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

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This was the first season I followed Gopher football. I was 6 years old and listened to the games that year on the radio with my dad and grandpa.
 

I was there - a nightmare game, courtesy of pious Dr. Tom Osborne, who ran up the score on us and many other teams and who played thugs (including those who beat up their girlfriends) while posing as a mentor trying to save their souls. Disgusting.
 

tikited said:
Gutie wasn't that bad. A thousand times better than Salem.
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Perhaps, but by 1990 the widespread perception of a hapless moribund program had set in. In the early 1980's there was more hope of turning things around. At least, that's the way I remembered it.
 

Neb was "a team chasing the National Championship". Today, in terms of ranking, only 35 points count towards a teams offense strength. At the time, however, all points counted so there was a big incentive to run up the score. It helped you in the national rankings. Osbourne was CLEARLY trying to run up the score. I don't think Fryer was pulled until halfway through the 4th quarter. I have hated Neb ever since. Only Iowa ranks ahead of Neb on my hate list.

Mike Leach may be the biggest jerk in the world but he is OK in my book because he put up 70 on Neb. I only wish he could have scored two or three more!
 

I was sitting in Parker Stadium in Corvallis OR watching the annual beat down from USC, who was either 2nd or 3rd in the polls that week. They started announcing scores and said, "from the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota 13," and the stadium went dead silent, with expectation of the upset of the century. After a pregnant pause......."Nebraska 84" and an eruption of laughter. Started grad school here the next year. As bad as Gopher football was, it was actually an upgrade for me at the time.
 


diefirma said:
Neb was "a team chasing the National Championship". Today, in terms of ranking, only 35 points count towards a teams offense strength. At the time, however, all points counted so there was a big incentive to run up the score. It helped you in the national rankings. Osbourne was CLEARLY trying to run up the score. I don't think Fryer was pulled until halfway through the 4th quarter. I have hated Neb ever since. Only Iowa ranks ahead of Neb on my hate list.

Mike Leach may be the biggest jerk in the world but he is OK in my book because he put up 70 on Neb. I only wish he could have scored two or three more!
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Fryar had

2 catches for 138yds
3 rushes for 92 yards

230 yards on 5 touches
 

I was at this game sitting in the low deck end zone. I turned around in my seat to see who was sitting behind me. It turned out to be the one-and-only Baron Von Rascke, my AWA hero! I believe he was a Husker football player.
 

I remember that play. However, I remember it as a slant route. Eason hit the receiver in stride and no one could catch him. You could feel the air flow out of the dome. I remember being at the Ohio U game earlier that year and Mn won 57-3 and thinking this was going to be a good team.

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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TrapperDoo said:
I was at this game sitting in the low deck end zone. I turned around in my seat to see who was sitting behind me. It turned out to be the one-and-only Baron Von Rascke, my AWA hero! I believe he was a Husker football player.
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It is now old home week on Gopherhole. That is a blast from the past. I lived on Coon Lake in 1983 and Rock n Roll Zumhofe lived 3 doors down. He was a loud asshole but always had loose beers laying around because he partied non-stop in his pontoon boat.

This NE game was in my formative years as a Gopher fan and it didn't help. Good news was my Step-Dad was well connected in the hockey universe and we spent a lot of time around alumni from the 76-79 teams (his high school friends from the northland that played on those teams) and went to a bunch of hockey games to make up for the lousy football team.
 



BleedGopher said:

Go Gophers!!
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I remember talking to a Gopher player a couple of years ago who played in that game who told me many of Gopher players continued to trash talk as the points piled up.
 


It just goes to show you the power of steroids.




Go Gophers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

metrolax said:
The official low-point, rock-bottom moment for Gopher Football.....
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I was at this game. In my opinion, getting blown out by a national power was not as low when we lost at home to MAC or FCS schools.
 



ImaGopher said:
I was at this game. In my opinion, getting blown out by a national power was not as low when we lost at home to MAC or FCS schools.
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1- No you weren't.
2- How many times has NDSU lost to MAC or FCS schools?
 

Reusse: Nebraska's 84-13 romp put Gophers football in 30-year slump

A lingering inferiority complex developed after 1983 rout.

Saturday, Nebraska comes to the Big Ten’s second-smallest stadium. These Huskers aren’t much. They could get coach Bo Pelini fired. Thirty years later, Minnesota players on offense have reason to think they can move, and on defense to hold them.

An upset is possible. It would be a nice win. It will take much more to end the laughter that has been the common reaction to Minnesota football since 84-13.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/229187671.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

Go Gophers!!
 


With Turner Gill, Mike Rozier, Irving Fryar, Tom Rathman, and Dean Steinkuhler on offense, there was talk back then that this team could beat the Houston Oilers. That Oilers team may have had the worst defense in NFL history. Fryars 138 yards on 2 catches was absolutely ridiculous. The Huskers ended up playing the entire active roster in that game before the 4th quarter. The Gopher defense couldn't stop Tom Osborne's 2nd and 3rd stringers as they put up 21 pts in the 4th equalling the total in each of the first three quarters. I don't believe Joe Salem was qualified to coach a Pop Warner team.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
With Turner Gill, Mike Rozier, Irving Fryar, Tom Rathman, and Dean Steinkuhler on offense, there was talk back then that this team could beat the Houston Oilers. That Oilers team may have had the worst defense in NFL history. Fryars 138 yards on 2 catches was absolutely ridiculous. The Huskers ended up playing the entire active roster in that game before the 4th quarter. The Gopher defense couldn't stop Tom Osborne's 2nd and 3rd stringers as they put up 21 pts in the 4th equalling the total in each of the first three quarters. I don't believe Joe Salem was qualified to coach a Pop Warner team.
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It is surprising how fast things changed for Salem. In 1981, Minnesota behind Hohensee, beat Ohio State. The next year, the collapse starts.

(I shouldn't have got the year wrong. I was a freshman that year.)
 

EE_Gopher said:
It is surprising how fast things changed for Salem. In 1982, Minnesota behind Hohensee, beat Ohio State. The next year, the collapse starts.
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It was 1981 when the Gophers beat OSU, but you're right that the collapse still started the next season, when we went 3-9 (1-8 in the Big Ten) after finishing 6-5 (4-5) in '81.
 

Hates Monikers said:
It was 1981 when the Gophers beat OSU, but you're right that the collapse still started the next season, when we went 3-9 (1-8 in the Big Ten) after finishing 6-5 (4-5) in '81.
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3-0 with three straight blowouts in 1982 and leading Illinois at the dome 24-20. Illinois scores 22 points in the fourth quarter and Minnesota loses the rest of the games leading into 1983.

Pretty epic collapse.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
With Turner Gill, Mike Rozier, Irving Fryar, Tom Rathman, and Dean Steinkuhler on offense, there was talk back then that this team could beat the Houston Oilers. That Oilers team may have had the worst defense in NFL history. Fryars 138 yards on 2 catches was absolutely ridiculous. The Huskers ended up playing the entire active roster in that game before the 4th quarter. The Gopher defense couldn't stop Tom Osborne's 2nd and 3rd stringers as they put up 21 pts in the 4th equalling the total in each of the first three quarters. I don't believe Joe Salem was qualified to coach a Pop Warner team.
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I believe the limit on how many players could travel was lower (I think it was around 60) and it was hard for Nebraska to call of the dogs because there weren't any puppies traveling with the team. I could be wrong on that. The other thing about that season is that the Gophers were absolutely decimated by injuries. It obviously wouldn't have made a difference in this particular game, but I remember the team was really thin by the end of the year.

That was a Nebraska team for the ages that got edged in the Orange Bowl by Miami led by Bernie Kosar (Marc Trestman was their QB coach) in what I recall as a pretty big upset. Nebraska beat a highly-ranked Penn State team 44-6 on the opening weekend of the season and scored over 60 points 5 times. Great team and Osborne was a great coach.
 

Maximus said:
3-0 with three straight blowouts in 1982 and leading Illinois at the dome 24-20. Illinois scores 22 points in the fourth quarter and Minnesota loses the rest of the games leading into 1983.

Pretty epic collapse.
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I was at the Illinois game (Illinois QB was Tony Eason) and the place was electric with anticipation. The Gophers were ranked #19 and everyone thought "This is it." The 4th quarter simply stunned everyone. The place was like a morgue. Just another one of those uber frustrating moments in Gopher history.
 

I also read in the Omaha World Herald that 12 of the 13 TD drives took a total of 14 mins of game clock.
 


Two notes: Osborne did "call off the dogs" after 3 Quarters on Offense. He kept many of his 1st stringers in there on Defense into the 4th Quarter. Can't blame him, wasn't "margin of victory" still a big thing back then?

The other was turf at the Dome. Can't remember who referenced it but it was brutal. Wasn't there was only 2 1/2 inches between the concrete and the top of the field? We were down there for a Corporate celebration and it's was tough to sit-on, can't imagine what it felt like to be hammered into it. Salem's team that year, starting with that Illinois game, was decimated by injuries. They were playing 3rd and 4th string guys on both lines by the last few games in that Big Ten season. They were facing guys who were a heck of a lot bigger. It was like watching MIAC guys in spots against BIG Ten starters toward the last couple of games.

Brutal, just absolutely brutal.

They waited for years didn't they, but they finally changed the turf. Unfortunately not before many Viking and Gopher players got hurt. NFL teams who came in to play were very vocal about how "minor league" the field was. Can't help but think it hurt recruiting efforts for the Gophers too.
 

This was my first game as a member of the Marching Band and I still remember the sort of half-hearted "cheer" that went up when we forced Neb. to punt early in the game. I also remember losing to University of the Pacific as another low point during that time.

None of these games bothers me as much as the 2003 Michigan meltdown. That is still my low point as a MN fan.
 

Iceland12 said:
Two notes: Osborne did "call off the dogs" after 3 Quarters on Offense. He kept many of his 1st stringers in there on Defense into the 4th Quarter. Can't blame him, wasn't "margin of victory" still a big thing back then?

The other was turf at the Dome. Can't remember who referenced it but it was brutal. Wasn't there was only 2 1/2 inches between the concrete and the top of the field? We were down there for a Corporate celebration and it's was tough to sit-on, can't imagine what it felt like to be hammered into it. Salem's team that year, starting with that Illinois game, was decimated by injuries. They were playing 3rd and 4th string guys on both lines by the last few games in that Big Ten season. They were facing guys who were a heck of a lot bigger. It was like watching MIAC guys in spots against BIG Ten starters toward the last couple of games.

Brutal, just absolutely brutal.

They waited for years didn't they, but they finally changed the turf. Unfortunately not before many Viking and Gopher players got hurt. NFL teams who came in to play were very vocal about how "minor league" the field was. Can't help but think it hurt recruiting efforts for the Gophers too.
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He had 60 players

Rozier only had 15 carries for 196yards
Fryar had 5 touches for 230 yards
Gill had 4 rushes for 100 yards
Nebraska completed 5 passes for 195 yards
Minnesota beat Nebraska in time of possesion 37-22

There is only so much you can do. that is statistically the 2nd or 3rd best offense of alltime in college football. And from what i understand Minnesota was losing games pretty big that year. You cant just kneel the ball in the thrid quarter.
 

Here's what was typed:

Two notes: Osborne did "call off the dogs" after 3 Quarters on Offense. He kept many of his 1st stringers in there on Defense into the 4th Quarter. Can't blame him, wasn't "margin of victory" still a big thing back then?

None of that was negative and it mainly addressed the Defense, and that was even qualified.
Here was your response:

Who Boppin said:
He had 60 players

Rozier only had 15 carries for 196yards
Fryar had 5 touches for 230 yards
Gill had 4 rushes for 100 yards
Nebraska completed 5 passes for 195 yards
Minnesota beat Nebraska in time of possesion 37-22

There is only so much you can do. that is statistically the 2nd or 3rd best offense of alltime in college football. And from what i understand Minnesota was losing games pretty big that year. You cant just kneel the ball in the thrid quarter.
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All Offensive stuff right?

So is it a question of you not being able to read, just being hypersensitive of anything that doesn't say the Nebraska is the greatest state in the Union with the greatest football team ever or are you just a jackass?
 

Iceland12 said:
Here's what was typed:

Two notes: Osborne did "call off the dogs" after 3 Quarters on Offense. He kept many of his 1st stringers in there on Defense into the 4th Quarter. Can't blame him, wasn't "margin of victory" still a big thing back then?

None of that was negative and it mainly addressed the Defense, and that was even qualified.
Here was your response:



All Offensive stuff right?

So is it a question of you not being able to read, just being hypersensitive of anything that doesn't say the Nebraska is the greatest state in the Union with the greatest football team ever or are you just a jackass?
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I feel you are being the hyper sensitive one on here. Everything someone says you seem to freak out about. I must have read your message wrong, sorry bruh its not like i slashed your tires and burned down your house. Chill dude, im not here to talk crap about Minnesota. Nebraska fans hear about Nebraska running up the score all the time so we defend it, i read your did as didn't.

Anyways, same thing on Defense, im sure Nebraska rotated a lot of plaeyrs and im sure once the score started creeping up there the Minnesota offensive players started pressing, get discouraged, etc, etc.

But for the record chill out, ive responed to a few of your posts in the past 2-3 days and you act like im flaming hardcore. Nebraska and Minnesota are not rivals, i dont understand all why you are so intense.
 

I feel you are being the hyper sensitive on here. Nebraska and Minnesota are not rivals, i dont understand all why you are so defensive
Maybe you should just stop.
 

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