Nebraska Returns to National Title Chase

Competing in the rough and tumble Big 12 Conference, <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska has always sported one of the premier teams in the nation. After three consecutive finishes outside of the top 15 at the NCAA Championships, NU’s young squad was ready for a return to glory and 2007-08 might be remembered as the season the Huskers established themselves as national title contenders.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Head Coach Mark Manning and the Huskers placed themselves in the thick of the title hunt with a fourth-place finish at the 2008 NCAA Championships in the ScottradeCenter in St. Louis. Led by third-place finishes from junior Paul Donahoe at 125 pounds and sophomore Jordan Burroughs at 149 pounds, the Huskers collected 74 team points en route to their highest finish ever under Manning and their best showing since 1993.

Donahoe fell short of repeating as a national champion, but did earn his second straight All-America accolade, and four other Huskers joined him on the awards stand. Donahoe and Burroughs each notched 5-1 records at the tournament, losing in the semifinals before rebounding to place third. Junior Brandon Browne also advanced to the semifinals and lost, but rebounded to place fourth at 174 pounds. Sophomore Craig Brester lost in the quarterfinals to the top-seeded wrestler at 197 pounds, before reeling off three straight wins to earn a spot in the third-place match. Brester took an early lead against his opponent, but settled for fourth after falling in overtime. Fellow sophomore Stephen Dwyer went 3-3 to claim the last All-American spot with an eighth-place finish.

Nebraska qualified eight wrestlers for the NCAA Championships, including six wrestlers making at least their second trip, while Donahoe made his third consecutive appearance. Their experience showed as NU’s five All-Americans were its most since 1995, a year the Huskers qualified a wrestler at all 10 weight classes. Perhaps the most impressive statistic, and the reason Nebraska will contend for a team title in the years to come, is the fact all of the Huskers’ All-Americans are underclassmen, including three sophomores and two juniors. Four of NU’s five All-Americans earned the distinction for the first time. Heavyweight Jon May will be the only starting Husker to graduate this season, as NU returns seven NCAA qualifiers and nine starters to next years lineup.

Back to the Beginning
The Huskers reached new heights at the NCAA Championships under Manning, but Nebraska’s success in March would be apparent to many early in the season. NU opened the 2007-08 campaign on Nov. 9 with a 47-0 drubbing of Wyoming in Laramie, as the Huskers collected their first shutout since 2004. Nebraska earned two pins, two technical falls and one major decision over the Cowboys. NU went on to top the 40-point mark in two other duals during the season, including a 40-6 hammering of Dana College in Lincoln on Dec. 15 and a 42-3 defeat of Oregon State in Corvallis on Jan. 4.

Nebraska also fared well at several open tournaments early in the season. The Huskers claimed six individual titles on Nov. 10 at the Cowboy Open in Laramie, Wyo., with five first-place finishes in the elite division from junior Chris Oliver (157), Burroughs (149), Dwyer (165), Browne (174) and Brester (197). The Huskers followed that with an impressive showing at the illustrious Kaufman-Brand Open in Omaha on Nov. 17. NU placed seven wrestlers in the top five of their weight class, including individual titles from Browne and Tucker Lane (HWT). Both wrestlers went 4-0 on the day as Browne claimed the title in the elite division and Lane finished first in the amateur division.

Although it did not count on his season record form, Donahoe collected a 5-2 decision over Minnesota’s Jayson Ness on Nov. 19 at the NWCA All-Star Classic in Eugene, Ore., before leading the Huskers to their second consecutive fourth-place finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational later that month. NU earned 112.5 points in the team race as six of nine Husker wrestlers finish in the top six of their weight class. NU was led by a pair of Jordans, though. Sophomore Kenny Jordan went a perfect 8-0, including three bonus-point victories to start the tournament, to claim the title at 133 pounds. Meanwhile, Burroughs earned a 6-1 record to place third, including a win over two-time All-American Josh Churella of Michigan.

Nebraska’s early-season momentum hit a roadblock on Dec. 6 in Minneapolis, though. The Huskers lost a 25-13 dual to then-No. 2 Minnesota in the Land of 10,000 lakes. Each team won four of the eight contested matches, but Nebraska had to forfeit two matches at 125 and 157 pounds due to injuries. The 12 points gave UM the win as the Huskers suffered their third consecutive dual loss to the Golden Gophers.

National Duals Demolition
The Huskers rebounded nicely with seven consecutive dual victories, including wins over South DakotaState, DanaCollege, Northern Colorado and OregonState by a combined score of 157-27. NU carried that energy into the National Duals at Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Jan. 12-13. Entering the tournament unseeded, the Huskers upended No. 9 Northwestern by winning seven of the first eight matches to earn the 25-9 victory. Burroughs led the charge with 9-8 win over No. 5 Ryan Lang. Burroughs entered the third period down 6-3, but racked up three takedowns in the final stanza to claim the come-from-behind victory.

The second round posed a bigger challenge as NU squared off against then-No. 1 Penn State. Undaunted, the Huskers pulled the upset by winning six matches to collect a 19-13 win over the Nittany Lions. Sophomore Mike Rowe made his season debut at 141 pounds after sitting out the fall semester and recorded a 6-4 upset win over No. 2 Jake Strayer.

Nebraska rolled into the semifinals looking for revenge as the Huskers were pitted against Minnesota for a second time during the season. The Golden Gophers took the early advantage by winning four of the first five matches, but NU won the final five matches, including Vince Jones’ pin of Roger Kish with four seconds left, to rally Nebraska to a 24-13 win. Jones executed a near perfect takedown from the neutral position with eight seconds left and parlayed it into a pin as Jones recorded one of his 10 falls on the season.

After recording wins over the No. 9, No. 1 and No. 6 teams in the nation, Nebraska fell to then-No. 2 Iowa in the finals 24-6. The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 15-0 lead by winning the first five matches, but the dual was far from a blowout. Those five wins were all decisions as NU was able to win two of the final five bouts. The Huskers’ run was just the second time in the 19-year history of the National Duals that an unseeded team made the finals. NU’s finish was the second time the Huskers have captured the runner-up spot and 10th time Nebraska has finished in the top five.

Big 12 Perfection (Almost)
Starting the season ranked 14th in the NWCA poll, Nebraska worked their way up to the No. 10 spot entering the National Duals. With their runner-up performance in Cedar Falls, including knocking off the top-ranked team, the Huskers jumped all the way up to No. 3 the following week. Nebraska was far from done, though.

Entering with a 15-dual losing streak to OklahomaState, the Huskers showed no pity on the Cowboys in Oklahoma City as Nebraska won a 22-13 dual at the FordCenter on Jan. 20. NU snatched six matches, including two bonus-point wins, to break the Cowboys’ streak in front of a nationally-televised audience on ESPNU. Jones once again stole the show with his pinning abilities as he caught OklahomaState’s Jack Jensen in a cradle midway into the first period to earn the fall at 1:48 and put NU up 19-10 with two matches left. The win improved Nebraska’s all-time record against OSU to 3-48-1, with their previous two victories coming in 1993 and 1922.

The win vaulted the Huskers into No. 2 in the NWCA poll: Nebraska’s highest since finishing the 2003-04 season ranked second, with NU headed into the heart of its Big 12 schedule. The Huskers took advantage of the friendly confines of the NU Coliseum with dual wins over No. 11 Missouri and No. 18 Oklahoma. NU topped the Tigers 22-13 with three bonus-point wins and two sudden victories on Feb. 2, before defeating the Sooners 21-9 by winning seven of the 10 matches.

NU collected dual wins over Rider and Hofstra on an East Coast trip, before concluding the regular season in Ames at IowaState on Feb. 24. With a chance to go undefeated in the conference for the first time in its 98-year history, Nebraska lost a heartbreaking 22-12 dual in front of more than 3,300 fans at the Hilton Coliseum. The Huskers finished with a 3-1 record in conference action and 14-3 mark overall, including a 7-3 record against ranked teams. NU’s overall record marks the sixth straight season and 18th time in the last 19 years that the Huskers have won at least 10 duals. NU’s 14 team wins are the most since the Huskers recorded 19 in 2004-05.

Big 12 Breakthrough
After notching several achievements during the regular season, the Huskers did not let up during postseason action. NU claimed 62.5 team points to earn second place at the 2008 Big 12 Championships on March 8, thanks in large part to the Outstanding Wrestler-of-the-Meet performance of Burroughs. The Huskers earned three individual championships and two second-place finishes, but the spotlight shone the brightest on Burroughs at the Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla.

Burroughs entered the tournament seeded first and lived up to his billing with two bonus-point victories on his way to the title. Burroughs earned 10 takedowns in his first match, a 24-8 technical fall over Oklahoma’s Will Rowe, and followed up with a 15-6 major decision over IowaState’s Mitch Mueller.

Donahoe and Browne joined Burroughs atop the awards stand as NU’s three individual champions were the most since 1995. Dwyer and Brester placed second to give the Huskers five automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Championships, while Jones, Jordan and Jon May (285) earned wild card berths. Nebraska’s 62.5 team points were the most the Huskers have ever accrued at the Big 12 Championships as NU matched its best finish ever as a team.

For leading the Huskers to a second-place finish, Manning was named the 2008 Big 12 Coach of the Year following the season.

Rewriting the Records
The Huskers set several high marks on the mat as a team during the regular season, Big 12 Championships and NCAA Championships, while several grapplers wrote their own name in the Nebraska record books.

Most impressive was Browne’s 35-4 season, which tied him for 15th on the top 20 season victories list with 11 other Huskers.

Three Huskers earned spots on the top 10 season wins list for their respective class. Browne tied for sixth on the junior list, while two Huskers climbed onto the sophomore wins list. Burroughs ended his season with a 34-6 mark to put him eighth, and Dwyer notched a 32-10 mark to earn the 10th spot. All three earned their first All-American honor at the NCAA Championships, while Burroughs and Browne also earned Big 12 titles. With his senior season left, Donahoe currently sits in ninth place in the top 10 career win-loss percentages for Huskers. Donahoe has an 83-18 career record, which equates to a .821 winning percentage.

Burroughs cracked the top 10 wins list by a sophomore, but the record he really enjoyed taking down was the single-season dual takedown mark. Burroughs finished the season with 98 takedowns in Nebraska’s 17 duals, which breaks the previous record of 97 by Bryan Snyder in 2000-01. Burroughs wrestled in all of NU’s duals, averaging nearly six takedowns per dual, while being taken down just seven times. In comparison, Donahoe was second on the team with 40 dual takedowns during the season.

Three Huskers earned recognition from the Big 12 Conference for their efforts on the mat. Jordan was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Month for November after his 8-0 title performance in Las Vegas, while Browne was named Big 12 Wrestler of the Week on Jan. 21 after defeating second-ranked Brandon Browne of OklahomaState in the Huskers’ dual with the Cowboys. Brester earned wrestler of the week honors on Feb. 18 after defeating two ranked foes on the Huskers’ East Coast trip to face Rider and Hofstra.

Off the mat, Brester and Dwyer were named to the 2008 Academic All-Big 12 wrestling teams on March 4. Brester was selected to the first team with 16 other wrestler from the conference as he earned the honor for the second time in his career. Dwyer was named to the second team. Brester and Dwyer are both sophomores, while Brester is a mechanized systems major and Dwyer is undecided. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better grade-point average, and the second team has a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.