50 free Nebraska Cornhuskers Football trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
41 free Nebraska Cornhuskers Football trivia questions with answers. Nebraska football is five national championships, a sellout streak that started in 1962, and a way of life across the state. This quiz covers the Cornhuskers from the Bugeaters days through Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne, the 1971 Game of the Century, the 1984 Orange Bowl gamble, Tommie Frazier's mid-90s dynasty, and the Big Ten era under Matt Rhule. Expect questions on the Blackshirts, the Tunnel Walk, red balloons, Herbie Husker and Lil' Red, the three Heisman winners, retired numbers, rivalries with Oklahoma, Colorado, Iowa and Wisconsin, and the record-setting 1995 team. About a third are easy for any Husker fan, a third are medium, and the rest will test people who remember Jerry Tagge. Every answer is checked against the program's reference pages, so it is safe for a tailgate quiz or a family argument.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many national championships does Nebraska football claim?
Five
They came in 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995 and 1997, plus seven more from selectors the school does not claim.
Q 02Nebraska has sold out every home game at Memorial Stadium since which year?
1962
The streak reached 411 games, an NCAA record for any sport, and began the year Bob Devaney arrived.
Q 03What is Memorial Stadium's nickname on game day?
The Sea of Red
The stadium opened, unfinished, on October 13, 1923, dedicated to Nebraskans who served in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I.
Q 04Where did Bob Devaney rank on Tippy Dye's list when Nebraska hired him in 1962?
Fourth
He came at a salary of $17,000 and won two national titles and eight conference crowns in eleven seasons.
Q 05How many seasons did Tom Osborne spend as Nebraska's head coach after succeeding Bob Devaney in 1973?
25
His teams never won fewer than nine games and were ranked for 304 of his 307 games.
Q 06What was Tom Osborne's career record as Nebraska's head coach?
255-49-3
That works out to a .836 winning percentage, with 13 conference titles and three national championships.
Q 07After coaching, Tom Osborne served three terms in what role?
US Congressman from Nebraska
He was elected in 2000 as a Republican from the third district, then returned as Nebraska's athletic director in 2007.
Q 08Tom Osborne played college football at which small Nebraska school?
Hastings
He was a quarterback and receiver there before a brief NFL career and a job on Devaney's staff.
Q 09Nebraska's 1971 "Game of the Century" was a 35-31 Thanksgiving Day win over which rival?
Oklahoma
Fifty-five million Americans watched, the largest college football audience ever, as the Blackshirts faced the Sooners' wishbone.
Q 10Which quarterback started for Nebraska's 1971 national champions after sharing the job in 1970?
Jerry Tagge
NU won each of its first eleven games in 1971 by at least 24 points, then beat Alabama 38-6 in the Orange Bowl.
Q 11Which three Cornhuskers have won the Heisman Trophy?
Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier and Eric Crouch
Their wins came in 1972, 1983 and 2001; Suh finished fourth in 2009 as a defensive tackle.
Q 12Nebraska's defense is nicknamed the Blackshirts because of what?
Black jerseys worn by defensive starters in practice
The tradition began in 1964, the first year of free substitution, so Devaney could tell his units apart.
Q 13Which instrumental accompanies Nebraska's Tunnel Walk?
Q 21Nebraska's 1995 team set a college football record by averaging how many points per game?
53.2
It is the only national champion to win every game by at least 14 points.
Q 22Which quarterback led Nebraska to the 1997 national title and later returned as head coach?
Scott Frost
NU beat Tennessee in the Orange Bowl, the designated Bowl Alliance title game, despite trailing Michigan in both polls.
Q 23Which team did Nebraska crush 62-24 in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl to repeat as champions?
Florida
The Blackshirts intercepted Danny Wuerffel three times.
"Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project
The Tunnel Walk began in 1994 and is preceded by the split-crowd "Husker Power" chant.
Q 14What do Memorial Stadium fans release when Nebraska scores its first points?
Red helium balloons
The tradition dates to the 1960s and was spotted as early as 1932.
Q 15What is the Nebraska crowd known for doing to the visiting team after the game, win or lose?
Applauding them as they leave the field
The band also plays the visiting team's fight song before every home game.
Q 16Before "Cornhuskers" caught on, what was Nebraska's best-known early nickname?
Bugeaters
It referred to an 1870s drought when farmers supposedly ate bugs; sportswriter Cy Sherman hated it and started writing "Cornhuskers" in 1899.
Q 17What are the names of Nebraska's two official mascots?
Herbie Husker and Lil' Red
The team is commonly called the "Big Red"; its colors, scarlet and cream, were chosen in 1892 to avoid the gold used by Iowa and Missouri.
Q 18What was the final score of the 1984 Orange Bowl, where Tom Osborne went for two instead of a tie?
31-30 Miami
Turner Gill's conversion pass fell incomplete and Miami won its first national title in Osborne's own stadium of frustration.
Q 19Which quarterback led Nebraska to back-to-back national titles in 1994 and 1995?
Tommie Frazier
He rushed for 199 yards in the 62-24 Fiesta Bowl rout and was MVP of a third straight title game.
Q 20Which backup quarterback led most of the undefeated 1994 regular season while the starter was sidelined?
Brook Berringer
Frazier returned for the Orange Bowl, where two fourth-quarter Cory Schlesinger touchdowns beat Miami for Osborne's first consensus title.
Q 24Who took over from Tom Osborne in 1998 and reached the 2002 BCS title game before being fired in 2003?
Frank Solich
Nebraska went 7-7 in his last year, ending the program's record 35-year bowl streak the following season.
Q 25Nebraska joined which conference in 2011?
Big Ten
It had been a Big 12 charter member since 1996 and a Big Eight power for decades before that.
Q 26Nebraska and Iowa play annually for which prize?
Heroes Trophy
After 2024 realignment, Iowa is the Huskers' only permanent conference opponent.
Q 27Which team took over as Nebraska's Thanksgiving-weekend opponent when the Big 12 formed in 1996?
Colorado
Bill McCartney's Buffaloes had beaten NU in 1986, 1989 and 1990 to break the Nebraska-Sooners grip on the Big Eight.
Q 28Which defensive tackle won the Outland, Lombardi, Nagurski and Bednarik awards for Nebraska in 2009?
Ndamukong Suh
He finished fourth in that year's Heisman voting before going second overall to Detroit.
Q 29Which Nebraska center won two Outland Trophies and has the top-center award named for him?
Dave Rimington
He won the Outland in 1981 and 1982 and the Lombardi in 1982; Raiola won the Rimington Trophy in 2000.
Q 30Which two players have had their numbers permanently retired by Nebraska?
Tom Novak and Bob Brown
Novak was the school's only four-time all-conference pick and Brown was Devaney's first All-American.