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Nebraska Cornhuskers
2012 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
First season	1890
Athletic director	Tom Osborne
Head coach	Bo Pelini
	4th year, 39–16  (.709)
Other staff	Tim Beck John Papuchis Ron Brown Barney Cotton Ross Els Rich Fisher John Garrison Rick Kaczenski Terry Joseph
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium, Lincoln
Stadium capacity	81,067 Record: 86,304
Stadium surface	FieldTurf
Location	Lincoln, Nebraska
Conference	Big Ten
Division	Legends
Past conferences	Big 12 Big 6/7/8 MVIAA WIUFA
All-time record	846–348–40 (.702)
Postseason bowl record	24–24
Claimed national titles	5
Conference titles	43
Heisman winners	3
Consensus All-Americans	53
Current uniform
Colors	Scarlet and Cream
Fight song	There is No Place Like Nebraska, Hail Varsity
Mascot	Herbie Husker, Lil' Red
Marching band	Cornhusker Marching Band (The Pride of All Nebraska)
Rivals	Michigan Wolverines, Penn State Nittany Lions, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners (dormant)
Website	huskers.com

The Nebraska Cornhuskers represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in college football. The program has established itself as a traditional powerhouse, and has the fifth-most all-time victories of any NCAA Division I-A team. Nebraska is one of only eleven football programs in NCAA Division I-A history to win 800 or more games. The Cornhuskers are the winning-est college football program over the last 50 years, both by winning percentage and number of wins. In 2011, Nebraska switched conference membership from the Big 12 Conference to the Big Ten Conference.

History

Husker football began play in 1890, with a 10–0 victory over the Omaha YMCA on Thanksgiving Day, November 27. During the early years of the program, the team had a number of nicknames: "Bugeaters", "Tree Planters", "Nebraskans", "The Rattlesnake Boys", "Antelopes", "Old Gold Knights" and "Cornhuskers". The name Cornhuskers first appeared in the school newspaper as "We Have Met The Cornhuskers And They Are Ours" referring to a 20–18 upset victory over Iowa in 1893. The name would be used again, this time to refer to Nebraska by Charles "Cy" Sherman in The Nebraska State Journal during the 1899 season and would replace all other names by 1900.

Nebraska has claimed 43 conference championships and part or all of five national championships: 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, and 1997. The titles in the 1990s marked the first time since Notre Dame in 1946–49 when a team won three national championships in four seasons. The 1994 and 1995 seasons still stand as the only consensus back-to-back national titles by any Division 1-A school since Oklahoma in 1956-57. Nebraska posted a 60–3–0 record between the 1993-97 seasons. ESPN.com has named the 1995 Nebraska Cornhusker team the greatest team of all time. Fan voting has consistently pegged the 1995 Cornhuskers as the greatest college football team in history.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers also have five undefeated seasons when they were not the national champions; 1902, 1903, 1913, 1914, and 1915. Between 1912 and 1916, a 34-game unbeaten streak was recorded by then head coach Ewald O. Stiehm.

Famous former Huskers include Heisman Trophy winners Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier, and Eric Crouch. Rodgers was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and for the new millennium he was voted the team's "Player of the Century"; his Cornhusker jersey (No. 20) was retired. Rozier was likewise inducted into the hall in 2006. Other Husker players and coaches who are members of the College Football Hall of Fame include: Forrest Behm, Bob Brown, Guy Chamberlin, Sam Francis, Rich Glover, Wayne Meylan, Bobby Reynolds, Dave Rimington, George Sauer, Clarence Swanson, Ed Weir, Grant Wistrom, and coaches Gomer Jones, Pete Elliott, Francis Schmidt, Dana X. Bible, Bob Devaney, Biff Jones, Tom Osborne, Eddie "Robbie" Robinson, and Fielding H. Yost.

Historically, the rivalry between Nebraska and Oklahoma often carried league championship and occasional national championship implications. The teams regularly battled for the Big Eight Conference title until 1996, when the conference was absorbed by the new Big 12 Conference. Out of the Big Eight's 89 year history, Nebraska or Oklahoma won or shared the conference championship 71 times. The Cornhuskers and Sooners also played several games during the 1970s and 1980s that decided the national championship.

Nebraska before a game versus Southern California prior to stadium renovation in 2009

The Husker defense is known by the nickname of the "Blackshirts." Depictions of the Blackshirts often include a skull and crossbones. This nickname originated in the early 1960s and continued as a reference to the black practice jerseys worn by first-string defensive players during practice. This tradition developed when Bob Devaney had Mike Corgan, one of his assistant coaches, find contrastive jerseys to offset the red jerseys worn by the offense in practice. Further credit is given to George Kelly, Devaney's defensive line coach until 1968, who frequently referred to the top defensive unit by the name; eventually the rest of the coaching staff caught on, while the first mention of the Blackshirts in print was not until 1969.

Since the 1994 season, Nebraska's home games have opened with the Tunnel Walk. Before the team enters, the HuskerVision screens light up with a burst of computer animation, and "Sirius" (an instrumental by The Alan Parsons Project) blares from the speakers. Accompanied by cheers from the crowd, the Huskers take the field. When the Cornhuskers play at home in Memorial Stadium, the stadium holds more people than the third-largest city in Nebraska, Bellevue. They currently hold the record for the most consecutive sold out home games, which celebrated its 318th sellout on November 25, 2011 when the Huskers played host to the University of Iowa. The sellout streak dates back to November 3, 1962 during Bob Devaney's first season at Nebraska. The Huskers lost the first game in the current streak, a Homecoming game, to Missouri 16–7; 36,501 fans were in attendance.

On June 11, 2010, Nebraska announced that its regents unanimously voted to end the university's affiliation with the Big 12 Conference to join the Big Ten Conference beginning with the 2011 season.

Logos and uniforms

Cornhuskers mascot at 1958 football game

Nebraska has worn traditional uniforms throughout its history. The first helmet was red, with a white stripe. This was later changed to a plain white helmet with a black number on the side. During 1967–1969, a red, offset "NU" was placed on each side of the helmet. From 1970, the "NU" was changed to the simple, familiar "N" that remains today, although it is thought a few "NU" helmets remained in use as late as 1972.

The helmet design has remained essentially unchanged since 1970, with the exception of the face mask, as it was changed from grey to red prior to the 1982 Orange Bowl game against Clemson.

The jerseys have only been altered a few times, with the addition of shoulder stripes and numbers. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Huskers wore full shoulder stripes reminiscent of those worn by the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts of the NFL. These were gradually phased out when mesh and tearaway jerseys became popular. For the 1974 Cotton Bowl Classic, the jersey has the script "Nebraska" embroidered onto the front. From 1980–1983, Nebraska's jerseys featured just a simple block "N" on the sleeves. In 1984, two sleeve stripes and sleeve numbers were added back to the uniform, where they essentially remain today, although the stripes and numbers have decreased in size as jersey sleeves have shortened over the years.

Shoulder patches were added to the jerseys beginning in 1989, with a patch that commemorated the 100th season of Nebraska football. The following season, a patch with "Nebraska Football: A Winning Tradition" embroidered on it was added above the left breast of the jersey. In 1999 a new version of this patch debuted and it has remained there to date.

Names began appearing on the backs of the jerseys for bowl games beginning in the 1970s. Around 1980, the players' names began appearing on the road jerseys. The home jerseys remained nameless except for when worn during bowl games, with one exception. A brief tradition was established for the last home game of each season, where seniors (playing their final game in Memorial Stadium) were allowed to wear names on their jerseys; underclassmen, however, did not. This explains why footage of many Oklahoma-Nebraska games played in Lincoln during this era feature some Nebraska players with names on their jerseys and some without. From approximately 1988 onwards, names were permanently affixed to the home jersey, where they remain.

The team traditionally wears white pants at home and red on the road, although there have been exceptions. Nebraska donned red pants with red jerseys for the first (and to date, only) time in school history for its 1986 contest against Oklahoma. Nebraska led this game for 58½ minutes before losing a 20-17 heartbreaker due to some late OU heroics, and the combination was deemed to be unlucky.

Nebraska began periodically donning all-white, beginning with the 1991 Citrus Bowl game against Georgia Tech (a game in which they were blown out, 45-21). They next tried the combo during the 1992 season, wearing all-white for the first three road games of that year. They lost two of the three, including an embarrassing 19-10 decision to an unranked Iowa State squad. The combination was not tried again until the ill-fated 2002 uniform (see next paragraph) and was also worn during Bill Callahan's last game as head coach (another embarrassing loss, this time 65-51 to Colorado). As a result, Husker fans typically associate the all-white look with losing and tend to prefer the red road pants.

From 1968 to 1994, the pants had two stripes down each side. Originally they were thin stripes, but became thicker sometime in the mid-1970s.These were removed prior to the 1995 season, and the pants remained stripe-less until 2001. For the 2002 season, Nebraska experimented with side panels on the jersey and pants, and went to all white permanently on the road. The look was overwhelmingly disliked by most fans, presumably because the Huskers went 7-7, which was at the time their worst season in 40 years. In 2003, Nebraska returned to a look similar to the one they wore from 1995–2001. In 2004, the two pant stripes returned to the uniform, where they have remained since.

On September 26, 2009, for the first time in school history, the Cornhuskers wore "throwback" uniforms from 1962 in honor of Nebraska's 300th consecutive sell out. Adidas is the official shoe and uniform sponsor of Nebraska athletics.

For the 2010 season, the numbers on the outside of the shoulder were placed on the top of the shoulder pads, similar to the style of the late 1970s.

Coaching

The early years (1890-1917)

The Nebraska football program started strong and experienced success from the very beginning, going twenty-eight years straight with only a single losing season. Until the 1-7-1 losing season in 1899 in coach A. Edwin Branch's only year at the helm, Nebraska had compiled a 40-18-3 (0.680) record.

Nebraska's 4th coach, Frank Crawford (1893–1894, 9-4-1, 0.679) was the first paid head football coach at Nebraska. Eddie "Robbie" Robinson (1896–1897, 11-4-1, 0.719) and Fielding H. Yost (1898, 8-3-0, 0.727), the sixth and seventh head coaches, were the earliest Nebraska coaches to eventually be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Walter C. Booth (1900–1905, 46-8-1, 0.845) was the program's 9th leader, and had the second-best career record spanning more than a year during this era, bested only by Ewald O. Stiehm (1911–1915, 35-2-3, 0.913), who won the conference title in all five of his seasons and whose winning percentage as Nebraska's 12th head coach remains an all-time program best.

A brief slump (1918-1920)

When the United States became involved in World War I, many young men went off to war, depleting the ranks of football teams nationwide. In addition, travel was severely restricted, causing the cancellation of numerous scheduled football games. Further complicated by the effects of the 1918 flu pandemic, the 1918 college football season was severely impacted.

William G. Kline led Nebraska through the stunted 1918 season, managing a 2-3-1 (0.417) record. Henry Schulte (1919–1920, 8-6-3, 0.559), with thirteen years as a coach at other schools before arriving at Nebraska, managed over the next two years to barely attain a winning record as the program recovered from the war and aftermath. Although Schulte stepped down as head football coach after 1920, he remained at Nebraska to coach other sports and as an assistant football coach through 1938.

Climb back to dominance (1921-1941)

By the end of the post-war slump, Nebraska had been led by fifteen head coaches over thirty-one years, but a new period of relative stability followed as Nebraska once again experienced success in college football.

Fred Dawson (1921–1924, 23-7-2, 0.750) arrived at Nebraska after stints at Columbia, Denver, and Virginia. In his four years he won three conference titles and compiled the best record from this era, though it was nearly matched by the two coaches to follow him.

First-time head coach Ernest E. Bearg (1925–1928, 23-7-3, 0.742) pulled in a title in his final season before handing over the team to Dana X. Bible (1929–1936, 50-15-7, 0.743). Bible had an established reputation after fifteen years of experience as head coach, bringing in five Southwest Conference titles for Texas A&M, and his success continued as he led Nebraska to six more conference titles in his eight seasons.

Biff Jones (1937–1941, 28-14-4, 0.652) was not as successful as his predecessors, yet still was a winning coach who claimed two titles in his tenure and brought Nebraska to their first ever bowl game, a loss to Stanford in the 1941 Rose Bowl. The following year, as the nation began to more fully be drawn closer to involvement in World War II, the program set a new record low with five straight midseason losses. One week after the final game of the season, Japan carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor. The country was again at war. Many thousands of young men joined the armed forces and were soon shipped abroad, as Nebraska's fortunes once again headed into a downturn.

Slide into obscurity (1942-1961)

Nebraska was led by three head coaches during the war years, with a scarcity of players available as so many of the country's young men were abroad and at war. By 1945, the year the war ended, the Cornhuskers recorded a losing 11-24-0 (0.314) record.

The situation did not improve after the war, as Bernie Masterson (1946–1947, 5-13-0, 0.250) recorded the worst head coach career winning percentage ever compiled at Nebraska in his first and only head football coaching appointment. Previous head coach George Clark (1945 & 1948, 6-13-0, 0.316), a veteran of both world wars with an extensive coaching pedigree and who led Nebraska in the final war season of 1945, returned as Nebraska's coach for 1948 temporarily as a search was made for his successor, prior to his ascension to Athletic Director at Nebraska.

Clark hired Bill Glassford (1949–1955, 50-40-4, 0.471), and Nebraska's performance improved somewhat over previous years, especially after the 6-2-1 1950 season, and Nebraska's second-ever bowl appearance, a 7-34 loss to Duke in the 1955 Orange Bowl.

Following Glassford, Pete Elliott, a star quarterback who led Michigan to the 1948 national championship, arrived at Nebraska for his first ever head coaching appointment. Although he would go on to achieve successes later in his career, he recorded a 4-6-0 (0.400) record in his one year at Nebraska. His replacement, Bill Jennings (1957–1961, 15-34-1, 0.310) fared even worse at the helm, his final career record with the Cornhuskers being the lowest of all but three of Nebraska's coaches.

The Devaney and Osborne dynasties (1962-1997)

Bob Devaney (1962–1972, 101-20-2, 0.829) brought about an immediate turnaround in the fortunes of Nebraska football. He led Nebraska to a 9-2 record in his first season, including Nebraska's first ever bowl win against Miami in the 1962 Gotham Bowl. This was the first of what would eventually be 40 consecutive winning seasons, and Nebraska's NCAA-record ongoing sellout streak began in the seventh game of this season. After five straight bowl game seasons, Devaney's squad suffered two 6–4 years in a row in 1967 and 1968, prompting a change in philosophy suggested by offensive assistant Tom Osborne, who would also advance to Offensive Coordinator the following season. Over the next four seasons, Nebraska suffered just four losses, amassed an overall 42-4-2 (0.896) record, won the conference title in each year, and secured Nebraska's first and second national championships.

Devaney stepped down after the 1972 season and took over the duties of Nebraska's Athletic Director. Osborne (1973–1997, 255-49-3, 0.836) subsequently became Nebraska's longest-tenured and all-time winningest coach, who also became the NCAA's fifth most winning Division 1-A coach in history over the course of his 25 years at the helm. Osborne never won fewer than nine games in any of his seasons, secured thirteen conference titles, and brought Nebraska three more national championships while going 60-3 over his final five seasons.

The Post Osborne era (1998-present)

Upon Osborne's retirement, the program was handed over to coaching assistant Frank Solich (1998–2003, 58-19, 0.753), who also had played for Nebraska 1963-1965. In his six seasons, Solich won one Big 12 North Division title, an outright conference championship, and took the Cornhuskers to the 2001 National Championship game. After Solich's only non-winning season at Nebraska, a 7-7 campaign in 2002, Solich changed his approach much as Devaney had done after 1968, and made changes to his assistant coaching staff. The turnaround appeared successful, as Solich's 2003 team went 9-3 in the regular season. However, second-year Nebraska Athletic Director Steve Pederson fired Solich before the bowl game, justifying the move by stating he would not "let Nebraska gravitate into mediocrity" and would not "surrender the Big 12 to Oklahoma and Texas". Solich's defensive coordinator, Bo Pelini, hired in the 2002 staffing shakeup, was appointed interim coach and led the Cornhuskers to a 17-3 Alamo Bowl win over Michigan State to close out the 2003 Nebraska season with a 10-3 record.

Although Pelini interviewed for the position as permanent replacement, ultimately former Oakland Raiders head coach Bill Callahan (2004–2007, 27-22, 0.551) was named as Solich's successor. Callahan's mandate to prevent Nebraska's decline was not immediately successful, as he installed the West Coast offense made popular in the NFL. His 2004 first-year record of 5-6 was Nebraska's first losing season since 1961. The 8-4 2005 season showed improvement, and Nebraska's 9-5 record in 2006 accompanied a conference division title. However, in 2007, Nebraska dropped five games in a row for the first time since 1958, including a record-setting 76-39 loss to Kansas. Pederson was fired as athletic director in the middle of the five-game slide, and Tom Osborne returned from his political career to fill in as interim athletic director. Callahan subsequently put up just one more win, against Kansas State, before closing the season with a 51-65 loss to Colorado. In four years, Callahan had achieved the lowest winning percentage by a Nebraska head coach in 46 years, and Osborne fired him the following day.

Cornhusker fans during a 2009 season home game hosting Kansas State

Osborne selected Bo Pelini (2008–present, 30-12, 0.715 as of the end of the 2010 season) to return to Nebraska as the 32nd head coach of the Cornhuskers. Pelini's first team tied for the division title and went 9-4 on the season, which was the best season record among all twenty-eight first-season coaches in college football's FBS division. In 2009, Nebraska led the nation in scoring defense, finishing 10-4 with another division championship and a #14 overall ranking. Following the 2009 season, Pelini was given his second raise and contract extension. In 2010, Nebraska again finished 10-4 with another division championship and a #20 overall ranking.

The Cornhuskers' 2011 season, its first as a member of the Big Ten Conference, was moderately successful, with wins over eventual Legends division champion Michigan State and Leaders division runner-up Penn State, but a close loss to Northwestern and blowout losses to Wisconsin and Michigan. Nebraska finished its season in disappointing fashion, losing to South Carolina 30-13 in the Capital One Bowl for a final record of 9-4.

Current coaching staff

National championship seasons

Nebraska huddling before a game versus Texas in 2003

1. Shared with Texas*
2. Shared with Michigan

* Texas retained a #1 ranking in the UPI Poll despite a 24-11 loss to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic, since the UPI at that time released its final rankings prior to bowl games. Nebraska was #1 in the final AP Poll, conducted after the bowl games.

Series records

All-Time Record: 846–349–40 (.701)
Updated January 2, 2012

Division I opponents

Individual award winners

Players

Nebraska All-Century Football Team

All-century team members were selected via an online poll hosted at huskerwebcast.com during the 1999 football season.

Nebraska's All-Time Team

As selected by Athlon Sports in 2010.

Retired Jerseys/Numbers

Nebraska has only retired three jersey numbers, generally retiring the player's jersey itself rather than the jersey number.

Retired jersey numbers

• #20 Johnny Rodgers (1970–1972)†
• #60 Tom Novak (1946–1949)
• #64 Bob Brown (1961–1963)

† Rodgers permitted his #20 jersey number to be worn by his son Terry, who played for Nebraska from 1986–1990. Marlon Lucky also wore this number before changing his number to 5. Michael Booker wore 20 for his entire career

Retired player jerseys

Outside of Memorial Stadium on the University of Nebraska Campus in Lincoln, Nebraska

• #7 Eric Crouch (1998–2001)
• #15 Tommie Frazier (1992–1995)
• #30 Mike Rozier (1981–1983)
• #34 Trev Alberts (1990–1993)
• #50 Dave Rimington (1979–1982)
• #54 Dominic Raiola (1998–2000)
• #67 Aaron Taylor (1994–1997)
• #71 Dean Steinkuhler (1980–1983)
• #72 Zach Wiegert (1991–1993)
• #75 Larry Jacobson (1969–1971)
• #75 Will Shields (1989–1992)
• #79 Rich Glover (1970–1972)
• #93 Ndamukong Suh (2005–2009)
• #98 Grant Wistrom (1994–1997)

Current NFL Players

• Prince Amukamara - Cornerback, New York Giants
• Larry Asante - Safety, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Zackary Bowman - Cornerback, Chicago Bears
• Stewart Bradley - Linebacker, Arizona Cardinals
• Josh Brown - Placekicker, St. Louis Rams
• Adam Carriker - Defensive Tackle, Washington Redskins
• DeJon Gomes - Safety, Washington Redskins
• Eric Hagg - Safety, Cleveland Browns
• Roy Helu - Running Back, Washington Redskins
• Alex Henery - Placekicker, Philadelphia Eagles
• Ricky Henry - Offensive Guard, Chicago Bears
• Russ Hochstein - Offensive Guard, Denver Broncos
• Gene Huey - Running backs coach, Indianapolis Colts
• Richie Incognito - Offensive Guard, Miami Dolphins
• Brandon Jackson - Running Back, Cleveland Browns
• DJ Jones - Offensive Guard, Miami Dolphins
• Chris Kelsay - Defensive End, Buffalo Bills
• Sam Koch - Punter, Baltimore Ravens
• Mike McNeill - Tight End, Indianapolis Colts
• Lydon Murtha - Offensive Tackle, Miami Dolphins
• Carl Nicks - Offensive Guard, New Orleans Saints
• Niles Paul - Wide Receiver, Washington Redskins
• Zach Potter - Tight End, Jacksonville Jaguars
• Dominic Raiola - Center, Detroit Lions
• Tom Rathman - Running backs coach, San Francisco 49ers
• Barrett Ruud - Linebacker, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Scott Shanle - Linebacker, New Orleans Saints
• Matt Slauson - Guard, New York Jets
• Ndamukong Suh - Defensive Tackle, Detroit Lions
• Barry Turner - Defensive End, Detroit Lions
• Kyle Vanden Bosch - Defensive End, Detroit Lions
• Fabian Washington - Cornerback, Baltimore Ravens
• Demorrio Williams - Linebacker, Kansas City Chiefs

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nebraska Cornhuskers football

• NCAA Division I-A national football champions
• List of Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches

References

External links

• Official website