Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1138762
Paterno finally had the chance to win the national championship on the field at the 1979 Sugar Bowl, but Penn State's 14-7 loss to Alabama pleased many of its detractors. So Paterno beefed up the regular-season schedule, adding such elite teams as Alabama, Notre Dame and Nebraska, and that helped lead to the school's first national title in 1982 when a once-beaten team made it to the top. And here is where Nebraska and Tom Osborne converged with Joe Paterno and Penn State in a way that eventually helped cost the 1994 team the national title. In his first 10 years, from 1973-82, Os- borne never lost more than three games in any season, and in '82 he had his best record to that point in his coaching ca- reer, as the Cornhuskers went 12-1. Just as Penn State fans resent the way the 1994 season ended, Nebraska loyalists have long fumed about 1982. They be- lieve they were cheated out of the na- tional championship by a controversial sideline officiating call against the Cornhuskers in the last 10 seconds of Nebraska's early-season 27-24 loss at Penn State. There's no need to belabor the matter here, other than to note that it was one of those unforeseen circum- stances that came back to haunt Penn State as the 1994 season progressed. To this day, Osborne believes his 1982 team, along with his '93 team, are the best Nebraska teams not to win a na- tional championship. It's curious how both Nebraska teams figured into the eventual snub of Penn State's 1994 squad. Upset by what happened at Penn State in 1982, Osborne was on a mission in '83. Nebraska was the preseason No. 1 team and was still there when it played once- beaten, fifth-ranked Miami in the Or- ange Bowl. Trailing 31-17 early in the fourth quarter to the 10½-point under- dog Hurricanes, Nebraska fought back. A touchdown in the last minute nar- rowed the deficit to one point. Osborne could have clinched the national cham- pionship by kicking an extra point for the tie. Instead, he called for a two- point conversion attempt and came up short. The Cornhuskers lost, 31-30, but Osborne earned the admiration of the college football world. However, he did not come close to the title again until 1993. That year, Nebraska was back in the Or- ange Bowl, undefeated at 11-0 and with a No. 2 ranking, but was a 17½-point un- derdog to top-ranked, once-beaten Florida State. The game was a defensive battle, and with 1 minute, 16 seconds left, Nebraska kicked a 27-yard field goal to take the lead, 16-15. Florida State stormed back, kicking a 22-yard field goal to regain the lead, 18-16. Nebraska had one last gasp, but a 45-yard field goal at- tempt with one second on the clock was wide left. Although Nebraska had lost P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> DYNAMIC TRIO Sparking Penn State's offense in '94 were (L to R): Ki-Jana Carter, Kerry Collins and Kyle Brady. Photo courtesy of the Pattee and Pa- terno Library Archives