Staff writer
NU, MU don't dwell on past games
Last year's miraculous touchdown catch by Matt Davison to tie the ballgame at the end of regulation is the freshest memory of the Nebraska-Missouri series in most people's minds.
However, over the years the series has produced many other great games and memories.
Former NU receiver Frosty Anderson remembered Coach Tom Osborne's first game against Missouri in 1973.
The Cornhuskers were ranked second in the Associated Press polls and Anderson was leading the Big Eight in receiving yards.
In the first quarter, Anderson was hit by All-American defensive back John Mosely and separated his shoulder. He remembered watching from the sidelines in the fourth quarter as NU fumbled the ball on its own 6-yard line and a Tiger defender picked it up and took it into the end zone for a 13-6 lead.
The Huskers scored, but Osborne didn't want a tie.
"We went for two to win, but we failed," Anderson said. "Their fans were going crazy."
Osborne went through three decades of MU-NU games.
"They were always physical, hard-hitting games," Osborne recalled. "You knew you better have your chin straps fastened up when you played them."
Other than last year's game, the 1978 game and 1981 games were Osborne's most memorable.
In 1978, the Huskers had just come off their first win against Oklahoma in six years, when Kellen Winslow, James Wilder and the rest of the Tigers came into Lincoln and upset No. 2 NU 35-31.
Linebackers Coach Craig Bohl missed that game with a broken leg, but he remembered the disappointment.
"It was a big emotional letdown," Bohl said.
In addition to the mental anguish, the players were physically beat up too, Bohl said.
"It was a 16-round, knockdown, drag-out fight," Bohl said. "You would go into the training room Monday and it was a MASH unit. Those were the games our guys really enjoyed."
The 1981 game was Turner Gill's second start as a quarterback.
"They blitzed from every angle," Osborne said. "Turner got hit on about every play."
Gill, now in his seventh year as a NU coach, also remembered that 6-0 victory. The Huskers won in the last 20 seconds of the game.
"It was my so-called first big test," Gill said. "I got knocked around all day, but I scored on our last drive."
The next year against the Tigers, Gill didn't make it out of the first half. He was carrying out a fake, when Randy Jostes, a Ralston (Neb.) High School graduate, popped him under the chin, knocking him unconscious.
Many Nebraska fans were furious, calling it a blatant cheap shot. Jostes' parents even received death threats.
Gill doesn't hold any hard feelings.
"I wouldn't personally call it a cheap shot," Gill said.
The Huskers went on to win that game 23-19.
Husker coaches and former players feel the rivalry is back to the intensity it was during the 1970s and early 1980s.
"When I came back to the Big Eight after some time away, we were beating Missouri handily each year," Bohl said. "Now you are seeing Missouri, how Missouri really is. We are prepared for a 16-round donnybrook."
Return to Sports
is a member of the 
