Nebraska Cornhuskers football

The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten Conference. Nebraska has played its home games at Memorial Stadium since 1923 and sold out every game at the venue since 1962.

Nebraska is among the most storied programs in college football history and has the eighth-most all-time victories among FBS teams. NU has won 46 conference championships and five national championships (1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, and 1997), along with seven other national titles the school does not claim. The 1971 and 1995 title-winning teams are considered among the best ever. Nebraska's three Heisman Trophy winners – Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier, and Eric Crouch – join twenty-two other Cornhuskers in the College Football Hall of Fame.

The program's first extended period of success came just after the turn of the century. Between 1900 and 1916, Nebraska had five undefeated seasons and completed a stretch of thirty-four consecutive games without a loss, still a program record. Despite a span of twenty-one conference championships in thirty-three seasons, the Cornhuskers did not experience major national success until Bob Devaney was hired in 1962. In eleven seasons as head coach, Devaney won two national championships, eight conference titles, and coached twenty-two All-Americans, but perhaps his most lasting achievement was the hiring of Tom Osborne as offensive coordinator in 1969. Osborne was named Devaney's successor in 1973, and over the next twenty-five years established himself as one of the best coaches in college football history with his trademark I-formation offense and revolutionary strength, conditioning, and nutrition programs. Following Osborne's retirement in 1997, Nebraska cycled through five head coaches before hiring Matt Rhule in 2022.

Conference affiliations

 * Independent (1890–1891; 1898–1906; 1919–1920)
 * Western Interstate University Football Association (1892–1897)
 * Big Eight (1907–1918; 1921–1995)
 * Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1907–1918; 1921–1927)
 * Big Six (1928–1947)
 * Big Seven (1948–1959)
 * Big 12 (1996–2010)
 * Big Ten (2011–present)

Head coaches


Nebraska has had thirty-one head coaches in the program's history, with five others coaching at least one game on a non-permanent basis. The program has been coached by Matt Rhule since 2023.

Six past Nebraska head coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: Edward N. Robinson, Fielding H. Yost, Dana X. Bible, Biff Jones, Bob Devaney, and Tom Osborne. Osborne is the program's all-time leader in most major categories; his 0.836 career winning percentage is fifth-highest in major college football history. Thirteen Nebraska coaches have won a conference championship at the school, and Devaney and Osborne combined to win five national titles.

National championships
Nebraska has won five consensus national championships. The first of these came in 1970 under the leadership of head coach Bob Devaney and featured a unique quarterback rotation between Van Brownson and Jerry Tagge. Nebraska entered the 1971 Orange Bowl ranked third nationally, but losses by No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Ohio State – along with a late game-winning touchdown rush by Tagge – gave NU its first consensus title. The Cornhuskers repeated as national champion the following season with Tagge as the full-time starter, a team that is often considered one of the best in college football history. Nebraska was challenged just once all season, a 35–31 victory over No. 2 Oklahoma in Norman that was billed the "Game of the Century." Wins over Colorado and Alabama (the latter in the 1972 Orange Bowl) made NU the only national champion to defeat the teams that finished No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 in the final AP poll.

Tom Osborne replaced Devaney in 1973, and despite several near-misses, did not win his first national title until over two decades into his tenure. Nebraska's 1994 title-winning season, nearly derailed when star quarterback Tommie Frazier was sidelined with blood clots in September, was capped by a 24–17 victory over Miami in the Orange Bowl. With Frazier at full strength the following season, NU repeated as national champion; its 62–24 Fiesta Bowl victory over Florida was the largest margin of victory in a national title game until 2023. The team is often considered among the best in college football history. Osborne's final title came in 1997, two years later. The most significant moment of the season was a game-tying touchdown against Missouri that became known as the "Flea Kicker." Top-ranked Nebraska won the game in overtime, but was jumped in both major polls by Michigan. Postseason wins over Texas A&M and Tennessee vaulted NU back ahead of the Wolverines in the Coaches Poll.

Unclaimed national championships

Nebraska has been awarded seven other national championships from NCAA-designated major selectors the school does not claim.

Conference championships
Nebraska has won forty-six conference championships. The earliest of these came in the short-lived Western Interstate University Football Association, one of college football's first conferences, which NU participated in for six seasons with Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. The conference dissolved in 1897 and NU spent the next decade as an independent until the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association – which became the Big Eight – was founded in 1907. Nebraska dominated the MVIAA in its early years, winning nine championships in twelve years before leaving the conference in 1919 to again play as an independent. NU rejoined in 1921 and won the conference twelve times before 1940. Following Biff Jones's departure to become the athletic director at Army in 1941, NU went twenty-two seasons without a conference championship.

Devaney was hired in 1962 and quickly turned NU into a powerhouse, winning eight conference titles and two national titles during his eleven years as head coach. Osborne succeeded him in 1973 and won thirteen conference championships; the late-season meeting between Nebraska and Oklahoma often became a de-facto Big Eight championship game, as the two schools combined to win at least a share of the conference title thirty-three times during Devaney and Osborne's combined thirty-six-year tenure. Osborne's final conference championship was a victory in the 1997 Big 12 Championship Game in the second year of its existence. Nebraska won the Big 12 again two years later, its most recent conference championship.

Division championships
Nebraska won ten division championships. Nine of these were in the Big 12's North Division, which NU played in until its departure for the Big Ten in 2011. Nebraska won one division title across thirteen seasons in the Big Ten's Leaders Division and West Division; the conference disbanded its divisions prior to the 2024 season.

† Co-champion

Bowl games
Nebraska has played in fifty-three bowl games, including an NCAA-record thirty-five straight from 1969 to 2003, with a record of 26–27. Nebraska declined an invite to play in the second-ever Rose Bowl Game following the 1915 season and did not make its bowl debut until 1941. Twenty-one years later, Bob Devaney's first season ended with the first bowl victory in program history, a 36–34 victory over Miami in the 1962 Gotham Bowl.

During Devaney's tenure, Nebraska began a stretch of thirty-five consecutive seasons with a bowl appearance, a streak that ended in 2004. The program regularly featured in the Orange Bowl due to the Big Eight's bowl affiliations, playing in the game seventeen times between 1954 and 1997, first against SEC opposition and later against the ACC.

Memorial Stadium
Memorial Stadium, known as The Sea of Red, has been home of the Cornhuskers since 1923 and is the location of an ongoing NCAA-record 396-game sellout streak. The sellout streak dates back to 1962, Bob Devaney's first season at Nebraska. The stadium becomes the "third-largest city in Nebraska" on game days, as its capacity exceeds that of every Nebraska town except for Omaha and Lincoln.

The stadium has undergone a series of expansion since 1923, bringing the official capacity to 85,458. The largest crowd in Memorial Stadium history occurred on September 20, 2014, a Nebraska win over Miami with an announced attendance of 91,585.

Three statues sit outside of the stadium. The oldest, unveiled in 1997, depicts six Nebraska defenders tackling a ball carrier. Creator Fred Hoppe said, "the monument displays the sense of pride that Nebraskans have for their football team." In 2006, Hoppe created a statue of Tom Osborne with his arm around quarterback Brook Berringer, which is located outside the Osborne Athletic Complex. On August 30, 2013, a bronze statue of Bob Devaney was unveiled at the main entrance of the newly remodeled east stadium. Sculptor Joe Putjenter also created the Tunnel Walk gates inside the stadium.

Before the construction of Memorial Stadium, Nebraska played its home games at Antelope Park and Nebraska Field.

Traditions
Gameday traditions Since 1994, Nebraska's home games have opened with the "Tunnel Walk" as the team takes the field before kickoff, typically to the Alan Parsons Project instrumental "Sirius." The team first emerged from the southwest corner of the field and later, upon the completion of the Osborne Athletic Complex in 2006, from the northwest corner. When NU's home locker room was moved to the Osborne Legacy Complex in 2023, the team's entrance was moved to the northeast corner of the stadium. The Tunnel Walk is preceded by a "Husker Power" chant – half the stadium chants "Husker" in unison and the other half responds with "Power."

Fans have released red helium balloons when Nebraska scores its first points at home games since the 1930s. Global helium shortages in recent years have threatened the tradition, which was paused in 2012 and 2022.

Walk-on program

NU accepted its first walk-ons in the early 1960s and Tom Osborne began an official program in 1973 when the NCAA reduced the number of scholarships schools could offer. Nebraska stocked its program with walk-ons from across the region throughout Osborne's and Frank Solich's tenures, and as a result the school's rosters were often unusually large – NU had 202 players on its 2002 Rose Bowl team, while opponent Miami had 107. Osborne credited his walk-ons with providing flexibility to better scout future opponents and provided them the same access to training facilities and academic counseling as those with scholarships. Though NU's expansive walk-on program is most frequently associated with Osborne, the school has typically maintained a larger-than-usual roster since his retirement as well.

Six former Nebraska walk-ons have become All-Americans and twenty-nine have played in the National Football League.

Uniform history
Helmets Nebraska's first helmet was red with a single white stripe, later changed to plain white with a black number on the side. From 1967 to 1969, the helmet featured a red, offset "NU" on each side. In 1970, this was changed to the now-familiar single "N," although a few "NU" helmets remained as late as 1971. The change was necessitated due to a shortage of "U" stickers, and when the program claimed its first national championship, the single N remained. Aside from a facemask swap from gray to red, the helmet design is unchanged since.

Jerseys

The Cornhuskers wore full shoulder stripes in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which were phased out as mesh and tearaway jerseys became popular. From 1980 to 1983, Nebraska's jerseys featured only a block "N" on the sleeves. Stripes and TV numbers were permanently re-added in 1984, although both have decreased in size as jersey sleeves have shortened. A patch was added to the left shoulder to commemorate the hundredth season of Nebraska football in 1989; it remained for future seasons and was altered to read "Nebraska Football: A Winning Tradition." Player last names first appeared on jerseys for road games and bowl games in the late 1970s, but home jerseys remained nameless except for seniors playing their final home game. Last names were permanently affixed to all jerseys in 1988.

Nebraska's defense is often referred to as the "Blackshirts," a reference to the black jerseys worn by starting defensive players during practice. The tradition originated in 1964 when Bob Devaney wanted a way to more quickly distinguish between his various units. Depictions of the Blackshirts often include a skull and crossbones.

Pants

Nebraska traditionally wears white pants at home and red on the road, with rare exceptions. The team first donned red pants with red jerseys for its 1986 contest with Oklahoma; the combination was unofficially retired after a Nebraska loss. Nebraska first wore all-white uniforms in the 1991 Florida Citrus Bowl and again for its first three road games in 1992; NU lost three of these games and "surrender suits," as they became known, were not used again for a decade. Nebraska wore white-on-white in Bill Callahan's final game as head coach, a 65–51 loss to Colorado in 2007, and again on four occasions in 2014.

From 1968 through 1994, Nebraska's pants had two stripes down each side. These were removed prior to the 1995 season and the pants remained stripe-less until 2001. In 2002, Nebraska featured large side panels on its jersey and pants, and wore all-white in every road game – the changes were unpopular among fans and most were reverted, which included the return of pant stripes. Pant stripes were again removed during Scott Frost's tenure as head coach as a tribute to the style from his playing career, and returned following his departure.

Alternate uniforms The first documented instance of Nebraska wearing alternate uniforms came against South Dakota in 1920 – the Cornhuskers were forced into blue jerseys when the visiting Coyotes mistakenly brought their home reds to Lincoln. The same situation arose three years later against Oklahoma in the first-ever game at Memorial Stadium. Nebraska celebrated the stadium's hundredth anniversary in 2023, wearing blue-trimmed jerseys to commemorate the occasion.

Nebraska did not use a pre-planned alternate design until 2009, and has used one each season since 2012. Many of these were throwback or "fauxback" uniforms, worn to commemorate past events or championships: 2009 (the 300th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium), 2017 (the twentieth anniversary of Nebraska's 1997 national championship), 2018 (the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War I), 2021 (the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks), 2022 (to honor Nebraska's 1983 team), and 2023 (the hundredth anniversary of Memorial Stadium).

Nebraska and Wisconsin played the first "Adidas Unrivaled" game in 2012; both schools wore uniforms featuring block letters instead of front numbers. NU wore black jerseys with white stencil font numbers against UCLA the following year. Nebraska wore an all-red uniform featuring black metallic stripes on the jersey and pants in 2014, and used similar all-black and all-white designs the next two seasons. Nebraska wore Blackshirt-themed alternate uniforms in 2019, featuring a black jersey with a Blackshirts logo on both sleeves. Scott Frost suggested this iteration may become a permanent alternate design to be worn after Nebraska's defense plays particularly well. Nebraska used the uniforms again in 2020, and unveiled a white version to be worn away from home, but has not used either since.

Adidas has been Nebraska's official shoe and uniform sponsor since 1996. In 2017, the school and sponsor signed an eleven-year, $128 million apparel deal.

Colorado
The rivalry between Nebraska and Colorado, one-sided for much of its history, gained traction with Colorado's resurgence in the 1990s. The teams have met 71 times, with the series dating back to 1898, a 23–10 Nebraska win. The Cornhuskers lead the series 49–21–2. The rivalry began when Colorado joined the Big Eight in 1947; they played in the same conference as Nebraska until 2010. A bison head named Mr. Chip was presented to the winning team throughout the 1950s, but this exchange ended when Colorado misplaced the trophy in 1961. The teams have not played annually since both programs exited the Big 12 in 2011.

Iowa
The Iowa–Nebraska rivalry debuted in 1891, a 22–0 Iowa win. Since 2011, the game is held annually the Friday after Thanksgiving. Also, the game was named the Heroes Game, and the winner keeps the Heroes Trophy. The teams have met 53 times, with the Cornhuskers leading the series 30–21–3.

Kansas
Nebraska and Kansas share a natural border rivalry and maintained the longest non-interrupted rivalry in college football history at 105 years. The teams have met 117 times, with the series dating back to 1892, a 12–0 Kansas win. The Cornhuskers lead the series 91–23–3, which includes 36 consecutive victories from 1969 to 2004. Since Nebraska's move to the Big Ten in 2011, the series has been dormant. No future games are scheduled.

Kansas State
Nebraska and Kansas State were conference rivals from 1913 to 2010. With only 135 miles separating the schools, they were the nearest cross-border rivals in the Big Eight and Big 12 conferences. The teams have met 95 times, with the series dating back to 1911, a 59–0 Nebraska win. Nebraska leads the series 78–15–2, which includes 29 consecutive victories from 1969 to 1997. Since Nebraska's move to the Big Ten in 2011, the series has been dormant. No future games are scheduled.

The 1939 game was televised in Manhattan, Kansas, making it the second televised college football game. The 1992 contest was held in Tokyo as the Coca-Cola Classic.

Miami (FL)
Nebraska's series with Miami is among the most significant "bowl rivalries" in college football. The teams have met twelve times, with the series dating back to 1951, a 19–7 Miami win. The series is tied, 6–6. No future game is yet scheduled.

The rivalry's most notable game is the 1984 Orange Bowl. Top-ranked Nebraska scored with seconds remaining to make the game 31–30, but NU head coach Tom Osborne opted to try for a two-point conversion instead of an extra point, even though a tie would have given Nebraska the national championship. Miami won the game and its first national title.

Minnesota
The $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy has been awarded to the winner of the Minnesota–Nebraska game since 2014. The teams have met 61 times, dating back to 1900, a 20–12 Minnesota win. The Golden Gophers lead the series 35–25–2. Minnesota holds the trophy after defeating the Cornhuskers in 2023. The teams will meet next in 2025.

Missouri
The Victory Bell (also known as the Missouri–Nebraska Bell) has been awarded to the winner of the Missouri–Nebraska game since 1927. The teams have met 104 times, with the series dating back to 1892, a 1–0 NU win when Missouri forfeited to protest the presence of African-American George Flippin on Nebraska's roster. The Cornhuskers lead the series 65–36–3. Nebraska holds the Victory Bell after defeating the Tigers in 2010. Since Nebraska's move to the Big Ten in 2011, the series has been dormant. No future games are scheduled.

Oklahoma
Nebraska and Oklahoma has long been considered one of the great college football rivalries. The teams have met 87 times dating back to 1912, a 13–9 Nebraska win. The Sooners lead the series 46–38–3. Since Nebraska's move to the Big Ten in 2011, the series was dormant until 2021 when Oklahoma beat Nebraska 23–16 in Norman. Future non-conference games are scheduled for 2029 and 2030. Notably, the 2021 game in Norman marked the 50th anniversary of Nebraska's 35–31 victory over Oklahoma in the "Game of the Century".

Nebraska dominated the series until 1942, going 16–3–3 in the first twenty-two meetings. The Sooners then won sixteen consecutive games, the longest streak in the series. Nebraska's 1959 win both ended the Cornhuskers' drought against the Sooners and snapped Oklahoma's 74-game conference win streak. Nebraska won the "Game of the Century" in 1971, of which Dave Kindred of The Courier-Journal wrote, "They can quit playing now, they have played the perfect game." Oklahoma won every matchup from 1972 to 1977, a streak that ended in 1978, when Nebraska upset No. 1 Oklahoma; less than two months later, OU won a rematch in the Orange Bowl. Nebraska controlled the 1990s, including a 69–7 win in 1997, the largest margin of victory in series history. When the Big 12 was formed in 1996, the schools no longer played annually, ending a stretch of 68 consecutive years they had met. The teams met for the last time as conference opponents in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game, when Oklahoma defeated Nebraska 23–20.

The two programs combined to win 74 of 89 Big Eight championships, 41 by Nebraska and 33 by Oklahoma. The teams played eighteen times when both were ranked in the AP Poll top ten, and nine times when both were in the top five.

Wisconsin
The Freedom Trophy has been awarded to the winner of the Nebraska–Wisconsin game since 2014. The teams have met fifteen times, with the series dating back to 1901, an 18–0 Wisconsin win. The Badgers lead the series 12–4. Wisconsin holds the Freedom Trophy after defeating the Cornhuskers in 2023. The teams play annually and will meet next on November 23, 2024.

Individual award finalists
Winners in bold.

College Football Hall of Fame
Twenty-six former Nebraska coaches and players have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Retired numbers and jerseys
Nebraska has retired the number of three players and the jersey of twenty-two others. The first of these was Tom Novak, the only four-time first-team all-conference selection in NU history, whose No. 60 was permanently retired shortly after the end of his playing career in 1949. Johnny Rodgers became the second player to have his number retired after winning the 1972 Heisman Trophy – though Rodgers allowed his No. 20 to be worn by his son Terry (and several others, most recently in 2008), the university considers it "permanently retired." Rich Glover's jersey was retired at the same time as Rodgers's, but his No. 79 remained in circulation. Over the next several decades Nebraska retired the jersey of each of its major award winners, typically during the offseason following the end of their collegiate career.

Bob Brown, the first All-American coached by Bob Devaney at NU, had his No. 64 permanently retired in 2004. In 2017, the school recognized eight of its early College Football Hall of Fame inductees – including Guy Chamberlin, whose career predated the use of numbers on jerseys – by retiring their jerseys in a ceremony celebrating the 125th anniversary of the N Club, an organization of past letterwinners. The name and number of each honoree is displayed at Memorial Stadium, directly below the North Stadium press box.

Academic All-Americans
Nebraska leads the nation in Academic All-America selections, both in football and across all sports. Nebraska boasts seventy CoSIDA First-Team and 108 overall Academic All-America selections, both tops in the nation. The list includes fifteen Huskers that have been named first team Academic All-Americans twice in their careers. The Huskers also lead the nation with a total of 330 Academic All-Americans across all sports.

Nebraska has four players that have been selected as a First Team Academic All-American by entities other than CoSIDA: Don Fricke (1960), Pat Clare (1960), Jim Osberg (1965), and Tony Jeter (1965).

In the NFL


Nebraska has had 368 former players drafted into the National Football League, including thirty-four first-round picks, two players selected first overall (Sam Francis in 1937 and Irving Fryar in 1984), and one player selected with the last pick of the draft (Stan Hegener in 1971).

Guy Chamberlin, Nebraska's first consensus All-American, signed with the Decautur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) in 1920 and a year later, scored the game-winning touchdown in the controversial "Staley Swindle" game. Chamberlin went on to win four more APFA/NFL championships as a player and coach and still has the highest winning percentage of any coach in NFL history (0.784, among coaches with at least fifty wins).

Former Nebraska I-back Roger Craig became the first player in NFL history to score three touchdowns in a Super Bowl in 1985. The following season, he became the first player with 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in a single NFL season, and in 1988 he was named Offensive Player of the Year. Craig and fullback Tom Rathman, another former Cornhusker, played five seasons together on a high-powered San Francisco 49ers offense, winning two more Super Bowls.

Vince Ferragamo, Nebraska's quarterback in 1975 and 1976, started Super Bowl XIV for the Los Angeles Rams, the only former Cornhusker to start at quarterback in a Super Bowl. Zac Taylor, another former Nebraska quarterback, was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. NU was represented by at least one player in each Super Bowl from 1993 until 2019, the longest active streak of any school at the time it was snapped.

Pro Football Hall of Fame
Five former Nebraska players have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Active players
There are twenty-three Huskers on NFL rosters, along with three coaches.

Future schedule
The Big Ten Conference added four new member schools prior to the 2024 season and disbanded the division system it had used in some form since 2011. Nebraska annually faces one protected rivalry in this scheduling format, Iowa. The remaining eight conference games rotate amongst the remaining sixteen teams.