I have posted this before in the middle of some obscure thread, but figured it would be worth a read on it's own. I had the "privilege" years ago to work in an office full of Oklahoma and A&M grads and unfortunately all of their football talk was about shared hatred of Texas and how life was better before the BIG12.
Oklahoma was an old Big 8 team and boy did those 17ers hate Nebraska. They filled me in on Prop 48 and Osborne's dynasty.
Nebraska and Osborne were too far from Texas to compete with the SWC and Oklahoma schools for the high school talent in Texas, but they didn't have to really compete for "their" type of players. Most conferences had limits of 5 or so prop 48 players, but the Big 8 had no such limit.
Prop 48 players are academic partial and non qualifiers that would ordinarily be destined for JUCO, but not if Nebraska came calling. They had way more than anybody else and it's how they built recruiting footholds in hotbeds like Florida and Texas.
In the Big12 the members voted to only allow 4 partial qualifiers per year for the entire school 2 of which had to be girls and only one in any given sport. Non qualifiers were completely ineligible. Osborne bitched endlessly about having to get out of the "heppin" business and it's no coincidence that the Big 12's first year was 1996 and Osborne retired in 1997.
He knew what became the truth over the next 2 decades. Nobody was coming to Lincoln NE from Florida and very few would drive past all the other big 12 schools in Texas and Oklahoma from the Texas ranks.
Nebraska held on via reputation for a little while, but without the talent that nobody else was allowed to take, they have fallen a long, long way. Osborne carries legend status, but the reality is he won big because he had a ridiculous advantage in being able to recruit non qualifiers. They were the original Last Chance U.
https://vault.si.com/vault/1996/01/15/headed-for-a-fall-nebraska-may-win-another-national-title-but-the-days-when-such-a-colossus-ruled-the-game-are-over
NIL and the transfer portal may become a fresh opportunity for Nebraska to recruit talent that would otherwise never dream of heading to Lincoln and if the administration is smart they will hire a snake oil salesmen like Freeze to make the most of it.. it's their only shot at regaining relevance.
Oklahoma was an old Big 8 team and boy did those 17ers hate Nebraska. They filled me in on Prop 48 and Osborne's dynasty.
Nebraska and Osborne were too far from Texas to compete with the SWC and Oklahoma schools for the high school talent in Texas, but they didn't have to really compete for "their" type of players. Most conferences had limits of 5 or so prop 48 players, but the Big 8 had no such limit.
Prop 48 players are academic partial and non qualifiers that would ordinarily be destined for JUCO, but not if Nebraska came calling. They had way more than anybody else and it's how they built recruiting footholds in hotbeds like Florida and Texas.
In the Big12 the members voted to only allow 4 partial qualifiers per year for the entire school 2 of which had to be girls and only one in any given sport. Non qualifiers were completely ineligible. Osborne bitched endlessly about having to get out of the "heppin" business and it's no coincidence that the Big 12's first year was 1996 and Osborne retired in 1997.
He knew what became the truth over the next 2 decades. Nobody was coming to Lincoln NE from Florida and very few would drive past all the other big 12 schools in Texas and Oklahoma from the Texas ranks.
Nebraska held on via reputation for a little while, but without the talent that nobody else was allowed to take, they have fallen a long, long way. Osborne carries legend status, but the reality is he won big because he had a ridiculous advantage in being able to recruit non qualifiers. They were the original Last Chance U.
https://vault.si.com/vault/1996/01/15/headed-for-a-fall-nebraska-may-win-another-national-title-but-the-days-when-such-a-colossus-ruled-the-game-are-over
NIL and the transfer portal may become a fresh opportunity for Nebraska to recruit talent that would otherwise never dream of heading to Lincoln and if the administration is smart they will hire a snake oil salesmen like Freeze to make the most of it.. it's their only shot at regaining relevance.
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