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When the Big Ten Conference asked Tom Osborne
to remember his last national championship season, I was fortunate
enough to interview Nebraska’s Hall-of-Fame coach for his account that
appeared in the 2012 Big Ten Championship Game Program in Indianapolis.
Osborne’s thoughts on that 1997 season were published jointly with Lloyd
Carr’s remembrances of Michigan’s ‘97 season. The Wolverines shared the
national championship that season with the Cornhuskers – Nebraska
winning the final coaches’ poll and Michigan winning the final
Associated Press media poll. Here are Osborne’s thoughts on the 15-year anniversary of that championship season:
Wistrom, Peter Bypassed NFL for another Title
“I remember certain details of my final
season as a head football coach 15 years ago, but I’m not sure that I
voted Nebraska No. 1 every week of the 1997 season. I will say, however,
that our 13-0 team that beat a very talented Tennessee team 42-17 in
the Orange Bowl was a solid national champion.
“We had great leadership on that team, and it started with Grant Wistrom and Jason Peter.
They were probably more motivated to win that national championship
than anyone else. Nine months before the ’97 season started, they came
into my office to talk. Since both were projected to be first-round NFL
draft picks, I thought they were going to tell me they had to do what
was best for them and their families, but my instincts were wrong. They
told me how good it felt to win national championships in ‘94 and ‘95
and how disappointed they were when we didn’t win another one in ’96. So
they wanted to stay one more year, finish things up right and go out as
champions.
“They were two driven players who took it
upon themselves to create the vision for that ‘97 team after we had
beaten Virginia Tech (41-21) a few weeks earlier in the Orange Bowl.
Without their leadership and talent, I don’t believe that season would
have unfolded like it did. Those two really set the tone with
exceptional dedication and commitment.
“We won all 13 games that season by a
29-point average margin of victory. We had two close calls on the road
at Colorado and Missouri, and we beat Texas A&M 54-15 in the Big 12
Championship. We had a cohesive offensive line with Scott Frost at quarterback, Joel Makovicka at fullback and Ahman Green
at running back. Ahman rushed for 206 yards against Tennessee, and
Scott scored three touchdowns, allowing us to take control early. We
were up 42-9 on a Tennessee team that was blessed with a lot more talent
than just Peyton Manning. They had 15 players that went on to play in
the NFL, including four first-round draft choices, plus a second-round
pick. We had great talent, too. Grant and Jason were first-round draft
choices, and 10 of our players from that team were still playing in the
NFL 10 years later.
Osborne Saw a Wide-Open Opportunity for Title
“The night before the final game of my
career, I mentioned how I thought the door was still cracked for us to
win a national championship. In my pregame speech I went beyond that.
Maybe it was the sense of history, but I remember having the team’s
complete attention as I went through all the mundane details. I decided
to address the discouraging situation regarding the polls and told our
team that I had thought a lot more about it and felt the door wasn’t
just a little bit open. It was wide open, and I put my hands fairly far
apart to show them how wide.
“We were playing the No. 3 team in the
nation, and I felt if we played a great game, there was no way this team
could be denied. I firmly believed we could come out on top in at least
one of the national polls. Fortunately, the coaches looked a little
more at the dynamics of the final game and the entire season. In their
mind, many thought how they might play both champions, and who would be
the most difficult. I know several told me that we would be the team
they would least like to play if given that opportunity.
“Some believe the coaches’ vote might have
been a sentimental one because I was retiring and the Orange Bowl
completed a 60-3 record and 3-national championship run over a 5-year
span for us. I would hope that was not the case as each team has to be
evaluated on its own merits and sentiment should not determine anyone’s
vote. I was, however, appreciative that my fellow coaches felt we
deserved a No. 1 ranking at season’s end. I’m fairly certain that
Nebraska and Michigan will still be debating this topic 25 years from
now and beyond, and that’s probably not a bad thing because both schools
can now say that100 percent of the 1997 national championship belongs
to the Big Ten Conference.”
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