45 Fun Facts About Nebraska Cornhuskers Football

How many national championships does Nebraska football claim?

Nebraska claims five national championships: 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995 and 1997, the last three under Tom Osborne.

Nebraska has sold out every home game at Memorial Stadium since which year?

The sellout streak began in 1962, Bob Devaney's first season, and reached 400 consecutive games six decades later, an NCAA record for any sport.

What is Memorial Stadium's nickname on game day?

Memorial Stadium becomes the Sea of Red on game days, when roughly 90,000 fans in red briefly outnumber every Nebraska city except Omaha and Lincoln.

How many seasons did Tom Osborne spend as Nebraska's head coach after succeeding Bob Devaney in 1973?

Osborne coached 25 seasons, 1973 through 1997, and never won fewer than nine games in any of them.

What was Tom Osborne's career record as Nebraska's head coach?

Osborne finished 255-49-3, a .836 winning percentage, with 13 conference titles and three national championships in 25 seasons.

After coaching, Tom Osborne served three terms in what role?

Osborne was a US Congressman from Nebraska's third district for three terms, 2001 to 2007, then became the school's athletic director.

Tom Osborne played college football at which small Nebraska school?

Osborne starred at Hastings College in his hometown before a brief NFL stint and a job on Devaney's staff.

Nebraska's 1971 "Game of the Century" was a 35-31 Thanksgiving Day win over which rival?

Fifty-five million Americans watched, the largest college football audience ever, as the Blackshirts faced the Sooners' wishbone.

Which quarterback started for Nebraska's 1971 national champions after sharing the job in 1970?

Jerry Tagge, who split snaps with Van Brownson in 1970, quarterbacked the 13-0 1971 team and beat Alabama 38-6 in the Orange Bowl.

Which three Cornhuskers have won the Heisman Trophy?

Johnny Rodgers won in 1972, Mike Rozier in 1983 and Eric Crouch in 2001, Crouch as a run-first option quarterback.

Nebraska's defense is nicknamed the Blackshirts because of what?

The tradition began in 1964, the first year of free substitution, so Devaney could tell his units apart.

Which instrumental accompanies Nebraska's Tunnel Walk?

The Tunnel Walk began in 1994 to "Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project, the same instrumental the Chicago Bulls used for player introductions.

What did Memorial Stadium fans traditionally release after Nebraska's first score?

Red helium balloons floated up after Nebraska's first score for decades until the school retired the release in the early 2020s over helium supply and environmental concerns.

What is the Nebraska crowd known for doing to the visiting team after the game, win or lose?

The band also plays the visiting team's fight song before every home game.

Before "Cornhuskers" caught on, what was Nebraska's best-known early nickname?

"Bugeaters" mocked Nebraskans who supposedly ate insects during the 1870s grasshopper plagues; Lincoln sportswriter Cy Sherman pushed "Cornhuskers" instead from 1899.

What are the names of Nebraska's two official mascots?

Herbie Husker, the overalls-wearing farmer, became the mascot in 1974, and the inflatable kid-friendly Lil' Red joined him in 1993.

What was the final score of the 1984 Orange Bowl, where Tom Osborne went for two instead of a tie?

Miami won 31-30 when Turner Gill's two-point pass was knocked away in the final minute, giving the Hurricanes their first national title.

Which quarterback led Nebraska to back-to-back national titles in 1994 and 1995?

Tommie Frazier rushed for 199 yards in the 62-24 Fiesta Bowl rout and was named MVP of a third straight title game.

Which backup quarterback led most of the undefeated 1994 regular season while the starter was sidelined?

Brook Berringer started seven games in 1994 while the starter recovered from blood clots, and Nebraska then beat Miami 24-17 in the Orange Bowl for the title.

Nebraska's 1995 national champions averaged how many points per game?

Nebraska scored 638 points in 12 games in 1995, a 53.2 average, and won every game by at least 14 points.

Which quarterback led Nebraska to the 1997 national title and later returned as head coach?

Scott Frost quarterbacked the 42-17 Orange Bowl win over Tennessee that earned the coaches' poll title, then coached Nebraska from 2018 to 2022.

Which team did Nebraska crush 62-24 in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl to repeat as champions?

The Blackshirts intercepted Florida's Danny Wuerffel three times and Nebraska led 35-10 at halftime.

Who took over from Tom Osborne in 1998 and reached the 2002 BCS title game before being fired in 2003?

Frank Solich went 58-19 in six seasons, was fired after a 9-3 regular season in 2003, and the bowl streak ended a year later under Bill Callahan.

Nebraska joined which conference in 2011?

Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011 after 15 seasons as a Big 12 charter member and decades in that league's predecessor.

Nebraska and Iowa play annually for which prize?

The Heroes Trophy, introduced in 2011, goes to the Nebraska-Iowa winner in a game played the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Which team took over as Nebraska's Thanksgiving-weekend opponent when the Big 12 formed in 1996?

Bill McCartney's Buffaloes had beaten NU in 1986, 1989 and 1990 to break the Nebraska-Sooners grip on the Big Eight.

Which defensive tackle won the Outland, Lombardi, Nagurski and Bednarik awards for Nebraska in 2009?

Ndamukong Suh swept the four awards in 2009, was a Heisman finalist and went second overall to Detroit in the 2010 draft.

Which Nebraska center won two Outland Trophies and has the top-center award named for him?

Dave Rimington won the Outland in 1981 and 1982 plus the 1982 Lombardi; Dominic Raiola won the first Rimington Trophy in 2000.

Which two players have had their numbers permanently retired by Nebraska?

Tom Novak, the school's only four-time all-conference pick, and Bob Brown, the 1963 All-American lineman, are the two whose numbers, 60 and 64, are retired.

Which two Cornhuskers have been picked first overall in the NFL draft?

Sam Francis went first overall to Philadelphia in 1937 and Irving Fryar first to New England in 1984.

Nebraska played in how many consecutive bowl games from 1969 to 2003, a record at the time?

Nebraska's 35 straight bowl trips ran from the 1969 Sun Bowl to the 2003 Alamo Bowl; the streak ended in 2004 under Bill Callahan.

Which sport drew a stadium-record 92,003 fans to Memorial Stadium in 2023?

Nebraska volleyball beat Omaha before 92,003 on August 30, 2023, setting a world attendance record for a women's sporting event.

Nebraska's official walk-on program began in 1973 in response to what?

Osborne and Solich stocked their unusually large rosters with walk-ons from across the region.

Which coach did Nebraska hire after the 2022 season to revive the program?

Matt Rhule, who had rebuilt Temple and Baylor, was hired in November 2022 after Nebraska's worst stretch in more than sixty years.

Bob Devaney's first season ended with the program's first bowl win, in which now-defunct game?

Nebraska beat Miami 36-34 in the Gotham Bowl at Yankee Stadium in Devaney's first season, a game played only twice before it folded.

Which university did Bob Devaney coach before Nebraska?

Devaney went 35-10-5 at Wyoming from 1957 to 1961 after assisting at Michigan State and years coaching Michigan high schools.

How many conference championships does Nebraska claim, the last coming in 1999?

Nebraska counts 46 conference titles, the last in the 1999 Big 12; Osborne won 13 of them and Devaney won in 1963-66 and 1969-72.

Which team routed Nebraska 70-31 in the 2012 conference championship game?

Wisconsin won 70-31 in Indianapolis despite entering at 7-5, and the two have played for the Freedom Trophy since becoming division rivals in 2014.

The Cornhusker Marching Band goes by what nickname?

The Cornhusker Marching Band, "The Pride of All Nebraska," traces to an 1879 military band and performs the pregame show at every home game.

Which Nebraska I-back rushed for 1,877 yards during the 1997 title season?

Ahman Green ran for 1,877 yards in 1997, the most by any Cornhusker since 1983, and left for the NFL after his junior season.

How many straight games did Nebraska go without a loss from 1912 to 1916?

Nebraska went thirty-four games without a loss from late 1912 through 1916, including unbeaten seasons in 1913, 1914 and 1915.

Nebraska's unbeaten 1915 team declined a Rose Bowl invitation to play which school?

Washington State beat stand-in Brown 14-0 in the 1916 Rose Bowl after Nebraska officials balked at the cost of a Pasadena trip; NU's first bowl was the 1941 Rose Bowl.

Which team did Nebraska rout 45-6 in the 1969 Sun Bowl?

Georgia fell 45-6 to Nebraska in the 1969 Sun Bowl in El Paso, the first of the Huskers' long run of consecutive bowl appearances.

Which fullback's two late touchdowns won the January 1995 Orange Bowl for Nebraska?

Cory Schlesinger scored twice on trap plays in the final period as Nebraska erased a deficit to win 24-17 for Osborne's first national title.

In which year did Nebraska return to a bowl game after a seven-season absence?

Nebraska beat Boston College 20-15 in the 2024 Pinstripe Bowl, its first postseason trip since the 2016 season.