Mike Babcock is in his 47th season covering Nebraska football. Babcock also covered most other Husker sports at some point in his journalism career. Mike earned his undergraduate degree in English from Cal State-Chico and Masters in English (teacher preparation) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Babcock spent seven years teaching English and Introductory Literature at Parkland Community College. Mike wrote sports part-time at the Champaign-Urbana Courier as well as for Lincoln Journal and Star for 17 years for the sports department covering Nebraska as a sports columnist. Babcock then wrote for Huskers Illustrated before Hail Varsity and Hurrdat Sports.
*Beginning this week, Hail Varsity Historicals will go game-by-game through Tom Osborne’s second national championship season, 1995. During a news conference the Monday before Nebraska football's 1995 opener against Oklahoma State, Thursday night in Stillwater, Tom...
Nebraska baseball didn’t start off the weekend in College Park, Maryland, right, losing to Maryland 12-5 Friday night. But the Huskers finished with a 21-5 blowout in seven innings Sunday to win the series. They defeated Maryland 6-2 Saturday. “I think we have one of...
Go to X, or TikTok, or Facebook, wherever you’re comfortable on social media, and search for “Jacob Bower.” You’ll easily find the post-football-practice session during which Nebraska football coach Matt Rhule announces Bower will be placed on scholarship. After a...
Bottom line, Coach Will Bolt wasn’t happy with Nebraska baseball's 4-0 loss to Kansas at Haymarket Park Tuesday night. Of course not. “Losing sucks,” he said. “I absolutely hate it.” Even so, “I don’t think we played bad,” said Bolt. The Huskers just need to flush it...
Early in the third quarter of the 1995 Orange Bowl, undefeated and top-ranked Nebraska football trailed once-beaten and third-ranked Miami 17-7. The Hurricanes scored on a 44-yard Frank Costa touchdown pass less than 2 minutes into the second half. Now rewind to...
Nebraska baseball didn’t start the weekend well, losing to Northwestern 9-7 at Haymarket Park Friday night. But the Huskers turned it around Saturday, sweeping a double-header 14-4 and 5-2. The first game ended after seven innings because of the 10-run rule. The...
Riley Van Poppel had praise for his new position coach, Terry Bradden, during Tuesday’s Nebraska football media availability. “Something he tells us all the time, ‘Energy is contagious,’” said Van Poppel. If Van Poppel is an example, Bradden is right. Van Poppel...
Nebraska baseball has been here before, right? The Huskers have built some momentum, only to see it diminish during a weekend Big Ten series, which is why they’re 5-10 in conference play and tied for 13th. Minnesota and Purdue also are 5-10. And remember, only the top...
Oklahoma was 6-4 when it played host to Nebraska football for a Black Friday game, Nov. 25, 1994. As usual, however, Tom Osborne took nothing for granted, even though Nebraska was 11-0 and top-ranked in both major polls — with a chance to win the Big Eight title...