Nebraska was a 28 point favorite, (in a lower-scoring era overall: 22 points per team per game vs. 29 now). I've heard LSU is a 24 point favorite. The previous year they'd outscored 12 regular season opponents 624-186, (52.0-15.5), including a 63-7 stomping of the Orange in Lincoln. They'd lost to Miami in the Orange Bowl 30-31 on a failed two point conversion,. They could have wrapped up the National title by just kicking the extra point but Tom Osborne wanted his team to go out a winner. I've always thought they should have been voted #1 anyway. That Miami team was not on the level of their alter teams, (11-1-0 with a 3-28 loss to Florida: they outscored their opposition 313-136). That game was an UPSET. They happen. Nebraska was clearly the best team in the country that year. And they were voted #1 pre-season for 1984 and had just obliterated another supposed title contender, UCLA, 42-3 on national TV in LA.
We'd finished 6-5 in 1983, out fourth winning season in 14 years. We had a pretty good defense led by Tim Green but had been embarrassed in Lincoln after the coaches made rousing speeches to the players about "showing them who you are". With every snap, 11 defenders ran after the ball. Every misdirection play waltzed into the end zone. I remember that, in discussing Syracuse, the Nebraska players said that, despite the score, Syracuse had given them more resistance than most of the team's they'd played in '83. Later I heard that privately, they considered us one of the weakest teams they'd played.
We opened impressively by beating Maryland at Maryland, 23-7. the Terps were a Top 25 program under Bobby Ross at the time and this was big win for our rebuilding program. Then we went to Northwestern, which was awful at the time and won 13-12 on a TD pass on the game's last play. It was a win but kind of embarrassing that the game was so close. Then came the Rutgers game. The Scarlet Knights were mediocre, not as bad as they later became but not as good as they became in the Schiano Era. They went 7-3 that year but didn't make a bowl game because their schedule wasn't that strong. But they had almost upset Penn State in the opener, losing 12-15. Then they beat Temple 10-9 and came to Syracuse.
My recollection of the Rutgers game is that there was plenty of enthusiasm in the stands and among the players before the game. We won the toss, took the kick-off and drove right down the field but fumbled deep in their territory. we forced a punt but fumbled the punt. We forced another punt from midfield and fumbled on the second play, giving the ball to Rutgers deep in our territory. They scored and we never got to their end zone. They got two TDs, a field goal and a safety as the game just deteriorated. The fan base was totally deflated. We obviously had NO chance to beat Nebraska and were going to lose by some unholy score.
From what I've read, the coaches were more low-key the next week. They wanted to emphasize everyone doing their job rather than everybody trying to make big plays. The emotional tenor was supplied by all the prediction that we were going to get crushed: why even play the game? Our defense, led by "Four Wheel Drive": Tim Green, Bill Pendock, Blaise Winter and Jamie Kimmell, was proud and determined to prove they weren't the sieve they appeared to be in the previous year's game. Nebraska, meanwhile came here assuming the game would be a walk over. (I'm sure their coaches didn't but with the players it seems to have been a losing battle.) One thing we had going for us: Nebraska didn't run a wide-open offense that made you cover the whole field. They were used to meeting people at the point of attack and overpowering them. If we could meet them at the point of attack and turn the tables, ti could be a different game. And it was.
We kicked off and an orange wave swept over the Husker's return team. When the play was over, Tom Rathmann was flat on his back. He had to be carted off the field and missed the rest of the game. It seemed to set the tone. Four Wheel Drive not only wouldn't give in to the muscular Husker line but penetrated into the backfield to destroy plays and force turnovers. SU hung in there and hung in there and were down only 3-7 when Todd Norley, in virtually the last play of his career, (he injured a knee on the play), threw a long pass to Mike Siano late into the third period to get us the lead:
Later Harold Gayden scored an insurance touchdown. Coach Mac, for some reason, elected to take a safety late in the game to get out of a fourth and long situation and the final was 17-9. I remember the highlights of the game were shown using the theme from "Ghostbusters" which was popular in the theaters of the time and SU was dubbed the "Husker busters".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9We2XsVZfc
I was unable to find the tape but it showed Tim Green and company wreaking havoc in the Husker backfield, sacking the QB, falling on fumbles, etc.
Someone from Lincoln called the pressbox after the game and asked what the correct score really was. "Your team couldn't possibly have beaten our team". One Nebraska player said "I hope we're better than Rutgers". I remember walking back to the parking lot with a bunch of Nebraska fans who were practically running into streetlights and telephone polls because they were so dazed.
And then we lost our next three games in a row. But we rallied to go 6-5 again and then 7-4 and bowl game the next year. That gave us what Coach Mac called "bowl credibility", (back when bowls were credible), and he used to recruit the players, especially in the offensive line that helped create the big breakthrough of 1987, the first of 15 winning seasons in a row.
The comparison to this game against LSU:
Syracuse is again trying to rebuild the team and their national image and a take-down of LSU would be a huge step up. LSU is certainly a national power but they aren't the subject of awe that Nebraska had in 1984. They aren't the defending national champions. Nobody is saying they might be the greatest team ever. They were impressive beating Auburn but off the Jacksonville State game, they seem to having an off year. Still an upset of the Tigers would be a big deal. They do have a similarity to the '84 Nebraska team. They meet you at the point of attack. If we could meet them there and hold our own, we'll hold our own in the game.
Without Hunt, Dungey, Phillips, etc. (Ismael is supposed to be back), our offense seems as limited as it was in 1984. if we move the ball much, it will probably have to be on the ground. We have a good kicking game so we could have some advantages in field position, The big difference is that our defense, which had to replace 8 starters just doesn't look up to keeping us in this game. Ron Thompson is a quality defensive end, (but is hobbled), and Zaire Franklin is a fine middle linebacker. Neither is on the level of Tim Green, who, like Dwight Freeney, could total dominate games and they don't have as much help. We have some serious weaknesses in our pass defense and LSU has Fournette, who is better than anybody Nebraska had or that we've seen.
I am encouraged by Les Miles' news conference, where he read off a press release when he was asked what he knew about Syracuse. But we are 3-0. We haven't been shut out by Rutgers. I think they will take a road trip to a Dome they've never played in to play a 3-0 team seriously.
I think we start out enthusiastic but find out early that we are over-matched and the Tigers take over as the game goes along and Fournette gets hit hard early but rolls over a tiring defense as the game progresses and LSU wins by a substantial margin. If we had Dungey, (and Phillips), I'd be dreaming of a big upset but that offense that couldn't get a second half first down isn't beating anybody.
