Nebraska Football is Honored as Co-Team of The Decade in the 1990s

Nebraska football’s glory days, remembered fondly by the faithful, have earned its place in history. Five national championships, All-Americans everywhere, pride resonating throughout the state and across Husker nation.

Good times … some thought they would never end.

Nebraska’s successes recently were honored by CBS Sports, which selected college football teams of the decade, starting with the 1920s.

But for the Huskers, it was a shared honor — the only one. Nebraska shared the team of the decade for the 1990s with Florida State.

Co-team of the 1990s

Nebraska’s run in the 1990s capped a three-decade run of excellence for the Huskers. CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson also selected the Huskers for honorable mention in the 1970s and the 1980s.

The other decades each had only one team honored. Curious.

Nebraska and FSU are worthy, for sure. That isn’t in dispute. Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier was the catalyst of the 1995 national championship team. He missed seven games in the national title season of 1994 with an injury. The Huskers' other title in the 1990s was a shared one with Michigan in 1997. Frazier was the Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1995 behind Ohio State running back Eddie George.

About the Huskers, Patterson wrote: “Nebraska … ended a national title drought that spanned back to 1971. Tom Osborne built that consistency through the 1970s and 1980s, but it was not until the middle of this decade that everything clicked into place for a firework-like finale to his Hall of Fame career.

“The Cornhuskers went 60-3 from 1993-97, claiming at least a share of the national championship in three of Osborne’s final four seasons.

“Nebraska may not have had the year-to-year consistency of Florida State throughout the 1990s, but three national titles (to FSU’s two) and a top-three finish by Frank Solich in 1999 helped solidify the case for a true co-champion honor. It’s fitting, I guess, that the last decade of shared championships includes the honor shared honors for this feature.”

Why Florida State

About the Seminoles, Patterson wrote: “The Seminoles never finished lower than No. 4 in the AP poll throughout the decade and won the national championship in 1993 and 1999.

Bobby Bowden led Florida State to two national titles in the 1990s. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“The truly stunning statistics showcasing Florida State’s peak under Bobby Bowden stretch back to 1987 and through 2000 [double-digit wins and top-five finishes in every season], but it was in the 1990s that the spear was planted in the sport and the Seminoles became synonymous with college football at the highest levels.”

Why choose only one team?

Our beef with the dual selection: Pick one. Make a decision; it’s your feature. Sometimes you’ll see news organizations select high school all-star teams and, say, pick nine first-teamers for basketball instead of five.

The theory, as we understand it, is to honor more kids. A rebuttal, as always, is: You’re not honoring more kids, you’re taking away from the five kids who actually deserve first-team recognition.

Anyway …

Patterson wrote about why they split honors: “Splitting hairs between Nebraska, which had been knocking on the door of Tom Osborne’s title-winning breakthrough for decades, and a Florida State program that had just started throwing haymakers against the sport’s best is too difficult.

“Celebrating both programs is necessary to the story of college football in the 1990s, so to make it up to you, we will award NO HONORABLE MENTIONS and stick to focusing on why Florida State and Nebraska stand out among the rest.”

Nebraska’s record in the 1990s: 108-16-1. Florida State’s: 109-13-1.

Members of the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers national championship offense meet on the sidelines in game vs. Northwestern. — Members of the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers national championship offense meet on the sidelines during a break in the game against Northwestern. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With the records so close, some might think Nebraska’s third national title should carry weight over FSU’s two national titles. Any national championship is difficult to win. Nebraska won three of them in the 1990s, more than any other program.

The Huskers fall short of FSU in AP final rankings in the decade with six times in the top 6. They finished 19th in 1998, one year after sharing the national title with Michigan.

The other teams of the decade:

Nebraska had excellent teams in the 1970s and 1980s but came up short in CBS Sports’ viewpoint. In the 1970s, USC was the team of the decade with Alabama (103-16-1), Oklahoma (102-13-3) and Nebraska (98-20-4) as honorable mentions. Johnny Rodgers was dynamic with the ball in his hands as the Huskers won national titles in 1970 and 1971.

In the 1980s, Miami was the team of the decade with Nebraska and Penn State as honorable mentions. Nebraska had eight seasons with double-digit wins in the 1980s and it won nine games in the other two seasons.

The list:

1920s: Notre Dame (83-11-3)

1930s: Alabama (79-11-5)

Honorable mention: USC (72-25-9), Tennessee (79-17-4)

1940s: 1940s: Notre Dame (82-9-6)

Honorable mention: Army (68-17-7)

1950s: Oklahoma (93-10-2)

1960s: Alabama (90-16-4)

Honorable mentions: Texas (86-19-3), USC (76-25-5)

1970s: USC (93-22-7)

Honorable mentions: Alabama (103-16-1), Oklahoma (102-13-3), Nebraska (98-20-4)

1980s: Miami (99-20)

Honorable mention: Nebraska (103-20), Penn State (89-28-2)

Nebraska coach Tom Osborne on the sidelines during the 1988 season at Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

1990s: Nebraska (108-16-1), Florida State (109-13-1)

2000s: Florida (100-30)

Honorable mentions: Oklahoma (110-24), Texas (110-19)

2010s: Alabama (124-15)

2020s: Georgia (73-9)

Honorable mention: Ohio State (66-11)

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.

Add us as a preferred source on Google