1948 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1948 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Conference	Big Seven Conference
1948 record	2–8 (2–4 Big 7)
Head coach	George Clark (2nd year)
Offensive scheme	T formation
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

1948 Big 7 football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#5 Oklahoma $	5	–	0	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
Missouri	5	–	1	–	0	8	–	3	–	0
Kansas	4	–	2	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Colorado	2	–	3	–	0	3	–	6	–	0
Iowa State	2	–	4	–	0	4	–	6	–	0
Nebraska	2	–	4	–	0	2	–	8	–	0
Kansas State	0	–	6	–	0	1	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1948 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska and member of the Big 7 Conference in the 1948 college football season. The team was coached by George Clark and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before the season

Nebraska athletic director and one-time head football coach Adolph J. Lewandowski brought back the coach he initially chose as his own replacement for 1945, George Clark, who had departed Nebraska after just that one season. With the unsuccessful tenure of previous head coach Bernie Masterson ended, Lewandowski was able to turn to the last, most recent coach that had provided a glimmer of hope to the Cornhuskers in nearly a decade. So it was that after seven straight losing seasons, the coaching staff once again suffered a shakeup in hopes of ending the downward spiral of Nebraska football as the Cornhuskers entered their first-ever 10-game season.

The 1948 season was the first to see Colorado's athletic teams participate in conference play, as the Big 6 Conference subsequently became known as the Big 7 Conference. Nebraska and Colorado were set to meet again on the field for the first time since 1907, now as part of regular season conference play.

Schedule

Date	Opponent^#	Site	Result	Attendance
September 25	Iowa State	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	W 19-15	34,514
October 2	at Minnesota*	Memorial Stadium • Minneapolis, Minnesota	L 13-39	57,206
October 9	at Colorado	Folsom Field • Boulder, Colorado	L 6-19	19,516
October 16	No. 2 Notre Dame*	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	L 13-44	37,400
October 23	at Kansas	Memorial Stadium • Lawrence, Kansas	L 7-27	36,500
October 30	UCLA*	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	L 15-27	36,000
November 6	Kansas State	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	W 32-0	36,000
November 13	at No. 9 Oklahoma	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, Oklahoma	L 14-41	28,000
November 20	Missouri	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	L 6-33	21,000
November 27	at Oregon State*	Multnomah Stadium • Portland, Oregon	L 12-28	13,000
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game.

Roster

Official Roster
20 Ackerman, Robert HB 13 Bauer, Arthur G 25 Bloom, Don HB 11 Bostwick, George E 62 Cochrane, Alex E 28 Collopy, Frank FB 12 Costello, Robert QB 21 Damkroger, Ralph E 29 DiBiase, Michael G 33 Dorn, Harold HB 33 Ferguson, Gerald HB 14 Fischer, Cletus QB 15 Fischer, Kenneth HB 34 Fletcher, Howard E 38 Godfrey, James T 49 Goeglein, Richard T 40 Golan, Fred T 39 Harkrader, James G 43 Hawkins, Fred G 51 Hazen, Jack E 63 Hutton, Richard HB 44 Lee, Kirk HB 27 Lipps, Robert G		45 Magsamen, Raymond E 43 McGill, Joe C 10 Means, Arden G 50 Meyer, Frank HB 42 Moomey, William HB 32 Moore, Gerald FB 23 Mueller, William HB Mullen, Robert C 52 Myers, James FB 61 Novak, Tom C 53 Pizinger, Warren G 57 Reese, Herbert T 54 Sailors, Don E 18 Salestrom, Darwin G 55 Schneider, Don FB 36 Schneider, Robert E 24 Sedlacek, John T 16 Spellman, Walt C 60 Story, Charles HB Strasheim, Don HB 64 Toogood, Charles T 41 Wiegand, Delbert QB 46 Young, Philip FB

Coaching staff

Name	Title	First year in this position	Years at Nebraska	Alma Mater
George Clark	Head Coach	1948	1945, 1948	Illinois
L. F. Klein	Assistant Coach	1945	1945–1958
Ray Prochaska	End Coach	1946	1946–1948, 1950–1954	Nebraska
Tony Blazine	Line Coach	1947	1947–1948
Dougal Russell	Backfield Coach	1947	1947–1948	Kansas State
Ike Hanscomb	Freshman Coach	1948	1948–1953
H. H. Miller		1948	1948

^[1]^[2]

Game notes

Iowa State

	1	2	Total
• Nebraska			19
Iowa State			15

Date: September 25
Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska
Game attendance: 34,514

The Cornhuskers opened the season and welcomed Coach Clark back with a win, the third straight over the Cyclones. The home opening victory snapped Nebraska's six-season opening game losing streak, and the Cornhuskers improved over Iowa State to 33-8-1.^[3]^[4]

Minnesota

	1	2	Total
Nebraska			13
• Minnesota			39

Date: October 2
Location: Memorial Stadium • Minneapolis, Minnesota
Game attendance: 57,206

Unsurprisingly, given Minnesota's historical dominance over Nebraska, even as the Cornhuskers continued to seek stability, the Golden Gophers had little trouble with Nebraska in Minneapolis. Minnesota had now defeated the Cornhuskers in nine straight games, and continued to pull away in the series, 24-4-2.^[3]^[4]

Colorado

	1	2	Total
Nebraska			6
• Colorado			19

Date: October 9
Location: Folsom Field • Boulder, Colorado

Although Nebraska and Colorado had met on the field six times before, this was the first since a 22-8 Nebraska victory from 1907, and the first time the teams had met as conference foes. The Buffaloes sent Nebraska back to Lincoln with a 6-19 loss, but still lagged in the series at 2-5.^[3]^[4]

Notre Dame

	1	2	Total
• #2 Notre Dame			44
Nebraska			13

Date: October 16
Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska
Game attendance: 37,400

When Notre Dame arrived in Lincoln, they brought with them a #2 AP Poll ranking and were probably not seriously worried about getting a fight from the Cornhuskers. Nebraska avoided the shutout, but allowed the Fighting Irish 44 points to take home a convincing win and improve over the Cornhuskers to 7-5-1. Notre Dame went on to finish the season undefeated at 9-0 and still at #2.^[3]^[5]

Kansas

	1	2	Total
Nebraska			7
• Kansas			27

Date: October 23
Location: Memorial Stadium • Lawrence, Kansas
Game attendance: 36,500

Nebraska dropped a second straight game to Kansas for the first time since 1909, as the Cornhuskers continued to struggle for success. Although Nebraska still held a dominating 40-11-3 series lead over the Jayhawks, losses over the last several seasons were piling up everywhere.^[3]^[5]

UCLA

	1	2	Total
• UCLA			27
Nebraska			15

Date: October 30
Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska
Game attendance: 36,000

After one year off, Nebraska and UCLA met again for their second-ever meeting, this time in Lincoln. The Bruins had been ranked #4 last time, as the Cornhuskers had been sent home smarting from a shutout loss 0-18. This time, UCLA came to Lincoln unranked, but the outcome was unchanged. Nebraska dropped another homecoming game, the fifth straight loss of the season, and fell to 0-2 against UCLA.^[3]^[4]

Kansas State

	1	2	Total
Kansas State			0
• Nebraska			32

Date: November 6
Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska
Game attendance: 36,000

If there was any consolation to the Cornhuskers that things could be worse, it was the Kansas State Wildcats that continued to bring the good news. Amidst a record string of consecutive losing seasons, the Cornhuskers handed Kansas State a shutout. The 32-0 defeat of the Wildcats was Nebraska's sixth-straight victory over the team from Manhattan, and the Cornhuskers improved to 26-4-2 in the series.^[3]^[5]

Oklahoma

	1	2	Total
Nebraska			14
• #9 Oklahoma			41

Date: November 13
Location: Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, Oklahoma
Game attendance: 28,000

By the time the Cornhuskers arrived in Norman to face the #9 Sooners, there wasn't much to fight for. With only two conference wins so far, any chance of a league title was out of sight. Oklahoma rolled over Nebraska without much effort, but the 14-41 loss showed that the Cornhuskers were not completely out of the game. This was the sixth straight defeat of Nebraska in the series, and their all-time lead of 16-8-3 over the Sooners continued to shrink.^[3]^[6]

Missouri

	1	2	Total
• Missouri			33
Nebraska			6

Date: November 20
Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska
Game attendance: 21,000

In front of a crowd reduced by over a third from the last home game, Nebraska fell to Missouri to close out the 1948 home season. It was their fourth straight loss to the Tigers in a row, but Missouri still had some distance to cover to catch up in the series, as they still trailed the Cornhuskers 14-24-3.^[3]^[6]

Oregon State

	1	2	Total
Nebraska			12
• Oregon State			28

Date: November 27
Location: Multnomah Stadium • Portland, Oregon
Game attendance: 13,000

The Cornhuskers brought the 1948 season to a close with a long road trip to Portland to face Oregon State. Nebraska historically dominated the Beavers, but had lost a decision against them in the last meeting of the squads last year. This year would come to the same result, as the Cornhuskers fell once again and allowed Oregon State to narrow the series to 2-5.^[3]^[6]

After the season

Coach Clark's return did not bring about the hoped-for results, though one year is hard to judge by. His return to program was cut short after this season, but he still holds the distinction of being the only Nebraska head football coach to serve at different times. Combined with his 1945 performance, his Nebraska career total was a disappointing 6-13-0 (.316), while his conference record stood at 4-7-0 (.374). With eight straight losing seasons now strung together, the Cornhusker football program fell to 120-37-11 (.747) against conference foes, and to 316-148-31 overall (.670). Once again Nebraska sought a head football coach, who would be the fifth over the previous nine years.

Ranking Movement
Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Final
AP	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR	#NR

References

↑ "Nebraska head coaches". HuskerMax. Archived from the original on 19 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
↑ "Assistant coaches". HuskerMax. Archived from the original on 21 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "1940s Nebraska football schedules". HuskerMax. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
1 2 3 4 "1949 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 431)". Nebraska U - A Collaborative History. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
1 2 3 "1949 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 432)". Nebraska U - A Collaborative History. Retrieved 2010-07-11.
1 2 3 "1949 Cornhusker - University of Nebraska Yearbook (Page 433)". Nebraska U - A Collaborative History. Retrieved 2010-07-11.

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 (Heroes Trophy) Kansas Miami Minnesota ($5 Bits of Broken Chair) Missouri (Victory Bell) Oklahoma Texas Wisconsin (Freedom Trophy)

Culture & lore	Herbie Husker Lil' Red "Dear Old Nebraska U" "Hail Varsity" Marching band Blackshirts Origin of "Cornhuskers" 1939 Kansas State game 1971 Oklahoma game Fumblerooski 1982 Penn State game Flea Kicker Black 41 Flash Reverse Pass 1 Second Left

People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders

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 2016 2017

National championship seasons in bold

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