GavinN

Back in 2012, when Dave Hoffmann and I collaborated on a book about his Husky Football career (The Husky Hitman), one of my favorite parts was talking about my favorite Husky game of all time... September 21, 1991. Memorial Stadium in Lincon, Nebraska. Washington 36, Nebraska 21. The night the college football world found out what Don James had assembled up in Seattle. "Playing at Husky Stadium was great," Hoffmann said. "But there was always something special about putting on the black hat and going into the other guy's backyard." It was ABC’s national broadcast, on prime-time television, a suffocating sea of red inside Memorial Stadium. For 2.5 quarters, Nebraska coach Tom Osborne’s juggernaut harbored a 14-9 lead. Late third quarter, Washington's Beno Bryant stood at his own 10-yard line waiting to field a punt. But he muffed it and Nebraska recovered. Moments later, tailback Derek Brown rumbled across the goalline, giving the Cornhuskers a 21-9 lead. On the Husky bench, Beno Bryant sat down feeling distraught. Had his gaffe cost his team the game? As Beno told me years later, Billy Joe Hobert suddenly came up to him, grabbed his neck and said "We're not going to lose this game!" and then walked off. Somehow, Beno felt a giant sense of relief, even though the Huskies trailed by 12 points. Memorial Stadium was a raucous throng of 76,000 screaming fans celebrating a win in the making. The bullies from the Big 8 were taking it to the kids from the west coast. But then came the turn. And it wasn't just a comeback; it was a detonation. Steve Emtman, Dave Hoffmann, Donald Jones, Walter Bailey, Dana Hall, Tyrone Rogers, Chico Fraley and all the guys on that magnificent defense rose up and took control. On offense, sophomore Billy Joe Hobert played the game of his life, and Beno Bryant and Jay Berry both went over 100 yards rushing, aided by the supreme blocking of Lincoln Kennedy, Ed Cunningham and company up front. In the final nineteen minutes of play, Washington outscored Nebraska 27-0. You could see the Cornhusker sideline wilting under the lights, a bunch of bewildered farm boys wondering what had hit them. In a battle of legendary coaches, Don James had topped Tom Osborne. Washington 36, Nebraska 21. ABC's Keith Jackson showered the Huskies with praise, while commentator Bob Griese tried to diagnose what went wrong for Nebraska. But all told, the Dawgs didn't just win a football game that night -- they stamped a passport that would lead to a national championship. Now, thirty-five years later, here we are again. This Saturday night, the Huskies will step onto the green turf of Lincoln's Memorial Stadium for a prime time kickoff. But oh, how times have changed! There are no national title ramifications or coronations to be had. The grandeur of yesteryear has given way to modern anxiety: "Fisch won't really play Demond Williams over Elijah Brown, will he?" Beyond that, it's a nervous hope that our Huskies take to the national stage and not get embarrassed by an utterly mediocre Nebraska outfit. And maybe, just maybe, our boys can rise up again behind quarterback Elijah Brown to secure a second straight win and start building some honest-to-goodness momentum for a change.