Nebraska Cornhuskers Football Trivia
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45 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 45 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many national championships does Nebraska football claim?
Five
Nebraska claims five national championships: 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995 and 1997, the last three under Tom Osborne.
Q 02Nebraska has sold out every home game at Memorial Stadium since which year?
1962
The sellout streak began in 1962, Bob Devaney's first season, and reached 400 consecutive games six decades later, an NCAA record for any sport.
Q 03What is Memorial Stadium's nickname on game day?
The Sea of Red
Memorial Stadium becomes the Sea of Red on game days, when roughly 90,000 fans in red briefly outnumber every Nebraska city except Omaha and Lincoln.
Q 04How many seasons did Tom Osborne spend as Nebraska's head coach after succeeding Bob Devaney in 1973?
25
Osborne coached 25 seasons, 1973 through 1997, and never won fewer than nine games in any of them.
Q 05What was Tom Osborne's career record as Nebraska's head coach?
255-49-3
Osborne finished 255-49-3, a .836 winning percentage, with 13 conference titles and three national championships in 25 seasons.
Q 06After coaching, Tom Osborne served three terms in what role?
US Congressman from Nebraska
Osborne was a US Congressman from Nebraska's third district for three terms, 2001 to 2007, then became the school's athletic director.
Q 07Tom Osborne played college football at which small Nebraska school?
Hastings
Osborne starred at Hastings College in his hometown before a brief NFL stint and a job on Devaney's staff.
Q 08Nebraska'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 09Which quarterback started for Nebraska's 1971 national champions after sharing the job in 1970?
Jerry Tagge
Jerry Tagge, who split snaps with Van Brownson in 1970, quarterbacked the 13-0 1971 team and beat Alabama 38-6 in the Orange Bowl.
Q 10Which three Cornhuskers have won the Heisman Trophy?
Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier and Eric Crouch
Johnny Rodgers won in 1972, Mike Rozier in 1983 and Eric Crouch in 2001, Crouch as a run-first option quarterback.
Q 11Nebraska'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 12Which instrumental accompanies Nebraska's Tunnel Walk?
"Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project
The Tunnel Walk began in 1994 to "Sirius" by the Alan Parsons Project, the same instrumental the Chicago Bulls used for player introductions.
Q 13What did Memorial Stadium fans traditionally release after Nebraska's first score?
Red helium balloons
Q 21Which quarterback led Nebraska to the 1997 national title and later returned as head coach?
Scott Frost
Scott Frost quarterbacked the 42-17 Orange Bowl win over Tennessee that earned the coaches' poll title, then coached Nebraska from 2018 to 2022.
Q 22Which team did Nebraska crush 62-24 in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl to repeat as champions?
Florida
The Blackshirts intercepted Florida's Danny Wuerffel three times and Nebraska led 35-10 at halftime.
Q 23Who took over from Tom Osborne in 1998 and reached the 2002 BCS title game before being fired in 2003?
Frank Solich
Frank Solich went 58-19 in six seasons, was fired after a 9-3 regular season in 2003, and the bowl streak ended a year later under Bill Callahan.
Red helium balloons floated up after Nebraska's first score for decades until the school retired the release in the early 2020s over helium supply and environmental concerns.
Q 14What 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 15Before "Cornhuskers" caught on, what was Nebraska's best-known early nickname?
Bugeaters
"Bugeaters" mocked Nebraskans who supposedly ate insects during the 1870s grasshopper plagues; Lincoln sportswriter Cy Sherman pushed "Cornhuskers" instead from 1899.
Q 16What are the names of Nebraska's two official mascots?
Herbie Husker and Lil' Red
Herbie Husker, the overalls-wearing farmer, became the mascot in 1974, and the inflatable kid-friendly Lil' Red joined him in 1993.
Q 17What was the final score of the 1984 Orange Bowl, where Tom Osborne went for two instead of a tie?
31-30 Miami
Miami won 31-30 when Turner Gill's two-point pass was knocked away in the final minute, giving the Hurricanes their first national title.
Q 18Which quarterback led Nebraska to back-to-back national titles in 1994 and 1995?
Tommie Frazier
Tommie Frazier rushed for 199 yards in the 62-24 Fiesta Bowl rout and was named MVP of a third straight title game.
Q 19Which backup quarterback led most of the undefeated 1994 regular season while the starter was sidelined?
Brook Berringer
Brook Berringer started seven games in 1994 while the starter recovered from blood clots, and Nebraska then beat Miami 24-17 in the Orange Bowl for the title.
Q 20Nebraska's 1995 national champions averaged how many points per game?
53.2
Nebraska scored 638 points in 12 games in 1995, a 53.2 average, and won every game by at least 14 points.
Q 24Nebraska joined which conference in 2011?
Big Ten
Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011 after 15 seasons as a Big 12 charter member and decades in that league's predecessor.
Q 25Nebraska and Iowa play annually for which prize?
Heroes Trophy
The Heroes Trophy, introduced in 2011, goes to the Nebraska-Iowa winner in a game played the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Q 26Which 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 27Which defensive tackle won the Outland, Lombardi, Nagurski and Bednarik awards for Nebraska in 2009?
Ndamukong Suh
Ndamukong Suh swept the four awards in 2009, was a Heisman finalist and went second overall to Detroit in the 2010 draft.
Q 28Which Nebraska center won two Outland Trophies and has the top-center award named for him?
Dave Rimington
Dave Rimington won the Outland in 1981 and 1982 plus the 1982 Lombardi; Dominic Raiola won the first Rimington Trophy in 2000.
Q 29Which two players have had their numbers permanently retired by Nebraska?
Tom Novak and Bob Brown
Tom Novak, the school's only four-time all-conference pick, and Bob Brown, the 1963 All-American lineman, are the two whose numbers, 60 and 64, are retired.
Q 30Which two Cornhuskers have been picked first overall in the NFL draft?
Sam Francis and Irving Fryar
Sam Francis went first overall to Philadelphia in 1937 and Irving Fryar first to New England in 1984.