Nebraska vs. UCLA
Nebraska and UCLA have 15 meetings on file, the first in 1946; Nebraska leads the series 8–7 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Nebraska 6–4. Share
2028 at Nebraska. As the programs’ Wikipedia articles list them (CC BY-SA).
- Nebraska wins
- 8
- UCLA wins
- 7
- Ties
- 0
- Earliest on file
- 1946
- Longest streak
- 4 Nebraska
- Current streak
- 1 Nebraska
- Last 10 meetings
- Nebraska 6–4
- Most recent
- 2025
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 0–2 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 1–1 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 3–1 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 2–0 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 1–2 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 1–1 |
- Both ranked
- 6 meetings: Nebraska 4, UCLA 2; 4 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 15.3 points; 6 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Nebraska
- 4–3 Nebraska’s record at home
- At UCLA
- 4–3 UCLA’s record at home
- Neutral sites
- 1–0 Nebraska first
- Shutouts
- 1
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Nebraska’s biggest win1984: Nebraska 42, UCLA 3by 39 points
- UCLA’s biggest win2013: UCLA 41, Nebraska 21by 20 points
- Upset1972: UCLA 20, Nebraska 17UCLA had a 23% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1987: Nebraska 42, UCLA 33No. 3 UCLA at No. 2 Nebraska
- Ranked showdown1988: UCLA 41, Nebraska 28No. 2 Nebraska at No. 5 UCLA
- Ranked showdown1984: Nebraska 42, UCLA 3No. 1 Nebraska at No. 8 UCLA
- Ranked showdown1973: Nebraska 40, UCLA 13No. 10 UCLA at No. 4 Nebraska
Coach against coach
| Years | Nebraska | Series | UCLA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983–1994 | Tom Osborne | 5–1 | Terry Donahue |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Nebraska’s side (Osborne 5–1 against Donahue). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
Stars of the series
Named most valuable
| Tommy Armstrong Nebraska | 2015 |
| Jaleel Wadood UCLA | 2015 |
Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).
From the newspapers
1948 · The Daily Alaska empire, Nov 1, 1948
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
On television
ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game once: 1994.
| 2025 | FOX | 2.2 million viewers |
College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA). Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.
Every game
| Nov 8, 2025 | Nebraska 28, UCLA 21 | at UCLA | ||
| Nov 2, 2024 | UCLA 27, Nebraska 20 | at Nebraska | ||
| Dec 26, 2015 | Nebraska 37, UCLA 29 | Levi’s Stadium | Foster Farms Bowl | |
| Sep 14, 2013 | 16UCLA 41, 23Nebraska 21 | at Nebraska | ||
| Sep 8, 2012 | UCLA 36, 16Nebraska 30 | at UCLA | ||
| Sep 17, 1994 | 2Nebraska 49, 13UCLA 21 | at Nebraska | ||
| Sep 18, 1993 | 8Nebraska 14, UCLA 13 | at UCLA | ||
| Sep 10, 1988 | 5UCLA 41, 2Nebraska 28 | at UCLA | ||
| Sep 12, 1987 | 2Nebraska 42, 3UCLA 33 | at Nebraska | ||
| Sep 22, 1984 | 1Nebraska 42, 8UCLA 3 | at UCLA | ||
| Sep 24, 1983 | 1Nebraska 42, UCLA 10 | at Nebraska | ||
| Sep 8, 1973 | 4Nebraska 40, 10UCLA 13 | at Nebraska | ||
| Sep 9, 1972 | UCLA 20, 1Nebraska 17 | at UCLA | ||
| Oct 30, 1948 | UCLA 27, Nebraska 15 | at Nebraska | ||
| Nov 30, 1946 | 4UCLA 18, Nebraska 0 | at UCLA |
Every game is listed as played on the field.