Lincoln Journal Star: The 30th anniversary of 84-13

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the Lincoln Journal Star:

Wait, it's really been 30 years since 84-13? Why does time move faster than Mike Rozier did on astroturf?

Better question: Why did Minnesota blitz on every play against Nebraska in 1983?

Ask anyone of a certain age from the state of Nebraska or Minnesota about Huskers-Gophers and the 1983 game is usually the one that comes to mind first.

Dave Mona, a Minnesota grad and longtime media voice in the area, was at the game. He remembers one play that didn't work for Nebraska as much as anything.

"There was a long pass down the sideline in front of me," Mona said in that story two years ago. "And a Gopher defensive back dove at the last moment, got a hand on the ball, knocked it out of bounds, then rolled on top of Irving Fryar. And our D-back stupidly straddles Fryar and points his finger at him to taunt him.

"And I'll never forget, Fryar puts his arm around the guy, points to the scoreboard, which is about 55-0 or something. I thought it was one of the greatest putdowns I ever saw."

http://journalstar.com/sports/huske...cle_dcf84654-3cbe-11e3-a88b-0019bb2963f4.html

Go Gophers!!
 


The official low-point, rock-bottom moment for Gopher Football.....
 


I stayed for the entire game. Nebraska couldn't help but continue scoring consistently throughout the game.
 


In fact, it was reported that one legendary Minnesota sports columnist stood up in the press box after a Rozier 71-yard touchdown in the third quarter and announced that he hoped the running back "would break his leg."

"I'll tell you what folks, there's a 100,000 people that wouldn't have heard this game had it not been for WCCO and the good people at Starkey......"
 


I was a Junior at the U that year.

The whole slide started the year prior when the Gophers lost at home to Illinois. The next game was Northwestern. They lost that game and it was down hill from there. The next year, one of the men's magazines picked the Gophers as the worst team in the Nation. The 84-13 left no doubt that the ranking was earned.
 

Karma can be a bitch. Here's some perspective, even though not quite revenge.

All time, the Gophers have given up 60 or more points five times, including the 84 (last time Mch 1994). They have given up 600 yards of total offense 10 times, including the 790 (twice since 2001). That's all time.

Since 2001, Nebraska has given up 60 or more points SEVEN times and given up 600 yards or more SEVEN times. In the last 12 years.

Sure, you might take their team over ours and our highs haven't been as high, but our "dumpster fire games" in the last dozen years hardly compare.
 



EE_Gopher said:
I was a Junior at the U that year.

The whole slide started the year prior when the Gophers lost at home to Illinois. The next game was Northwestern. They lost that game and it was down hill from there. The next year, one of the men's magazines picked the Gophers as the worst team in the Nation. The 84-13 left no doubt that the ranking was earned.
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It was a weird and precipitous slide. In 1982 we were considered a contender in the conference until the Illinois game, which was billed in advance as separating the pretender from the contender. I can't remember if there was a rash of injuries or anything, but falling off the cliff to being considered the worst team in the country the next year is still astounding.
 

highwayman said:
Karma can be a bitch. Here's some perspective, even though not quite revenge.

All time, the Gophers have given up 60 or more points five times, including the 84 (last time Mch 1994). They have given up 600 yards of total offense 10 times, including the 790 (twice since 2001). That's all time.

Since 2001, Nebraska has given up 60 or more points SEVEN times and given up 600 yards or more SEVEN times. In the last 12 years.

Sure, you might take their team over ours and our highs haven't been as high, but our "dumpster fire games" in the last dozen years hardly compare.
Click to expand...

That is an amazing stat. I think Nebraska scored a lot of points in those games as well, but still sad that some of those defenses considered themselves good enough to carry on the blackshirt tradition.
 

pointman99 said:
My dad will forever hate Nebraska due to this game.
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Kind of silly attitude. NCAA rules limited teams to taking 60 players on away games. 50 Nebraska players had played by halftime, all 60 by end of the 3rd quarter. Mike Rozier, the best player in the country and eventual Heisman winner that year, had all of 15 carries.

Did your dad want Nebraska to kneel down three times and punt every series starting in the third quarter? That'd be far more insulting than anything else I can imagine.
 

I remember that I gave a guy 60 points on a $100 bet and collected. He couldn't believe it!
 



Bad Gopher said:
It was a weird and precipitous slide. In 1982 we were considered a contender in the conference until the Illinois game, which was billed in advance as separating the pretender from the contender. I can't remember if there was a rash of injuries or anything, but falling off the cliff to being considered the worst team in the country the next year is still astounding.
Click to expand...

I don't remember many specifics, but it just seemed like everyone, players and fans, sort of gave up after that game. I remember listening to the game and thinking, "This can't be happening." That's as dejected as poor Ray C. ever sounded on 'CCO's broadcasts. Bell's penalty against Wisconsin, that Nebraska game, Holtz's bailing on us, and the collapse against Michigan are sort of in a four way tie for for the low point in my long career as a Gopher fan. That's why the recent hyperbole after Iowa and Michigan seems like juvenile temper tantrums. Some of these folks have no idea how really painful it can be.
 

HuskerInCO said:
Kind of silly attitude. NCAA rules limited teams to taking 60 players on away games. 50 Nebraska players had played by halftime, all 60 by end of the 3rd quarter. Mike Rozier, the best player in the country and eventual Heisman winner that year, had all of 15 carries. Did your dad want Nebraska to kneel down three times and punt every series starting in the third quarter? That'd be far more insulting than anything else I can imagine.
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Yours is a silly response.
 

Bad Gopher said:
It was a weird and precipitous slide. In 1982 we were considered a contender in the conference until the Illinois game, which was billed in advance as separating the pretender from the contender. I can't remember if there was a rash of injuries or anything, but falling off the cliff to being considered the worst team in the country the next year is still astounding.
Click to expand...

I can remember the PLAY that sent us on the slide. We were sitting in the second deck end zone. Jim Gallery had just kicked a FG at the end of the 3rd quarter to extend the Gophers' lead to 24-20. He then kicked off for a touchback to open the 4th.

On the first play from scrimmage, Tony Eason hit Mike Martin on an innocent bubble screen that went 80 yards untouched. Hohensee was nailed for a safety on the next series right in front of us. Illinois scored 22 in the 4th and won 42-24.

It was the end. Lost 18 of the next 19 games.
 

My first Gopher game in person. Will never forget it. Actually made me a Husker fan for years :).
 

My first game as a freshman to the U. With the subsequent beatdowns they took later on in the season, my parents felt so bad I had spent my money on football season tickets that they offered to buy me hockey or basketball season tickets. Which I took them up on -- have had hockey season tickets ever since.
 

I'd never actually watched any of that game before.
I'll never complain about our tackling again. (that's not true)
 

highwayman said:
I can remember the PLAY that sent us on the slide. We were sitting in the second deck end zone. Jim Gallery had just kicked a FG at the end of the 3rd quarter to extend the Gophers' lead to 24-20. He then kicked off for a touchback to open the 4th.

On the first play from scrimmage, Tony Eason hit Mike Martin on an innocent bubble screen that went 80 yards untouched. Hohensee was nailed for a safety on the next series right in front of us. Illinois scored 22 in the 4th and won 42-24.

It was the end. Lost 18 of the next 19 games.
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I thought it was a slant? But I do remember thinking, "oh no."
 

I was at the game in the end zone. Stayed til the bitter end. Many Gopher players rolled over in the 3rd. Others played with their all. I remember their 3rd string back was as fast as Rozier. They practically scored at will. I also remember talking with players after that game who did not care to play on the turf because it was more for baseball, thin and concrete hard. Too many players hated the injuries they received just for landing on that floor.

Didn't the dome get a new football carpet soon thereafter?
 

highwayman said:
I can remember the PLAY that sent us on the slide. We were sitting in the second deck end zone. Jim Gallery had just kicked a FG at the end of the 3rd quarter to extend the Gophers' lead to 24-20. He then kicked off for a touchback to open the 4th.

On the first play from scrimmage, Tony Eason hit Mike Martin on an innocent bubble screen that went 80 yards untouched. Hohensee was nailed for a safety on the next series right in front of us. Illinois scored 22 in the 4th and won 42-24.

It was the end. Lost 18 of the next 19 games.
Click to expand...

I remember that the Northwestern loss the next week was the one that was the big shocker. That's when Northwestern was going 0-11 every year.
 

HuskerInCO said:
Kind of silly attitude. NCAA rules limited teams to taking 60 players on away games. 50 Nebraska players had played by halftime, all 60 by end of the 3rd quarter. Mike Rozier, the best player in the country and eventual Heisman winner that year, had all of 15 carries.

Did your dad want Nebraska to kneel down three times and punt every series starting in the third quarter? That'd be far more insulting than anything else I can imagine.
Click to expand...

Who said he hated them because he felt they ran up the score?
 

I was there in 1983. One highlight I remember was Mark Dusbabek lining up on Irving Fryer. I said to my friend, what is this, they are going to throw to Fryer on a go route. Bamb! 70 yards TD. This was a horrible defense vs. a team chasing the National Championship. How bad was this defense? They gave up 518 points in 11 games. 69 to Ohio State, 56 to Wisconsin, 50 to Illinois, 58 to Michigan, 61 to Iowa.
 


Chuck Dickerson was the DB coach and I remember him saying during the week he felt confident in his corners to play single coverage on Nebraska WR's so he could pinch his safeties to stop Rozier and Gill on the option. That was Salem's problem. He got no support from the administration to upgrade his ass't coach's. Dickerson was the end result along with the others. I was at the game and didn't think Osbourne ran up the score. We had a horrible team with horrible coach's. I remember when Salem was hired from Northern Arizona they had several billboard pictures of him with a rose in his mouth.
 

highwayman said:
I can remember the PLAY that sent us on the slide. We were sitting in the second deck end zone. Jim Gallery had just kicked a FG at the end of the 3rd quarter to extend the Gophers' lead to 24-20. He then kicked off for a touchback to open the 4th.

On the first play from scrimmage, Tony Eason hit Mike Martin on an innocent bubble screen that went 80 yards untouched. Hohensee was nailed for a safety on the next series right in front of us. Illinois scored 22 in the 4th and won 42-24.

It was the end. Lost 18 of the next 19 games.
Click to expand...

Amazing. I'm sure I watched that game on TV, but my memories are dull. Now that you tell the story, though, it does come back a little.
 

All I remember about this game is my older brother saying change the channel.
 

I was at 84-13 - the relatives came up from Lincoln to go to the game with us.

The kids in the neighborhood in Coon Rapids didn't think much of Nebraska before that game. They thought we sucked because we weren't Big 10, and I thought they didn't have a clue what they were talking about. :)

That wasn't nearly the worst time for U of M football, though. The bottom was the end of the 1980's into the early 1990's when I was an undergrad at the U. Things got very gloomy under Gutie.
 

bkrownd said:
That wasn't nearly the worst time for U of M football, though. The bottom was the end of the 1980's into the early 1990's when I was an undergrad at the U. Things got very gloomy under Gutie.
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Gutie wasn't that bad. A thousand times better than Salem.
 

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