Updated September 4, 2026, entering the 2026 season.
Nebraska has played football since 1890 and has spent most of that time as either the dominant program in its region or the dominant program in the country. It won 24 conference titles before World War II, went dark for two decades, then produced 36 straight winning seasons, five national titles and the most feared offense of the 1990s under Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne. The 25 years since Osborne retired are the story of a program trying to get back.
Timeline
| 1890 | First game, a 10 to 0 win over the Omaha YMCA; Frank Crawford becomes the first official head coach in 1893 |
| 1892 | Missouri forfeits rather than play against George Flippin, one of the first Black players in college football; Nebraska is a founding member of the WIUFA, one of the sport’s first conferences |
| 1901 to 1904 | Walter Booth’s teams win 24 straight; the Cornhuskers nickname replaces Bugeaters around 1900 |
| 1911 to 1915 | Jumbo Stiehm, hired at 24, goes 35-2-3 with a 34 game unbeaten streak; the 8-0 1915 team declines the Rose Bowl over travel costs and is later named a national champion |
| 1923 | Memorial Stadium opens with a 24 to 0 win over Oklahoma; Nebraska beats Notre Dame and the Four Horsemen 14 to 7 there in 1923 and had beaten them in 1922, the only losses of Rockne’s teams those two seasons |
| 1929 to 1940 | Dana X. Bible and Biff Jones win eight conference titles; Jones takes Nebraska to its first bowl, the 1941 Rose Bowl, then leaves for West Point |
| 1941 to 1961 | Seven coaches, no conference titles, mostly losing seasons; the 1959 upset of Oklahoma ends OU’s 74 game conference win streak |
| 1962 | Bob Devaney arrives from Wyoming, goes 9-2 with a Gotham Bowl win, and the sellout streak begins November 3 |
| 1970 to 1971 | Back to back national championships; the Game of the Century at Oklahoma, 35 to 31 |
| 1973 | Tom Osborne, 35, promoted from offensive coordinator; the official walk on program begins the same year |
| 1983 | The Scoring Explosion: Rozier, Gill and Fryar average 52 points; the two point conversion fails against Miami in the Orange Bowl |
| 1994 to 1997 | Three national titles in four years, 49-2, Osborne retires after the 1998 Orange Bowl |
| 2001 | Eric Crouch wins the Heisman; Nebraska loses the BCS title game to Miami, its last national title appearance |
| 2003 to 2007 | Frank Solich fired after 9-3; Bill Callahan’s 2004 team posts the first losing season since 1961 and ends the 35 year bowl streak |
| 2011 | Nebraska leaves the Big 12 for the Big Ten, ending annual series with Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State, Iowa State and Colorado |
| 2017 to 2023 | Seven straight seasons without a bowl under Mike Riley and Scott Frost, the worst stretch in over 60 years |
| 2024 to 2025 | Matt Rhule’s teams go 7-6 twice and reach the Pinstripe and Las Vegas Bowls; the $600 million Big Red Rebuild is approved for Memorial Stadium |
The Ten Best Seasons
1. 1995, 12-0. The standard. Averaged 53.2 points, won every game by at least 14, beat three top 10 teams in four weeks by 28 a game, then hung 62 on No. 2 Florida. Frazier, Green, Phillips, Wiegert’s successors up front and a defense that intercepted Wuerffel three times.
2. 1971, 13-0. Allowed 6.4 points a game, won the Game of the Century at Oklahoma and beat No. 2 Alabama 38 to 6 in the Orange Bowl. The only champion to beat the eventual No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4.
3. 1994, 13-0. Osborne’s first consensus title, won with a backup quarterback for most of the year and a fourth quarter comeback against Miami in Miami.
4. 1997, 13-0. Osborne’s farewell: a win at No. 2 Washington, the Flea Kicker in Columbia, the first Big 12 title and a 42 to 17 Orange Bowl over Tennessee.
5. 1983, 12-1. The Scoring Explosion, No. 1 for the entire regular season, undone by a two point conversion. Seven selectors still call it a national title.
6. 1970, 11-0-1. The first title, won when Texas and Ohio State both lost on New Year’s Day.
7. 1993, 11-1. Lost the title game to Florida State by two points on a missed 45 yard field goal at the gun. The team that started the 60-3 run.
8. 1982, 12-1. The only loss was 27 to 24 at Penn State on a disputed catch in the final seconds; finished third with Rimington, Rozier and Gill.
9. 1999, 12-1. Solich’s second team won the Big 12 and the Fiesta Bowl over Tennessee and finished third, the last top five finish.
10. 1965, 10-1. Devaney’s first undefeated regular season and the first Orange Bowl that doubled as a title game, lost to Alabama.
Program Records
| Most wins by a coach | Tom Osborne, 255 |
| Best winning percentage, coach | Jumbo Stiehm .913; Osborne .836 over 25 years |
| Single season rushing | Mike Rozier, 2,148 yards, 1983 |
| Points per game, season | 53.2 in 1995, the FBS record |
| Longest win streak | 26, 1994 to 1996 |
| Longest unbeaten streak | 34, 1912 to 1916 |
| Home win streak | 47, 1991 to 1998 |
| Bowl appearance streak | 35 seasons, 1969 to 2003, NCAA record |
| Sellout streak | 410 entering 2026, NCAA record for any sport |
| Largest margin, bowl | 49, 66-17 over Northwestern, 2000 Alamo Bowl |
| Most consensus All Americans | 54, ninth most nationally |
What Made Nebraska Different
The walk on program. Osborne kept rosters far larger than the norm by recruiting walk ons from every corner of the state and giving them the same facilities, training and academic support as scholarship players. Six walk ons became All Americans and 25 were drafted. The NCAA roster limits of 2024 effectively ended it.
Strength and conditioning. Boyd Epley’s program, launched under Devaney in 1969, was the first full time strength staff in college football and the reason Nebraska’s offensive lines were bigger and faster than everyone else’s for 30 years. The Outland Trophy went to a Cornhusker eight times.
The option. Osborne’s I formation option with a power running game produced eight straight seasons over 300 rushing yards a game in the 1990s and a run of quarterbacks, Gill, Frazier, Frost and Crouch, who could have played tailback.
Academics. Nebraska has produced more Academic All Americans than any other school across all sports, a point the athletic department prints on everything.
Related Reading
National championships, all time record, conference championships, rivals and the Memorial Stadium guide go deeper on each piece of this timeline.