I am a big fan of The Office. For a TV show that is a fictional look at a mid-level paper company, it does a great job of exploring deeper messages of love, positivity, and finding the right time for things in your life. During the final episode, Andy Bernard comes back to The Office and says, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you have actually left them.” This quote has been put onto a million different cheap T-shirts and is shared at every first day event to get people to live in the moment. I wanna take this in a different approach and share it with all of you. As a Cornhusker fan, I lived in the Bo Pelini era and thought to myself about how awesome it was year after year to watch these high-level players move on to play Sundays. Being able to watch all of these kids live out their dreams of playing for the hometown team, the powerhouse, the 90’s golden child of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

In 2014, after the firing of Bo Pelini, Nebraska didn’t have a direct way to take it. They wanted to go back to the good old days of winning titles and playing Oklahoma and Colorado, but they were far away from that. Nebraska wanted to be title contenders, and they had the guy they thought could get them there. In Oregon, they had an Offensive coordinator who just led his team with Marcus Mariota to the 1st CFP and pushed them to a national title. They knew him very well has he was a Nebraska boy and was the QB of the 1997 title team. Scott Frost was the top candidate to lead the Huskers into a new era of gold… but it didn’t happen. A lot of people don’t know what caused the Cornhuskers to move in a different direction, but he wasn’t hired and would stay on at Oregon. Instead, they traveled north to another Oregon school and grabbed the long-time head coach of the Beavers… welcome to the party, Mike Riley!

2015:

So… I have already covered the start to this season in a previous part. If you did not read Part 1, then you can go there and read the info, but a TLDR to start the Mike Riley era: Taysom Hill ends the game with a massive Hail Mary caught to give the Huskers a crushing loss. The Huskers started the season like the past couple with 4 non-conference opponents and would go 3-1, with the only loss being in Miami (FL) in a barn burner. It was a solid game where QB Tommy Armstrong Jr. would throw 4 TDs to different WRs. Mike Riley would then get a taste of Big Ten Action! Riley would start his season with a 1-4 record, with only a win versus Minnesota. In the 4 losses, they had 3 one-score losses (More on these things later) and a loss at Purdue, in which the teams combined to score 100 points in a 55-45 loss. The difference in the game came down to Ryker Fyfe throwing 4 INTs. Then, to this day, Nebraska had one of the craziest games in the history of their program.

Michigan State was coming to town; they, at the time, were undefeated at 8-0 with a top 10 win versus Oregon and a big win over #12 Michigan. The whole first half was very close, with Memorial Stadium rocking. I remember feeling the game was out of the Huskers' hands when the Spartans put in 2 TDs in a row to finish out the 3rd to give them an 11-point lead. The Huskers scored to start the 4th, but with Gerald Holmes putting one in with 4 minutes left down by 12, there was no coming back. Nebraska engineered a 53-yard drive in just 2 and a half minutes and had the timeouts to use. They just needed to stop #7 Michigan State from moving for a first down. Michigan State would run it 3 times and would take the delay before punting. The Huskers had to go 91 yards in 55 seconds… all of the state holds its breath.

Play 1: 28 yards to Jordan Westerkamp

Play 2: 33 yards to Jordan Westerkamp… We got a shot!

Play 3: Incomplete, 17 seconds on the clock

Play 4: TD…?

One of the most controversial calls in Big Ten history. Brandon Riley would catch the ball, but there would be a talk. Riley clearly had been out of bounds before catching the ball, which would take the TD off the board and put the Huskers back at the 30 to try and score, but the refs ruled Michigan State had pushed him out of bounds. This ruling allowed him to come back in and catch the ball legally, keeping the touchdown, and would allow the Huskers to pull off the huge upset against the Spartans to the glee of Nebraska.

Nebraska would get its next win against Rutgers and go into the Iowa game not needing to win for a bowl game. This was probably good due to the fact Iowa was ranked #3 in the country and looking to wipe the floor with the Huskers to finish the season undefeated and move to the final move to make the CFP. The Huskers would hang with the team until, finally, a Jordan Canzari 68-yard rushing TD sealed the deal, allowing Iowa to escape. In the final game of the season, Nebraska would win their bowl game against a Josh Rosen-led UCLA team, powered by 4 Nebraska rushing touchdowns. This would be the final bowl win for a while…

2016:

We have arrived, everyone. 2016 was the year the bell tolled in my opinion. The final year of Nebraska being able to hold onto anything that resembled the past. 2016 was the final year of being a powerhouse. To start the season, Mike Riley would win 7 straight, including a 35-32 win over #22 Oregon. To this day, going into the 2026 season is the last time the Nebraska Cornhuskers have won a game against a ranked team. They are 0-30 in the last 30 games they have played. This upcoming season, Nebraska is slated to play 5 ranked teams (according to the preseason poll), and I don’t know when it will end. The game was exciting, with the Huskers squeezing out the win. A lot of the games were close 1- or 2-score games, but wins nonetheless. Nebraska would get up to #7 in the AP poll, going to Camp Randall to play old foes in Wisconsin in a 7 vs 11 matchup. This by no means was a blowout, with Nebraska and Wisconsin keeping it close due to bad offense on both sides, but 2 INTs by Armstrong, Nebraska did not have enough to overcome the rushing attack by Wisconsin, with Dare Ogunbowale having 120 yards and a touchdown. Wisconsin would win 23-17, handing the Huskers their first loss.

The next week, Nebraska would stay in the top 10 for an official top 10 matchup against Ohio State in the Shoe. Everyone was hyped for the game, knowing we were so close the last week, and with this win we could propel ourselves to an excellent spot to contend in the Big Ten. A quick INT by Armstrong would be taken back, but then Nebraska would lead a nice drive for a field goal to make the game 7-3…

By the end of the game, Nebraska would lose 63-3 in an absolute demolition of the team. One of the worst losses I have ever seen with my own 2 eyes.

Nebraska would rebound with 2 more wins, moving themselves to 9-2 for the Iowa game, where Iowa would wait. The Huskers would have no luck with this as Iowa would beat the Huskers, who would lose 40-10 and bump the Huskers further down the AP Poll with little hope for the bowl game. The Huskers would pull the Volunteers for their bowl game in Nashville for the Music City Bowl. They would lose to Joshua “The Passtronaut” Dobbs behind a 4-touchdown effort, including 3 on the ground. This would be the last bowl game until 2024. 8 years without a bowl. Into the teeth of this nightmare we go!

2017:

After a season where the Huskers were looking to make a run at the big goal, the floor is immediately pulled out. Nebraska would start the season out this year with 3 non-conference teams. They would go 1-2 with losses to Oregon and… Northern Illinois. The Oregon one most could understand, as the offense gave it a good go, but the loss to Northern Illinois had Nebraska immediately calling for Riley’s firing. They were not completely wrong in that, with the team going down 14-0 to start the game, both being Pick 6s, and having them claw back to take the lead in the 4th only to give up another touchdown and lose 21-17 behind 3 INTs by Tanner Lee, who would have a… strange season. He would be drafted in the 2018 NFL Draft in a class loaded with QB talent, never really seeing the field for any of the teams he was on.

After these games, they would win versus Rutgers and Illinois before going 1-6 to finish the season. This included the next 2 games being ranked losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State at home, and 4 straight losses to end the season, with the final game being a 56-14 dream killer of a game versus the Hawkeyes, with both teams being unranked and the whole state being out on Mike Riley, who got to buy out and was kicked to the curb.

The only difference between the firing and firings I have covered before is that we knew who was going to be the next coach. There was a head coach who just went 13-0 and was claiming to have the national title. He had a connection to the program and the winning era of Nebraska Football, as he was the 1997 QB. Everyone knew it was getting Frosty in Nebraska! 

 

Not everyone knew… it was an ice age!