Dave Feit’s Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 97

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 97: Pat Engelbert, Middle Guard, 1987 – 1991

Honorable Mention: none

Also worn by: Bill Barnett, Keona Davis, Dean Gissler, Matt Grummert, Blaise Gunnerson, Jeff Ogard, Tony Palmer, Chase Rome, Deontre Thomas, Dan Titchner, Toby Williams

Dave’s Fave: Jeff Ogard, Defensive Tackle, 1992 – 1996

I knew going in that there would not be an All-American (Neil Smith) or College Football Hall of Famer (Grant Wistrom) at each number. But with no disrespect intended, I think we can all agree this is definitely a big drop-off from the first two honorees

Nebraska has had at least one first team all-conference honoree wear 95 of the 100 different uniform numbers. 97 is the first of the five numbers without an all-conference pick.

The lack of an obvious standout makes for some hard choices. This one is even harder because the pool of candidates isn’t as deep as other numbers – just 24 players. Aside from three guys in the 1920s, no Husker wore a number higher than 89 until 1965. That is when unlimited substitution came to college football, creating the two-platoon system (i.e., players split between offense and defense) that we know today.

The candidates for the greatest 97 fell into two camps: NFL draft picks (Bill Barnett, Dean Gissler, and Toby Williams) and high academic achievers (Bill Engelbert and Dan Titchner). Since getting drafted isn’t always a great indictor of a standout career (especially in the days when the draft had 17 rounds), I’m choosing academics.

The University of Nebraska has had more Academic All-Americans (108) in football than any other school. During Tom Osborne’s 25 years as head coach, Nebraska had 65 Academic All-Americans – more than any other football program had in their entire history. Notre Dame was second, producing 50 selections in 45 years.

For a long time, the entire athletic department had the high total of Academic All-Americans in the nation. However, in the last few years Stanford has surpassed Nebraska for the top spot. While I could cynically note that Stanford’s top spot is aided by offering 15 more varsity sports than NU, second place to one of the nation’s most prestigious schools is pretty good company for a land grant university in the middle of America.

As we’ll discuss at #40, many of Nebraska’s Academic All-Americans are earning it in rigorous fields of study – no underwater basket weaving degrees here.

In his Huskers.com bio, Pat Engelbert is described as “one of the most decorated Husker student-athletes” earning Academic All-America honors twice (second team as a junior, first team as a senior), an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, and a place on the CFA Scholar-Athlete team.

On the field, Engelbert was no slouch. He was second team All-Big Eight as a senior and earned ESPN Player of the Game honors in the Colorado game. He also received the Guy Chamberlain Award, given to the Husker who “has shown by the play and contributions to the betterment of the University of Nebraska football squad that he has the qualities and dedication” of Chamberlin.

***

Why Jeff Ogard as my personal favorite for #97?* Yes, he was a reliable backup to Christian Peter on the 1994 and 1995 championship teams and played well as a starter in 1996. Yes, I’ll always have a soft spot for in-state kids (Ogard is from St. Paul).

But honestly, my college buddies and I loved his last name. It reminded us of “Ogre” from the 1980’s cinematic classic “Revenge of the Nerds”. Whenever he made a tackle, one of us would recite a certain line from the belching contest scene. You’ll know which one it is.

*As I mentioned in the beginning, some of the reasoning behind the “Dave’s Faves” picks will be odd and/or only amusing to me.

Ogard’s jersey number (97) corresponds to the year I graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity to brag up my college experience.

You see, I believe that no other college student – from any school – can claim a better football experience than me and my fellow members of the UNL Class of 1997… especially if they started in the fall of 1993 like I did.

1993

I used to joke that since I went to college at a football school, I was entitled to a redshirt year. For the first time in my life, I had Nebraska season tickets.

In 1993, Nebraska went 11-1. They were Big Eight champions and played in the Orange Bowl. With one second left, Byron Bennett attempted a field goal to win the national championship. The kick was wide left. The Huskers finished No. 3 in both polls.

1994

Back in the 1990s, Memorial Stadium’s student section was (mostly*) assigned seating, instead of the first-come, first-served general admission system they currently have. Fraternities and sororities would get blocks of seats and non-Greek students would fill in the spaces around them. Somehow, my buddies and I were somehow assigned seats in the front row of section 11 in the southeast corner.

*I say “mostly”, because people would still crowd together to avoid being in the tippy-top of south stadium or in the obstructed view rows under the east balcony. But it wasn’t a free-for-all.

The 1994 Nebraska Cornhuskers went 13-0. They were Big Eight champions and played in the Orange Bowl. NU beat Miami in their stadium to win Tom Osborne’s first national championship. I watched it from my roommate’s brother’s apartment in Portland, Oregon. The win sent us cheering into the streets. The next day, we rooted hard for the Oregon Ducks to beat Penn State in the Rose Bowl, but it didn’t matter. Nebraska finished No. 1 in both polls.

1995

In 1995, my roommate and I joined a fraternity. During homecoming week, the guys built a gigantic replica of the Sears Trophy in front of the house. The actual Sears Trophy was in Lincoln that weekend for the game (No. 2 Nebraska vs. No. 8 Kansas State), and the guy who toured it around the country stopped by for a photo op.

As he was getting it set up, he carefully took the Waterford crystal football out of a velvet bag. He looked at me… and handed it to a different guy to hold. Not to be trusted with a $30,000 crystal football, I got to hold the tee the ball rests on.

The 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers went 12-0. They were Big Eight champions and played in the Fiesta Bowl. Proving their ability to run on grass, Nebraska destroyed No. 2 Florida 62-24 to win back-to-back championships. Nebraska was No. 1 in both polls and is widely considered the greatest college football team of all time.

1996

That year, I was living in a corner lot duplex on New Hampshire Street in the Russian Bottoms. On game days, I would sell parking in our yard for $5 a car. Afterwards, I’d meet up with some friends at P.O. Pear’s. I would buy the first two pitchers of beer with the parking money I had made. We’d drink beer, listen to the Paul Phillips Show, watch football on TV, and munch on a Jiffy burger. It was a pretty damn good way to spend a Saturday.

The 1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers went 11-2. A stunning September shutout loss to Arizona State snapped a 26-game winning streak. NU won the first Big 12 North title. A team-wide flu outbreak before the inaugural Big 12 Championship Game likely cost NU the chance to play for a three-peat. Nebraska beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl and finished 6th in both polls.

1997

Some friends and I managed to get tickets to the Missouri game in Columbia. I graduated in December 1997, just a few days after Tom Osborne announced his retirement.

The 1997 Nebraska Cornhuskers went 13-0. They won the Big 12 North and defeated Texas A&M to win their first Big 12 Conference championship. In the Orange Bowl, Nebraska beat Peyton Manning’s Tennessee Volunteers 42-17 to win “at least a share”* of the national championship. Nebraska finished No. 1 in the Coaches’ poll and No. 2 in the AP. The winner of the Coaches’ poll received the Sears Trophy with the $30,000 crystal football. The AP champs got something that looked like it came out of a junior high shop class.

*I will go to my grave convinced that 1997 Nebraska would defeat 1997 Michigan by 14 points on a neutral field. I wouldn’t be surprised if several Michigan players believe that as well.

All told, here’s what Nebraska did when I was in college:

   • 60-3 overall.
   • Three national championships.
   • 2-3 plays away from five straight national championships.
   • Four conference championships.
   • A perfect 32-0 at Memorial Stadium.

My fellow members of the University of Nebraska class of 1997, nobody had it better than us.

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