1915 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1915 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Missouri Valley champion
Conference Big Eight Conference
1915 record 8–0 (4–0 MVIAA)
Head coach Ewald O. Stiehm (5th year)
Home stadium Nebraska Field
1915 Missouri Valley football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
Nebraska $ 4 – 0 – 0     8 – 0 – 0
Kansas 3 – 1 – 0     6 – 2 – 0
Iowa State 2 – 1 – 0     6 – 2 – 0
Washington (MO) 1 – 1 – 0     3 – 2 – 0
Missouri 1 – 3 – 1     2 – 5 – 1
Drake 1 – 4 – 0     2 – 6 – 0
Kansas State 0 – 2 – 1     3 – 4 – 1
  • $ – Conference champion

The 1915 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1915 college football season. The team was coached by Ewald O. Stiehm and played their home games at Nebraska Field in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before the season

Coach Stiehm was already established as the winningest football coach in Nebraska history when he returned for his fifth year, having led the Cornhuskers to conference titles in every year of his tenure to date, and riding a record five straight conference titles overall. Nebraska was justifiably feared by every program in the nation, and this year the legendary Notre Dame football program would finally join in the fight with Nebraska on the field. With ten returning starters, the Cornhuskers appeared to be unstoppable.[1]

Schedule

[2]

Date Opponent Site Result Attendance
October 2 Drake Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 48-13 -
October 9 Kansas State Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 31-0 -
October 16* Washburn Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 47-0 -
October 23* Notre Dame Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 20-19 -
October 30 at Iowa State Clyde Williams Field • Ames, Iowa W 21-0 -
November 6* Nebraska Wesleyan Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 30-0 -
November 13 at Kansas McCook Field • Lawrence, Kansas W 33-0 -
November 20*† Iowa Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 52-7 -
*Non-Conference Game. †Homecoming

Roster

[3]

Abbott, Earl RG
Balis, Arthur E
Caley, Loren QB
Chamberlin, Guy HB
Cook, John QB
Corey, Tim T
Doyle, Raymond FB
Gardiner, Jimmy HB
Halbersleben, Paul C
Kositsky, Ed T
Moser, Ellsworth C
Otopalik, Hugo HB
Proctor, Brodie HB
Rasmussen, John E
Reese, Herbert HB
Riddell, Ted E
Rutherford, Richard HB
Shaw, Edson T
Shields, Paul G

Coaching staff

Name Title First year
in this position 		Years at Nebraska Alma Mater
Ewald O. StiehmHead Coach19111911–1915
Jack BestTrainer18901890–1922

[4]

Game notes

Drake

Drake at Nebraska
1 2Total
Drake 13
• Nebraska 48

Fourteen years had passed since Drake last appeared in Lincoln, back when the Cornhuskers hosted their opponents at the old Antelope Field, and the Bulldogs made their first appearance on Nebraska Field apparently without being intimidated, as they rather surprised the Cornhuskers by managing two touchdowns during the course of the game. However, any moral victory Drake obtained by scoring on Nebraska did not affect the final outcome brought by the Cornhuskers posting 48 points of their own. Nebraska improved to 4-1 all time against the Bulldogs [5][6]

Kansas State

Kansas State at Nebraska
1 2Total
Kansas State 0
• Nebraska 31
  • Date: 1915-10-09
  • Location: Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

University records show that Nebraska hosted Kansas State on this date and defeated the Aggies yet again with a shutout victory of 31-0. However, the University's 1916 yearbook, which reviews the football season of 1915, does not mention this game. The yearbook's narrative instead transitions from the Drake game directly into a short sentence regarding the Washburn game, which followed this one. Kansas State's defeat left them still winless against Nebraska, 0-5. [5]

Washburn

Washburn at Nebraska
1 2Total
Washburn 0
• Nebraska 47
  • Date: 1915-10-16
  • Location: Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

An early season tuneup game against Washburn was easily handled by the Cornhuskers, who put up yet another shutout win and improved over Washburn to 3-0. [5][7]

Notre Dame

Notre Dame at Nebraska
1 2Total
Notre Dame 19
• Nebraska 20
  • Date: 1915-10-23
  • Location: Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

Written accounts of this game, the first ever meeting between Nebraska and Notre Dame, compare it favorably against the 7-0 Nebraska victory over Minnesota in 1913, and the 6-6 tie against Michigan in 1911. Notre Dame played effectively and created a worthy struggle for the Cornhuskers, who managed to come back from a 13-7 halftime deficit and win by one point. Since Minnesota suspiciously disappeared from Nebraska's annual schedule after their 1913 defeat, it was clear that Notre Dame would be more than worthy as the program's new annual marquee contest. [5][7][8]

Iowa State

Nebraska at Iowa State
1 2Total
• Nebraska 21
Iowa State 0
  • Date: 1915-10-30
  • Location: Clyde Williams Field • Ames, Iowa

Nebraska traveled to Ames for their first appearance on Iowa State's new Clyde Williams Field, and made relatively easy work of the Cyclones on their own turf, recording another shutout victory on the year. To Iowa State's credit, however, the 21 Cornhusker points would be the lowest points scored against any opponent in 1915 except for Notre Dame. Iowa State's chances to catch up to Nebraska in the series were beginning to look bleak, as the Cornhuskers held a dominant lead at 11-3-1. [5][8][9]

Nebraska Wesleyan

Nebraska Wesleyan at Nebraska
1 2Total
Nebraska Wesleyan 0
• Nebraska 30
  • Date: 1915-11-06
  • Location: Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

As it happened for the Kansas State game, records show the Cornhusker win over Nebraska Wesleyan, while the annual yearbook fails to mention the game. The 30-0 defeat kept NWU winless all time against Nebraska in five tries. [5]

Kansas

Nebraska at Kansas
1 2Total
• Nebraska 33
Kansas 0

It was another in what was becoming a string of disappointments for the Jayhawks, as Nebraska scored more touchdowns than Kansas was able to muster in first downs. The Cornhuskers continued pulling away from the Jayhawks in the series, 14-8. [5][9]

Iowa

Iowa at Nebraska
1 2Total
Iowa 7
• Nebraska 52
  • Date: 1915-11-20
  • Location: Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

It was not the Iowa of previous years that came into Lincoln this time, as the Cornhuskers easily dispatched the Hawkeyes 52-7 in front of the homecoming crowd, which was the most points ever scored against Iowa by Nebraska to date. The Cornhuskers pulled farther ahead of Iowa in the series, 10-4-3. [5][9]

After the season

Coach Stiehm concluded yet another conference championship season, going 5-0 for conference titles, handing the Cornhuskers an amazing streak of six straight Missouri Valley titles, an accomplishment never matched by any other conference foe, nor ever again repeated by Nebraska. Coach Stiehm departed the program during the offseason, but in his time with Nebraska he secured a career record of 35-2-3 (.913), the best career record of all Nebraska head coaches before and since. The program's overall record improved for the sixth straight year, to 153-47-11 (.751), while their conference record also improved again, to 19-2-2 (.870).

References

  1. ↑ "1916 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 164)". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  2. ↑ "Football - 1915 Schedule/Results". University of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletics Department. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  3. ↑ "Nebraska Football 1915 Roster". University of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletics Department. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  4. ↑ "Nebraska head coaches". HuskerMax. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "the 1910s". HuskerMax. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  6. ↑ "1916 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 165)". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  7. 1 2 "1916 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 166)". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  8. 1 2 "1916 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 167)". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
  9. 1 2 3 "1916 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 168)". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. Retrieved 2009-11-21.
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