The 1928 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Nebraska in the Big Six Conference during the 1928 college football season. In its fourth and final season under head coach Ernest Bearg, the team compiled a 7–1–1 record (5–0 against conference opponents), won the Big Six championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 144 to 31. The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Before the season
Coach Bearg's Cornhuskers had accomplished many feats, but had yet to put up a conference title banner during his tenure. The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association had split up following the 1927 season, with the smaller schools (Drake, Grinnell, Oklahoma A&M, and Washington (MO)) forming a new league, the similarly named Missouri Valley Conference. The schools which remained in the MVIAA (Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma) were henceforth commonly referred to as the Big Six Conference, although the league's name technically was not changed. The result was that the league no longer had teams from smaller schools which were typically easily overwhelmed by Nebraska. Securing a league title was now more difficult than ever.
Schedule
Roster
Coaching staff
Game summaries
Iowa State
Iowa State allowed the Cornhuskers just one touchdown in the first half, which was earned through fierce competition. After the break, the Cyclones continued to thwart Nebraska and made big gains of their own, yet somehow failed to turn any of their advances into points on the board. The Cornhuskers found the end zone one more time and finished the scoring, opening the conference slate in the new Big 6 with a shutout victory and pulling farther ahead of Iowa State in the series, 18-4-1.
Montana State
The Cornhuskers started off slowly in the home opener, managing to lead the Bobcats 13-6 at the half, but it was all Nebraska when the teams returned to the field. Montana State allowed several big key plays which handed all of the momentum to the Cornhuskers, who rolled off another 13 points and took the win in the first meeting of these teams.
Syracuse
Syracuse, long a source of frustration for the Cornhuskers, arrived in Lincoln to open Nebraska's non-conference slate. Both teams utilized extensive forward passes in a game of aerial attacks. Nebraska's first touchdown was countered not too long after by Syracuse before the half. Both teams fought back and forth in the second half but never found the scoreboard, and the game was ultimately decided by the successful Nebraska 1-point place kick in the first quarter, as the kick after the Orangemen's lone touchdown had failed. Nebraska at last had evened up the series at 3-3 against Syracuse all-time.
Missouri
In recognition of the established rivalry that had emerged between these teams in the recent years, the programs agreed to trade possession of a trophy, to be held by the current victor. An old bell (later to be known as the Victory Bell) was secured for this purpose, and was engraved with the score of the 1927 7-6 Missouri triumph. Not long before the kickoff, Missouri was presented with the bell.
It was an intense atmosphere as Missouri was unbeaten on the year, and still wearing the badge of three straight Cornhusker defeats. In front of a stadium and conference record crowd in Lincoln, at the Nebraska's homecoming game, the Cornhuskers took command of their destiny and made a strong push for the conference title by shutting the Tigers completely down. With only a 7-0 lead by the half, it looked to be a game, but as the game wore on the Cornhuskers rolled without opposition. Missouri's three-game win streak over Nebraska was snapped, and the Cornhuskers improved to 15-6-1 over the Tigers. The bell was then carried back across the field and turned over to Nebraska until such time that Missouri could secure a future win against the Cornhuskers.
Kansas
Nebraska was 4-0 and had outscored the season's opponents 69-12 so far, and the contest in Lawrence was more of the same. It mattered little that Kansas, like Missouri before them, was unbeaten so far this year, as the Cornhuskers held Kansas back to start off, and then overpowered them on the way to a shutout victory in front of the Jayhawks' homecoming crowd. Nebraska had not yet allowed any conference foes to score a single point on them this season, and Kansas fell to 9-24-2 against the Cornhuskers all-time.