It was the era of mesh jerseys, oversized pads, and classic facemasks. Bowl games with questionable selection criteria were the determining factor for crowning a champion. The internet was still a fledgling curiosity that had not yet spawned its first “fire our coach” web page and no official had yet uttered the word “targeting.” The idea of an 18-team super conference was fanciful at best, ridiculous at worst. It was college football in 1999, and it was perfect.
The Huskers of that year were elite, the end result of a formula tinkered with over decades and perfected during the dominance of the mid-’90s. Quick-twitch athletes from reputed speed states manned the secondary while homegrown talent anchored the lines and position changes occurred to make the defense just a hair faster—these were the quintessential components of a ’90s-era team. The 1999 squad embodied them all and the result was a championship football team.
But their road to greatness wasn’t a straight line, nor did it start with the loftiest of expectations. The Huskers entered 1999 somewhat tattered, their aura diminished. 1998 saw the Huskers stumble to a then-unthinkable four losses, the most since 1968. Their seven-year home-win streak, the longest in the sport, was razed in a loss to unranked Texas. Patchwork lineups cobbled together out of necessity in the wake of an injury pandemic left the Huskers looking clunky and more vulnerable than they had in a generation. They’d limp off to the Holiday Bowl, an end to their 17-year streak of “major” bowl games.
Suddenly, Nebraska looked less like the Goliath of Tempe Fiesta Bowl fame and more like the David of the late ’80s and early ’90s, swinging and missing at southern schools in a desperate grab at national respect. They were good, sure, but no longer a team to be feared.
But they’d exit the ‘99 season as arguably the best team in the country, finishing No. 2 in the coaches poll despite not playing in the title game. Their defense was nothing short of otherworldly, their quarterback, Heisman-caliber, and their special teams were some of the best they ever put forth onto the gridiron.
Sadly, they were also the last of the great teams Nebraska has fielded to this date. They’ve had good teams and even some sensational players in the last 25 years, but no team that belonged among the best of the sport in their particular year. But because of their lack of a national championship, the ‘99 squad is often forgotten among the shinier trophies that occupy the display case in Memorial Stadium.
Here’s an ode to their forgotten greatness.