Huskers, Hurricanes to renew historic rivalry in 2014

College football will see the revival of a historic rivalry in the coming years, as perennial national champions Nebraska and the University of Miami are expected to declare an agreement to a two-game series in September 2014 and 2015.
The two sides have met 10 times, twice with national titles at stake, and now look to reestablish a dominance over college football that has waned in the past seasons. “I can confirm that UM and Nebraska have agreed in principle to the home-and-home series that would send us to Lincoln in 2014 and Nebraska to Miami in 2015,” UM athletic director Kirby Hocutt told the Miami Herald. “It will be a good series.”
Nebraska and Miami first met in 1983 when the Hurricanes, under legendary coach Howard Schnellenberger, won their first national title with a thrilling 31-30 victory in the Orange Bowl Classic.
The ‘Canes would get the better of the Cornhuskers in another title game, 18 years later. Under rookie head coach Larry Coker, UM easily took the 2001 Rose Bowl, 37-14, clinching its fifth and final national title in program history. 
Nebraska has matched Miami’s national title count with five of its own, with three coming in the past 15 years under Tom Osborne and the vaunted triple-option offense. Combined, the two programs dominated the landscape of college football in an almost unprecedented level during the 1980s and 1990s, combining for eight national titles in an 18-year span from 1983 to 2001.
The two sides have split their encounters 5-5, with Nebraska holding a 3-1 edge in regular season games.
However, recent seasons have not been as fruitful for either the Hurricanes or the Cornhuskers, as both teams have spent years mired in the fringes of mediocrity.
Nebraska limped into a 5-7 record last season and made drastic changes to its football program, replacing unpopular coach Bill Callahan and even less popular athletic director Steve Pederson. With Osborne returning to guide the program and former assistant coach Bo Pelini now running the football team, the ‘Huskers have returned to their roots.
Across the nation, Miami has fallen from grace under a cloud of arrests and poor performances, finally overshadowed by its instate rival Florida. They have combined for a 12-13 record in the last two seasons and were unranked in preseason polls for the first time since 1998.

Comments

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Verify you are human:

Enter the characters in the image above: