1894 Nebraska Bugeaters football team

1894 Nebraska Bugeaters football
Western Interstate co-champion
Conference Western Interstate University Football Association
1894 record 7–2 (2–1 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 represented 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 CrawfordHead Coach18931893–1894Yale
Jack BestTrainer18901890–1922
Charles ThomasManager18931893–1895Michigan
Arthur WeaverManager
Eugene PaceCaptain

[3][4]

Game notes

Lincoln High

Lincoln High vs. Nebraska
1 2Total
Lincoln High 0
Nebraska 8

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 2Total
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 2Total
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 2Total
Nebraska 4 10 14
Missouri 12 6 18

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 2Total
Nebraska 30 6 36
Omaha YMCA 0 6 6

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 2Total
Nebraska 8 4 12
Kansas 6 0 6

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 2Total
Nebraska 6 0 6
Ottawa 0 0 0

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 2Total
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 2Total
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

  1. "Football - 1894 Schedule/Results". University of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletics Department. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  2. "Nebraska Football 1894 Roster". University of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletics Department. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  3. "Nebraska head coaches". HuskerMax. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  4. "1984 Coaching Staff". Husker Press Box. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "1894 Game Recaps". Husker Press Box. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  6. "the 1890s". HuskerMax. Retrieved 2009-11-09.
  7. 1 2 "Western Inter-State UniversityFoot Ball Association anomalies". HuskerMax. Retrieved 2009-11-10.
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