1914 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1914 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Missouri Valley champion
Conference	Big Eight Conference
1914 record	7-0-1 (3-0-0 MVIAA)
Head coach	Ewald O. Stiehm (4th year)
Home stadium	Nebraska Field

The 1914 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1914 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 began his fourth year, bringing with him an impressive three straight conference titles and only two game losses (both to Minnesota) in his three years at the helm. Several key starters from 1913 appeared again on the 17-man roster.

Schedule

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Roster

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Coaching staff

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Game notes

Washburn

The Ichabods of Washburn were not so easily pushed out of the way this year, scoring a touchdown against Nebraska for the first time, but the Cornhuskers still seemingly had little trouble winning the opener and staying perfect in the series at 2-0. ^[4][5]

South Dakota

After a three-year break, South Dakota arrived in Lincoln to resume their series with Nebraska. Several South Dakota players allegedly had taken advantage of a loophole in the rules that allowed them, with the aid of relocating themselves geographically out of South Dakota for a period of time in the offseason, to return to play for the Coyotes for six or seven seasons. In this way, South Dakota hoped to find success through fielding over-experienced players. As such, few Nebraska players had been up against the Coyotes before, while several of the South Dakota players had faced the Cornhuskers four years prior. Despite the hijinks, Nebraska still held the Coyotes off the scoreboard for the entire game, though they themselves were also unable to score. Nebraska still held a comfortable lead in the series, at 5-1-2. ^[4][5][6]

Kansas State

The Kansas State Aggies tasted defeat for the 4th time in a row as Nebraska remained unbeaten in the series, handling Kansas State in a game that was never really in doubt. ^[4][6]

MAC

Michigan Agricultural College, the school which would one day be known as Michigan State, faced Nebraska for the first time ever. Any fears about the outcome against an unknown team were put to rest as Nebraska had little trouble securing the game. The Aggies came within a few inches of scoring at one point, but the Cornhusker defense remained stout and sent MAC home with no points to show for their efforts. ^[4][6]

Iowa State

Iowa came out strong and jumped to a 7-point lead to open the scoring, but could not keep up with the superior Nebraska squad, giving up 20 unanswered points before being sent home with another loss and falling farther behind in the series to 10-3-1. ^[4][6][7]

Morningside

Nebraska hosted the football squad from Morningside College out of Sioux City, Iowa, for the first and only time these teams would meet. Few squads facing the Cornhuskers as practice fodder for single one-off games are able to lay claim to scoring against Nebraska, but a lucky play at the end of the game, when Nebraska was backing off the pressure with the backups on the field, allowed the visitors to avoid the shutout. ^[4][7]

Kansas

Any hopes Kansas may have harbored to end their 4-game losing streak were short-lived, as Nebraska punched in the first points just five minutes into the game. The contest was never in doubt afterwards as the Jayhawks folded and went home scoreless, the series beginning to stack up against them at 8-13. ^[4][7]

Iowa

Having renewed the season-ending annual match with Iowa, Nebraska arrived in Iowa City and made relatively short work of the Haweyes to close out the season, though Iowa did more to resist Nebraska's scoring than anyone else on the schedule that year save the first two teams. The Cornhuskers improved over Iowa to 9-4-3. ^[4][7]

After the season

Having come into the program with a conference title in place prior to his arrival, and finishing the prior season with his 3rd straight conference title for four in a row - already unprecedented in Nebraska's program history - coach Stiehm recorded even greater success by locking in Nebraska's 5th consecutive conference championship, a feat that would not be repeated by the Cornhuskers for 70 years. Coach Stiehm's Nebraska career record improved yet again, to 27-2-3 (.891), already into program record territory still unbeaten today. The Nebraska football program's overall record improved to 145-47-11 (.741), while the conference record improved to 15-2-2 (.842).

References