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The Worst Nebraska Football Moment of the Decade: Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon Runs For A NCAA Record 408 Yards

We bring you the last moment of suck of the 2010-2020 decade that was.

By Jon Johnston
Nebraska v Wisconsin Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Review the “Best” and “Worst” moments

Worst moments

Best moments

This is the final moment in our look back at the relatively rotten decade that was Nebraska football from 2010-2020.

Perhaps we should have scheduled it differently so that the last post ended on a positive. Perhaps I should have overruled fan voting, and chosen Sam Foltz’ death as the #1 Worst Moment. Perhaps I left it that way because I think it says something about us - that we’re so damned desperate for winning football we overlook it’s not the most important thing in the world, not even close.

Or maybe I should just go on and get this over with, flush 2010-2020 down a toilet so we can all move the fuck on and hope for better times ahead.

I think I’ll chose that option. All y’all can ruminate in the comment section.

November 15, 2014

Madison, Wisconsin

It was a beautiful afternoon in Madison as four old college chums met for the first time in many years. Myself, Todd, Kurt, and Roger - looking to see what it’d be like to attend a Nebraska game in a foreign land. I’d been to Madison for a previous Wisconsin ass-kicking and I was hoping things would turn out different this time.

It was Nebraska’s 10th game of the 2014. They rolled into Madison with a record of 8-1, their only loss coming on October 4th against #10 Michigan State, 27-22. Not a bad loss, not a blow out, but do the Spartans under Mark Dantonio ever blow anyone out?

Nebraska was ranked 11th. Wisconsin 22nd. It is a pivotal game in the Big Ten West; if our beloved Huskers win we have the inside track to winning the division.

Me and my three chums spent the day pre-gaming, which meant I drank about 10 beers to their one. We enjoy the revelry with the Wisconsin fans. The game starts at 2:30 pm central, so there’s plenty of time to pal around with the opponent, see State Street and then get to our seats, which are rather high up on the West side of the stadium.

It was a pretty decent start for our beloved Huskers as they jumped out to a 17-3 lead.

Then Wisconsin scores 21 points in the second quarter, the first of these points coming on a 62-yard run by Melvin Gordon. Wisconsin scored 56 unanswered points, clobbering Nebraska 59-24.

Gordon would finish his day with 25 attempts for 408 yards and four touchdowns. He had five runs of over 40 yards. This results in a 16.3 yard per carry average and a new single-game NCAA record. He does all of this in three quarters because Wisconsin takes him out of the game at the end of the third.

At this point, it’s not even worth the time being angry at the Wisconsin fans around us as they were very nice people. They were apologetic, even. It was horrifying.

We are livid that Gordon has been taken out. We’re not profane. We’re not nasty. We just ask the Wisconsin fans around us why this is happening.

“LEAVE HIM IN THE GAME AND LET HIM RUN FOR 500 YARDS BECAUSE WE DESERVE IT.”

We left early. I don’t recall leaving a game early at any other time in my life, but it was pointless to stay. I took a moment of mindfulness to calm myself and examine the sight before me. It was dark and a light snow was falling. Camp Randall was beautiful in the stadium lights.

As we leave the stadium, I implore some Wisconsin students to abuse me.

“CALL ME NAMES, DAMMIT. TELL ME I’M NOT WORTH THE OXYGEN I’M BREATHING.”

One of them looks and me and says, “Sir, we don’t do that here at Wisconsin.”

Well, bullshit. They do. But not today. Nebraska is not even worthy of abuse. That’s how BAD IT IS. It is a DAMNED SHITTY DAY of competition when your opponent can’t hate you, can’t make fun of you, and all they feel is sorrow.

It was yet another Bo Pelini season that finished with a 9-4 record, although Pelini doesn’t finish the season because he’s fired at the end of the regular season before the bowl game against USC. 2014 was Pelini’s seventh season. He goes on a tirade after his firing, a tirade that is recorded and released to the Omaha World Herald.

It’s obvious that he’s reached his ceiling, and that ceiling included getting consistently destroyed by good opponents.

There are fans who still resent his firing. I can imagine the comments - “I bet you wish Bo was still here now, don’t you?”

No, I don’t.

What should have happened was that Shawn Eichorst should have let him coach one more season so that it was completely apparent Pelini was failing miserably. Whether Nebraska had sucked the life out of him or whether he never had the ability to coach a Power Five program to prominence in the first place is up for debate. The holes in the roster, the lack of recruiting, his unbelievably crappy attitude would have all caught up with him in one more season where there wouldn’t have been nine wins.

That didn’t happen. Now we can argue about it until the end of time.

Mike Riley replaced Bo Pelini as the head coach of Husker football. That was a wonderful three years. I am surprised that if y’all were going to vote moments as the worst of things that there weren’t more lows in the Riley era. Perhaps because there weren’t any expectations? I am unsure. You may comment.

2010-2020 has arguably been the worst decade in Nebraska football history. It’s over. Good riddance. Will 2020-2030 be better? I would think so. It would seem things can’t get any worse.

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