Coach Osborne didn't care much for FGs
Especially 4th and less than 5, he'd just run the damn ball in that territory and play defense
Of course, most times it was vs an over matched opponent
Also, Osborne didn't have great kickers and therefore, not much faith
Great story about a friend of mine, Dale Klein, from Seward, NE. He lived in the same dorm and my roommate was from Seward.
Dale started the 85 season missing his first 3 FGs. Klein, a Husker walk-on kicker whose name is still in the NCAA record book, That day in Columbia, Mo., he was 7 for 7, helping the Huskers escape with a 28-20 victory over Missouri.
Scoring 22 points with an NCAA- record seven field goals and an extra point. Quite a day for junior who wasn't sure he was the Huskers' No. 1 kicker the weekend before and ended up kicking more field goals in one afternoon against Mizzou than the six career field goals he'd kicked leading up to that game.
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Interestingly, even though Klein got the biggest headlines for that Oct. 19, 1985, kickers were getting mentioned all day long on national telecasts. Texas kicker Jeff Ward, for instance, scored all of his team's points that day after kicking five field goals to lift the Longhorns over No. 4 Arkansas, 15-13, in Fayetteville. In an even bigger game, Rob Houghtlin also accounted for all of his team's points when No. 1 Iowa beat No. 2 Michigan, 12-10, in Iowa City.
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I was at the game in Iowa City.