Football
Hail Varsity Digest | Buffs Down, Huskers Up | 3/25/25
Last week’s Hail Varsity Historical included predictions by Missouri players of Colorado winning against the Huskers the following Saturday, Nov. 10, 1994. It wasn’t just Missouri predicting a Buffalo victory. Colorado came to Lincoln ranked second by the Associated...
Hail Varsity Digest | Nebraska Football Looking Ahead, Sort Of | 3/18/25
Nebraska football earned no respect from Missouri. After their eighth-consecutive victory in 1994 at Columbia, the undefeated and Associated Press third-ranked Huskers were set to play second-ranked Colorado in Lincoln. But they were getting no respect from Missouri,...
Panel of Champions – Spring Fan Event
LINCOLN, NE – Save the date! Hurrdat Sports and Baxter Toyota Lincoln are teaming up to bring Nebraska sports fans an exclusive event featuring football and volleyball legends. Join us on Saturday, April 19, from 1-3 PM at Baxter Toyota Lincoln for a special panel...
Hail Varsity Digest | Defense, Defense for Nebraska Football | 3/11/25
Nebraska, second-ranked, led Kansas State, ninth, 7-6 at halftime in Manhattan in the Huskers’ seventh game of the 1994 season. Sophomore walk-on Matt Turman had directed the one-point lead before giving way to junior Brook Berringer late in the half. Berringer was...
Hail Varsity Digest | Frazier Out, Berringer In, then Out for 1994 Nebraska Football| 3/4/25
Nebraska football, 5-0 and second in the AP poll and now the Coaches poll, led Oklahoma State 9-3 at halftime of the Big Eight opener at Memorial Stadium, Oct. 8, 1994. I-back Lawrence Phillips scored the touchdown on a 2-yard run (Tom Sieler missed the extra point...
Hail Varsity Digest | An Eye-Opener for Nebraska Football, Maybe | 2/25/25
Keep in mind Nebraska football opened the 1994 season with four decisive victories when Wyoming came to Memorial Stadium Oct. 1. The Huskers were No. 1 in the Coaches poll, 2 in the Associated Press poll. Wyoming, 2-2, had lost to Utah the previous week 41-7. Now go...
Hail Varsity Digest | Nebraska’s Rudy – Adam Kucera | 02/18/24
“RUDY, RUDY” - By Mike Babcock His name wasn’t “Rudy.” But that was the chant by some among the 75,273 remaining at Memorial Stadium when he ran onto the field with about 5 minutes remaining in Nebraska’s fourth game of the 1994 season against Pacific. His name was...
Greg Sharpe Was Truly One of the Good Guys
“Because I could not stop for Death
“He kindly stopped for Me
“The carriage held but just Ourselves
“And Immortality.”
Beloved Nebraska Broadcaster Greg Sharpe Passes Away After Battle With Cancer
Nebraska athletics announced Saturday that longtime Nebraska play-by-play broadcaster, Greg Sharpe passed away Friday, February 14th, 2025.
Hail Varsity Digest | Nebraska vs. UCLA, September 17th, 1994 | 02/11/25
NO DEFENSIVE RESPECT - Mike Babcock Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride seemed irritated following the Huskers’ third victory of the 1994 season, 49-21 against UCLA at Memorial Stadium, September 17. Not with his defense, but rather with what seemed lack...
Hail Varsity Digest | Looking Back at Cam Jurgens’ Move | 2/7/25
Time to enter the Wayback Machine, although it’s not “way back,” just a few years, mid-April 2019, an interview with Husker redshirt freshman Cam Jurgens. Yes, “the” Cam Jurgens, center for the Philadelphia Eagles, who will play against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super...
Hail Varsity Digest | Nebraska Football vs. Texas Tech, September 1994 | 2/4/25
Nebraska takes down Texas Tech 42-16 September 8th, 1994.
Hail Varsity Digest | Mike Babcock Edition – Tom Osborne’s First National Championship Season Series | 01/28/25
(*Beginning this week, Historicals will go game-by-game through Tom Osborne’s first national championship season, 1994.) OFF TO A GOOD START At the end of the telecast of Nebraska’s 18-16 loss to Florida State in the 1994 Orange Bowl, NBC’s Dick Enberg noted the...
Hail Varsity Digest | Mike Babcock Edition | 01/21/25
UPON FURTHER REVIEW Unfortunately for Nebraska, the NCAA didn’t institute video review in football games until the 2005 season, after the Big Ten experimented with it in 2004. Had it been used in 1993, Tom Osborne’s national championship run might’ve been four in...
Rest in Peace, Jack
Near the end of the Nebraska football team’s 2013 spring intrasquad game in mid-April, Jack Hoffman took a handoff from quarterback Taylor Martinez and ran 69 yards for a touchdown. Hoffman was accompanied by members of both teams. He was 7 years old. Coach Bo Pelini...
Jack Hoffman | 1/15/2025
Hail Varsity Digest | Mike Babcock Edition | 01/14/25
GOODBYE GIFT Nearly 30 years have passed. Times have changed, as they always do. On December 10, 1997, four days after No. 2 Nebraska defeated No. 14 Texas A&M 54-15 in the Big 12 Championship game in San Antonio, a Wednesday, Tom Osborne held a news conference...
Hail Varsity Digest | Mike Babcock Edition | 01/07/25
UP TO THE CHALLENGE Texas A&M outside linebackers John Roper and Chris Wallace were nicknamed the “Blitz Brothers.” Nebraska had to deal with them in the first game of the 1988 season, the Kickoff Classic. Roper and Husker outside linebacker Broderick Thomas...
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
Get bi-weekly emails from Mike Babcock about Nebraska history and what’s top of mind for him in Husker athletics each week.