Dave Feit’s Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 42

Dave Feit is counting down the days until the start of the 2025 season by naming the best Husker to wear each uniform number, as well as one of his personal favorites at that number. For more information about the series, click here. To see more entries, click here.

Greatest Husker to wear 42: Jerry Murtaugh, Linebacker, 1968-1970

Honorable Mention: Dale Bradley, Corwin Hulbert, Jeff Mills, George Sauer

Also worn by: Mike Carl, Josh Cobb, Don Comstock, Mike Coyle, Sean Fisher, Trey Foster, Mikai Gbayor, Nick Henrich, David Leader, Ed Morrow, Gus Peters, Steve Safranek, Troy Watchorn

Dave's Fave: Nick Henrich, Linebacker, 2019 - 2023

Prior to the start of the 1970 campaign, Nebraska had completed 80 seasons of intercollegiate football. The Cornhuskers had 29 conference titles to their credit (including one in 1969), but the program had zero national championships. Their highest finish in the AP poll was fifth, in 1965. Nebraska's all-time record in bowl games was 3-5.

So, when senior linebacker Jerry Murtaugh stood in front of the 35 media members in town on the Big Eight Skywriters Tour and predicted that Nebraska would win the national championship, it raised some eyebrows.

"A bunch of reporters around, and they just ask me, bluntly: How do you think you're going to do?" Murtaugh said. "And I just told them — I said, we're going to win it all. Nobody's going to beat us."

Just wait… ol' Murt was just getting warmed up.

Murtaugh predicted Nebraska would avenge its 1969 loss to Southern Cal, saying NU would "beat the hell out of USC."

He didn't believe the preseason hype about Kansas State and quarterback Lynn Dickey. "We read about Dickey. All those things in the paper. White shoes and all that stuff. You like to knock guys down like that. We put a good pass rush on Dickey last year and he got a little shook. Hey, they say Dickey is Mr. Cool. He got shook. He was scrambling. He didn't have to do much last year. But he was off against us."

Around this time, I-back Jeff Kinney arrived. He grabbed Murtaugh by the arm and pulled him away from the reporters saying, "You just look pretty and let me do the talking."

In a 2004 HuskerMax interview, Murtaugh recalled getting reamed by coach Bob Devaney for speaking out of turn: "He said, 'You got to keep your damn mouth shut. You can’t be doing this crap, Murtaugh!'" As punishment, Murtaugh had to run stadium steps.

That is Jerry Murtaugh, one of the biggest characters - and best players - of the Devaney era.

Murtaugh was a standout linebacker - and undefeated state wrestling champion - at Omaha North High. With offers from all over, Devaney worked hard to keep him home.

Murtaugh broke into the starting lineup in 1968, recording a team-high 99 tackles. He was named honorable mention All-Big Eight. As a junior in 1969, Murtaugh had 126 tackles, which broke Wayne Meylan's single-season record. Murtaugh earned first-team All-Big Eight honors.

Jerry Murtaugh was a team captain in 1970 despite his tendency to land in coach Bob Devaney's doghouse. | Nebraska Athletics

This brings us back to 1970, Murtaugh's senior season. Could he - a captain - back up his "We're going to win it all. Nobody's going to beat us" claims?

Nebraska beat Wake Forest 36-12 in the opener. A newcomer from Omaha - a kid named Johnny Rodgers - caught a long touchdown pass in the game.

Next came a trip to No. 3 Southern Cal, who had beaten Nebraska 31-21 the year before.

It was a back-and-forth game with the two teams trading touchdowns. A bad Husker snap led to a 22-yard missed field goal in the fourth quarter. Murtaugh's prediction that NU would avenge the USC loss was incorrect. But Nebraska didn't lose, either. The game ended in a 21-21 tie. Murtaugh had 14 solo tackles (and 11 assists) including a stop on fourth-and-one near midfield late in the game.

Nebraska didn't "beat the hell out of USC," but the Huskers gained a confidence that they could play with anybody, anywhere. From there, the 1970 team got on a roll. 28-0 over Army. 35-10 at Minnesota. They beat No. 16 Missouri 17-7 before blowing out Kansas, Okie State, Colorado and Iowa State.

Kansas State's star quarterback, Lynn Dickey, was a target of Jerry Murtaugh's outspokenness. | Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

The next game was against Kansas State. Lynn Dickey and his white shoes came to Lincoln in November of 1970. On K-State's first possession, the Blackshirts' pass rush of Willie Harper and Larry Jacobson forced Dickey into a bad throw that was intercepted by Murtaugh. It was the first of a school-record seven interceptions on the day. Johnny Rodgers scored from 30 yards out on the next play. Nebraska won 51-13.

A year before the Game of the Century, 6-3 Oklahoma had yet to become an irresistible wishbone juggernaut. But the Sooners played one of their best games of the season. They stopped Nebraska on fourth-and-goal from the 1 and led twice.

But the Huskers battled back to regain the lead. With five seconds to go, Oklahoma had the ball at the Nebraska 27. A touchdown would tie the game and end Nebraska's title hopes. Jack Mildren's fourth-down pass was tipped and intercepted by Jim Anderson.

Going into the 1971 Orange Bowl against LSU, Nebraska was ranked third behind No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Ohio State. Notre Dame beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl, and Stanford knocked off Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The door was now open for Nebraska.

In the Orange Bowl, the Blackshirts held the Tigers to just 12 points. After Jerry Tagge's touchdown to take the lead in the fourth quarter, the defense stood tall, turning back several LSU drives in the fourth quarter to preserve to win.

Jerry Murtaugh, right, stands with coach Bob Devaney and fullback Dan Schneiss as President Richard Nixon presents a plaque recognizing the 1970 Huskers as national champions. | University of Nebraska Photo Lab

Murtaugh led the team with 10 tackles. Murtaugh's prediction came true: Nobody beat Nebraska. The Cornhuskers won their first national championship in 1970. He ended the 1970 season with 142 tackles, breaking his own record (back then, bowl games were not included in the stat totals). Murtaugh also set the school record for most tackles (342). That mark stood for over 30 years until Barrett Ruud broke it in 2004. In addition to being All-Big Eight and All-America, Murtaugh was the 1970 Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year.

No matter how many sets of stadium stairs he had to run, Jerry Murtaugh never has kept his "damn mouth shut." He hosted the "Legends Radio Show" for over a decade, interviewing numerous former Huskers. Murtaugh has also been an unofficial Nebraska football alumni ambassador, helping to connect former players with speaking engagements and other public appearances.

And, as we'll discuss at #39, Murtaugh's ability to talk and connect continues to make a difference for former student athletes across the state.

***

Jerry Murtaugh, a highly coveted linebacker recruit from an Omaha high school (North), played on some of the greatest teams in Nebraska history. Fifty years later, Nick Henrich, a highly coveted linebacker recruit from an Omaha high school (Burke), played on teams that… well, let's just say they did not have the same level of success.

That said, one of the teams from Henrich's era does get mentioned in "greatest" discussions, even if it is in a wistful or sarcastic manner.

That's right, it's time to talk about those one-score wonders, the kings of "close," and generous givers of groin kicks, the 2021 Nebraska Cornhuskers. You may know them as "The Greatest 3-9 Team in College Football History."

They were a team that defied logic, rewrote the rules of probability, inspired profanity, and increased blood pressures (and bar tabs) from Papillion to Potter.

Consider:

Eight of Nebraska's nine losses in 2021 were by one score (8 points) or less.
The other loss was to No. 6 Ohio State by nine points. 2021 NU is the only team in college football history to lose nine games by single digits.
The Huskers' three wins were by an average of 39.7 points.
In six games against ranked opponents - including three in the top 10 - NU lost by a total of 36 points.
Over the course of the 2021 season, NU ran just four more plays than their opponents but gained almost 1,000 more yards of offense.
Nebraska went 1-8 in Big Ten play despite scoring the same number points (239) as they allowed.
The blog "College Football Analytics Newsletter" (CFAN) looked at a bunch of advanced statistics (including something called "post game win probability." Nebraska's actual PGWP was well outside of the accepted statistical norm - a true outlier.
CFAN ran a computer simulation of the 2021 season 5,000 times. The vast majority of the results had the Huskers winning six, seven, eight or nine games. Any of those would have been a high-water mark in the Scott Frost era and would have gotten Nebraska to its first bowl game in five seasons. The simulated Huskers finished 11-1 more than 20 times. Nebraska finished 3-9 just twice in 5,000 simulations.

The common refrain - from fans, pundits, players and Frost himself - was that the 2021 team was "close" to a breakthrough. They just needed one thing to go their way. The theory was if a butterfly flapped its wings just right, Nebraska's unending chaos would be replaced with a string of victories.

Nick Henrich gives chase as Michigan State's Jayden Reed returns a punt for a fourth-quarter touchdown against Nebraska in 2021. | Raj Mehta-Imagn Images

If you didn't experience it - or have repressed the memories - it can be hard to fathom how it could have happened. The simple truth was it was a revolving door of errors, blunders and self-inflicted misery, with a sprinkle of bad luck. The majority of losses could be chalked up to their abysmal special teams, but all three phases - as well as coaching - played a part in 3-9.*

*An incomplete list of the recurring culprits, and the losses they impacted

Special teams: Illinois, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa
Blocked kicks: Oklahoma, Iowa
Missed field goals: Oklahoma, Minnesota, Ohio State
Kick returns for TDs: Michigan State (punt), Wisconsin (kickoff), Iowa (a blocked punt)
Safeties: Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa. (Oklahoma scored two points by returning a blocked PAT)
Turnovers: Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, Purdue, Iowa
Turnover on downs to end the game or a goal-to-go situation: Illinois, Michigan, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Porous offensive line: Illinois, Oklahoma, Michigan Sate
Penalties (called or uncalled): Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin
Offensive failures: Purdue, Ohio State
Defensive lapses: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa

Phew. My apologies if I'm triggering any flashbacks.

I'll go to my grave convinced that a) the 2021 team - with its laundry list of flaws - was not "close" to anything positive. If anything, "close" is used as a mocking description, and b) settling for the "close" narrative ignores the real, honorable legacy of the 2021 Huskers.

We can look at the final scores and say that Nebraska was close every time. But when you look at the individual games, we see a team that rarely led and often trailed by two or three scores. Nebraska was tied or trailing for 81.5% of its losses. In six games, the Huskers trailed by 11 points or more, including a 21-point hole against Illinois. Five times, Nebraska had a two-score deficit in the fourth quarter. In six games, the Huskers never led in the fourth quarter. Four times, the Huskers never led at all.

Coach Scott Frost walks off the field after Nebraska's loss to Purdue in 2021. — Coach Scott Frost walks off the field in Memorial Stadium after Nebraska's 28-23 loss to Purdue in 2021. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

That is not even horseshoes and hand grenades close.*

*In my opinion, teams that are "close" do not fire four assistants, two coordinators, and (allegedly) require an intervention/ultimatum from one of the biggest donors to keep the athletic director from firing the head coach. But that's just me.

Instead, let's remember the 2021 Nebraska Cornhuskers by a more honest - and honorable - legacy: They never, ever quit.

The 2021 Huskers were a flawed team that faced a number of challenges in all three phases every single week. They had a tough schedule, injury issues, unreliable players at handful of key positions, and played from behind most of the year. If you want to point a finger at the coaching staff, I won’t stop you.

But they never, ever quit.

In every one of those games, Nebraska kept playing to the final whistle. Often, they had the ball in their hands with a chance to tie or take the lead. The final scores only ended up “close” because the 2021 Huskers fought like hell until the bitter end.

Personally, I think that is a much better legacy than "close."

One of the few consistently good things about the 2021 team was the defense. The Blackshirts had some very impressive outings. They held No. 20 Michigan State - led by all-conference running back Kenneth Walker III - to zero first downs in the second half. The Blackshirts held Ohio State to its lowest offensive output of the season.

Nick Henrich makes a tackle against Michigan in 2021. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Nick Henrich - then a redshirt freshman - was one of the leaders of the 2021 defense. He had 99 tackles, second-best on the team and sixth-best in the Big Ten Conference.

Henrich looked like the next great Nebraska linebacker. Unfortunately, injuries got in the way. As a team captain in 2022, he started just five games before suffering a season-ending injury. In 2023, he was limited to 10 games before another season-ending injury in the second-to-last game.

With another year of eligibility at his disposal, Henrich decided to retire from football. Despite the injuries, Henrich finished with 205 career tackles, which puts him in the top 40 all-time at Nebraska (one behind Grant Wistrom). Nick Henrich was an excellent student (Academic All-Big Ten all four years) and is poised for success in whatever he chooses to do.

That, my friends, is what being close to a breakthrough looks like.

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