The histories of the USC Trojans and Nebraska Cornhuskers did not frequently intersect on the gridiron. The programs met in 1969 and 1970 and a few times in the 21st century, but they did not repeatedly clash despite having dynastic juggernauts for the better part of multiple decades.
Yet, even though they didn’t often meet on the field, they have forged some fascinating football facts over the years, especially in those halcyon days of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Here’s one especially delicious fact about USC and Nebraska from that period of time: The two schools, in two successive two-year blocks, replicated each other’s results.
In 1969, USC went unbeaten but suffered one tie. In 1970, Nebraska went unbeaten but endured one tie — interestingly enough, against USC.
In 1971, Nebraska achieved a perfect season — no losses and no ties — and established itself as one of the great single-season teams of all time. The 1971 Huskers beat Oklahoma, 35-31, in a Game of the Century classic.
In 1972, USC attained an unblemished season, going 12-0. The Trojans demolished Notre Dame to finish the regular season and then crushed Ohio State in the Rose Bowl to cement themselves as the best team in USC and one of college football’s most brilliant national champions.
Just to emphasize the point here: Plenty of teams have replicated results from one year to the next. Team A went 8-4 in one year and Team B went 8-4 the next. One could scour the historical records and find numerous examples of replication at that level of achievement.
What makes these USC and Nebraska examples special is that the Trojans and Huskers traded unbeaten seasons — once with a tie, once with a perfect record — in a four-year period. That doesn’t happen very often in college football.
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