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1940 Nebraska

8–⁠2 (5–⁠0 Big Six), coached by Biff Jones, finished No. 7 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

Nebraska in 1940, game by game: lost at Minnesota 7–13; won vs. Indiana 13–7; won at Kansas 53–2; won vs. Missouri 20–7; won at Oklahoma 13–0; won vs. Iowa 14–6; won at Pittsburgh 9–7; won vs. Iowa State 21–12; won vs. Kansas State 20–0; lost vs. No. 3 Stanford 13–21+51−8Lost 7–13 at Minnesota-6MinnesotaWon 13–7 vs. Indiana+6IndianaWon 53–2 at Kansas+51KansasWon 20–7 vs. Missouri+13MissouriWon 13–0 at Oklahoma+13OklahomaWon 14–6 vs. Iowa+8IowaWon 9–7 at Pittsburgh+2PittsburghWon 21–12 vs. Iowa State+9Iowa StateWon 20–0 vs. Kansas State+20Kansas StateLost 13–21 vs. No. 3 Stanford-8No. 3 Stanford
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Oct 5atMinnesotaL 7–⁠1346%
Oct 12vsIndianaW 13–⁠774%
Oct 19atKansasW 53–⁠264%
Oct 26vsMissouriW 20–⁠759%
Nov 2atOklahomaW 13–⁠044%
Nov 9vsIowaW 14–⁠682%
Nov 16atPittsburghW 9–⁠759%
Nov 23vsIowa StateW 21–⁠1284%
Nov 30vsKansas StateW 20–⁠089%
Jan 1Bowls & playoffvs3StanfordRose BowlL 13–⁠2156%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Stanford 21–⁠13 in the Rose Bowl; No. 7 in the final AP poll; Big Six champions.

In program history: The 46th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 129 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 2: 18
  2. Wk 3: 12
  3. Wk 4: 12
  4. Wk 5: 11
  5. Wk 6: 8
  6. Wk 7: 8
  7. Final: 7

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1940.

Big Six champions5–⁠0 in the conference

Record
8–⁠2
Conference
5–⁠0 first in Big Six
AP final
No. 7 peak No. 7
Points
183–⁠75
Coach
Biff Jones
Elo
1670 +74 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
13.0 No. 18 of 121 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Offense
Single-wing

Drafted in 1941

The 1941 draft
Rd 3Harry Hopp BDetroit Lions
Rd 4Walt Luther BCleveland Rams
Rd 5Royal Kahler OTPhiladelphia Eagles
Rd 6Herm Rohrig BGreen Bay Packers
Rd 7Ray Prochaska ECleveland Rams

All-Big Six

8 first team, 3 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1940 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1940 Big Six standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Nebraska5–⁠08–⁠27
Oklahoma4–⁠16–⁠3
Missouri3–⁠26–⁠3
Iowa State2–⁠34–⁠5
Kansas State1–⁠42–⁠7
Kansas0–⁠52–⁠7

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.