The Biggest Snub in Sports History - video
- Thread starter Conewago
- Start date
The worst part of this whole fiasco was when the "voters"somehow jumped Nebraska over psu for the #1 spot immediately after we had just annihilated OSU. Still shaking my head over that one.
Some notes about the critical PSU vs Ohio State and Nebraska vs Colorado week.
1) I was working in Denver at the time and the Rocky Mountain News polled poll voters the week before the games ... the outcome was that the Nebraska/Colorado winner would be number 1 no matter what occurred in the games.
2) The Nebraska/Colorado game was very ugly… many mistakes by both teams.. I remember Tom Osborne apologizing to the sideline reporter after the game about how ugly the game was.
3) The next thing Osborne said was
“… is that halftime score in Beaver stadium (35-0) correct” …. Then he shook his head and ended the sideline interview…. Osborne knew who the number 1 team was.
1) I was working in Denver at the time and the Rocky Mountain News polled poll voters the week before the games ... the outcome was that the Nebraska/Colorado winner would be number 1 no matter what occurred in the games.
2) The Nebraska/Colorado game was very ugly… many mistakes by both teams.. I remember Tom Osborne apologizing to the sideline reporter after the game about how ugly the game was.
3) The next thing Osborne said was
“… is that halftime score in Beaver stadium (35-0) correct” …. Then he shook his head and ended the sideline interview…. Osborne knew who the number 1 team was.
Osborne was awarded a pity national championship. Nothing more.
I remember the 96 yard drive against Illinois to win that game was against the number one defense in the nation!
That video gives those that weren’t there to see it a glimpse of just how good Bobby Engram was. There wasn’t a ball he couldn’t catch.
I remember listening to the Indiana game and thinking that the scoreboard watchers would penalize us, and of course they did.
I was there for this game as well. Never in doubt, but as you said penalized for compassion.
Not only was it never in doubt but Indiana got a lot of BS officiating.
Collins throws a pick that leads to a TD - but Freddie Scott amazingly forced the DB to fumble and recovered it himself. The refs missed it
Later, Indiana scores a TD on 3rd and forever. The receiver dropped the ball but it was ruled a TD anyway.
Ambrose Fletcher returns a punt for six - negated by an invisible block in the back.
Brian Gelzheiser strips the QB and returns it for six - the refs rule incidental facemask even though replays showed Brian didn't touch his facemask.
You get the idea. Even with a bit of a sloppy first half, Penn State wins this like 49-0 9 times out of ten
The other thing to remember is that the voters knocked us out of #1 not after the Indiana game but after we beat #21 Ohio State 63-14.
Look, beating #2 Colorado 24-7 at home is very respectable but we beat a ranked team *63-14!!*
Look, beating #2 Colorado 24-7 at home is very respectable but we beat a ranked team *63-14!!*
there was a lot of controversy about PSU joining the B1G and beat writers in B1G university towns/cities voted for Nebraska.
They hated us for winning the B2G in only our second season. All ghe experts said it take 5-10 years to upgrade our program to where it would be good enough to challenge for a title.
Embarrassed the hell outta them.
So did a lot a PA writers.
This wasn't done by a Penn State fan. That's an important distinction to this video. Please note that fact.
That offense was a thing of beauty. We were beating #14 usc with Heisman trophy candidate QB Rob Johnson 35-0 at the half. And I'm telling you only through the mercy of Joe did we not score 80 because we could have.
We could have scored 80 multiple times that year and kijana could have rushed for 2500 plus if Joe didn't sit him down for practically the entire second half of blow outs.
One more very important item to add -- how many Nebraska players were adjudicated (verified) as criminals during the season? Phillips was rescued from jail by Osbourne on a number of occasions (verified) as the judges were all Nebraska fans(?).
Penn State as clearly #1.
Nebraska in general had extremely low academic standards. Their ability to get borderline illiterate players was a significant competitive advantage back in the day.
This is why the people that devalue the current 12-team Playoff and want to return to the "old days" are just ludicrous. Prove it on the field
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It was disgraceful what all Osborne did, especially accepting a tainted national championship.
I remember during the postgame comments I yelled how far are you gonna drop us in the polls after this.? I got a bunch of dirty looks but turns out I was right!
Wasn’t Philips involved in some very violent crime with his girlfriend? And a two time offender?
The real criminals in this whole sad saga of the '94 team are all the dumb as a$$ do nothing, paper pushing, money grubbing, self serving cheats in charge of college football in that era. They couldn't even get it together to form a NC game until 1998. Thank God a broken clock is right twice a day and they miraculously got it right in 1982 and 1986.
Well, OSU was #8 going into this year's Playoffs and there was no doubt who the best team was at the end of it all
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Your point is correct, but I OSU was really ranked number six, but because of the weaker conference champions who had automatic berths they were dropped down to number eight.
Eight is the correct number. Incudes any team with a real chance to win it and thus deserving. Gives all five quality conferences a chance plus a three wild cards. No byes allowing the committee to favor any darlings. Less garbage games. Short, sweet playoff run. .
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One ironic thing is I find it hard to root for Big 10 teams primarily because of how the vote came out in 1994 when they didn't have our backs, but I remember vividly being so mad at the Miracle at Michigan, rooting for Michigan, thinking it could cost us and maybe ultimately did. If Michigan was ranked ahead of Colorado the week that Nebraska jumped us, we may not have ever relinquished the #1 spot. Who knows? The 1994 team was just a force and I find it hard to believe Nebraska could have beaten us on the field.
The crime is it was never settled on the field. Left to these unsubstantiated, subjective opinions. A total sham of a system. 1968. '69 and '73 were the other years. Incredible good ole boy system at its worst. What was it in '68 that Richard Nixon anointed Texas. Think about that. Richard freaking Nixon. That crooked stooge didn't know a linebacker from a cornerback. A complete kangaroo court sham system riddled with corruption for decades.
It was 1969. We had won 30 straight but Texas has more electoral college votes... Life is rarely fair
The problem is now the fat cats in charge want to make it too big 🤣
At least for 1968 (1969 Rose Bowl) in the then system -- No serious argument against OSU winning national championship. Beat then No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 USC and Michigan which was something like no. 5. Also, I believe OSU beat another ranked team. In any event, Penn State had only one win against the number six ranked team and only won by one point.
Yeah good point. Probably they got lucky with the Rose Bowl pairing those two. Still a shame Penn State never got a shot being undefeated. Such a bad system for decades.
The fact that the 94 Lions were not at least split champs was criminal. There was so much precedent for split titles over the history of college football when two dominant undefeated teams didn’t have an opportunity to play. A split title occurred just a few years earlier in 1990 and just a few years later in 97. The only explanation is a purposeful exclusion of PSU as split champs to appease or reward the Huskers. One again the national media thought it was perfectly acceptable to just completely screw PSU without logic.
