In 1951 I was in the first grade at St Teresa's school in Lincoln Nebraska, the teacher a kindly nun had a contest for spelling and arithmetic which involved a tally on the blackboard between two teams Nebraska and Notre Dame. It was my first introduction to college football and the Cornhuskers, I remember ND usually won the contests after all this was a catholic school. At the time NU was a member of the Big 7 Conference along with neighboring state schools from Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma. The Huskers weren't very good in those days usually .500 or below, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln sat only 31,000 fans and I don't think there were many sellouts. I remember my parents taking a trip to Ames, Iowa for an Iowa St game but don't remember the score only that the weather was bad.
My dad graduated from the University in 1952 with a degree in chemistry, the war had interrupted his education but now the US economy was booming and jobs were plentiful so it was off to Rochester NY and Eastman Kodak and eventually BC for me. The next encounter with the Huskers was in 1958 when the parents traveled to Archbold Stadium in Syracuse to see NU play the Orange who were very good in those days and would win the national championship the next year.
Nebraska lost that game 38-0 and never crossed midfield, such were the travails of NU fans in those days. However change was in the air.
The golden years of Nebraska football began in 1962 when coach Bob Devaney was hired from Wyoming and the team immediately turned around going from 3-6-1 record to 9-2 in one year and by the 1971 season Nebraska was the undisputed best team in college football finishing 13-0 including the Thanksgiving Day 35-31 road victory at Oklahoma called then the greatest game ever and the 38-6 thrashing of Alabama in the Orange Bowl. Nebraska fans had long since gone overboard with Husker football, the stadium has sold out every home game since 1962 and now seats 85,000 and the entire state lives and dies with the team. Much more was to come, Tom Osborne succeeded Devaney as head coach in 1973 and together both won 5 national championships and Nebraska set a record for most appearances ranked in the AP top 20 (340) which still stands.
Slowly the tide began to turn against the team, Osborne retired at the end of the '97 national championship season and former player frank Solich took over as head coach and while he put up good numbers with 9, 12, 10, and 11 win seasons none were better than a #2 ranking and when Solich won only 7 games in 2002 the writing was on the wall for fans used to being #1 and even a 10 win season in 2002 couldn't save him from getting fired. If the NU fans had known what the future would bring the school would not have been so hasty, Solich went on to Ohio University where he won many MAC titles and a place in the College Football Hall of Fame.
It turned out the glory years were gone for Nebraska, a succession of coaches (Callahan, Pelini, Riley and Frost) followed Solich and all failed, losing records became the norm and trips to bowl games where NU held the record for consecutive appearances were non existent, favorite son Scott Frost flopped spectacularly posting 5 straight losing seasons. The fans still turned out for sellouts and waited for the team resurrection but to date it hasn't happened with some terrible home losses to teams like Troy, No. Illinois and Ga. Southern. Current coach Matt Rhule arrived with high hopes in 2023 having turned around Baylor after a big scandal and then coaching in the NFL but Rhule has struggled and Nebraska hasn't posted a winning record since 2016. Joining the Big 10 Conference in 2011 is most often given as the reason for the losing and it has hurt recruiting to play in former unknown territory. Nebraska hasn't been to a bowl game for eight years, an eternity for Husker fans so this Saturday's game against Boston College has the potential to mark a long awaited turnaround for Nebraska football.
My dad graduated from the University in 1952 with a degree in chemistry, the war had interrupted his education but now the US economy was booming and jobs were plentiful so it was off to Rochester NY and Eastman Kodak and eventually BC for me. The next encounter with the Huskers was in 1958 when the parents traveled to Archbold Stadium in Syracuse to see NU play the Orange who were very good in those days and would win the national championship the next year.
Nebraska lost that game 38-0 and never crossed midfield, such were the travails of NU fans in those days. However change was in the air.
The golden years of Nebraska football began in 1962 when coach Bob Devaney was hired from Wyoming and the team immediately turned around going from 3-6-1 record to 9-2 in one year and by the 1971 season Nebraska was the undisputed best team in college football finishing 13-0 including the Thanksgiving Day 35-31 road victory at Oklahoma called then the greatest game ever and the 38-6 thrashing of Alabama in the Orange Bowl. Nebraska fans had long since gone overboard with Husker football, the stadium has sold out every home game since 1962 and now seats 85,000 and the entire state lives and dies with the team. Much more was to come, Tom Osborne succeeded Devaney as head coach in 1973 and together both won 5 national championships and Nebraska set a record for most appearances ranked in the AP top 20 (340) which still stands.
Slowly the tide began to turn against the team, Osborne retired at the end of the '97 national championship season and former player frank Solich took over as head coach and while he put up good numbers with 9, 12, 10, and 11 win seasons none were better than a #2 ranking and when Solich won only 7 games in 2002 the writing was on the wall for fans used to being #1 and even a 10 win season in 2002 couldn't save him from getting fired. If the NU fans had known what the future would bring the school would not have been so hasty, Solich went on to Ohio University where he won many MAC titles and a place in the College Football Hall of Fame.
It turned out the glory years were gone for Nebraska, a succession of coaches (Callahan, Pelini, Riley and Frost) followed Solich and all failed, losing records became the norm and trips to bowl games where NU held the record for consecutive appearances were non existent, favorite son Scott Frost flopped spectacularly posting 5 straight losing seasons. The fans still turned out for sellouts and waited for the team resurrection but to date it hasn't happened with some terrible home losses to teams like Troy, No. Illinois and Ga. Southern. Current coach Matt Rhule arrived with high hopes in 2023 having turned around Baylor after a big scandal and then coaching in the NFL but Rhule has struggled and Nebraska hasn't posted a winning record since 2016. Joining the Big 10 Conference in 2011 is most often given as the reason for the losing and it has hurt recruiting to play in former unknown territory. Nebraska hasn't been to a bowl game for eight years, an eternity for Husker fans so this Saturday's game against Boston College has the potential to mark a long awaited turnaround for Nebraska football.
