1894 Nebraska Bugeaters football team

1894 Nebraska Bugeaters football
Western Interstate Co-Champions
Conference	Western Interstate University Football Association
1894 record	7-2-0 (2-1-0 WIUFA)
Head coach	Frank Crawford (2nd year)
Home stadium	"M" Street Park

1894 Western Interstate football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Nebraska §	2	–	1	–	0			6	–	2	–	0
Missouri §	2	–	1	–	0			4	–	3	–	0
Kansas	1	–	2	–	0			2	–	3	–	1
Iowa	1	–	2	–	0			4	–	4	–	1
§ – Conference co-champions

The 1894 Nebraska Bugeaters football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1894 college football season. The team was coached by Frank Crawford and played their home games at the "M" Street Park in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Nebraska's football team began its history as the "Old Gold Knights", and was also sometimes known as the "Tree Planters", "Nebraskans", "The Rattlesnake Boys", "Red Stockings", "Antelopes" or "Goldenrods" in their early years.

Before the season

For the first time in program history, Nebraska started the season with a returning Head Coach. Also for the first time, a pre-season exhibition game was scheduled against Lincoln High School. As the program grew, so did the roster, having increased from 17 in the first season, to 24 this year.

Schedule

^[1]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
October 6**	vs. Lincoln High	Lincoln, Nebraska	W 8-0	-
October 20*	Grinnell	"M" Street Park • Lincoln, Nebraska	W 22-0	650
October 27*	Doane	"M" Street Park • Lincoln, Nebraska	L 0-12	-
November 3	at Missouri	Kansas City, Missouri	L 14-18	-
November 10*	at Omaha YMCA	Omaha YMCA Ball Park • Omaha, Nebraska	W 36-6	-
November 17	at Kansas	Central Park • Lawrence, Kansas	W 12-6	-
November 19*	at Ottawa	Ottawa, Kansas	W 6-0	400
November 29	vs. Iowa	Omaha, Nebraska	W 36-0	-
December 25*	at Omaha YMCA	Omaha YMCA Ball Park • Omaha, Nebraska	W 10-6	400
*Non-Conference Game. **Exhibition Game.

Roster

^[2]

Official Roster

Bradt, Fletcher G Brandt, Fletcher PLAYER Cameron, John E Dern, George T Dungan, Will T Fair, Richard FB Flippin, George HB Frank, Harry FB Gardner PLAYER Hammang, John T Hayward, William FB Jones, Albin G Oury, W.Harry C Packard, Leonard E Shue, James E Smith G Spooner, Clinton QB Sweeney, F.W. FB Thomas FB Thorpe, Orley E Whipple, Otis E Wiggins, Frank E Wilson, Wilmer LG Yont, Alonzo HB

Coaching staff

Name	Title	First year in this position	Years at Nebraska	Alma Mater
Frank Crawford	Head Coach	1893	1893–1894	Yale
Jack Best	Trainer	1890	1890–1922
Charles Thomas	Manager	1893	1893–1895	Michigan
Arthur Weaver	Manager
Eugene Pace	Captain

^[3][4]

Game notes

Lincoln High

Lincoln High vs. Nebraska

1 2 Total Lincoln High 0 • Nebraska 8 Date: 1894-10-06 Location: Lincoln, Nebraska

This exhibition game to tune up for the season was played essentially as a practice scrimmage, and the results did not count towards the season record. ^[5][6]

Grinnell

Grinnell at Nebraska

1 2 Total Grinnell 0 0 0 • Nebraska 0 22 22 Date: 1894-10-20 Location: "M" Street Park • Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 650

Grinnell was an established power by the time these teams met for the first time, as Grinnell had won four of the last five Iowa State championships. Few expected much of a game from Nebraska against this kind of experience, but someone forgot to tell the Bugeaters that they were supposed to lose. Nebraska fought all through the first half, and despite not scoring, also prevented Grinnell from posting points of their own, and the game was tied at 0-0 by halftime. After the break, it was all Nebraska, including three touchdowns by George Flippin. ^[5]

Doane

Doane at Nebraska

1 2 Total • Doane 6 6 12 Nebraska 0 0 0 Date: 1894-10-27 Location: "M" Street Park • Lincoln, Nebraska

Possibly feeling confident after the shutout defeat of Grinnell, Nebraska was humbled quickly the following week when Doane came into Lincoln and scored once in each half to shut out the Bugeaters and cut Nebraska's series lead to 4-2. ^[5]

Missouri

Nebraska at Missouri

1 2 Total Nebraska 4 10 14 • Missouri 12 6 18 Date: 1894-11-03 Location: Kansas City, Missouri

Nebraska opened their conference slate with a road game at Missouri. The Bugeaters improved their scoring woes from the previous game by putting up 14 points, but the Tigers did better by posting 18 and taking the win as well as the series lead over Nebraska, 2-1.

^[5]

Omaha YMCA

Nebraska at Omaha YMCA

1 2 Total • Nebraska 30 6 36 Omaha YMCA 0 6 6 Date: 1894-11-10 Location: Omaha YMCA Ball Park • Omaha, Nebraska

While the earlier exhibition game against Lincoln High School did not count towards the season's official record, this match against high school students and other Omaha residents forming the Omaha YMCA squad did count. It was a one side affait in every way as the Bugeaters ran out to a fast 30-0 lead by the half, though the Omaha YMCA team still managed a touchdown of their own by the game's end. Nebraska was now 2-0 over the Omaha YMCA all-time. ^[5]

Kansas

Nebraska at Kansas

1 2 Total • Nebraska 8 4 12 Kansas 6 0 6 Date: 1894-11-17 Location: Central Park • Lawrence, Kansas

A dispute over the officiating crew delayed the kickoff, but once underway Kansas took an early lead in their bid to remain perfect in their series with Nebraska. The Bugeaters fought back to pull ahead 8-6 by halftime and then kept the Jayhawks off the scoreboard in the second half while padding their lead to 12-6. Nebraska's first win in the series brought them up to 1-2 all time against Kansas. ^[5]

University of Kansas records indicate this game was played November 22 in Lincoln.^[7]

Ottawa

Nebraska at Ottawa

1 2 Total • Nebraska 6 0 6 Ottawa 0 0 0 Date: 1894-11-19 Location: Ottawa, Kansas Game attendance: 400

Nebraska padded their roster in preparation for this game, adding not only Coach Crawford as quarterback, but also another football coach as fullback. Though the game was only planned with one week notice, efforst were made to publicize the match, drawing 400 locals from the area to watch. It was not a productive game on either side of the ball, and Nebraska's single first half touchdown was the sum total scoring of the day. This was the only time these teams met for a football game. ^[5]

Iowa

Nebraska vs. Iowa

1 2 Total • Nebraska 12 24 36 Iowa 0 0 0 Date: 1894-11-29 Location: Omaha, Nebraska

Nebraska finished up the conference slate for the year with the anticipated Iowa match, but the day was owned by the Bugeaters as the players in scarlet and cream rolled up 36 unanswered points, including a touchdown by future Utah governor and United States Secretary of War George Dern, to shut out Iowa and pull ahead in the overall series, 2-1-1. ^[5] University of Iowa records indicate the final score of this game was a 14-12 Nebraska victory.^[7]

Omaha YMCA

Nebraska at Omaha YMCA

1 2 Total • Nebraska 0 10 10 Omaha YMCA 6 0 6 Date: 1894-12-25 Location: Omaha YMCA Ball Park • Omaha, Nebraska Game attendance: 400 Game weather: Cold

Unlike the previous match earlier in the year, the Omaha YMCA team made this game a challenge as these teams met in the cold of Christmas Day. The Omaha YMCA squad in fact took the lead in the first half while keeping the Bugeaters off the board, but Nebraska answered with 10 points in the second half for the win, extending their series lead to 3-0. ^[5]

After the season

This was Nebraska's first ever conference championship, but the picture changed somewhat after the close of the season, as two-year Head Coach Frank Crawford left the post to become the head football coach for the University of Texas. Crawford's two-year record at Nebraska stood at 9-4-1 (.679), and the program's overall record was 15-8-2 (.640).

References

Nebraska Cornhuskers football Venues Lincoln Park (1890–95) "M" Street Park (1894–96) Antelope Field (1897–1908) Nebraska Field (1909–22) Memorial Stadium (1923–present) Bowls & rivalries Bowl games Colorado Iowa Miami Minnesota Missouri Oklahoma Wisconsin Culture & lore Herbie Husker Lil' Red "Dear Old Nebraska U" "Hail Varsity" University of Nebraska Cornhusker Marching Band Blackshirts Origin of "Cornhuskers" Nebraska–Oklahoma, 1971 Fumblerooski Nebraska–Penn State, 1982 Flea Kicker Black 41 Flash Reverse Pass 1 Second Left People Head coaches NFL draftees Seasons 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 National championship seasons in bold