Paul Rogers, a key cog for the Nebraska football team during the Bob Devaney era, died earlier this week in Omaha. He was 69.
A 1998 inductee into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame, Rogers kicked a then-school record 51-yard field goal with 21 seconds left to lift Nebraska past Wyoming 13-10 in the 1968 season opener. He also kicked game winners against Minnesota and Oklahoma State in the final minutes during a 1968 season in which Devaney was feeling heat from fans. The Huskers finished 6-4 in both 1967 and 1968.
“Coach Devaney told me I saved his job with that kick against Wyoming (in 1968),” Rogers told the Journal Star in 2006.