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Frank Dailey heads for the goal line with his first-quarter interception.



“Stop Grange, and we win.” That was the thinking of new Nebraska coach Ernest Bearg going into the 1925 opener against his former employer, Illinois, and its electrifying halfback, Harold “Red” Grange.

Easier said than done, but on this October day on the Illini’s rain-soaked home field, Bearg’s plan was executed beautifully. NU had a future Hall-of-Famer of its own, tackle Ed Weir, and the senior captain led a charge which over and over again halted the Galloping Ghost before he could get started.

Stop Grange they did, and win they did. The final: Nebraska 14, Illinois 0.

Grange, starting his third and final season for Illinois, never got close to the end zone, and he couldn’t uncork any of his usual newsreel-worthy open-field jaunts. He finished with a little more than three yards per carry.

The Associated Press reported: “Grange, unable to pierce the magnificent Nebraska defense and thwarted in his efforts to circle the ends, was taken out of the game a few seconds after the start of the fourth period broken and crushed. As the noted player, covered with mud from head to foot, walked to the sidelines, tears gathered in his eyes and he fell into the waiting arms of his comrades.”

Asked how he had done it, Weir stated simply: “I just saw which way he was running, and I ran after him and tackled him.” Tackle Lon Stiner, center Harold Hutchinson and end Joe Weir also were credited with key roles in shutting down the Iceman, who was running behind a relatively green line.

On the game’s opening possession, NU failed to muster a first down, and Grange returned Ed Weir’s punt 15 yards to set up the Illini at their own 35. But three plays later, Cornhusker fullback Frank Dailey intercepted a Grange pass and raced into the end zone, sidestepping Grange along the way, to give Nebraska a 7-0 lead.

The middle two quarters saw neither team able to mount much of a scoring threat. One exception was a Nebraska possession that penetrated the Illinois 30 but ended with a dropkick by John “Jug” Brown that went wide.

In the fourth period, after Grange had departed, NU guard Walter Scholz intercepted an Illinois pass to put the Huskers in business around the Illini 40. On the next play, halfback John “Choppy” Rhodes broke free off right tackle and kept going until he was forced out of bounds inside the 5. Two plays later, Rhodes got the touchdown on a 2-yard run.

When Nebraska players went No. 1, 7 and 8 in the 1937 NFL draft, it must’ve been big news, right?

Not exactly. The 10-team league wasn’t the gold mine it is today, and it wasn’t unusual for top players to choose other careers. Though the league had been around for 15 seasons, this was just the second NFL draft.

So when Nebraska’s Sam Francis went No. 1, followed soon after by Lloyd Cardwell and Les McDonald, the Sunday Journal and Star gave the story a scant five paragraphs on the second sports page. Much bigger news was that the very same Husker trio had been selected for the East-West all-star game. The draft was also upstaged by Francis’ selection as a first-team All-American.

Yet what happened on Dec. 12, 1936 – the actual date of the ’37 draft – has never quite been matched in Husker history. In 1972, there were three first-rounders, but none was a top-ten pick. And while the 1984 draft saw Irving Fryar and Dean Steinkuhler go first and second, there was no third top-ten pick for the Huskers – but perhaps only because Mike Rozier had opted for the USFL. (He would be selected No. 2 in a special supplemental draft a month after the main draft.)

 Ed Weir, age 47, kicks the game's first PAT

HIGH-SCORING 1950 TEAM STRUGGLED MIGHTILY IN APRIL
13-13 tie vs. the alums is a prime example of how spring games don’t always tell us much



Of Nebraska’s five dozen officially recognized spring games, the very first one – 60 years ago today – surely ranks as one of the least accurate foreshadowers of the fall season.

The Varsity struggled to a 13-13 tie against a patchwork Alumni team that was expected to lose by several touchdowns. Who on that day could have predicted the offensive fireworks that would unfold six months later?

  Sayers on a 43-yard touchdown run in the Shrine Game.

Cornhusker fans had to be giddy over Gale Sayers’ dazzling four-touchdown performance in the state high school Shrine Game in August 1961. In just a few weeks, he was due to enroll at Nebraska. Surely he would bring Memorial Stadium crowds to their feet in the seasons to come.
 
But these were the Wild West days of college football recruiting. Nebraska was about to receive a most unpleasant surprise.