Since the Cats are playing Nebraska tomorrow, I thought I would wallow in a little nostalgia.
In 1995, Wheaties printed two different champion’s boxes, depicting helmets held high in triumph while sporting the letter N. For Northwestern and Nebraska fans, it is a year still talked about. Nebraska finished the year on a 25 game winning streak by demolishing Florida, having won every game on its schedule by at least two touchdowns. Northwestern, after 23 consecutive losing seasons won the B1G, upsetting Norte Dame and Michigan on the road and also demolishing Wisconsin 35-0 on homecoming.
In remembering that year, there were a few things working to make college football interesting, and both schools competitive, that to me put 1995 in a golden era of college football that is now passed and not likely to be duplicated in the foreseeable future.
A big driver of success for both teams that year was the reduction in scholarship limits that had brought the total number for what is now FBS schools from 105 to 95 in 1988 and then 85 in 1994. Nebraska and Northwestern both benefitted from the reductions. For Northwestern, the reduction of the traditional “have” schools’ scholarship player count, where very good players were recruited to an OSU or Michigan to languish on the bench, freed a cadre of solid players to decide to accept a scholarship to a school like Northwestern. For a time, the stranglehold of a small number of traditional powers was broken, and the was greater parity in the power conferences.
At the same time, Nebraska, already a very good program before reduction, used Tom Osborne’s acumen to build a model that used its option offense to mix exceptional scholarship recruits with an army of local walk-ins who had run the system in high school, essentially recreating a numeric advantage the higher scholarship limits had afforded blue blood programs prior to the reductions. Nebraska invested the money it got from large home gates in facilities like weight rooms and personnel to develop outstanding linemen, and were simply better than the teams they played, an anomaly as the rest of CFB moved to more parity.
The other big event that shaped 1995 was the growth of cable television programming. ESPN2 was launched in 1993. Modest subscription packages made most games available on TV, giving broader access to viewers. At the same time, royalties had not gone through the roof, and gate receipts still drove athletic department budgets. Most games started at 1 on Saturday afternoon, but you could tape a game you wanted to watch if you were at the stadium.
In short, college football in 1995 had a landscape where a smart coach, like Gary Barnett or Tom Osborne could build an exceptional team at a school that in other eras might not be possible, and a fan could enjoy a game at the stadium on Saturday afternoon, as well as a taped game of choice on Saturday night, which had not been possible just a few years before
The era that included 1995 is clearly over. The money that cable and now streaming access brought, with the emphasis on the CFP rather than regional dominance re-established a hierarchy where a few schools dominate recruiting. The relaxation of transfer rules reinforced this, and NIL put yet another heavy thumb on the scale. The money that drives the system has also moved games from 1 on Saturday to 11, 3:30, Saturday night, Friday and Thursday nights as well. For the Cats, 1995 had Wisconsin at 11 and PSU as a late start; the rest of the games were played in the heart of the afternoon.The money also allowed the “have” teams to pay coaching salaries, both for head coaches and assistants, that rival those of the NFL. The regional rivalries are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and the college football world wonders only whether Alabama will play OSU, Clemson or Georgia for the title.
I miss the world of 1995 when Nebraska and Northwestern were on the Wheaties box. I still have mine with the purple helmet with a white N, and my two brothers in law still have theirs with a white helmet and a red N.
In 1995, Wheaties printed two different champion’s boxes, depicting helmets held high in triumph while sporting the letter N. For Northwestern and Nebraska fans, it is a year still talked about. Nebraska finished the year on a 25 game winning streak by demolishing Florida, having won every game on its schedule by at least two touchdowns. Northwestern, after 23 consecutive losing seasons won the B1G, upsetting Norte Dame and Michigan on the road and also demolishing Wisconsin 35-0 on homecoming.
In remembering that year, there were a few things working to make college football interesting, and both schools competitive, that to me put 1995 in a golden era of college football that is now passed and not likely to be duplicated in the foreseeable future.
A big driver of success for both teams that year was the reduction in scholarship limits that had brought the total number for what is now FBS schools from 105 to 95 in 1988 and then 85 in 1994. Nebraska and Northwestern both benefitted from the reductions. For Northwestern, the reduction of the traditional “have” schools’ scholarship player count, where very good players were recruited to an OSU or Michigan to languish on the bench, freed a cadre of solid players to decide to accept a scholarship to a school like Northwestern. For a time, the stranglehold of a small number of traditional powers was broken, and the was greater parity in the power conferences.
At the same time, Nebraska, already a very good program before reduction, used Tom Osborne’s acumen to build a model that used its option offense to mix exceptional scholarship recruits with an army of local walk-ins who had run the system in high school, essentially recreating a numeric advantage the higher scholarship limits had afforded blue blood programs prior to the reductions. Nebraska invested the money it got from large home gates in facilities like weight rooms and personnel to develop outstanding linemen, and were simply better than the teams they played, an anomaly as the rest of CFB moved to more parity.
The other big event that shaped 1995 was the growth of cable television programming. ESPN2 was launched in 1993. Modest subscription packages made most games available on TV, giving broader access to viewers. At the same time, royalties had not gone through the roof, and gate receipts still drove athletic department budgets. Most games started at 1 on Saturday afternoon, but you could tape a game you wanted to watch if you were at the stadium.
In short, college football in 1995 had a landscape where a smart coach, like Gary Barnett or Tom Osborne could build an exceptional team at a school that in other eras might not be possible, and a fan could enjoy a game at the stadium on Saturday afternoon, as well as a taped game of choice on Saturday night, which had not been possible just a few years before
The era that included 1995 is clearly over. The money that cable and now streaming access brought, with the emphasis on the CFP rather than regional dominance re-established a hierarchy where a few schools dominate recruiting. The relaxation of transfer rules reinforced this, and NIL put yet another heavy thumb on the scale. The money that drives the system has also moved games from 1 on Saturday to 11, 3:30, Saturday night, Friday and Thursday nights as well. For the Cats, 1995 had Wisconsin at 11 and PSU as a late start; the rest of the games were played in the heart of the afternoon.The money also allowed the “have” teams to pay coaching salaries, both for head coaches and assistants, that rival those of the NFL. The regional rivalries are rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and the college football world wonders only whether Alabama will play OSU, Clemson or Georgia for the title.
I miss the world of 1995 when Nebraska and Northwestern were on the Wheaties box. I still have mine with the purple helmet with a white N, and my two brothers in law still have theirs with a white helmet and a red N.
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