1949 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1949 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Conference	Big Seven Conference
Record	4–5 (3–3 Big 7)
Head coach	Bill Glassford (1st season)
Offensive scheme	T formation
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium
Seasons ←  1948 1950  →

1949 Big Seven Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 Oklahoma $	5	–	0	–	0			11	–	0	–	0
No. 20 Missouri	5	–	1	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Iowa State	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	3	–	1
Nebraska	3	–	3	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Kansas	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Colorado	1	–	4	–	0			3	–	7	–	0
Kansas State	1	–	5	–	0			2	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1949 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska and member of the Big 7 Conference in the 1949 college football season. The team was coached by Bill Glassford and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before the season

Stepping up to fill the role of head football coach at Nebraska, Bill Glassford was the fifth to fill the role within the same decade, a period wrought with social change and economic recovery following World War II, and in which the fortunes of Cornhusker football had taken a serious downturn. Nebraska had now put together eight straight losing seasons, prior to which the program had not ever suffered even two consecutive losing seasons. Coach Glassford held over a couple of assistants from the 1948 staff and set to work in his attempt to restore Nebraska football to prominence.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 24	2:00 pm	South Dakota *	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	W 33–6	27,000	[1]
October 1	2:00 pm	Minnesota *	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	L 6–28	34,000
October 8	2:00 pm	at Kansas State	Memorial Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	W 13–6	17,000
October 15	1:00 pm	at Penn State *	New Beaver Field State College, PA	L 7–22	23,600
October 22	2:00 pm	No. 4 Oklahoma	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	L 0–48	39,000
October 29	2:00 pm	at No. 16 Missouri	Faurot Field Columbia, MO (rivalry)	L 20–21
November 5	2:00 pm	Kansas	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	L 13–27	36,500
November 12	2:00 pm	at Iowa State	Clyde Williams Field Ames, IA	W 7–0	13,558
November 19	2:00 pm	Colorado	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	W 25–14	32,000
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

Official Roster
28 Adduci, Nick FB 27 Adle, Virgil T 13 Bauer, Arthur G 25 Bloom, Don HB 31 Britt, Ted T 35 Busch, Tracy E 19 Clark, Ron HB 21 Damkroger, Ralph E 29 DiBiase, Michael G   Dorn, Harold HB 33 Ferguson, Gerald HB 14 Fischer, Kenneth HB 38 Godfrey, James T 45 Goeglein, Richard T 64 Goracke, Clarence HB 43 Hawkins, Fred G 30 Hoy, Rex G 34 Jones, Philip HB 49 Magsamen, Raymond E 24 Maxe, Bill E 62 McGill, Joe C 48 Means, Arden G 15 Meginnis, Harry HB 50 Meyer, Frank HB 39 Minnick, Donald T		23 Mueller, William HB 17 Mullen, Robert C 20 Nagle, Fran QB 52 Newton, Dean E 37 Novak, Richard E 60 Novak, Tom C 40 Pedersen, Donald G 53 Pepler, Albert G 26 Ponsiego, Joe HB 57 Rector, Harley T 47 Reese, Herbert T 54 Regier, Dick E 44 Ritter, Roger HB 18 Salestrom, Darwin G   Schleiger, Robert E 36 Schneider, Bob E 51 Simon, Frank E 16 Spellman, Walt G 42 Strasheim, Don HB 41 Toogood, Charles T 59 Vestal, Maxey E 32 Voils, Cecil E 61 Wiegand, Delbert QB 12 Yost, Richard FB

Coaching staff

Name	Title	First year in this position	Years at Nebraska	Alma mater
Bill Glassford	Head coach	1949	1949–1955	Pittsburgh
L. F. "Pop" Klein	Assistant coach	1945	1945–1958
Ike Hanscomb	Freshman Coach	1948	1948–1953
Bob Davis	Backfield Coach	1949	1949–1955
Peter Janetos		1949	1949–1952
Marvin Franklin	Ends Coach	1949	1949–1951	Vanderbilt
James DeAngelis	Backfield Coach	1949	1949

^{[2] [3] [4]}

Game summaries

South Dakota

1 2 Total South Dakota 6 •Nebraska 33 Date: September 24 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 27,000

The Glassford era opened with a win at memorial Stadium, though the foe was lowly South Dakota. The Coyotes had never really threatened Nebraska since their lone win in the 13-game series, from 1899. Still, as the Cornhuskers had now been struggling to succeed for years, the win was nice to get. ^{[5] [6]}

Minnesota

1 2 Total • Minnesota 28 Nebraska 6 Date: October 1 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 34,000

The university's yearbook described the Cornhuskers' style of play as "savage", and unlike any performances seen in Memorial Stadium for a decade. Despite the effort, Minnesota extended their domination of Nebraska yet another year, this being their tenth straight win in the series, and improved to 25-4-2 over Nebraska all-time. The Golden Gophers went on to finish the season 7-2 and ranked #8. ^{[5] [7]}

Kansas State

1 2 Total •Nebraska 13 Kansas State 6 Date: October 8 Location: Memorial Stadium • Manhattan, Kansas Game attendance: 17,000

Kansas State, lately a perennial easy-win game for Nebraska, failed to simply roll over as expected when Nebraska came calling in Manhattan. The contest started off suggesting a rout, as the first play of the game was a full-field 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to put the Cornhuskers up immediately. Thereafter, both teams struggled to make any headway until near the end of the first half, when another Cornhusker touchdown was put on the board. The Wildcats fought bravely in the second half but only came up with a single touchdown, which extended their losing streak against Nebraska to seven straight as they fell to 4-27-2 against the Cornhuskers. ^{[5] [8]}

Penn State

1 2 Total Nebraska 7 • Penn State 22 Date: October 15 Location: New Beaver Field • State College, Pennsylvania Game attendance: 23,600

Nebraska and Penn State met for only their second game to date, following a 0-20 loss to the Nittany Lions from 1920. Once again in State College, Penn State defeated the Cornhuskers and owned the day except for one 82-yard Nebraska punt return. The Cornhuskers returned to Lincoln winless in both tries of the series. This was the 150th Nebraska football loss in the history of the program. ^{[5] [9]}

Oklahoma

1 2 Total • #4 Oklahoma 48 Nebraska 0 Date: October 22 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 39,000

See also: Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry

Nebraska entered the fray with visiting Oklahoma, having won their first conference contest and still 2-2 on the season. The stadium was near capacity to see how the Cornhuskers would fare against the #4 Sooners. Undaunted, Nebraska fought Oklahoma to a first-quarter draw and seemed poised to score when an interception turned the tide. Oklahoma converted the turnover into points and then never looked back, handing the Cornhuskers a demoralizing 0-48 home field defeat. It was the worst-ever loss handed to Nebraska at Memorial Stadium, and the largest margin of defeat since a 0-54 loss to Indiana in 1944. It was Oklahoma's seventh straight win over Nebraska, setting a new single-team losing streak record, formerly held by Pittsburgh when the Panthers held Nebraska down six times in a row through the 1939 season. The series lead held by the Cornhuskers slipped to 16-9-3. Oklahoma went on to take the Big 7 title, finished 10-0 on the season, and ended with a #2 ranking by the AP Poll. ^{[5] [10]}

Missouri

1 2 Total Nebraska 20 • #16 Missouri 21 Date: October 29 Location: Faurot Field • Columbia, Missouri

See also: Missouri–Nebraska football rivalry

Missouri struck first with an early touchdown, but Nebraska fought back and was leading 13-7 by the half. It seemed like the Cornhuskers might have turned the corner and had victory in their grasp as they scored again and led 20-7 by the end of the 3rd quarter. The Tigers brought the battle back at Nebraska to draw within six points, and only four plays later scored again and converted the point after, which ultimately decided the outcome. Missouri had now taken five straight against the Cornhuskers, closing the series to 15-24-3. By the close of the season, Missouri managed a 7-3 record, which was good enough for a #20 ranking by the AP Poll. ^{[5] [11]}

Kansas

1 2 Total • Kansas 27 Nebraska 13 Date: November 5 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 36,500

Any hope Nebraska had of taking a win from this contest was washed away by the five Cornhusker turnovers lost inside of the Kansas 13-yard line. Nebraska had started with a 7-0 lead before the blunders, fueling a hope for victory before the game got away and Kansas notched their third straight victory in the series. It was another homecoming heartbreak in Lincioln, but the Cornhuskers still held a 40-12-3 edge in the series. ^{[5] [12]}

Iowa State

1 2 3 4 Total •Nebraska 0 0 0 7 7 Iowa State 0 0 0 0 0 Date: November 12 Location: Clyde Williams Field, Ames, Iowa Game attendance: 13,558 Game weather: Cold, rain

If not for a brilliant and exciting 70-yard punt return for a Nebraska touchdown in the final quarter, this contest would likely have ended in a scoreless tie. The victory was the fourth in a row for the Cornhuskers in this series, but only the third of the 1949 season. Nebraska improved to 34-8-1 over the Cyclones all-time. ^{[5] [13]}

Colorado

1 2 Total Colorado 14 •Nebraska 25 Date: November 19 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 32,000

See also: Colorado–Nebraska football rivalry

The Buffaloes arrived in Lincoln to close out the conference slate for the year, facing a Nebraska team with only two victories all season. Determined to not once again settle for only two wins on the season, Nebraska fought back from an initial 0-7 deficit to pull ahead and keep the lead long enough to end the season with three victories. Nebraska now led Colorado 6-2 in their shared history. ^{[5] [14]}

After the season

Although Nebraska ended with a losing record of 4-5, it marked the most wins since the 1941 season, which also ended at 4-5. The 1949 conference record of 3-3 was the first non-losing league season since 1941 as well. Coach Glassford's initial year was still seen as a success under the circumstances, but Nebraskans remained stunned by the decade of the 1940s, which had brought unprecedented disappointments to the football program. Nebraska was now 320-153-31 (.666) overall, and 123-40-11 (.739) against conference opponents. Looking ahead to 1950 and the future, it remained to be seen if Coach Glassford was the one who could bring a brighter future for Nebraska football.

Future NFL and other professional league players

• Nick Adduci, Washington Redskins

References

1. Walt Dobbins (September 25, 1949). "Huskers Overpower South Dakota, 33-6". Sunday Journal and Star. pp. 1B, 3B – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Nebraska head coaches". HuskerMax. Archived from the original on July 19, 2010. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
3. "Assistant coaches". HuskerMax. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
4. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 232)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
5. "1940s Nebraska football schedules". HuskerMax. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
6. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 234)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
7. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 235)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
8. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 236)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
9. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 237)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
10. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 238)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
11. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 239)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
12. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 240)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
13. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 241)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
14. "1950 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 242)". Nebraska U – A Collaborative History. Retrieved July 12, 2010.