dan Marino. After three straight 11-1 seasons, including a dramatic Sugar Bowl win over Georgia following the 1981 season, this was to be the year that Pitt won it all and Marino won the Heisman Trophy. It didn’t work […]
SMU football was a program on the rise, although they were also running afoul of the NCAA in the process. Ron Meyer coached the Mustangs to a 10-1 record in 1981 and the championship of the old Southwest Conference. But probation denied SMU the Cotton Bowl bid that came with the league title. Meyer departed […]
