Steven M. Sipple: A memory worth dropping
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Someday perhaps Terrence Nunn will look back and chuckle.
If Billy Sims can do it, surely Nunn can as well, eventually.
Sims, the former Heisman Trophy halfback at Oklahoma, is among few athletes I idolized as a kid. He was brash and menacing on the field, awesomely talented — big, strong, fast, determined.
When he fumbled away the football on the 3-yard line against Nebraska in 1978, it cost Oklahoma a chance to play for the national championship.
Sims cried about it then. Twenty years later, when I met Sims at an Omaha hotel for an interview, I hesitated to broach the fumble. As it turned out, he brought it up first, without hesitation.
“Last time I was here (in Nebraska), I left it on the 3,” said Sims, smiling broadly and putting a bear clutch around my right hand. “Back then, I said I was never coming back here.”
He returned anyway. He arrived in Omaha in August 1998 for a Heisman Trophy event. Clearly, he had recovered, no pun intended.
Nunn also has moved on, he said Tuesday. A matter-of-fact and low-key kid by nature, Nunn spoke in even tones about his lost fumble Saturday that led to Texas’ game-winning field goal, which foiled what would have been Nebraska’s biggest victory in at least five years.
“It’s over,” the junior wide receiver said. “I’ve just let it go.”
Nunn didn’t materialize Saturday for postgame interviews. Although he didn’t cost his team a shot at a championship of any sort, as Sims did, Nunn’s fumble was arguably as dramatic and memorable.
A national TV audience watched as Nebraska moved to the brink of putting away the defending national champion. The Huskers, hungry to return to national prominence, were one first down from victory. One first down from a program-defining moment. The crowd’s intensity was overwhelming. The day was gray and cold, as was the day Sims “left it on the 3.”
Nunn caught a short pass. First down! No, wait! Texas cornerback Aaron Ross’ helmet collided with the football, jarring it from Nunn’s grasp. Safety Marcus Griffin recovered.
“He made a good hit,” Nunn said. “I just have to learn to tuck the ball away.”
Nunn has been known to carry the ball — ahem — rather loosely. Sometimes it makes you cringe. In this case, credit goes to the defender.
“He put a helmet on the ball,” Nunn said. “Can’t do much about that.”
Nunn saw replays of the fumble. However, “I don’t want to look at it anymore,” he said. “It hurt a lot because I felt like I hurt the team a lot. (But) if I linger on it, and stay sad all of the time, it isn’t going to make me better. So I have to let it go. I can’t rewind time.”
Nunn, of course, is one of Nebraska’s best players, an explosive and savvy athlete. He leads the team in receptions this season with 25, and had five for 84 yards Saturday.
But this wasn’t his day. He caught an earful from coaches after calling for a fair catch on a second-quarter punt, then letting the ball drop and bounce — all the way to Nebraska’s 1-yard line.
He’ll learn from his mistakes. In doing so, he’ll learn about life. About loyalty.
After the game, “I told him I loved him,” Nebraska offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said. “I told him he’s a good player, and that we’re going to need him. The biggest thing is, you have to get back on that horse and ride. Bad things are going to happen. If nothing bad happens to you, it means you’re not playing. He’ll bounce back.
“There were a lot of other mistakes in that game.”
Said Bill Callahan: “He made plays throughout that game to help us be in position to go ahead.”
Which returns us to Sims.
“We fumbled nine times that day,” he said in 1998 of his difficult day in 1978. “But mine at the end is the only one people remember. What about the 150-some yards I had? Twenty years later they still talk about the fumble.”
Twenty years from now, they’ll still talk about Nunn’s fumble, not his 84 yards. The moment was excruciating for Nebraska fans, exhilarating for Texans, incredible drama on a wonderful stage.
“It’s over,” Nunn repeated.
He wasn’t smiling or chuckling, but someday he might — the way Sims does when talk turns to his fumble.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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