Tom Osborne faced a dilemma in the closing seconds of the first half of Nebraska’s game against Iowa State at bitterly-cold Memorial Stadium, in mid-November 1997.
“I didn’t want to score right before the half,” he said.
What? The Huskers’ coach didn’t want to score?
“I didn’t want to kneel down. I didn’t want them (his players) to stay in the huddle. I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “So I called a quarterback sneak.
“I thought, ‘Well, we won’t make 2 yards.’”
The problem was, Iowa State’s defense didn’t get set.
“We’re not trying to run the score up,” Osborne said. “We’re trying to get players in.”
Quarterback Scott Frost’s sneak covered the 2 yards. Touchdown Nebraska. Kris Brown’s extra-point kick made the score: Huskers 63, Iowa State 7. Only 5 seconds remained in the half.
That’s right, 63-7, the half. The 63 points tied Nebraska’s first-half record. And because the windchill was sub-zero, some in the crowd of 75,613 began heading home.
A few could have left after the first quarter, when the Huskers led 35-7. The 35 points were a Nebraska first-quarter record. Even more unlikely, the Huskers had three touchdowns after their first five plays from scrimmage, including Bobby Newcombe’s 53-yard punt return.
The second half was considerably less dramatic, the final score, 77-14. But Osborne accomplished his goal of getting players in. He used 105.
I-back Ahman Green scored three touchdowns, all in the first quarter, and rushed for 209 yards on 15 carries. The touchdowns came on runs of 18, 49 and 4 yards. Frost scored another touchdown earlier in the second quarter and finished with 88 rushing yards on eight carries. He completed 8-of-9 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown to tight end Sheldon Jackson.
Fullback Joel Makovicka, back-up quarterback Frankie London and reserve I-back Josh Cobb scored the other touchdowns. Brown, Dan Hadenfeldt and Ted Retzlaff kicked extra points.
Defensively, rover Mike Brown and reserve cornerback Demond Finister intercepted passes. Rush end Chad Kelsay, tackle Jason Peter and back-up rush end Kyle Vanden Bosch recovered fumbles. Kelsay had a sack, as did back-up rush end Mike Rucker and weak side linebacker Eric Johnson.
Johnson led the defense with nine tackles. Thirty-three other Huskers had at least one.
Iowa State punted nine times, but ironically, perhaps, the Cyclones ran only three fewer plays than Nebraska, 72 to the Huskers’ 75. Nebraska had 594 yards of offense, the Cyclones 228.
The victory was the Huskers’ 42nd in a row at Memorial Stadium.
Frost’s sneak just before halftime completed a drive that began at the Nebraska 12-yard line with 4:06 remaining. Rush end Grant Wistrom, among 23 seniors playing their final game at Memorial Stadium, was making no apologies. “We shouldn’t have to make any apologies for being good,” he said.
Remember, the previous week, the Huskers had needed overtime to win at Missouri, 45-38. “We felt we had something to prove,” said Peter, also a senior “A lot of people were questioning us.”
Green said Nebraska wanted to “show the pollsters we’re up there, fighting for it.”
“It” was a national championship.
The Huskers dropped from No. 1 to No. 3 after the Missouri game and they would remain there, despite overwhelming Iowa State, which dropped to 1-9. It was the fifth time Coach Dan McCarney’s Cyclones had given up 50 or more points.
Osborne was trying to show some — should I say — compassion in the closing seconds of the first half.
