Andy & Ari On3 - My Favorite Game: 1993 Sugar Bowl - Alabama vs Miami | 2005 Alamo Bowl - Nebraska vs Michigan

Episode Date: July 5, 2024

Before we head into the holiday weekend, it's only right that we revisit the My Favorite Game series. Last go around, we took a look at Tennessee, Michigan, Ohio State, and Georgia. This time, we visit the 1993 Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Miami and the 2005 Alamo Bowl between Nebraska and Michigan. Tim Watts from BamaOnline joins us while Sean Callahan from HuskerOnline joins as.(0:00-1:52) Intro of My Favorite Games(1:52-39:53) Tim Watts joins to recap the 1993 Sugar Bowl(39:54-40:19) Wrapping up Sugar Bowl, Introducing Alamo Bowl(40:20-1:13:23) Sean Callahan joins to recap the WILD 2005 Alamo Bowl(1:13:24-1:14:53) Conclusion - See you Next week!Visit BamaOnline here: https://www.on3.com/teams/alabama-crimson-tide/Visit HuskerOnline here: https://www.on3.com/teams/nebraska-cornhuskers/Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube and join us LIVE, M-F, at 8 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sportsHost: Andy StaplesGuests: Tim Watts, Sean CallahanProducer: River Bailey

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. Happy Friday. Hope you are enjoying your holiday weekend. We have a very special presentation today. The my favorite game series is back. Remember I said, if we didn't do your team the first time around, don't worry.

We got a few more coming. This is a fun one. This one takes me back. I knew when I asked him Watts from Bama Online for his favorite game, I was going to get one that probably would take me back to my childhood. He did not disappoint. The Miami Alabama Sugar Bowl after the 1992 season. A lot of you probably weren't born yet or you were too young to remember this.

This was a really fun game, crazy circumstances, crazy game, crazy result. If you listen to the narrative going into the game, it was a lot of fun. After that, Sean Callahan of Husker Online joins us to talk about the 2005 Alamo Bowl between Nebraska and Michigan. This was Alamo Bowl between Nebraska and Michigan. This was the first meeting between Nebraska and Michigan since they had split the national title in 1997. It's a Bill Callahan, Nebraska team, Zach Taylor, current head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, starting at quarterback for the Cornhuskers, a really loaded Michigan team, and a play that almost was. And I think that's the theme.

We have in the Alabama-Miami game, the greatest play in college football history that didn't happen. And in the Alabama Bowl, the play that if one more thing had been done on it, we'd have never stopped talking about it. Let's talk first about that sugar bowl between Alabama and Miami after the 1992 season with Tim Watts from Bama Online. All right. We've done these My Favorite Games where I think all of you remember what happened in this game. This time we're doing a game where a lot of you i guarantee were not

born when this game happened but i was a freshman in high school i remember watching this with great interest we won't say what grade tim watts was in but tim watts from bama online your favorite game the sugar bowl after the 1992 season happened in january 1993 between alabama and miami what a game this was because tim i i don't know you were older than me and probably a little more plugged in than i was at the time but i seem to remember the national discourse that season being basically who's gonna be the one that gets to get their butt kicked by Miami in the Sugar Bowl. It wasn't a this is going to be a great game. It was whoever plays Miami is going to lose. Yeah, they had that that are of invincibility.

You know, that was back, you know, Dayton. It was the whole the starter jackets. Everybody had a starter jacket in the matching hat. It looks so cool. Cool. FSU was another one. They look so good together. You had people that were fans of other schools that actually wore those. They look fantastic. They had incredible talent. They had swagger. They had, you know, the first real taste of things are a little

bit different in college football and they beat Alabama the year before and the stories there where they kind of bullied them and I had friends that went to university and people that were there that talked about the Miami players kind of bullying them on you know Bourbon Street you know the whole the whole you know we're undefeated so there's a lot of excitement going in this game but I'm not sure how many people just straight up predicted Alabama to win it well and Alabama was coming off a very interesting game that the first of this crazy experiment called the SEC championship game where they had played Florida in an all-time classic game like I wasn't when when I asked you for your favorite game I had a feeling it it would be one of two games from this season, either the one we're talking about or the SEC championship

game against Florida. Yeah. And you beat Florida on a pick six. You know what I mean? You end the game in that a very good game. I think people thought Alabama was going to, you know, maybe that would be a little bit easier for Alabama at the time. Cause they certainly had a great defense and Florida gave them trouble, but yeah, the first SEC championship game, kind of an experiment, you know, the way it ended, you know, even the Auburn game, you know, that was a 17 to nothing game from Alabama. Wasn't it, wasn't particularly pretty. You kind of knew what Bama was great defense, limited pass and really strong, really strong running game. And of course, David Palmer is that wild card. Well, and that's the thing. So David Palmer is the exciting return man receiver. But if Alabama does what Alabama can do best, you don't even need him. But it's interesting how

that all worked out because Alabama's defense, seven first team, all sec defenders were from Alabama starting defense. Four of those guys were all Americans, including John Curry and Derek and Eric Copeland, the two, I'm sorry, Eric Curry and John Copeland, the two book in defensive ends. They were awesome.

Like that. That's the thing, Tim, this is a team. It's Gene Stallings' coach team. So Gene Stallings played for Bear Bryant, worked for Bear Bryant. This is a team that would have made Bear Bryant proud. Oh, without a doubt.

I mean, that defense was so suffocating. You knew how good they were. But, I mean, again, you're facing a Miami offense that was rocking and rolling. You had Geno Toretta, who was probably not even one of the top five players on that offense. Mario Cristob. You had the receivers, you had all the production they did and everything they had. So you knew the defense was good. Hadn't really seen a team like this. I do think he helped play in Florida, you know, the game before helped him. Cause you kind of saw some of that spread out offense Spurrier was obviously an offensive genius really could dial

up a game as well. So when they walked into walked into that I mean you were counting on the defense you were counting on the running game the one thing I think people forget is what the impact David Palmer had at all times if he went in motion it was a problem there was nobody nobody saying don't worry about this guy if he came you know if he came in motion if he lined up in the backfield anything he did was a distraction for the defense. So he caused a lot of that middle to open up. Well, and that was, they said, you know, Keith Jackson and Bob Greasy during the game talk about talking to Gene Stallings before the game.

And Gene Stallings had noticed that when in the few times Miami had been given problems by anybody, I believe it was Syracuse, gave them some problems with misdirection. And so putting Palmer in motion, and then they added some traps where they had some pulling offensive linemen that Miami hadn't seen on film. And that became a problem for them as the game went on. But let's talk about Gino Toretta had won the Heisman. This was a very high powered offense.

I do, I'm with you. I kind of think having had to play Shane Matthews in Florida the previous game was very helpful for that Alabama defense because it proved to them, hey, we can play with a high-powered passing offense. Also, we can turn that to our advantage. We can bait that QB into throwing balls that we can turn into interceptions that can be huge momentum swing plays.

Yeah, you can tell how well there's coach. I mean, you pick out several plays. I mean, the Teague interception where he read the route, read the short route, which they had had success on earlier in the game a couple of times, taking those quick wide receivers, a short pass, and getting up the middle, finding a lane. But, yeah, Teague read that play. If you watch that, he literally boxes him out.

He knows where that play's coming. He knows that pass rush is getting to Geno Toretto, so he's not going to have, you know, five Mississippi to sit back there and throw the ball. So he's got to get that thing out. George Teague anticipated it. You know, I tell you the one thing people kind of missed that I noticed when I rewatched this was the swagger of the

Bama touchdowns was like Miami. The Haas stepping into the end zone. The Sherman shake. The Lasset quake. They were feeling their self in their game. There was a lot of confidence in that Alabama team that the fans might not have known, but there was a year's worth of pent-up

anxiety they wanted to release on them well the bama defense was every bit as swaggy as miami's whole team and and that's what because i mean they were the best defense in the country it wasn't close like everybody knew this and you know you had the basically won the sec championship game on the Antonio Langham interception. You mentioned George Teague. The play you're talking about is a pick six against Miami in the Sugar Bowl that essentially ends the game. Now, the play, the play hasn't happened yet. Yeah, the best play that never counted.

We're going to get to that in a little bit. But this game includes the greatest play that never counted uh but in on the play you're talking about george teague is is in the slot essentially on the line of scrimmage and it looks like he's about to blitz and i you know we don't know it's sort of lost of time was he did he have the option to blitz was he supposed to blitz and then he noticed that they were about to throw to the guy right over him, and he stopped. Whatever it was, it was either a disguise that fooled Gino Toretta

or it was a decision by George Teague to not blitz and to jump in front of that route. But that was the game right there. He hit him right in the chest. I mean, he was sitting right there waiting on it. He wasn't just defending him. He was looking for that pass because, I mean, that's a short pass and a hard thrown pass. And he picked it and knew exactly where to run, knew exactly which sideline to go to. So I just think, you know, Sam Shade had a great pick on another play where they read the

route. They were baiting Gino Toretto all night. And that's a whole night. So let's go back to the beginning of the game. So one thing I think is really interesting, the first couple of kickoffs that Alabama had, George Teague makes the tackle. Yes, that stood out to you. A little bit of a tone setter there. Yeah. But Miami gets into its first possession.

Eric Curry and John Copeland are just all over Toretta. It was funny because they show the Gino Toretta graphic on screen, how great he's been as a starter. He won the Heisman Trophy. The next thing you see, the next image you see is the huddle, and it's Mario Cristobal standing in the huddle. He's the starting right tackle for Miami in this game. He had been hurt that season.

They'd had to play some freshmen, but he was back, and they had a five-senior offensive line. And you're like, okay, if anybody can handle these two defensive ends, it's these guys. And within three plays, you knew they can't handle them. Yeah, I think it's underappreciated. I mean, you know, they always say a pass rush makes every cornerback, every secondary better.

Alabama had a great – I think most of them played in the NFL, had a great secondary and a front. So you mix that together. Geno's having to make quick decisions where he's not actually seeing them open. I think he's actually hoping they're open. And then again, you know, you also get, which we really don't talk about it much, is that David Palmer punt return, getting them deep right out of the gate, you know, boom, boom, inside the 10 and they missed the touchdown. That was a, uh, I can't remember. Barker had it wide open. He got it.

Hey, that athletic defense, Miami, you know, Miami doesn't get enough credit. Alabama. Didn't he have 300 total yards in that game? They did. They did a good job. People act like the score. It looks like Bama blew them out and they, and they did, but it but a lot of that was defense Miami's defense was nasty they had hit you they were fast on that play alone nine out of ten times that's a touchdown very athletic play jumped up knocked it down held

him to three points right out of the gate so Michael Barrow Kevin Patrick Darren Crine these are guys playing for that Miami defense they They were awesome. There was a backup. Actually, when the game got out of hand, I started looking for number 94 to see if he got in the game. Do you know who number 94 for Miami was? I want to guess it's the Rock. I'm not sure. It was.

It's the Rock. This is like re-watching this game is literally like going back and watching an old classic movie. The cameos were unbelievable. Players you saw, Mario Cristobal, The Rock, those guys, it's amazing to know they were out there on that field. There's a scene when they're showing Sonny Lubick, because he was the defensive coordinator for Miami. He's working in the press box. So they're talking about how Sonny Lubick is about to leave to become the head coach of Colorado state, where by the way, he will help guide the career of a young urban Meyer who will be his receivers coach at Colorado state and on that

staff. But Tommy Tuberville is about to become the defensive coordinator at Miami, which then allows him to become the head coach at Ole miss, the head coach at Auburn, United States Senator. It just goes on and on. But it was crazy. And you've got Keith Jackson making fun of Tommy Tuberville's golf game in the middle of the game. A lot happened, and that first half is terribly boring. I mean, if you're an old school defensive guy,

which a lot of people were back then, especially Alabama fans, you were loving it. But it was a boring get inside the 10, kick a field goal. Pruitt was a hunt. I think he played with Jay Barker at Hewitt Trustville. In fact, he's Miami's kicker. Yeah, there's another degree connecting them together. A couple field goals go back and forth, but going into that halftime towards the end,

it was kind of a boring football game, unless you love defense. But the defenses on both sides were physical, hard-hitting, fast, talented guys that played in the NFL. A lot of those tackles are illegal now. I saw Gino Toretta take off on the scramble in the third, I think, and he slid and he was hit. There would have been 15 penalties on him hitting it when he was slid. Oh, and flags just coming from every direction.

Nobody would have had a flag in their pocket after that. 15 penalties on him when he was. Oh, I mean, you have flags just coming from every direction. Nobody had a flag in their pocket after that. Well, and do you remember at the beginning of the game, Jack Roots doing his first sideline report? And so Rogers Redding, who was a Southwest Conference official, winds up becoming the SEC director of officials years later. But he says he's not going to invoke the noise rule. And I had forgotten there was a rule where you could penalize a crowd for making too much noise.

Yes, totally. It was so different. I mean, it's literally a different world watching everything from the neck rolls, you know, to Houston, Houston running looking like a daggone middle linebacker in the sixties, just the whole Quebec, the way it looked. But I'll tell you one thing that still holds up from that game today was the athletes because they were peppered across the field.

David Palmer and Kevin Williams would fit in so perfectly with any offense today. That Kevin Williams punt return for Miami was incredible. Are you kidding? There's no way he should have scored. There's five reasons he shouldn't have scored. That was a punt return for the ages after the fact. But, I mean, we're skipping ahead to the third quarter. But they had guys out there that could do so many things.

And they could do it today. If they were 18-22 today, they'd still be at Alabama and Miami places. Well, so you're right. The first quarter or first half was a fairly boring half. The most interesting thing I think that you heard in the whole first half is Keith Jackson. They're showing Sebastian the Ibis. He's doing the thing with his beak where he bends it back and forth.

And Keith Jackson just goes, quite a story about that fellow who wears the Ibis suit. And Bob Greasy launches into the story of the guy who plays sebastian the ibis was hanging out on i think on bourbon street somewhere in new orleans that week and someone had fired a gunshot in the air in celebration as one does apparently the bullet had come straight out of the sky and grazed the fellow who plays Sebastian, the Ibis, but because he's a pro, he was in costume during the game.

Yeah. I mean, it was, I mean, it was back and back and forth field goals, that whole game. It was more of the side show that you were watching the fans, the action on the sidelines. I mean, you got, you know, and you had, I think you had a Erickson. Yeah. I was about you got – and you had – I think you had Erickson. Yeah, I was about to say he's wearing a starter jacket and Gene – I mean – Gene Stallings, the last coach to win a national title in a suit, by the way. He's a full suit versus starter jacket.

I mean, they're really – the contrast between the two teams on the surface couldn't have been greater. I think after that, though, I think when you get to the players, you could have stripped them down, put them in other uniforms, and they'd have been the unbelievable teams. You could have seen it. But Bama did have more swagger than I thought. But every yard was earned.

I mean, that touchdown in the first half, Bama got – that didn't come easy. And several times you felt like Bama was knocking on the door and should have scored and ended up with field goals. But I think you almost think, well, you missed your opportunity. You missed your opportunity. It was, you didn't just say it's over, Bama's going to win this thing because Miami's offense was so high powered that they could score quickly. But the thing that kind of gave away what was about to happen early on is Miami starts running these timing routes. They start running these underneath little screens, things to let Toretta complete passes because they just couldn't.

He could not take a snap, drop back, go through his progressions and throw the ball because there was not time. And he was getting confused because the pass rush was so ferocious, and then Bama was doing stuff in the secondary to confuse him. They were out of timeouts in the first half with nine minutes and 20 seconds to go. Out of timeouts. Yeah. If you could have used all six of your timeouts in the first half,

Miami would have had none at halftime. It was that confusing. And, again, I think that made a big difference. I always thought, you know, I think looking back, Geno Tretta and Jay Barker are both what we'd consider system quarterbacks. But I do think when Geno Tretta had time, he could pick you apart. Those guys, you can't guard those wide receivers for five, six seconds. You know, if you're sitting back there counting one Mississippi, you know,

to five, you're going to find a guy that's open. He just didn't have that option. He was literally having to guess, is this guy open? He's been open since the day I met him, and Alabama did a good job of making sure that wasn't the case. Yeah, and Derek Lassick for Alabama and the Alabama offensive line were the ones that kept things going because Jay Barker had a horrendous game. I've got the final stats of this game up it is uh

I Jay Barker was flat out awful in this game yeah there's not another word yeah there's that's a kind word he threw an interception and Keith Jackson rest in peace is the great you know always going to be the voice I hear with that very complimentary found the positive, very subdued, but he said it was an awful pass on the interception. And then he repeated, it's an awful, he like, it wasn't just awful. This is like awful, awful. Like he Jackson never said that on that interception. He's like, this is bad. This is really bad.

So, so Jay, Jay Barker was four of 13 for 18 yards with two interceptions and zero touchdowns on the game he ran for 19 yards yeah he had a couple good scrambles though to keep him alive he's a good athlete yeah but derrick lasik was the guy who was the engine driving alabama's offense with midway through the second quarter he carried 15 times for 105 yards midway through the second quarter. He carried 15 times for 105 yards midway through the second quarter. But you still couldn't. You just couldn't pin it. Like when you got in the red zone, that Miami defense was impossible to penetrate. It felt like.

And so they run Lastic at him a bunch of times down there. Finally, they give it to Sherman Williams on a lead play. Yeah. And he gets into the end zone. And that's where I would imagine if you're a Bama fan, you kind of start to relax like, okay, okay. There's not a force field on the goal line at least. A field goal there.

You go into the half without that touchdown. I mean, you're worried. Again, you keep saying you missed your opportunity. You missed your opportunity. I think for Jay to defend him a little bit, I think he was in that almost A.J. McCarron, Nick Saban mode of don't mess up. Yeah. Don't hurt us.

Don't mess up. I mean, late in the game, he had Palmer wide open on a play and ended up not throwing it because he didn't want to throw it across that middle because you know what happens across that middle with that, you know, that secondary when it's that exciting. We know exactly what happened because it happened to Gino Toretto. So better safe than sorry. He also didn what happened because it happened to Gino Toretto. So better safe than sorry. He also didn't have the wide receivers that Gino had,

but he did have a running game that Gino had. I'll tell you one thing that stood out to me in this game was like, these were brick wall tackles. Like we're used to seeing people grab you and pull you to the ground. These guys would hit each other and the ball stopped. They were hitting you. It was like head-to-head, the Oklahoma drill. It was head-to-head collisions.

You don't see it much anymore. You see guys grab them, wrap them up. Well, you don't tackle that way anymore. So in that era, that's when you were taught to tackle where you put your face mask in the middle of the guy's chest and try to make his heart explode. Yeah, put your helmet in his chest, you know, head down. And they were doing it.

They were stopping. I mean, there were some massive hits, those linebackers on both sides. But I think a big part of this was Alabama was just pissed. They were mad. They were embarrassed. They were shamed. They were motivated. I felt they had been more battle-tested.

Auburn, you know, a lot of those teams they played were good games. They had been tested. But I think that chip on the shoulder, you spend a year preparing to fight somebody. You probably have an advantage because they haven't spent a year thinking about you. You know, they beat you. They haven't spent or Alabama probably spent an entire year. I wonder how many times they had to watch that 92 sugar bowl to get to the 93 sugar bowl. I bet they saw that a few times. Yeah. It just, it's, it's crazy to think about, but, but that was kind of a revenge tour for Alabama because, uh, they, they had lost 35,

nothing to Florida the previous year as well. So they, they were, they were getting their revenge as they went. So that touchdown, I mentioned the first touchdown Alabama had got set up by a Sam shade interception of Gino Toretta. You flash forward to Miami kicks a field goal at the end of the first half. You know, it's 13-6 Bama. So it's still very much a game. The first pass of the third quarter for Gino Toretta intercepted by Tommy Johnson. And again, though, you know, they get into the red zone.

And this is another Keith Jackson. It's like trying to climb a cactus to score against this Miami defense. Yeah. Scores on the next play. And it's like, okay, all right, all right. Alabama's going to be okay here. You know, also, I think one big difference is like Alabama's interceptions turned into instant offense.

They were moving the ball up the field. You know, Miami had the interception on the sideline where they caught it, fell out of bounds. Bama was catching these balls and advancing it up the field, which is what you're trying to do. You're trying to, you know, you're trying to punt further than they are, defend their guy. You're trying to return the punt a little bit further than they are. You're kind of just leaning on each other,

like an old school chess match and hoping it busted open. But that's exactly right. When they picked off passes, Sam's another one. Read the route, ran the route, turned it straight up the field. I mean, that was instant offense right away. Yeah, and all of these interceptions we're talking about, by the way, were right in the defender's chest because Gino Toretta thought he had an open receiver, and those Bama players were

sitting back waiting to jump the route they were running the routes they knew what was coming they that's one thing they did really well Miami actually had more offense than Alabama did now they had the ball more because Alabama kept flipping the field and keeping the offense off the off the uh the field they had more possessions but yeah there, it was a complete... I felt bad for Gino Toretta at one point because he looked lost. At one point in the game, he just knew, like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do here. Yeah, he kept going back to the bench

after each one of these picks and just putting his head down. There's nothing I can do here. And so the next pass he throws. So Elastic scores to make it 20 to six Bama. Bama kicks off. Miami gets the ball. The next pass he throws is the one to George Teague that we talked about.

And this, we're talking about a three yard pass. We're talking about a pass. Well, maybe, maybe three yards total in the air. It's like a yard past the line of scrimmage. And two linebackers should have been it's a it's where they cleared the linebacker but george was standing there grinning you know yeah and again you read that i mean i know the play in that game is the play the play that never was but that play like you said won the game that play said there's literally nothing y'all can do

against us to beat us. That's what it said. You can't throw long. You can't throw wide. You can't throw short. You can't do anything. We're taking it all away from you. So this makes it 27 to six Alabama, but it's again, there's still so much time. This is a good offense. You're not completely convinced it's over. Now we get to the play that never happened. The coolest play that never happened in college football history. So it's the next series. Gino Toretta throws his best pass of the night. This is a beautiful throw to Lamar Thomas down the left sideline. Gorgeous throw. When Lamar Thomas catches the ball,

it looks like it is going to be a walk-in touchdown. But George Teague, who we've mentioned, has been all over the field tonight. George Teague runs him down, doesn't do the chop on the ball, reaches in, grabs the ball, and turns and starts running in the other direction. Yeah, and the thing is crazy. Never seen that before in my life.

Lamar's a strider. We're not talking about some 4'9 guy he's chasing down. I mean, this is a guy hitting stride, striding out. I mean, you go back. I think a lot of people have seen the cheerleader. I think the cheerleader on the sideline, if you ever, you know, I've seen that gift several times. She is celebrating, jumping, jumping, and her face said, oh, Lord,

what is happening? And then she's like just kind of, I mean, she described the play because, like you said, a lot of those guys are doing what? They're grabbing at his legs to bring him down. George T was pissed. You had his ball, and he went and got it back. So now if you've been listening carefully, Keith Jackson says flag down right after the snap of that play before Gino throws the ball. So, you know, there's something that's coming. There's

an announcement. And so it's Rogers Redding. We have offsides on the defense, five yard penalty, replay second down. And the air comes out of the same. But here's the thing, though, that play does not officially count. What happened on that play told Miami, you're done here. You have no chance. You will never come back in this game. This is Alabama's game it's over and the next play Toretta is getting buried as he throws a duck like a wobbly duck that falls

incomplete and it's like okay it's done now Lamar's reaction told you because he was laying on the on the on the field that's never happened to him right that never happened to him at any level of football um couldn't believe it happened then um total disbelief and like you said they got the ball back but it was like do we even want the ball back you know what i'm saying like what what what is going to happen what can we do from here to take yeah do anything like kevin williams scored on that that great punt return we talked about but then alabama gets the ball converts a fourth down at midfield and just just drives forever to score a touchdown and when they basically win the game the next thing you do

is you're just looking at what's happening like rohan marley comes in the game for miami bob marley's son marley's son again cameo yeah and and Dwayne Johnson got in he got in in garbage time and speaking garbage time before we we get finished talking about this game one of the things I thought was the most telling thing about this Alabama defense in this game like Antonio Langham comes back into the game on Miami's final drive they will not let them score a garbage touchdown. They won't do it. Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, even when Kevin scored, there's still 12 minutes left. I mean, that's not, I mean, that was a time where you thought maybe get some momentum. You get one turnover, you flip that field 14 to nothing, you think you're in it, but no. Like I said,

Bama was mad about the 13, I think, at the end of the game. But they certainly, at the very end, they didn't want to give up a point. George Teague, again, that was anger that chased down Lamar Thomas. Like, no, not in my house. Just a lot of built-up, you know, built-up emotions from the year before. And also, this is why it's hard to repeat, right? One has a chip on their shoulder, and one really doesn't have a chip on their shoulder at the same time.

That's why it makes it so hard to repeat in sports. But, again, what was that point spread? I don't even remember. It was a big enough one that there was a lot of people. Yeah, it was a situation where nobody thought Alabama had a chance, probably except the Alabama folks. Very similar. So it felt similar to 2001 Miami where we just assumed they were,

they were headed toward a coronation and nobody could beat. Now I don't, I don't think there was anybody who could beat them. I covered the Tennessee team that would have played them in the Rose bowl. Had they not lost LSU in the sec championship game, that team probably had the personnel best suited to compete with that Miami team. It would have lost.

Miami would have won. The only other time when I remember it being like that was 06, when everybody assumed that the winner of the Michigan-Ohio State game was going to clobber anybody they played. And Ohio State wins that game, goes to the national title game, and gets crushed by Florida.

But that's the only other time I remember it being like that. The 06 national championship game with Florida and Ohio State and this one with Alabama and Miami. I mean, Geno threw almost 60 times. He closed in on 60 passes in that game. I mean, it wasn't that Miami didn't want to run the ball. They absolutely wouldn't want to run the ball and establish that to feed your offense off of it, your passing game off of it. But man, let me tell you that

there was nothing happening on the ground. So they went straight pass. And to be honest with them, they did have some big hits. They had one to Kevin Williams, I believe, in the first half. The Lamar Thomas would have been some big hits. At that point, you're just playing roulette, betting on black. Just throw it, throw it, throw it, throw it. Try to find a guy. Try to find a guy. And that secondary, first of all, was extremely talented. We're barely talking about Sam Shea.

That's how good it was. That was a good football player. Antonio Langham! Antonio Langham. George Teague's a first-round pick. We all remember him with the Cowboys. George was that guy, right? Remember with the Cowboys, Teague was celebrated on the the star and George just went out and clobbered it

you know he was always that guy chip on his shoulder so secondary was incredible I don't even remember the linebackers hardly making plays I know they did but between the front the defensive line and the back end it just there was not a lot of action for him yeah and the difference really was a very good miami defensive front got pushed around by alabama's offensive line like alabama's offensive line was resetting the line of scrimmage especially early on a lot of those derrick lasik runs and miami could never do that and and basically stopped trying after a while and a lot of it was the the circumstance of the game the score got away from them. They had to throw,

but they could not reset Alabama's the line of scrimmage against Alabama's front. Couldn't do it. So there was a good bit of them stunned that Alabama was staying. I mean, this wasn't a rock fight. They were standing in the pocket throwing fists, you know, just two guys throwing fists. I don't think Miami was expecting that. And again, the year before all the talk we heard was Alabama kind of got bullied. Bourbon Street kind of had some things happen. And, I mean, you get out there, you don't really expect that.

But, I mean, there were some nasty guys on that Alabama team, that defense. And, again, you know, the offensive line deserves a lot of credit. Lassick ran so hard. Sherman was against the odds with his size. Everything was hard for him to earn. But Lassick – and, you know, a lot of that came putting Palmer in motion and making a linebacker chase him to some degree. Reset that defense, because if he could get by that first wave, he was a trouble in that. I could play some football. Well, so that that previous Sugar Bowl between Miami and Alabama was was actually after the 89 season. And so, like, Alabama's best players had been young watching that happen.

Oh, that's even a better point. Yeah. And so they made sure that it didn't happen again. There was a lot. Yeah, there was a lot of talk. You know, there was a lot of talk about that for years going Going into that game, that was all the talk. And, I mean, you're right, the younger guys being older, a lot of these guys were seniors.

You know, a lot of times in football, back then especially, you were kind of dependent on the age of your team, right? You had those teams that won a lot of games with juniors and seniors. It's changed now. Freshmen impact the game so much more. But, yeah, a lot of those guys, Jay Barker, a lot of those guys jay barker a lot of those guys were had been there and had to watch that on the sideline i mean there was just a and also again the miami mystique um and it's hard even now knowing it's there's not a miami

mystique to be honest with you because it was so deep when you and i were growing up but that miami mystique no matter what their record was you wanted to fight them i mean because you've grown up your whole life they're fighting in the cotton bowl they're fighting here they had oh they felt unbeatable or like score in the cotton bowl and run through the tunnel out of the stadium like they they just now i think they would be there would be a little different feel like they wouldn't be cast as villains completely now like now now there would be, it would be 50, 50, like people, people love their antiheroes now.

Like they would have been beloved by 50% of the, of the fans nationally and hated by 50% of the fans. But back then it was much more of a, you know, white hat, black hat kind of thing. And Miami was always cast as the villain. And in this case,

they had been so good. It was hard to imagine anybody challenging them, much less doing what Alabama did, which is kick their ass. I didn't think Miami, like overall, where players were like bad. I just thought they were extremely cocky and they had a right to be. I mean, you know, everything they did, the dancing and stuff, they were different. But that was a different era. I mean, you know, going back to data, I mean, you know, everything they did, the dancing and stuff, they were different. Um, I mean, that was a different era. I mean, you know, going back to date us, I mean,

music had changed and the way we were dressing had changed and pop culture had changed and they kind of led the way you had, you know, you had the two live crew, there was a lot going on for us between, you know, you're between 15 and 25 and that age, you had a lot going on in Miami corner kind of personified that a lot of those guys, they set every trend in the sport for a long time. And at the time you hated them because they scored and told, they said, I'm better than you.

And then they were better than you. And, you know, you went through this different subject, but the fab five at Michigan did it. Remember the lot, black socks, long,. This is the same set of years here. Yeah. So they did it and you kind of thought they're the bad boys, but I mean, we see them now. How many of those guys were bad boys? Jay LaRose, he's at the top of his business. You know, Chris Weber, all those guys, Jawan Howard's been a coach,

but at the time it was so different. I think that was the whole, that was still the time where if you hit a home run, they hit you in the face with a baseball. You know what I mean? Not if you flip the bat just because you hit the home run. There was no, you had the nerve to hit it. There was no back flip. He was just running the first as fast as he could next time you're drilling him. So everything was then was be humble. And, um, they didn't, they didn't really feel like being, I mean, Greg, you know,

he's a guy that's about as pure as you can find. He's in one of, he's in a, you got to look it up, but he's in quite the rap song back in the day. Oh yeah. The seven floor crew, baby. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Seven floor crew. You got Greg in that. You watch that documentary and you're like, what's going on right now? You know, you're like shocked. Well, it was, it was, it was a cathartic moment for, for the people who didn't like Miami had been beaten by Penn State a few years earlier in the Fiesta Bowl in a similar fashion. But this was an absolute ass-kicking.

And so this was also a big one for Alabama because this was the first national title without Bear Bryant. One in a while, yeah. Yeah, it was such a big moment for them. And it told them, okay, it doesn't have to be with Bear Bryant. It could happen without him. And I think. The thought was this will this will keep going. It didn't. It didn't happen again until Nick Saban did it in 2009. But it was it was quite a moment for the Crimson Tide.

Yeah. And also, I mean, you had also that's an old school, and everything, again, has changed. That's an old school fan's dream because you want to win just like they won. You want to play great defense. You want to bring the helmet, get behind your pads, all the old school game things. You want to run the ball. You don't want to score 45 points.

You don't want to pass 50 times in a game if you're an Alabama fan because you grew up completely different to that. I mean, think when Saban finally did it, when you had the ride outs, when you had all those guys, Judy, Amari, all those guys, and you had, you know, Blake dropping back and just dropping dime after dime to, you know, Amari Cooper, you had all that going on. There was a big change of like, want the defense back.

And I think that's always been that way for Bama fans because of the tradition of defense you know I mean the you know the Penn State goal line stand you look at the history of a lot of those plays a lot of the plays have always been for Alabama have been long field goals or great defensive plays I mean even this game George Teague's the play that wasn't I mean all those things stand out to Alabama fan and endears the East team to them. Here's the thing, though, Tim. The world always changes. There's a 30-year-old Alabama fan right now

who in 10, 15 years is going to be over the moon if Alabama wins a national title by scoring 50 points. If I showed my children. That's what I remember. That's what Devontae did. Yeah, if I showed my children that 92 game, they would be bored. I would literally have to make them watch that game. They would not because they are just from Tua, Pat Mahomes.

Everything that's happening now is just so different. For Alabama, the SEC, everything. They would be hard to watch. But re-watching it was great memories for me. I know you obviously felt the same. Just the buildup into it brought back a lot of memories. And again, a blasted moment for Alabama because you thought, hey, we're back. And then it did take a while. And the other game I was looking at, Florida was one, but also the Texas game.

Would have been a game I thought about discussing. I probably would have discussed that if Colt had played, that probably would have won it and Alabama won. But this one, if you said pick one game that stands out, this is the first one that jumped to my mind. Well, I appreciate it, Tim. It certainly didn't feel like doing homework for me because I remember that game vividly, vividly watching that game going when George T took that ball. Thank you,

Tim. Appreciate it. You got it, man. Anytime. Thanks, Andy. Thank you,

Tim Watts for taking us down memory lane. Now we go slightly less far back, but I imagine there's a lot of you that are probably still too young to remember this one. 2005 Nebraska, Michigan, Alamo Bowl, Bill Callahan era Nebraska. It was a short time, but a lot was going on. Let's talk about that with Sean Callahan of Husker Online. We go to a my favorite game that this is this is kind of what this series was made for. We have the huge games, the ones that that everybody remembers watching. But there's also these little quirky ones that it's somebody's favorite. And it's a

lot of like a lot of fans of the team we're talking about. It's their favorite game. But maybe you didn't watch it. Or maybe you don't even remember watching this one. But I guarantee you, you saw the ending to this one. And if it had gone a little bit differently, it's one of those endings that would be replayed every single year. It would be a world-famous, all-time college football play. But if it had worked, we wouldn't be having Sean Callahan on to talk about it. Sean Callahan from Husker Online. We're talking, of course, of the 2005 Michigan-Nebraska Alamo Bowl. And before we get

started, Sean, I want to explain. We'll take the folks behind the curtain because I gave you the option of picking your game. And you said it was either going to be this one or it's going to be the 2009 big 12 championship game. And my thing was, I don't know if we can do a game Nebraska lost, but I was thinking about it at the 2009 big 12 championship. Everybody's seen Dominic and Sue against Texas crazy game. I didn't want a bunch of Nebraska fans mad at me afterward, but I see where you're going with that. In the context, that one extra second that was put on the clock

that allowed Texas to win the game, that was kind of the domino that began conference realignment. Nebraska felt like the Big 12 was against them, and everything was kind of going against them at that point, and their star had really risen to its highest point with Indomitian Sioux, The Big 12 was against them, and everything was kind of going against them at that point. And their star had really risen to its highest point with Indomitian Sioux, and they became very attractive. And the Big 10, once they showed interest, was interested in them. And that was really – I mean, you can argue Colorado

and some other teams also left that point. But Nebraska losing to Texas that night, what I felt like was an ultimate domino that began this conference realignment world that we live today still. Yeah. And, and the big 10 shortly after that puts out a release basically saying, Hey, we're in the market for more schools. Nebraska was the school they wound up taking at that time. But yeah, I, I just, I had a hard time doing one that they lost. I wanted to do one that they won. And I want to talk to you about this, Sean, because, you know, we've done a few of these and, and, you know, you've been covering the Huskers for a long time, but I think,

you know, a lot of people would say, well, how come, how come not the 95, you know, the national title game after the 94, the 95 season, how come not one of those orange bowls um how many Nebraska fans really remember that like if we're talking about the age range of the people who might watch this show right I mean you're right I mean you're talking several years ago and I was in eighth grade when they won the 95 national championship and sophomore year in high school when they won the 97. I'm 40. I'm going to turn 44 this year. So, yeah, you're dating yourself a little bit. You know, and those were special wins. There's no doubt about it. I mean, seeing Nebraska go into Miami in the Orange Bowl and beat Warren Sapp and Ray Lewis and the manner they did with essentially fullback trap plays to Corey Schlesinger. Corey Schlesinger, I love that game.

Warren Sapp running out of gas late in that game. I mean, that was a legendary scene on the sideline of Warren Sapp having to take oxygen because he was so exhausted by the end of that game. And the Peyton Manning win in 97, you're right. I mean, those are legendary wins in this program that that that's why there still is great hope and optimism for this team to this day because so many people live that era and and they know how special this place can be if nebraska got back competing at that level again well let's set up the game we're going to talk about this is 2005 Alamo bowl, Nebraska, Michigan, both teams are seven and four. Michigan has not had a great year. They're about to be really good.

The following year, 2006, it's basically a collision course between Michigan and Ohio state to see who's going to play for the national, like whoever wins the big 10 is playing for the national title. And this is that the guts of that team chad henney mike hart jake long mario manningham steve i think steve breslin was a senior uh but but like alan branch lamar woodley this this is a good michigan team and then nebraska is in year two of bill callahan so like i imagine it's still really weird at this point for nebraska fans to watch this style of football after seeing Osborne and Frank Solich and the option for so long yeah this was year two of Bill Callahan and year one was really tough because they didn't have a quarterback um they they tried to bring

in a junior quarterback at that time named Jordan Adams and um he got mono and and had to have I believe his spleen removed. Oh, God. And so like that, he never competed for the job. So they had to go with Joe Daly as their quarterback, and he was not a West Coast offense quarterback. And Bill Callahan really, really tried to make that work. It didn't work in 04. They added a Harrison Beck as their prize recruit for 05, but then out of nowhere late, they take this guy by the name of Zach Taylor

you know he grew up next door neighbors to Gary Gibbs in Norman Oklahoma his dad was a captain for Barry Switzer in the 70s so he was a true and true Oklahoma Sooner fan in fact in 2004 he watched the Nebraska Oklahoma game in the stands in Norman as an OU fan on a break from Butler Community College. Then by 5, he was the starting quarterback against Nebraska, against Oklahoma. It's crazy. So Zach Taylor went to Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma,

goes to Wake Forest out of high school, leaves Wake Forest, goes to Juco, winds up going to Nebraska because Bill Callahan feels like he's a better trigger man for the offense. Now, if you're going, Zach Taylor, that name's familiar. Yes, we are talking about the Cincinnati Bengals head coach. Yeah, Zach Taylor, they wanted a mature quarterback, kind of a guy that knew how to run a complicated offense. Well, he's obviously that to this day. He's a very good offensive coordinator in the NFL. So Zach Taylor comes in, you know, wins the job, gets off to somewhat of a slow start,

just learning this offense that Bill Callahan was literally running with the Raiders two years before that in the Super Bowl. It took somebody like Zach Taylor, and as that year moved on, you started to see Zach Taylor get better and better and better to the point where it really peaked at Colorado. Nebraska was a two-touchdown underdog in Boulder against a Colorado team that had already clinched the Big 12 North that time, and they went in there and won by like 30 points. Yeah.

They called it the restore the order game at that time, and they had T-shirts, but Zach Taylor was unbelievable, and then that kind of carried over to the bowl game where they get this opportunity to play Michigan, who really didn't want to be in the Alamo Bowl or Nebraska. They were excited to get back to a bowl game because they didn't want to be in the Alamo bowl or Nebraska. Um, you know, they were excited to get back to a bowl game because they didn't make a bowl game in 2004. Yeah. And Michigan had a disappointing season. Like Jake long, for example, was the right tackle that year. He moved, he becomes the left tackle after this goes on to be the number one pick in

the NFL draft. Uh, but he was out a lot of that season, which they felt hamstrung their offense. One thing I noticed watching this game, Sean, though, very aesthetically pleasing football. Like, for some reason, I was remembering Lloyd Carrier at Michigan as a kind of boring, but, like, their offense was fun to watch. The way he used the tight ends in that game, too. I mean, a lot of great concepts, and, I mean, the speed that Michigan had at skill.

Nebraska didn't have near the talent of Michigan in that game. Bill Callahan schematically figured out a way to put them in place. They felt like the Michigan defense was talented, but they couldn't run very well. Their whole plan was Corey Ross was finally healthy and running really well at that point. And they're like, we're going to really make them chase Corey Ross, who was, I mean, he was like a five foot four running back, almost like a heavier. I love Corey Ross. I had forgotten till I rewatched this game how much I loved watching Corey Ross run.

He was like Deuce Vaughn, a little heavier. I mean, yeah, his nickname was Porkchop. And Porkchop just ran all over Michigan in that game. And they tired out. And then Zach Taylor got hot. And Bill Callahan knew how to draw. I mean, Bill Callahan could draw plays as well as anybody. Still can.

And he knew exactly how to go at Michigan and attack what they were doing because of that nfl kind of preparation mentality he had and there was never a better coach at a 15 play play script than bill callahan his out of the gate scripts were some of the best you'll ever see and he came in with a plan on how to go out michigan this is a michigan team that probably had 20 or 30 nfl draft picks on its roster yeah yeah it's and it's interesting so it again like i said they were a very good team in 20 2006 this michigan team and a lot of these guys were on the 2007 team that lost to appalachia state and they got crushed by you know oregon which had just gotten chip

kelly as the oc but then went on to have an incredible year in 2007 after the horrific start. So these were really good players. You're not kidding. You're talking about big-time NFL players here. And Nebraska had some NFL talent. Like, Indomitian Sioux was a true freshman, I believe, on this Nebraska 05 team. And they had this 05 recruiting class.

It's still the gold standard of recruiting classes. It produced two Big 12 players of the year in Dominick and Sue and Zach Taylor. Zach Taylor is still the last Nebraska player to win a conference player of the year on offense. So that's 06 when he won that award. But that team had – Bill Callahan built a really good team, and that was like the beginning of it. It just – the 07 season, obviously, they never could overcome that

because in 06 they played with anybody on their schedule, and they easily could have been a 12-win team in 06, and they blew a couple of games late. That kind of changed the course of that year. But that 05 team, I think, really showed you what they could be. They matched up really well defensively against Michigan, even though Michigan had significant advantages in some of the skill position players and their offensive line play.

But Nebraska still got lots of pressure on Chad Henney. Oh, yeah. And that's very important. As we talk about the game, there's one play in particular late in the game. Like, Nebraska does not win this game without the pressure it's getting. But you mentioned that Bill Callahan was a great, you know, opening script guy. And Nebraska struck first in this game, busted coverage right over the middle. It was like, okay okay this might look easy yeah i mean he came out and

and just knew how to go at their coverages and you know keep in mind kevin cosgrove the defensive coordinator was at wisconsin for many years so and bill callahan had a big 10 background so they had a lot of familiarity with michigan on that staff at nebr Phil Elmachian was at Purdue. You go down the line, they had a number of guys on that Nebraska 05 staff that were very aware of Michigan and kind of how they operated because they didn't really change a lot at Michigan over that time. They were very traditional, very buttoned up. Nebraska had never been that style. Nebraska has never been a pro-style program until Bill Callahan gets there. He buttoned up. And Nebraska had never been that style. And Nebraska has never been a pro style

program until Bill Callahan gets there. So, you know, he takes out like what Frank Solage and Osborne had done for years and, you know, puts them in this pro style system. And it was a massive adjustment. But eventually it started to take hold and it started with the quarterback. I mean, Zach Taylor could at least get the ball out and operate. He didn't have a pro arm, but he had an elite mind, and he could get the ball out. Yeah, because you could see that. You can see that watching this game because, like you said, the Michigan defensive players are more talented

than their Nebraska counterparts on offense. But Zach Taylor is so good at knowing where to go with the ball and when to do it that it sort of negates that physical advantage that Michigan had now not always because like so Nebraska scores and then it becomes Zach Taylor throwing to Leon Hall like he throws to Leon Hall gets picked Michigan misses a chip shot field goal which becomes very important later then he throws another pick to Leon Hall, and this time Michigan scores, and then you've got a tie game.

Yeah, Nebraska overcame a lot. I remember thinking to myself, there was a point in that game like, it's over. Nebraska's not going to win this game. I mean, you could just sense it tilting to Michigan at points. Even late in the fourth quarter, it felt like Michigan had the game won or in in parts of the fourth quarter so yeah for it all to really come together in the way it did and I mean every time they kicked off to the kick returners I mean you could just see the the level of skill I mean Nebraska's special teams unit were a lot of just in-state walk-on, you know, guys that were not high-level pro-pedigree bodies that, you know,

were making plays trying to tackle guys that ran 4-3-40s. I mean, who was it? Was it Breston? Was that their kick returner? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, he was ridiculous. Yes.

Yeah, and because, like, Breston's the old guy receiver and manningham's the young guy and they were like very difficult to deal with and you could tell what where the where the the speed gap was but nebraska just kept coming uh yeah you had like at this point michigan takes a lead on a manningham touchdown in the back of the end zone. That is just an incredible catch. It's one of those give me that ball Moss situations. And now a couple plays in the back of the end zone. Very important because you had the Manningham touchdown.

But then Nebraska has an interception that if not for replay isn't an interception. Yeah, and that replay was very new at that point yeah i mean it wasn't i mean it might have been in its first year if i'm not mistaken well it also negated a michigan pick six because there was a they entered i think it was the leon the second leon hall interception where he he gets it and knee's on the ground when he catches it. And so they bring it back. Because ESPN aired that game, they had more cameras and more angles. If that was your standard Fox Sports package game back then, they may not have had all the angles,

but that game had Mike Tirico, Kirk Herbstreit. Erin Andrews. Was Erin Andrews on the sidelines? Yeah, she was. It was an all-star team. At the time when that game was over, it was ESPN's highest-rated bowl game in history. Oh, yeah.

This is pre-BCS bowl game era when ESPN didn't get those. I mean, yeah, the stage it was on, I mean, it was an elite stage. The Alamo Bowl was full, too. I mean, I'll never forget. Oh, it was loud. How many Nebraska fans went down there because they had just beaten Colorado elite stage the alamo bowl was full too i mean that i'll never know it was loud how many nebraska fans went down there because they had just beaten colorado and just the excitement nebraska fans had um they they loved that bowl i i i wish the big 10 or hope the big 10 can get the alamo bowl back

because that was always a great bowl game for nebraska well it's it's kind of the perfect set because it's a it's a great walkable downtown there's plenty of hotels there's room and it's kind of the perfect set because it's a great walkable downtown. There's plenty of hotels. There's room. And it's actually, I believe, kind of a slow time of the year there. So you can get a decently priced hotel room. So you can walk around the Riverwalk. There's tons of restaurants, fun things to do.

You can walk to the stadium. And the stadium's not huge, but it's big enough. And it gets really loud if there's most of the seats full and so it's perfect if you've got a decent sized fan base or if you've got let's say a nebraska coming to play a team in in this case michigan but but let's say a nebraska playing a a more local team like if if texas a and m were in it or something like that if if that's who they wind up going with it's it's crazy we talk we don't even know what the bowl alignments are going to be down the road. But it can be super fun. Like, remember the RG3 Alamo Bowl?

Like, that one was wild. And the fans are going nuts in that one, too. Yeah, and the old Big 12, it was just such a natural bowl game for that league. Yeah. They would play a Big 10. Nebraska played in that game three times. And all three times and all three times they won they beat michigan state with pelini and then they beat northwestern when

northwestern shared the big 10 championship in 2000 dominic raiola was on that team for nebraska so they were three you know in that game and all three of those times there easily had to be 30 to 40 000 nebraska fans that made made the trip to watch those games in the Alamo Bowl and this one was no different because of the momentum Nebraska had just winning at Colorado to end the year you kind of felt like things were turning a corner under Bill Callahan at that point and this was rare Nebraska and Michigan they had the history going back to 97 and these two teams split the national championship Nebraska won the coaches poll Michigan State uh I'm sorry Michigan won the AP poll so they were split national champions in

97 and this would have been their first time ever playing since then and we did a story back then on Husker Online where we did a round table with three or four Michigan players and three or four Nebraska players just like who would win that game and it was back and forth and we actually online where we did a round table with three or four Michigan players and three or four Nebraska players just like who would win that game and it was back and forth and we actually interviewed Scott Frost on the round table back then about about Michigan Nebraska that would have been a really fun game like that would have been a fun game to put in the Alamo to be perfectly honest you put it in that stadium but you would have been a fun game to put in the Alamo to be perfectly honest, you put it in that stadium, but you would have filled the Rose bowl if you could have gotten those two

together. And man, that would have been unbelievable. But what you got instead is years later, you have this crazy, crazy game. So I mentioned that Mario Manningham catch. So that, that Mario Manningham catch in the back of the end zone happens with 631 to go into the third quarter. It makes it after the extra point is 21, 17 Michigan. And then Michigan scores again to make it 28, 17. And you mentioned feeling at times like in the fourth quarter, this game was over. So when that score happens, there's 1140 to go in the fourth quarter so much happens in that last 11 40 yeah at 28 17 though the way Michigan played and how disciplined they usually were it should have been over and that that's why I always will remember this game I'm like thinking to myself there's no way Nebraska can have a chance to come back and win this game and then you know Corey

Ross obviously breaks off a big touchdown run and Michigan's defense started to get back and win this game. And then, you know, Corey Ross obviously breaks off a big touchdown run, and Michigan's defense started to get tired, and they started to have some breaks. And Nebraska obviously got the ball back again one more time to put the game away. And then their defense came up with stops. And, I mean, it just was one of the more memorable fourth quarters of a game, and a game that really didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things

but it was very entertaining and it was two of the winningest programs in college football yeah that time rarely played against each other so like you said cory ross has the nice touchdown run where he kind of breaks loose down the left side michigan gives it back a couple times the second time though is the one another another replay one, by the way. Another replay. Now, I think they initially called this a fumble on the field, but replay confirms it because Tirico and Herbstreet were like, this isn't a fumble.

This is an incomplete pass because it was Henney was going back to throw, and the Nebraska defender gets him. He gets his hand on the ball before hinny can get the ball up above his shoulder and it's a great shot and you mentioned earlier and let's explain this sean as you and i are old guys in our 40s let's explain to the young folks what what it used to look like watching a game like there used to be like three cameras at a football game and and they were very low quality i mean you think about nebraska pretty much would have won another national championship in 1982 if there was replay um they you know penn state was out of balance on any angle you ever watch in the

82 nebraska penn state game and they counted it and penn state won the game on that play and if there was replay the play doesn't happen and that 82 team is one of the more talented Nebraska teams in history with Mike Rozier, Irving Fryer, you know Gail you go down the line Dave Remington, Baker Stein or Dean Stein cooler, Roger Craig and they lost on a phantom call at State College that if there was replay in that era, it doesn't happen. And Tom Osborne may have won his first national championship in 1982. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that just wasn't the capability wasn't there. You couldn't have gotten as crisp, a crisp enough shot on a lot of these things.

And that's what, like you mentioned, replay is a relatively new thing. HD technology is relatively new like i remember covering the the 2009 alabama lsu game and and we were shocked to find out that at that point the sec still hadn't switched to hd hd technology in the replay booth because there was an interception or not in that game that was very controversial and they're like we don't have an hd shot this but the tv did would have been hd i would i mean this would have been one of the early hd games one of the first ones because you had espn's prime setup there i mean it's like their sunday night football level setup at the alamo bowl and and the replay on this fumble because this was

probably the most important play of the game because at this point Michigan's still winning they can put this away probably because of the way they play because of you know the running game they have the offense blind they have but if this is a fumble Nebraska gets it and they still have a chance and it was a perfect shot where you could see the ball perfectly it is not it has not gone above Chad Henney's shoulders yet he's not throw he's not you know moving forward with his arm it's a fumble and Nebraska gets the ball back and Zach Taylor takes him down the field and it was Blake Tiki on the hit right if I remember right I believe so yeah a walk on safety just just like a no name guy making a play on an NFL high level. But I mean, just you had a lot of guys like that stepping up in that game.

But yeah, that final drive, just the way Zach Taylor, you know, found Terrence Nunn for that final touchdown. I mean, it just was such a great moment at that time to see Nebraska drive down there and execute in that moment and put the game away at least he felt like it was put away at that point um when he found Terrence Dunn uh just with that strike right over the middle all right let's let's get to the final play because that's that's really like that's where this game goes completely off the rails. It's what Scott Van Pelt calls pitchy woo-woo. It is, had this worked, it would have been up there with Cal Stanford and the Bandas on the field. It would be one of those that is replayed

in any highlight package involving college football ever. So Michigan runs a fairly conventional for a hook and lateral play but you know Haney throws over the middle pit I believe the pit it was breast and catching pitching to Manningham and then all hell breaks loose yeah just just a ultimate rugby play and there were about two or three moments where like okay it's over and the fact that Michigan just kept it alive you know I think everybody was in disbelief I mean the Nebraska players were in disbelief you saw um I mean Nebraska should have been penalized I mean they were on like Nebraska sideline like all the players had come onto the field so what what happened toward the end of the play like so they start I don't even remember where the I have to look up where the play started I'll I'll tell you I'll tell you in a second the end of the play? So I don't even remember where the – I have to look up where the play started.

I'll tell you in a second. Okay, the play started on Michigan's 37-yard line. They actually get it across midfield. I want to say they get it into the 40s, maybe even the 30s, into Nebraska territory, and then they start going backward. And they're back behind the original line of scrimmage they're probably in like the like the 25 yard line the michigan 25 and there's a there's a player over on the far sideline which is nebraska's sideline who throws it backward it's it's still

legal like they haven't made an illegal forward pass yet and it falls incomplete but it's not incomplete because it's a fumble because it's backward and so like a lot of the Nebraska players and I think some of the officials and definitely at least one Michigan offensive line which I think was Jake Long because you see him just sort of standing with his hands on his hips like ah yes, yes, this is done. And Tyler Ecker is the player who picks it up for Michigan and just takes off like a bat out of hell toward the left sideline. And he's going and he's like weaving through Nebraska players who aren't even in the play. They're just wandering around because they came off the sideline.

Yeah, it was just the fact that they – and then all he had to do was make one more pitch back and they win the game. Yeah, yeah. Zachary Bowman is the Nebraska player who knocked him out. I don't think Eckers saw Bowman. Bowman had like the perfect, and Bowman, like if you ever saw the Terry Tate office linebacker series,

it is one of those hits to knock him over the sideline and Bowman was a dude I mean he was a five-star junior college corner played in the NFL um so like I mean he was he was not going to be easy to get by at that moment I believe Titus Brothers was in the area too I mean he was a San Antonio kid that played for Nebraska um but you know just to see that all play out, because literally, you're right. I mean, we'd be talking about this play for 100 years if Michigan just makes one more pitch.

It's insane. Now, I got to ask you, what is it like watching that? Because the thing is... You know how it is. You're down on the sideline at that point. So, like like you're almost kind of like wait a minute wait a minute like it was just just the way i don't it was almost disbelief like you're like wait they're they're almost gonna do that like you almost then when

they nebraska gets out of the situation there you're like wow like that almost just happened i mean probably like what auburn andurn and Alabama fans felt like on the kick six or when they ran that. I mean, it's a disbelief moment where you're like, there's no way. Or even this past year when Alabama was at fourth. Oh, fourth and 31. Yeah, fourth and goal from 31. Yeah.

You know, it just should never. I mean, one in a thousand this thing happens, and it almost happened in that situation. Yeah, it's just wild. Now, coming off that win, where's Nebraska at? Because that's the kind of bull win, and I don't know if we're going to do this anymore. I don't know how this is going to work in the 12-team playoff era,

but back in the day, that was the kind of bull win where you go, that's the one you can build on. That's how you build your – Bill Callahan's going places with Nebraska. Like, that's how you build your – like, Bill Callahan's going places with Nebraska. Yeah, that win at that moment. So, going into 06, they had a really, really good team. I mean, lots of NFL talent.

I mean, their defensive front returned Adam Carriker and Jay Moore and Stuart Bradley. All three of those guys played in the senior bowl that year. So, like, high-level NFL draft picks. They returned Zach Bowman at corner and they had a number of really good linebackers coming back. Corey McEwen was all big 12 at that time. Bo Rude, you know, they were they were loaded across the board on that defense.

Zach Taylor comes back. They they add Maurice Purify, the best junior college receiver. That was a team that went, I believe, 10-4 the next year in 06, but they blew a huge lead at Oklahoma State. They blew the Texas game. Terrence Nunn gets a first down to ice the game, and he fumbles the ball, and Texas gets the ball back to win the game in Lincoln. The only team that really handily beat that Nebraska team that year was USC. They went out to the Coliseum and they played a peak Pete Carroll level team. And that's when they were at a whole other level. But that was a Nebraska team the next year that easily could have

and should have won the Big 12. They went to the championship game. They played the Oklahoma team that rep Bomar was suspended on for the car thing. And, and I believe Paul Thompson was a quarterback that year. Right. Yeah. So they had a converted wide. That's the Oklahoma team that wound up playing Boise state. You correct. And you could argue that that Oklahoma team in terms of big 12 champions of

that era was probably one of the weaker big 12 champions right adrian peterson was on the team but was out for a lot of that season now he i he was playing at that i know he played in the bowl game yeah i don't think he played in the big 12 title it was freezing cold in arrowhead station and nebraska had 60 000 fans in arrow It was unreal, and they blew that opportunity. So Bill Callahan, he talked about guys that were close. He brought talent to Nebraska, gets them into Arrowhead in front of 60,000 Nebraska fans in attendance, and they blew it against Oklahoma.

They had every opportunity. They fumbled the opening play of the game, and Oklahoma jumped up 7-0. And from that point, Nebraska still could – they were close. They still couldn't pull it out in the end. But, yeah, that 0-5 game really set up a year in 0-6 where Zach Taylor was the Big 12 player of the year. Nebraska won the North.

And they easily could have been in one of those BCS bowl spots back then. And it was one of those times, and this would kind of hit Nebraska a few more times before this lull that they're currently in, where it would be like they were about to turn the corner, and then they just didn't. And that's where, you know, now I feel like they're back in the about to turn the corner mode. Right, yeah, you have the feeling with Dylan Raiola and so much hope and optimism of what he's brought to the quarterback position. Now, he's not named the starter yet, but usually your eyes don't lie, and he brings some intangibles that we haven't seen at that position. And they've upgraded the receivers. They've got a very good defensive group returning. I mean, I think this is a defense that could easily contend to be in the top 10 nationally, especially when you look at their schedule. They don't see a lot of elite offenses.

They do play Colorado and they do play Ohio State, but they have a real opportunity to have one of the better defenses in the conference. And Dylan Raiola can do things at the quarterback position that we just haven't seen. So, yeah, this has a feeling of turn the corner for Nebraska, especially when you look at the first seven games and the opportunity they have there in each one of those first seven games. Yeah, yeah. No, it's very interesting because if you read my calling my shot predictions for the season earlier this week, I did say Ibraska might go seven and oh to start the 2024 season now it's not it's not a gimme it's not a given no i definitely think it's possible indiana they're they're talking indiana fans have a lot of optimism like that they have more on that

roster than i think most understand and i do think rutgers and lincoln will be a hard game as you know yep rutgers is rutgers better than people realize and purdue's offense i don't think people they got their their best receiver was out last year he's back off injury so yeah and hudson cards better yeah purdue will have a very good improved offense another defense's questions uh yeah colorado who the hell knows what that team's gonna look like exactly. Exactly, exactly. So we shall see, but this does feel like we're in that mode again of this is where Nebraska can turn the corner. So we will see if they can. Didn't happen after the Alamo Bowl,

but we always remember the Alamo Bowl. I'm sorry, I had to. I'll see myself out. Sean Callahan, thank you so much. Hey, thanks, Andy. Thank you to Sean Callahan of Huster Online. Thanks again to Tim Watts of Bama Online. That was a ton of fun.

I love these games. I love this series. We're going to keep doing more of these. Don't worry if we haven't gotten to your team yet. We're going to get to your team. And if you've got some suggestions for ones you want us to do, by all means, you know where to find me. Andy underscore staples on X, Andy underscore staples on Instagram, Andy staples on three at gmail.com. Send me suggestions. I love these things. And we're

definitely have some more points in the off season where we can do a couple more of these trust me they're as much fun for me to do as they are for you guys to listen to we'll be back on monday with fresh shows coming off the holiday weekend things are starting to pick up big 12 media days is next week mountain west media days is next week. Mountain West media days is next week. Pac-12? 2-Pac? Pac-2? There are media days next week.

It's all starting. We're almost there. We've almost made it. Talk to you next week.