BleedGopher
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HuskerMax has a fun read on a 1904 matchup between the Gophers and Huskers:
In football, there’s offside — and then there’s what Minnesota end Usher L. Burdick got away with against Nebraska in 1904.
Burdick took encroachment to a whole new level on a second-half play against the visiting Cornhuskers. That’s his story, anyway, and we’re sticking to it — with a few revisions.
With underdog Nebraska on the offensive in Minnesota territory, Burdick brazenly decided to line up on the Cornhuskers’ side of the ball as if he were a Nebraska player. Perhaps due to dwindling daylight and soiled uniforms, this went undetected by game officials, reporters and even the Cornhusker players. At the snap, Burdick found a clear path to Nebraska’s ball carrier, John Bender, and threw him for a loss of 10 to 15 yards. End of scoring threat.
The story of Burdick’s chicanery surfaced publicly about three decades later. It was a tale that oozed drama: The play, it was said, happened on the game’s final snap with the Cornhuskers on the cusp of victory just a few yards from the Minnesota goal line. Some versions of the yarn even had Burdick receiving the play call in the Nebraska huddle.
http://www.huskermax.com/games/1904/07minnesota04.html
Go Gophers!!
In football, there’s offside — and then there’s what Minnesota end Usher L. Burdick got away with against Nebraska in 1904.
Burdick took encroachment to a whole new level on a second-half play against the visiting Cornhuskers. That’s his story, anyway, and we’re sticking to it — with a few revisions.
With underdog Nebraska on the offensive in Minnesota territory, Burdick brazenly decided to line up on the Cornhuskers’ side of the ball as if he were a Nebraska player. Perhaps due to dwindling daylight and soiled uniforms, this went undetected by game officials, reporters and even the Cornhusker players. At the snap, Burdick found a clear path to Nebraska’s ball carrier, John Bender, and threw him for a loss of 10 to 15 yards. End of scoring threat.
The story of Burdick’s chicanery surfaced publicly about three decades later. It was a tale that oozed drama: The play, it was said, happened on the game’s final snap with the Cornhuskers on the cusp of victory just a few yards from the Minnesota goal line. Some versions of the yarn even had Burdick receiving the play call in the Nebraska huddle.
http://www.huskermax.com/games/1904/07minnesota04.html
Go Gophers!!
