[NU Sports] worst loss ever

[Brad Wilson]

... a fascinating question.

I would almost automatically exclude some of the
hideous routs of the Dark Ages -- Earle Bruce bombing
away at Dyche in 1984 (52-3), some of the losses to
Chucking Long and Hateful Hayden, the awful 63-14 loss
to Illinois in 1989 to cap an awful 0-11 season (and
the just-as-bad 76-14 loss to MSU the week before) all
come to mind - because so little was expected. Sure,
they hurt, but 'twas ever so for NU in those days.

So I'd pick among losses when better things were
expected: 2000 Iowa certainly qualifies, as does 1996
Penn State and 2005 Ohio State. The Alamo Bowl was
appalling. Ditto the Sun Bowl, though of course that
was a much more competitive game. (The Citrus Bowl was
less painful, we had 1 bad quarter and Tennessee was
really, really good.) 2006 MSU would make the final
bunch, too. (And the Rose Bowl loss hurt like hell
but, really, the worst? No.)

But I would say the worst was 2001 Penn State -- a
game we had every chance to win at home, blew 38-35,
which started the collapse that ruined what should
have been a terrific 2001 season. Perhaps I am saying
that because I was there, but I'd still pick that one.

Brad Wilson

"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.

"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular." -- Edward R. Murrow, 1954.

"Quis ipsos custodes custodiet?" -- Juvenal


 
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