By Juan Roque for DieHardDevil.com

How did we do it? What was the secret? How did it feel? These are but a few of the questions that media, family, friends and fans ask us players when discussing one of the biggest upsets in college football history; ASU beating 26-game undefeated, defending two-time National Champion Nebraska 19-0 on September 21, 1996 in Sun Devil Stadium. Without question this game sent shockwaves throughout college football, and in it’s own way, the sports world. Nebraska was far and away the most dominant college football team in the nation in years. No one could logically give the SUN DEVILS a fighting chance in this match-up. Even legendary Sun Devil quarterback, Danny White during the pre-game television broadcast, accepted this as “reality”.

In looking back at that game, we had the Cornhuskers in our sights for several months. Head Coach Bruce Snyder and his staff began formulating the game plan against the Huskers during Spring Football earlier in the year. Not many know this, and it went against everything that Bruce Snyder taught in his “One at a Time” mentality, but he had long planned 1996’s Nebraska Game as a retribution for the 77-28 beating  where Nebraska ran up the score on us in Lincoln the year prior. He and his staff looked at every possible variable to explain that tough loss. Their initial study served as a foundation and eventual strategy to walk away with the Win in the 1996 game in Tempe. Film was studied again & again by Arizona State’s Offensive and Defensive staffs. Snyder & Co. consulted with other coaches who had had some success in contending with the mighty Nebraska Option Attack. Another note: every spring practice as well as every practice at Camp Tontozona in the summer included a defensive “Nebraska” drill focussed on the strengths & weaknesses of the Cornhusker offense.

We opened the season with a hard-fought 45-42 Win over Washington. Our Game #2 was a 52 point score-fest against a decent North Texas team who scored 7. Then we had nothing in the way of our game vs. Nebraska. That week leading up to the match-up, it looked like business as usual to outsiders. But we had an edge, a gritty sense of pride and urgency. We prepared hard and ran harder. We studied Nebraska closely, and we learned all there was to learn and then some. On offense we studied Jared Tomich and Grant Wistrom, both All-Americans. On defense we studied Nebraska’s huge offensive line, quarterback Scott Frost and running back Ahman Green, who was an integral component to both of Nebraska’s National Championship Teams. We saw the white helmets with the annoyingly basic “N” on the side, and we saw last year’s 77-28 scoreboard. We had an attitude that week. We punished our scout teams until we were hungry to kick someone else’s ass. When Thursday came around, we were sick and tired of everyone’s, including the local media’s talk of the Nebraska machine. Building up to the game, it was announced that the Huskers were favored by 21 points, which we felt was a direct slap in the face. But our minds were right. We were not only going to win this game, we were going to punch Nebraska in the mouth and beat them up  both physically and emotionally. My teammates & I never believed that they were better than us. We did not feel like we were underdogs. We were confident in ourselves and each other. We were brothers, and we were going to defend our house in front of our fans.

 The day of the game began like others, but there was an eerie silence in the banquet room as we ate breakfast. We knew what we had to do, and we could see it. Watching some ESPN that morning, the disrespect continued as the “experts” predicted a huge Nebraska win. The clock moved slowly, and we became almost irritated that we had to wait any longer. At our pregame meeting, everyone including the coaches, guys had an air of confidence, anger, urgency and duty. Every one felt the weight of responsibility we willingly put on our own backs, and we were stronger for it. Finally, we boarded the buses for Sun Devil Stadium. Everyone new that Nebraska was going to have a very difficult day. Pulling up to our house, our energy intensified as we saw growing groups of fans in bright red. We would make them pay. Before the game, Coach Snyder addressed us and was very direct in saying that we were going to Win this game. He had a sobering conviction in us, and he credited each player for having done everything that was expected of them to prepare for that night.

I remember coming out of what would later become the “Pat Tillman Memorial Tunnel” with teammates like Jake Plummer, Keith Poole, Terry Battle, Derrick Rodgers and of course, Pat. We took our newly named Frank Kush Field, and the tension was thick. 74,089 people turned out that night, and the energy in SUN DEVIL STADIUM infected us including the buzz of the Nebraska faithful. After all pregame formalities, special teams took the field for kick-off. We were ready to play, and we were ready to win.

It matters not who comes into your house. It matters not what they are. It matters not what they wear. It matters not what their “streak” is or how many times they’ve been crowned champions. Forget the embarrassment of last year. We forgot all those things.

On that Saturday night, after three punishing hours on the field named after the winning-est Sun Devil Coach of all time, the invincibility of a team had come to an end at the hands of our team. We carried the day and shut out a program that scored 77 points on us the year before. The Scoreboard Final read ASU 19 – Nebraska 0. It was insane what happened next as our students and fans stormed the field. To see them flooding from the stands and climbing the goal posts was one of the most beautiful things I had seen. Fans ran up to us in screaming elation, “We did it! We did it!”. People hugged us, smacked our shoulder pads and hugged us again. I will never forget seeing the fans climb the goal posts while security quickly gave up and disappeared in the crowd. I can picture those goal posts falling before they were marched down to Mill Avenue. It would be the first of two times that the posts came down that year, the second coming after defeating CAL when we clinched the Pac-10 Championship and our first Rose Bowl birth since our Victory over Michigan in 1987.

For that one night we celebrated, we rejoiced and we laughed. We had done it. We were satisfied, but the strongest teams draw an abrupt line and move on to get the edge in the next contest. So that’s what we did. We had a championship to win that season, and this Win could be further enjoyed in the post-season. In one night, we had secured our place in College Football history and in Sun Devil history. Arizona State was a program where greatness again continued to shape our story.

Come back to today, to the now, to our current opportunities for greatness. For Sun Devil Nation, this is a huge week because it’s our first PAC-12 contest in our quest for a Championship, and it’s a game against a team that has handed us twelve consecutive Losses. 12. It is unacceptable to let somebody dominate you again & again, despite their own greatness. No one determines a team’s destiny more than it’s own players, coaches & fans. It’s a decision. It’s a will. It’s a belief. And you live with your effort, your heart, your preparation, your determination, your knowing that Every contest is a championship.

Despite 15 years having passed, the power of that Win reminds us of what we are capable of any night. The uniforms and names change, but the soul doesn’t. Every single game and how it is played, regardless of the challenger, has the potential for greatness and can matter for years to come.

Remind yourself of what it means to be a Sun Devil. A DieHardDevil. Are You? Prove it.