1978 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1978 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Big Eight co-champion
Orange Bowl, L 24–31 vs. Oklahoma
Conference	Big Eight Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 8
1978 record	9–3 (6–1 Big 8)
Head coach	Tom Osborne (6th year)
Offensive coordinator	Jerry Moore (1st year)
Offensive scheme	I formation
Defensive coordinator	Lance Van Zandt (2nd year)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

The 1978 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Schedule

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Date	Time	Opponent#	Rank#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2		at No. 1 Alabama*	No. 10	Legion Field • Birmingham, Alabama	ABC	L 3-20	77,023
September 9	1:30 PM	California*	No. 10	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 36-26	75,780
September 16		Hawaii*	No. 12	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 56-10	75,615
September 30		at Indiana*	No. 12	Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, Indiana	ABC	W 69-17	42,738
October 7		at No. 15 Iowa State	No. 10	Cyclone Stadium • Ames, Iowa		W 23-0	51,450
October 14		Kansas State	No. 8	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 48-14	75,818
October 21		Colorado	No. 5	Folsom Field • Boulder, Colorado		W 52-14	53,262
October 28	1:30 PM	Oklahoma State	No. 4	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		W 22-14	75,786
November 4		at Kansas	No. 4	Memorial Stadium • Lawrence, Kansas		W 63-21	50,463
November 11	1:30 pm	No. 1 Oklahoma	No. 4	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	ABC	W 17-14	74,657
November 18	1:30 PM	Missouri	No. 2	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska		L 31-35	75,850
January 1		vs. No. 4 Oklahoma	No. 6	Miami Orange Bowl • Miami (Orange Bowl)		L 24-31	66,365
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. #Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Central Time.

Roster

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Coaching staff

Game notes

Alabama

Tom Osborne brought his Nebraska Cornhuskers into Birmingham to face Bear Bryant's top-ranked Crimson Tide to start the 1978 season, and Nebraska put the first points on the board with a field goal halfway through the 1st quarter. Unfortunately for the Cornhuskers, the game belonged to Alabama for the rest of the day with no further answer from Nebraska. Alabama suffered no fumbles and rolled up twice as many ground yards as Nebraska, showing that their #1 ranking was deserved.

California

The Golden Bears were on the scoreboard first, but the Cornhuskers came back to tie midway through the 2nd quarter with help from a tricky two-handoff pass play to set up a score. The score was still tied at 14 through the 3rd quarter, before a surge of scoring opened up in the 4th as both teams combined for 34 points. Nebraska led on the ground 302-76, while California owned the air 271-190, but it was the Cornhuskers with more points at the final whistle.

Hawaii

Nebraska rolled to a dominating 35-0 1st half lead, and eight Cornhusker players scored during the course of the game as Hawaii allowed 599 yards of offense in their futile attempts to slow the onslaught. Hawaii's only touchdown came on the heels of a Nebraska fumble, and the spread was by then far too great for the Warriors to ever pose a threat to the Cornhuskers.

Indiana

Indiana was outclassed from the kickoff, as Nebraska scored on all of their first four possessions and jumped to a 28-lead in the 1st quarter, scoring more points than Indiana would be able to muster on the entire day. Five Cornhusker runners found the end zone, as well as a Blackshirt who recovered a fumble, as Nebraska rolled up 613 yards of offense for the day.

Iowa State

Nebraska was the first on the board and never allowed Iowa State to join them afterwards, as they led 9-0 at halftime and tacked on 14 more before the final whistle, while capitalizing on two interceptions thrown by the Cyclones and holding Iowa State to just 82 yards of total offense at their own home field.

Kansas State

Kansas State made an effort to be competitive for a bit, but Nebraska kept going after obtaining a 14-7 halftime lead, and the Wildcats were trailing by 28 before they put up their final 4th-quarter touchdown, which the Cornhuskers further marginalized with 13 additional points while posting their second consecutive 600+ yard game.

Colorado

Colorado jumped out to an 11-point lead in the 1st quarter, helped in part by a 100-yard kickoff return, but there would be no further Colorado points allowed as Nebraska tallied 49 straight unanswered points to silence any Colorado hopes for an upset while recording their third consecutive game with over 600 yards of offense.

Oklahoma State

Oklahoma State endeavored to keep this one close, and held Nebraska to around half of the total offensive yards the Cornhuskers had accumulated in each of the last three games. Statistically, in fact, it was very close, as the Cowboys barely led in the air 110-99, while the Cornhuskers barely led on the ground 217-213, and the Cowboys also held the edge in 1st downs 17-15. At the end of the day, however, it was all about who put points on the board, and Nebraska clinched the win on a 42-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to play, going ahead by 8 and holding on for the win.

Kansas

Nebraska started slow, only leading by 7 after the 1st quarter, but then the game blew open when the Cornhuskers put up four unanswered touchdowns in the 2nd and five overall, leading 42-7 at the half. The Jayhawks gamely put up 14 more points before the day was over, but not nearly enough to catch up, let alone overcome the additional 21 posted by the Cornhuskers before the final whistle. Nebraska's 799 total yards of offense set a new Big 8 record.

Oklahoma

It was an epic contest, the biggest since the original Nebraska-Oklahoma Game of the Century in 1971, as the top-ranked and undefeated Oklahoma Sooners arrived in Lincoln to defend their ranking and possibly settle the 1978 Big 8 title with Nebraska. Oklahoma put up the first score, which was matched by Nebraska by halftime, and the game was still tied at 14 at the start of the 4th quarter. Nebraska put up the go-ahead field goal just minutes into the 4th, and the ensuing battle pitted the vaunted Oklahoma offense against the stalwart Blackshirts, who held until the end, finally forcing Oklahoma RB Billy Sims to fumble on the Nebraska 3 with 3:27 remaining to play and sealing the first Cornhusker victory over the Sooners since the famous 1971 contest.

Missouri

With the Cornhuskers riding high from their win over #1 Oklahoma, concerns that Missouri might be overlooked came to pass, as the Tigers downed the Cornhuskers in Lincoln 35-31. Nebraska RB Rick Berns, soon to be drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, started the day by tearing off an 82-yard run to set the tone. Nebraska was able to cling to a slim 3-point halftime lead through the 3rd quarter, but failed to answer Missouri's final touchdown with 3:42 remaining to play, which subsequently and unexpectedly sent both Oklahoma and Nebraska to the Orange Bowl to once again face each other.

Oklahoma

Just six weeks prior, Oklahoma and Nebraska met for the 1978 revisit of the "Game of the Century", and yet circumstances dictated that they would meet again for a rematch, and once again the Cornhuskers were in the role of spoiler, but the Sooners were simply not going to be defeated this time around. Nebraska led the first down battle 27-17 and led Oklahoma in the air 220-47 as well as in total offense, but was hurt by two lost interceptions. Although behind by 7 at the half and falling to 31-10 by the end of the 3rd, the Cornhuskers still rallied back and had a chance until IB Craig Johnson was stopped on a 4th-and-1 for no gain on the Sooners 7 with 8:07 left. Nebraska got the ball back and eventually did put it into the end zone again with :03 left on the clock to come within 7 points for the final score.

Rankings

Awards

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NFL and Pro Players

The following Nebraska players who participated in the 1978 season later moved on to the next level and joined a professional or semi-pro team as draftees or free agents.^[5]

References