Nebraska Cornhuskers football

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Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Head Coach	Bill Callahan
	3rd Year, 22-15
Home Stadium	Memorial Stadium, Lincoln
	Capacity 81,067 - FieldTurf
Conference	Big 12 - North
First Year	1890
Athletic Director	Steve Pederson
Website	huskers.com
Team Records
All-time Record	803-324-40 (.705)
Postseason Bowl Record	22-21
Awards
Wire National Titles	5
Conference Titles	46
Heisman Winners	3
All-Americans	92
Pageantry
Colors	Scarlet and Cream
Fight song	There is No Place Like Nebraska
Mascot	Herbie Husker, Lil' Red
Marching Band	Cornhusker State Marching Band (The Pride of All Nebraska)
Rivals	Oklahoma Sooners Colorado Buffaloes Missouri Tigers

The Nebraska Cornhuskers represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in college football. The program has established itself as a traditional powerhouse, and have the fourth-most all-time victories of any NCAA Division I-A team. The Cornhuskers are currently in their 117th season and hold an all-time record of 803-324-40. On October 14, 2006, with a 21-3 win over the Kansas State Wildcats, Nebraska became only the 4th program in NCAA Division I-A history to win 800 games.

The Cornhuskers' three national championships in Division I collegiate football over the past 25 years are the second most of any university, behind only the University of Miami, which has won five.

Contents 1 History 2 The Fans 3 Season results 4 National championship seasons 5 Individual award winners 5.1 Players 5.2 Coaches 5.3 Permanently retired jerseys 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

Husker football began play in 1890, with a 10-0 victory over the Omaha YMCA on Thanksgiving Day, November 27.^[1] During the early years of the program, the team had a number of nicknames: "Bugeaters", "Tree Planters", "Nebraskans", "The Rattlesnake Boys", "Antelopes" and "Old Gold Knights"; "Cornhuskers" became the sole nickname used around 1900.^[2]

Nebraska has claimed 46 conference championships and part or all of five national championships: 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, and 1997. This marked the first time since Notre Dame in 1946-49 when a team won three national championships in four seasons. 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, Dave Noble, and coaches Dana X. Bible, Bob Devaney, Biff Jones, Tom Osborne, Eddie "Robbie" Robinson, and Fielding Yost.^[3]

Notable rivals of the Cornhuskers are the Oklahoma Sooners and the Colorado Buffaloes. Nebraska and Oklahoma regularly battled for the Big Eight Conference title until 1995 when the conference became the Big XII. Out of the Big Eight's 89 year history, Nebraska or Oklahoma won or shared the conference championship 71 times.^[4] The Cornhuskers and Sooners also played several games during the 1970's and 1980's that decided the national championship.^[5]

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.^[6] 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. ^[7]

Since the 1994 season, Nebraska's home games have always opened with the Tunnel Walk. Before the team enters, the HuskerVision screens light up with a burst of computer animation, and "Sirius" (a song 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. They currently hold the record for the most consecutive sold out home games, which celebrated its 282nd occasion when they competed against Colorado Buffaloes on November 24, 2006. 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.

The coach who brought about the most wins in Cornhusker history is Tom Osborne, who led the team for 25 seasons, from 1973 to 1997; his final record at Nebraska was 255 wins, 49 losses and 3 ties. During his tenure, the team won three national titles, including one in his final season. Osborne-led teams won at least 9 games every season and 5 times managed to win 12 or more.^[8] By the time he was finished the Nebraska coach had compiled a winning percentage of 83.6%, a higher rate than those held by Bobby Bowden, Paul "Bear" Bryant, and Joe Paterno.^[9] After retiring from the Cornhuskers, Osborne was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska's Third Congressional District in 2000.

Osborne's handpicked successor was Frank Solich, a Nebraska assistant coach and former player. Solich had coached freshman from 1979-1983 and running backs from 1983-1997.^[10] This was following in a tradition because Osborne had been a long-time Cornhusker assistant before Devaney chose him as his successor. Like Osborne, Solich also had big shoes to fill. In his first season, the team got off to a 5-0 start before falling to Texas A&M 21-28. The team went on to a 9-4 record ending up with the most losses since the 1968 season.^[11] Over the next three seasons Solich produced better results: 12-1 in 1999 and 10-2 in 2000. The 2001 season looked to be a special one with Heisman Candidate Eric Crouch at quarterback. Going into the regular season finale with Colorado, the Cornhuskers were ranked first in the BCS standings and seemed headed to the national championship game.^[12] The University of Colorado Buffaloes proceeded to beat Nebraska 62-36 in spite of these title hopes. The 62 points and 582 total yards were the most allowed by Nebraska up until that point.^[13] Solich's team still managed to get into the BCS championship game but it was soundly beaten by the University of Miami Hurricanes 14-37.^[14] The next year the team went to a 7-7 record as many speculated about a hangover from those two losses. Several streaks ended in 2002: 40 years of winning seasons, 21 years ranked in the top 25, and 44 years since finishing with 3 straight losses.^[15] Solich fired several staff members and hired Bo Pelini as his new defensive coordinator and Barney Cotton as offensive coordinator. The next year the team improved to a 9-3 regular season record but that wasn't enough to save Solich's job. Steve Pederson, the university's recently hired athletic director, fired the coach shortly after a come-from-behind win at Colorado. "I refuse to let this program gravitate to a level of mediocrity," Pederson said of his reasoning.^[16] The athletic director named Pelini the interim coach for Alamo Bowl. The Pelini-led team beat Michigan State 17-3.

A six-week coaching search ensued after the firing. Pederson conducted the search privately but rumors of candidates spread through messageboards and traditional media.^[17] Houston Nutt, the University of Arkansas' football coach, was rumored to have been offered the job but this was denied by Nebraska officials.^[18] In the end, Pederson decided to hire the former coach of the Oakland Raiders, Bill Callahan.

Callahan represents a break from tradition in many ways. First, Callahan is the first head coach in recent history not to be hand-picked by his predecessor. Second, Callahan has implemented the West Coast Offense at Nebraska. For years the Huskers had been known for their run-oriented triple-option offense. The new system relies heavily on a balance between the run and the pass. Excitement over Callahan's new system was bubbling amongst Husker nation when Nebraska cruised to 56-17 win over the Western Illinois Leathernecks, a team they were heavily favored to beat. However, the excitement quickly faded when Nebraska lost a home game to Southern Mississippi. Things were dismal for Callahan when he returned to Lincoln from Lubbock, Texas, losing by the largest margin in school history: a 70-10 loss to Texas Tech, the first time Nebraska had ever lost to them.^[19] In Callahan's first season as head coach in 2004, the team recorded 5 wins and 6 losses. This was the first losing season in over 40 years.^[20] This did not go over well with many Husker fans who were used to Nebraska's winning ways. Speculation that the West Coast Offense could not work at Nebraska began to rise. Since then team has improved to records of 8-4 in 2005 and 9-5 in 2006.

In October of 2006 Nebraska became one of only four Division 1 football teams to have 800 lifetime wins, with a win over Kansas State. Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas also have 800 wins.

[edit] The Fans

The fans of the Nebraska Huskers football team are widely known to be some of the best and most classy fans in college football. The Huskers' fans regularly applaud opposing teams after they leave the field, win or lose, and applaud when injured players get up from injury. They also usually do not curse at, boo, or make fun of opposing teams. They respect the integrity of college football and of Huskers football and are respectful. Don't get them wrong, though. They do LOVE their Huskers. Nebraska holds the record for most consectutive sellouts with 275. The "Sea of Red" at Memorial Stadium is very loud and the fans cheer hard for their Huskers to win, which they normally do.

[edit] Season results

Year	Record	Highest Final Poll Ranking (AP & Coaches/UPI)
2006	9-5	NR
2005	8-4	#24
2004	5-6	NR
2003	10-3	#18
2002	7-7	NR
2001	11-2	#7
2000	10-2	#7
1999	12-1	#2
1998	9-4	#19
1997	13-0	#1
1996	11-2	#6
1995	12-0	#1
1994	13-0	#1
1993	11-1	#3
1992	9-3	#14
1991	9-2-1	#15
1990	9-3	#17
1989	10-2	#11
1988	11-2	#10
1987	10-2	#6
1986	10-2	#4
1985	9-3	#10
1984	10-2	#3
1983	12-1	#2
1982	12-1	#3
1981	9-3	#9
1980	10-2	#7
1979	10-2	#7
1978	9-3	#8
1977	9-3	#10
1976	9-3-1	#7
1975	10-2	#9
1974	9-3	#7
1973	9-2-1	#7
1972	9-2-1	#4
1971	13-0	#1
1970	11-0-1	#1
1969	9-2	#11
1968	6-4	NR

[edit] National championship seasons

Season	Record	Bowl game	Coach
1970¹	11-0-1	Orange Bowl	Bob Devaney
1971	13-0	Orange Bowl	Bob Devaney
1994	13-0	Orange Bowl	Tom Osborne
1995	12-0	Fiesta Bowl	Tom Osborne
1997²	13-0	Orange Bowl	Tom Osborne

1. Shared with Texas and Ohio State [NCAA Football Champions http://www.ncaasports.com/football/mens/history]
2. Shared with Michigan

[edit] Individual award winners

[edit] Players

Heisman Trophy Johnny Rodgers - 1972 Mike Rozier - 1983 Eric Crouch - 2001 Maxwell Award Mike Rozier - 1983 Walter Camp Award Johnny Rodgers - 1972 Mike Rozier - 1983 Eric Crouch - 2001 Dave Rimington Trophy Dominic Raiola - 2000 Davey O'Brien Award Eric Crouch - 2001 Dick Butkus Award Trev Alberts - 1993

Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Tommie Frazier - 1995 Lombardi Award Rich Glover - 1972 Dave Rimington - 1982 Dean Steinkuhler - 1983 Grant Wistrom - 1997 Outland Trophy Larry Jacobson - 1971 Rich Glover - 1972 Dave Rimington - 1981, 1982 Dean Steinkuhler - 1983 Will Shields - 1992 Zach Wiegert - 1994 Aaron Taylor - 1997

[edit] Coaches

• Paul "Bear" Bryant Award

Bob Devaney - 1971

• The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award

Tom Osborne - 1999 (Recognized as coach of the decade)

[edit] Permanently retired jerseys

• Tom Novak, #60
• Bob Brown, #64

[edit] See also

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

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Nebraska Cornhuskers Football - University of Nebraska Athletic Department