Bo on Going for Two, Recruiting, and More

Randy York’s N-Sider

Welcome to the fourth 2014 installment of The N-Sider’s Five Favorite Bo Pelini Quotes. It’s a doozy because it integrates Pelini, Nebraska’s head football coach, with Tom Osborne, the guy who hired him.  Since Nebraska hosts Miami Saturday night on ESPN2, it was only fitting that Bo’s weekly press conference weaved into a conversation about a series of Nebraska-Miami games with a national championship at stake, including one of the most discussed college football games of all time.  You all know what I’m talking about – Osborne’s decision to go for a two-point conversion to beat Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl to win the title without any discussion instead of kicking the high-percentage extra point that still would have left Nebraska as 1983’s only unbeaten team.

Barry Switzer and a small army of others announced they would have directed their teams to kick the extra point, apparently so they could plan a national championship celebration and see a hefty raise on their pay stub.  But not Tom Osborne, and not Bo Pelini either. At Monday’s weekly presser, a television reporter asked Bo if he would have gone for two in that infamous Orange Bowl, and Bo did not even hesitate.  “Yeah, I would have,” he answered immediately.  But before we come back to Bo’s interesting connection to the Hurricane team that upset Nebraska under that unforgettable moon over Miami, let’s give Bo a healthy round of Big Red applause for being in the “Go For Two, Right Thing to Do” camp.  Bo’s response provided the ideal opportunity to check out the originator of an interesting tee-shirt I’ve seen in Lincoln’s trendy Haymarket Area, which also happens to be a new home for The Best of Big Red retail business owned and operated by Osborne Family Enterprises.  It was no surprise to me to discover that Mike Osborne, Tom’s son, came up with the idea, and the story he shared with me Monday afternoon adds a whole new twist to that often discussed strategy to go for it all.

Mike Osborne Takes ‘Full Blame’ for Wrong Call

“I was on the sideline at the 1984 Orange Bowl,” Mike told me.  “I was an 18-year-old kid holding my dad’s headphone cords."  After Jeff Smith scored a touchdown in the final minute to pull Nebraska within 31-30, "I was celebrating while my dad took off up the sideline to send in the two-point play,”  Mike recalled.  "I distinctly remember my dad’s head jerking back” from the tight cords while giving his only son “a quick but pained look" before sending in the play.  Let the record show that “I take full blame for my dad forgetting the play he had in mind before the whiplash incident,” Mike quipped.  “Luckily, he’s still heralded for going for two.  In fact, I think his legend has been embellished by the failure of that play, and I take full credit for it.”  For those who like a good yarn, please know that the Real Men Go For Two tee-shirt was Mike’s idea “to help us celebrate this heroic failure” at the family's new Haymarket store, located across from the Hilton Garden Inn on 8th Street.

Bo’s Family Knew Kosar’s Family Well in Ohio

Now that we’re back to our regularly scheduled Five Favorite Bo Quotes, you’ve probably figured out that Bo’s four-word “Yeah, I would have” quote ranks as the launch pad for this column because Bo grew up near Bernie Kosar’s family in Youngstown, Ohio.  Kosar was Miami’s redshirt freshman quarterback who led the Hurricanes to that improbable upset.  “We knew his family. I knew his family,” Bo said Monday.  “I know Nebraska lost that game, but I remember they dominated the second half and just kind of ran out of time there at the end.  They (Nebraska) might have been one of the best football teams that I remember as a kid.”  Since The N-Sider has deviated from our normal format for this historic Nebraska vs. Miami week that will celebrate the Huskers’ 24-17 come-from-behind win over the Hurricanes in the 1995 Orange Bowl, we transition from Real Men Go For Two to the Huskers' upcoming major recruiting weekend, plus NU’s dramatic improvement in special teams and what Bo thinks of quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr.’s penchant to hurdle defenders.  Here are the last four of this week’s Five Favorite Bo Pelini Quotes:

4) On the importance of a great atmosphere Saturday night to inspire a “pretty good contingent of recruits” to watch Nebraska celebrate the 20th anniversary of Tom Osborne’s first national championship team:“The night game helps you.  I think we’re going to have a great crowd.  I think it’ll be important for us.  We’ve had good success recruiting as far as getting guys in this time of year.”

3) On the early season timing of entertaining recruits who may be making their first visit to any school: “We’re always weighing the pluses and minuses. I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong answer.  As far as Nebraska and the way we sell this place, they see the game atmosphere; they see the people, the tradition … you hope that whatever impressions are made, we want it to be a long-lasting one because he’s going to see a lot of things between now and when the signing date comes.”

2) On how pleased he is with the way Nebraska’s special teams have played: “We’ve seen De’Mornay (Pierson-El) is a guy that can do some things with the ball in his hands. I thought we blocked well for him. I thought we had a good plan and we executed it.  I’ve said this before.  I was probably being a little too conservative in that area a year ago. We’ve made a conscious effort to do some different things, mix some things up and have some different looks, and we’ve put a lot of time in it.”

1) On if he thinks Armstrong should remain physical and not play it safe: “I wish he wouldn’t try to hurdle guys. That makes me nervous when I see him coming down on his right shoulder. I’m not going to say 100 percent because I can’t control everything, but I don’t think you’re going to be seeing that again anytime soon … that’s a part of growing … he’s a competitive guy that has some physicality to him. But there’s a time to do it and a time to go ahead and take a slide.”  To reinforce Coach Bo’s rather staunch point, we publish a photo of Nebraska’s Miles Ukaoma, a Maize, Kan., native who won the NCAA 400-meter hurdles last June in Eugene, Ore.  Miles has cleared hurdles and run sprints for most of his life.  Know this: Even though it’s not easy to clear barriers with sprinter speed, Miles (above) would be the first to tell you that nobody’s trying to tackle him when he goes airborne.  The same is not true for Tommy.  There’s a reason he wears a helmet and pads when he takes the field.  Leave the hurdling to the hurdlers wearing shorts.  It helps coaches, teammates, and fans know that you fully intend to make it back to the huddle.

Send a comment to ryork@huskers.com (Include city, state)

Follow Randy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RandyYorkNsider

Randy’s N-Sider Blog Archive

Randy’s N-Sider Column Archive