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103-474: Robert Simon Devaney (April 13, 1915 – May 9, 1997) was a college football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Wyoming from 1957 to 1961 and at the University of Nebraska from 1962 to 1972, compiling a career record of 136–30–7 (.806). Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers won consecutive national championships in 1970 and 1971 and three consecutive Orange Bowls . Devaney also served as

206-500: A 0–0 tie. The Army–Navy game of 1893 saw the first documented use of a football helmet by a player in a game. Joseph M. Reeves had a crude leather helmet made by a shoemaker in Annapolis and wore it in the game after being warned by his doctor that he risked death if he continued to play football after suffering an earlier kick to the head. In 1879, the University of Michigan became the first school west of Pennsylvania to establish

309-456: A 56-game undefeated streak that included a 1902 trip to play in the first college football bowl game , which later became the Rose Bowl Game . During this streak, Michigan scored 2,831 points while allowing only 40. Organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of Minnesota on September 30, 1882, when Hamline was convinced to play Minnesota . Minnesota won 2 to 0. It

412-681: A 9–2–1 record. The loss to UCLA ended Nebraska's 32-game unbeaten streak, which dated back nearly three years to October 11, 1969 , when they lost at Missouri . Although the Cornhuskers tied Iowa State and lost by three points to Oklahoma in Lincoln in November, the season ended with a 40–6 victory over Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl , the Huskers' third consecutive victory in that bowl game. Nebraska finished

515-503: A college football team. On May 30, 1879, Michigan beat Racine College 1–0 in a game played in Chicago. The Chicago Daily Tribune called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies ." Other Midwestern schools soon followed suit, including the University of Chicago , Northwestern University , and the University of Minnesota . The first western team to travel east

618-465: A forty-seven game home winning streak from 1991 to 1998, the second-longest in modern college football history. In 2022, the continued legitimacy of the streak began to be questioned, as it was revealed that over 2,000 tickets were sold to a single buyer for approximately $ 10 per ticket. On August 30, 2023, the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's volleyball team set an attendance world record for

721-447: A great deal to Harvard's rugby. They decided to play with 15 players on each team. On November 13, 1875, Yale and Harvard played each other for the first time ever, where Harvard won 4–0. At the first The Game (as the annual contest between Harvard and Yale came to be named) the future "father of American football" Walter Camp was among the 2000 spectators in attendance. Walter, a native of New Britain, Connecticut , would enroll at Yale

824-536: A liking to the rugby game, and its use of the try which, until that time, was not used in American football. The try would later evolve into the score known as the touchdown . On June 4, 1875, Harvard faced Tufts University in the first game between two American colleges played under rules similar to the McGill/Harvard contest, which was won by Tufts 1–0. The rules included each side fielding 11 men at any given time,

927-487: A new code of rules based on the rugby game first introduced to Harvard by McGill University in 1874. Three of the schools—Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton—formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, as a result of the meeting. Yale initially refused to join this association because of a disagreement over the number of players to be allowed per team (relenting in 1879) and Rutgers were not invited to

1030-499: A player to pick up the ball and run with it whenever he wished. Another rule, unique to McGill, was to count tries (the act of grounding the football past the opposing team's goal line; there was no end zone during this time), as well as goals, in the scoring. In the Rugby rules of the time, a try only provided the attempt to kick a free goal from the field. If the kick was missed, the try did not score any points itself. Harvard quickly took

1133-462: A professional roster spot as an undrafted free agent . Despite these opportunities, only around 1.6% of NCAA college football players end up playing professionally in the NFL. Even after the emergence of the professional National Football League (NFL), college football has remained extremely popular throughout the U.S. Although the college game has a much larger margin for talent than its pro counterpart,

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1236-504: A rougher version of football called "the Boston Game" in which the kicking of a round ball was the most prominent feature though a player could run with the ball, pass it, or dribble it (known as "babying"). The man with the ball could be tackled, although hitting, tripping, "hacking" and other unnecessary roughness was prohibited. There was no limit to the number of players, but there were typically ten to fifteen per side. A player could carry

1339-524: A round ball instead of a rugby-style oblong ball. This series of games represents an important milestone in the development of the modern game of American football. In October 1874, the Harvard team once again traveled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, where they won by three tries. In as much as Rugby football had been transplanted to Canada from England, the McGill team played under a set of rules which allowed

1442-537: A team be required to advance the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby football into the distinct sport of American football. Camp was central to several more significant rule changes that came to define American football. In 1881, the field was reduced in size to its modern dimensions of 120 by 53 1 ⁄ 3 yards (109.7 by 48.8 meters). Several times in 1883, Camp tinkered with

1545-542: A winning tradition up until the early 1940s, Nebraska had only three winning seasons in the two decades preceding Devaney's arrival. Devaney engineered an immediate turnaround with a 9–2 record in 1962 that included a victory in the Gotham Bowl at Yankee Stadium over the Miami Hurricanes . It was the first of forty consecutive winning seasons for Nebraska. Devaney followed this up with an even better 10–1 season

1648-868: A women's sporting event (amateur or professional) in their match against the Omaha Mavericks . A total of 92,003 people gathered inside Memorial Stadium for Volleyball Day in Nebraska, which also featured an exhibition match between two in-state NCAA Division II schools, the Nebraska–Kearney Lopers and the Wayne State Wildcats . Since 1996, Memorial Stadium has been the host for the Nebraska School Activities Association 's state high school football championship finals, including smaller schools that play eight-man football , which

1751-505: A youth, he excelled in sports like track , baseball, and association football, and after enrolling at Yale in 1876, he earned varsity honors in every sport the school offered. Following the introduction of rugby-style rules to American football, Camp became a fixture at the Massasoit House conventions where rules were debated and changed. Dissatisfied with what seemed to him to be a disorganized mob, he proposed his first rule change at

1854-488: Is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football first gained popularity in the United States . Like gridiron football generally, college football is most popular in the United States and Canada. While no single governing body exists for college football in the United States, most schools, especially those at

1957-525: Is generally considered to be the second tier of American and Canadian football; ahead of high school competition , but below professional competition . In some parts of the United States, especially the South and Midwest , college football is more popular than professional football. For much of the 20th century, college football was generally considered to be more prestigious than professional football. The overwhelming majority of professional football players in

2060-658: Is widely regarded as having originated with a game played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada. Early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional " mob football " played in Great Britain. The games remained largely unorganized until

2163-686: The 1972 season ranked #4 in the AP Poll. In addition, Johnny Rodgers was selected as the winner of the Heisman Trophy . The UPI Coaches' Poll , released before the bowls, had Nebraska at #9. Following the 1972 season, Devaney stepped down as head coach at age 57 and hired his protégé to succeed him, offensive coordinator Tom Osborne . Devaney's overall record at Nebraska was 101–20–2 (.829) in 11 seasons, with nine bowl appearances and two national championships. His teams won or shared eight Big Eight Conference titles. His record in his final three seasons

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2266-557: The Korean War , and the Vietnam War . Each corner of the stadium was given an inscription from philosophy professor Hartley Burr Alexander : The playing field is aligned north-south at an approximate elevation of 1,150 feet (350 m) above sea level . In its original layout, the stadium had open end zones and grandstands on the east and west sides of the field with a seating capacity of 31,080. A quarter-mile track surrounded

2369-634: The Michigan State Spartans staff as an assistant coach under Biggie Munn and continuing under Duffy Daugherty . Devaney's first college head coaching job was at the University of Wyoming , where he went 35–10–5 (.750) in five seasons ( 1957 – 1961 ). The Cowboys won the Sun Bowl in his second season and won or shared the Skyline Conference title in his final four seasons in Laramie . Devaney

2472-556: The NFL and other leagues previously played college football. The NFL draft each spring sees 224 players selected and offered a contract to play in the league, with the vast majority coming from the NCAA . Other professional leagues, such as the CFL and UFL , additionally hold their own drafts each year which also see primarily college players selected. Players who are not selected can still attempt to obtain

2575-476: The Nebraska Coliseum was ultimately completed next door to Memorial Stadium just three years later). John Latenser Sr. of Omaha and Ellery L. Davis of Lincoln were selected as the head architects for the new stadium as they were willing to work pro bono . When the fundraising target amount of $ 450,000 had been met, construction began and a groundbreaking ceremony was held on April 23, 1923. Construction

2678-662: The Old Main lawn on campus in State College, Pennsylvania . They compiled a 12–8–1 record in these seasons, playing as an independent from 1887 to 1890. In 1891, the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Football Association (PIFA) was formed. It consisted of Bucknell University , Dickinson College , Franklin & Marshall College , Haverford College , Penn State, and Swarthmore College . Lafayette College , and Lehigh University were excluded because it

2781-539: The United States' entry into World War II . Construction resumed after the war ended and the Schulte Fieldhouse was completed in 1946, providing locker rooms, extra practice facilities, and showers to the football program. The Fieldhouse was named for former football and longtime track and field coach Henry Schulte , who died in 1944 while construction was paused. The building was used by the program until 2006, when

2884-556: The athletic director at Nebraska from 1967 to 1993, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1981. He died of a heart attack at age 82 in 1997, and is buried at Lincoln Memorial Park in Lincoln. Devaney graduated from Alma College in 1939, where he played end on the football team. Devaney coached high school football in Michigan at Big Beaver, Keego Harbor, Saginaw, and Alpena , before joining

2987-458: The next year , including a perfect 7–0 record in the Big Eight to claim the conference title and an Orange Bowl victory over Auburn . His success continued through 1966 , with records of 9–2, 10–1, and 9–2, bringing his record at Nebraska to 47–8 (.855) in his first five seasons. This had so revived Nebraska football that Memorial Stadium was enlarged significantly by enclosing both ends. For

3090-401: The 19th century, when intramural games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football. Princeton University students played a game called "ballown" as early as 1820. In 1827, a Harvard tradition known as "Bloody Monday" began, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes. In 1860, both the town police and

3193-492: The 2017 season, two of which were wrapped around the existing structure to allow fans in North Stadium, seated directly in front of the stadium's largest videoboard, clear screen viewing. An upper ribbon display was added to the second level of East Stadium. In 2015, the university replaced the bleachers along the top sections of the North Stadium, widening the seats from eighteen to twenty-two inches. Some seats were removed in

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3296-515: The College of New Jersey, in the first collegiate football game . The game more closely resembled soccer than football as it is played in the 21st century. It was played with a round ball , and used a set of rules suggested by Rutgers captain William J. Leggett , based on The Football Association 's first set of rules , which were an early attempt by the former pupils of England's public schools, to unify

3399-614: The Cornhuskers. When Devaney balked at leaving Wyoming for Nebraska, it was Daugherty who convinced him to accept the position because he could potentially win a national title at Nebraska, a goal that Wyoming was unlikely to attain. Devaney joined Nebraska in 1962 and immediately reestablished the program as a force in the Big Eight Conference . Prior to Devaney's arrival, Nebraska football had fallen on hard times with seven consecutive losing seasons. The 1961 team under Bill Jennings went 3–6–1 overall and 2–5 in conference. After

3502-549: The East and West Stadiums, with work to begin no earlier than after the 2025 season. The South Stadium project remains in the overall plan, on a timeline yet to be determined. With the university experiencing a $ 58 million budget shortfall, regent Barbara Weitz suggested in June 2024 that a columbarium be built beneath the football field, where the ashes of fans could be inurned. Nebraska played on natural grass from 1923, when Memorial Stadium

3605-746: The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to codify the first set of intercollegiate football rules. Before this meeting, each school had its own set of rules and games were usually played using the home team's own particular code. At this meeting, a list of rules, based more on the Football Association's rules than the rules of the recently founded Rugby Football Union , was drawn up for intercollegiate football games. Old "Football Fightum" had been resurrected at Harvard in 1872, when Harvard resumed playing football. Harvard, however, preferred to play

3708-552: The Huskers a 17–12 victory to finish the season at 11–0–1. This secured a share of the national championship , after the other two undefeated teams in the nation, Texas and Ohio State , lost their bowl games earlier in the day. The final AP Poll , conducted after the bowl games were played, picked Nebraska as champion, while the final UPI Poll , released in early December before the bowl games, had Texas first with Nebraska third. With most of its key players back and its defense vastly improved in 1971 , Nebraska rolled through

3811-557: The NFL, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries. Colleges are only allowed to provide non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books. With new bylaws made by the NCAA, college athletes can now receive "name, image, and likeness" (NIL) deals, a way to get sponsorships and money before their pro debut. Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as "football", played at public schools in Great Britain in

3914-468: The Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen announced that the surface would return to natural grass as early as 2026. Nebraska has sold out 403 consecutive games at Memorial Stadium, the longest streak in any collegiate sport. The streak began on November 3, 1962, a 16–7 Missouri win over Nebraska in Bob Devaney's first season as head coach. NU's home record during the sellout streak is 315–67, including

4017-730: The North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, North Carolina . On November 13, 1887, the Virginia Cavaliers and Pantops Academy fought to a scoreless tie in the first organized football game in the state of Virginia . Students at UVA were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim that some industrious ones organized a game against Washington and Lee College in 1871, just two years after Rutgers and Princeton's historic first game in 1869. But no record has been found of

4120-473: The Osborne Athletic Complex was constructed on the site. The stadium's first expansion from its original capacity of 31,080 came in 1964, when permanent seats were added to the south end zone, turning the stadium into a 48,000-seat horseshoe. The north end zone was enclosed in two stages from 1965 to 1966, bringing the stadium's capacity to 64,170. A press box was added in 1967 and the south end zone

4223-469: The University of Nebraska system. On May 16, 2024, new University of Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen met with the university Board of Regents and announced the next day that the plans for the renovation were being reexamined in light of fundraising, athletic department budget projections, and the outcome of the settlement of a new antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA. The revised plan will first focus on

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4326-428: The ball only when being pursued. As a result of this, Harvard refused to attend the rules conference organized by Rutgers, Princeton and Columbia at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City on October 20, 1873, to agree on a set of rules and regulations that would allow them to play a form of football that was essentially Association football; and continued to play under its own code. While Harvard's voluntary absence from

4429-476: The ball was advanced by kicking or carrying it, and tackles of the ball carrier stopped play – actions of which have carried over to the modern version of football played today Harvard later challenged its closest rival, Yale, to which the Bulldogs accepted. The two teams agreed to play under a set of rules called the "Concessionary Rules", which involved Harvard conceding something to Yale's soccer and Yale conceding

4532-473: The bench seating). This allows them to seat more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium, which tends to have more features and comforts for fans. Only three stadiums owned by U.S. colleges or universities, L&N Stadium at the University of Louisville , Center Parc Stadium at Georgia State University , and FAU Stadium at Florida Atlantic University , consist entirely of chair back seating. College athletes, unlike players in

4635-474: The center. Later changes made it possible to snap the ball with the hands, either through the air or by a direct hand-to-hand pass. Rugby league followed Camp's example, and in 1906 introduced the play-the-ball rule, which greatly resembled Camp's early scrimmage and center-snap rules. In 1966, rugby league introduced a four-tackle rule (changed in 1972 to a six-tackle rule) based on Camp's early down-and-distance rules. Camp's new scrimmage rules revolutionized

4738-546: The city of New Haven , banned the play of all forms of football in 1860. American football historian Parke H. Davis described the period between 1869 and 1875 as the 'Pioneer Period'; the years 1876–93 he called the 'Period of the American Intercollegiate Football Association'; and the years 1894–1933 he dubbed the "Period of Rules Committees and Conferences". On November 6, 1869, Rutgers University faced Princeton University , then known as

4841-482: The college authorities agreed the Bloody Monday had to go. Harvard students responded by going into mourning for a mock figure called "Football Fightum", for whom they conducted funeral rites. The authorities held firm, and it was another dozen years before football was once again played at Harvard. Dartmouth played its own version called " Old division football ", the rules of which were first published in 1871, though

4944-450: The first Division I-A venue to install FieldTurf . A second FieldTurf installation featuring an alternating light-and-dark green pattern every five yards was installed prior to the 2005 season; at the same time, the playing surface's prominent crown was reduced. A third FieldTurf iteration was installed in 2013 , featuring a "lighter and cooler" playing surface by adding cork to the traditional top layer of recycled tire pellets. In 2024,

5047-634: The first game in Virginia. On April 9, 1880, at Stoll Field , Transylvania University (then called Kentucky University) beat Centre College by the score of 13 + 3 ⁄ 4 –0 in what is often considered the first recorded game played in the South . The first game of "scientific football" in the South was the first instance of the Victory Bell rivalry between North Carolina and Duke (then known as Trinity College) held on Thanksgiving Day , 1888, at

5150-404: The first meeting he attended in 1878: a reduction from fifteen players to eleven. The motion was rejected at that time but passed in 1880. The effect was to open up the game and emphasize speed over strength. Camp's most famous change, the establishment of the line of scrimmage and the snap from center to quarterback , was also passed in 1880. Originally, the snap was executed with the foot of

5253-562: The first ten games. The top-ranked Huskers met unbeaten #2 Oklahoma in Norman on Thanksgiving Day in the Game of the Century , one of the most celebrated games in college football history. A late touchdown by tailback Jeff Kinney gave the Huskers a hard-fought 35–31 victory. When Nebraska crushed unbeaten Alabama 38–6 in the Orange Bowl to finish 13–0, the Cornhuskers were said by many to be

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5356-609: The first time, Nebraska was on television once or twice a year and fans all over the state sat down to watch the Bob Devaney TV show each week, in which he used his folksy manner to review the tape of the game for all of the fans who hadn't seen it in person. Consecutive 6–4 seasons followed in 1967 and 1968 ; allegedly known as a drinker, Devaney became subject to a whispering campaign about whether he had peaked. However, he had brought in an innovative offensive thinker as an assistant coach, Tom Osborne . Devaney and Osborne revamped

5459-404: The first time. The Yale team was coached and captained by David Schley Schaff, who had learned to play football while attending Rugby School . Schaff himself was injured and unable to play the game, but Yale won the game 3–0 nonetheless. Later in 1872, Stevens Tech became the fifth school to field a team. Stevens lost to Columbia, but beat both New York University and City College of New York during

5562-454: The following year. By 1873, the college students playing football had made significant efforts to standardize their fledgling game. Teams had been scaled down from 25 players to 20. The only way to score was still to bat or kick the ball through the opposing team's goal, and the game was played in two 45-minute halves on fields 140 yards long and 70 yards wide. On October 20, 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers met at

5665-431: The game dates to at least the 1830s. All of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities. They remained largely "mob" style games, with huge numbers of players attempting to advance the ball into a goal area, often by any means necessary. Rules were simple, and violence and injury were common. The violence of these mob-style games led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them. Yale , under pressure from

5768-404: The game, though not always as intended. Princeton, in particular, used scrimmage play to slow the game, making incremental progress towards the end zone during each down . Rather than increase scoring, which had been Camp's original intent, the rule was exploited to maintain control of the ball for the entire game, resulting in slow, unexciting contests. At the 1882 rules meeting, Camp proposed that

5871-481: The greatest team in college football history. In fact, the Huskers defeated the teams ranked second, third, and fourth in the final AP Poll : Oklahoma, Colorado , and Alabama. Devaney coached one more year in 1972 and expectations were high for a third straight national title. Although a disappointing loss to UCLA at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum opened the season, the Huskers finished with

5974-629: The highest levels of play, are members of the NCAA . In Canada, collegiate football competition is governed by U Sports for universities. The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (for colleges) governs soccer and other sports but not gridiron football. Other countries, such as Mexico , Japan and South Korea , also host college football leagues with modest levels of support. Unlike most other major sports in North America , no official minor league farm organizations exist for American football or Canadian football . Therefore, college football

6077-468: The last two decades of the 19th century. Several major rivalries date from this time period. November 1890 was an active time in the sport. In Baldwin City, Kansas , on November 22, 1890, college football was first played in the state of Kansas . Baker beat Kansas 22–9. On the 27th, Vanderbilt played Nashville (Peabody) at Athletic Park and won 40–0. It was the first time organized football played in

6180-447: The main concourse being extended 360 degrees around the stadium, and a 270-degree concourse connecting the East and West Stadiums to South Stadium. Additional upgrades are also planned to improve restrooms, concessions, and vertical circulation throughout the stadium. Memorial Stadium’s overall capacity would be reduced by 8,000 to 10,000 seats by the replacement of bench seating in East and West Stadiums with chair-back seats. Construction

6283-493: The meeting made it hard for them to schedule games against other American universities, it agreed to a challenge to play the rugby team of McGill University , from Montreal , in a two-game series. It was agreed that two games would be played on Harvard's Jarvis baseball field in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 14 and 15, 1874: one to be played under Harvard rules, another under the stricter rugby regulations of McGill. Jarvis Field

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6386-415: The meeting. The rules that they agreed upon were essentially those of rugby union at the time with the exception that points be awarded for scoring a try , not just the conversion afterwards ( extra point ). Incidentally, rugby was to make a similar change to its scoring system 10 years later. Walter Camp is widely considered to be the most important figure in the development of American football. As

6489-452: The mid-19th century. By the 1840s, students at Rugby School were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and run with it, a sport later known as rugby football . The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges. The first documented gridiron football game was played at University College , a college of the University of Toronto , on November 9, 1861. One of

6592-710: The nearest college to play football. It took place at Hamilton Park in New Haven and was the first game in New England. The game was essentially soccer with 20-man sides, played on a field 400 by 250 feet. Yale wins 3–0, Tommy Sherman scoring the first goal and Lew Irwin the other two. After the first game against Harvard, Tufts took its squad to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine for the first football game played in Maine . This occurred on November 6, 1875. Penn 's Athletic Association

6695-603: The next year. He was torn between an admiration for Harvard's style of play and the misery of the Yale defeat, and became determined to avenge Yale's defeat. Spectators from Princeton also carried the game back home, where it quickly became the most popular version of football. On November 23, 1876, representatives from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met at the Massasoit House hotel in Springfield, Massachusetts to standardize

6798-403: The offensive scheme, an I formation with an unbalanced line, and upgraded the recruiting effort. Nebraska began the 1969 season at 2–2 start and in its fifth game needed a last-minute comeback at home to beat a Kansas team that finished the season with only one win. But the Huskers kept winning and concluded the regular season at 8–2, then routed Georgia 45–6 in the Sun Bowl . This set

6901-477: The only schools where Devaney served as a head coach at the collegiate level. Prior to the 2014 season, Nebraska completed a $ 12.3 million project to replace Memorial Stadium's twenty-year-old sound system and add a wireless network system to provide Wi-Fi to fans. A brick pattern was added to the base of West Stadium to match the appearance of the rest of the stadium and surrounding academic buildings. Nebraska installed new videoboards at Memorial Stadium prior to

7004-419: The participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was William Mulock , later chancellor of the school. A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play then are unclear. In 1864, at Trinity College , also a college of the University of Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football. Modern Canadian football

7107-427: The past exceeded 90,000. Nebraska has sold out an NCAA-record 403 consecutive games at Memorial Stadium, a streak that dates back to 1962 . In 1909, the University of Nebraska constructed Nebraska Field on the corner of North 10th Street and T Street in downtown Lincoln , the school's first football-only stadium. However, its wooden construction and limited seating capacity meant that after less than ten years there

7210-434: The playing field for use by the school's track and field program. Memorial Stadium remained largely unchanged for over a decade after its 1923 opening, and by the mid-1930s the university began planning to build extra football facilities along the stadium's north end zone. After struggling for years to acquire the necessary land in the adjoining neighborhood, construction finally began in 1941, only to be quickly halted due to

7313-482: The rules of their various public schools. The game was played at a Rutgers Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey . Two teams of 25 players attempted to score by kicking the ball into the opposing team's goal. Throwing or carrying the ball was not allowed, but there was plenty of physical contact between players. The first team to reach six goals was declared the winner. Rutgers won by a score of six to four. A rematch

7416-615: The rules were changed to allow tackling below the waist, and in 1889, the officials were given whistles and stopwatches. After leaving Yale in 1882, Camp was employed by the New Haven Clock Company until his death in 1925. Though no longer a player, he remained a fixture at annual rules meetings for most of his life, and he personally selected an annual All-American team every year from 1889 through 1924. The Walter Camp Football Foundation continues to select All-American teams in his honor. College football expanded greatly during

7519-442: The rules were formulated before the game. Memorial Stadium, Lincoln Memorial Stadium was built in 1923 at a cost of $ 450,000 and a capacity of 31,080 to replace Nebraska Field , where the Cornhuskers played home games from 1909 to 1922 . The first game at the new stadium was a 24–0 victory over Oklahoma on October 13, 1923. A series of expansions raised the stadium's capacity to 85,458, but attendance numbers have in

7622-570: The score of this contest. Washington and Lee also claims a 4 to 2 win over VMI in 1873. On October 18, 1888, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels 6 to 4 in the first intercollegiate game in the state of North Carolina . On December 14, 1889, Wofford defeated Furman 5 to 1 in the first intercollegiate game in the state of South Carolina . The game featured no uniforms, no positions, and

7725-431: The scoring rules, finally arriving at four points for a touchdown, two points for kicks after touchdowns , two points for safeties, and five for field goals . Camp's innovations in the area of point scoring influenced rugby union's move to point scoring in 1890. In 1887, game time was set at two-halves of 45 minutes each. Also in 1887, two paid officials—a referee and an umpire —were mandated for each game. A year later,

7828-427: The sheer number of fans following major colleges provides a financial equalizer for the game, with Division I programs – the highest level – playing in huge stadiums, six of which have seating capacity exceeding 100,000 people. In many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests (although many stadiums do have a small number of chair back seats in addition to

7931-449: The southwest corner of the stadium to allow for a new aisle to aid crowd congestion. This removed about 1,100 seats from Memorial Stadium. Two years later, the university increased the width of seating in several other areas of the stadium, reducing official stadium capacity to 85,458. In September 2023, the university Board of Regents unveiled plans for the complete demolition and reconstruction of South Stadium. The project would result in

8034-509: The stadium's capacity to 87,147. This expansion included 3,300 new general admission seats, 2,119 new club seats and thirty-eight additional luxury suites. The expansion totaled more than 6,000 new seats and brought the number of private suites inside the stadium to 101. The original east façade of the stadium was preserved within a new entrance lobby. The expansion included creation of the first standing room-only area in Memorial Stadium, and

8137-518: The stage for the highlight of Devaney's coaching career. The 1970 Nebraska team returned most of the key offensive starters from the previous year, and added sophomore Johnny Rodgers , an explosive punt returner and wide receiver , who won the Heisman Trophy in 1972 as a senior. Nebraska tied USC in Los Angeles early in the season and was ranked #3 going into the Orange Bowl against LSU . A late touchdown by quarterback Jerry Tagge gave

8240-487: The state of Tennessee . The 29th also saw the first instance of the Army–Navy Game . Navy won 24–0. Rutgers was first to extend the reach of the game. An intercollegiate game was first played in the state of New York when Rutgers played Columbia on November 2, 1872. It was also the first scoreless tie in the history of the fledgling sport. Yale football starts the same year and has its first match against Columbia,

8343-466: The two schools organized a game for October 23, 1869, but it was rained out. Students of the University of Virginia were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim it organized a game against Washington and Lee College in 1871; but no record has been found of the score of this contest. Due to scantiness of records of the prior matches some will claim Virginia v. Pantops Academy November 13, 1887, as

8446-448: The university should prioritize stadium expansion or the preservation of the stadium's NCAA-record sellout streak; the most-supported option was a modest expansion designed to protect the streak while adding some general admission seats. A statue of former head coach Bob Devaney was unveiled at the entrance of the newly renovated East Stadium and unveiled just before Nebraska's 2013 season opener against Wyoming ; Nebraska and Wyoming were

8549-761: Was 32–2–2 (.919), and his career college head coaching record at Wyoming and Nebraska was 136–30–7 (.806) in 16 seasons. Devaney served as athletic director at Nebraska from 1967 to 1992 and as athletic director emeritus until 1996. The university's volleyball/wrestling/gymnastics arena, the Bob Devaney Sports Center , is named for him. Assistant coaches under Devaney who have become college or professional head coaches: # denotes interim head coach # denotes interim head coach # denotes interim athletic director, * denotes early, part-time athletic director College football NAIA : NJCAA : College football ( French : football universitaire )

8652-473: Was also the first time one team scored over 100 points and the opposing team was shut out. The next week, Princeton outscored Lafayette 140 to 0. The first intercollegiate game in the state of Vermont happened on November 6, 1886, between Dartmouth and Vermont at Burlington, Vermont . Dartmouth won 91 to 0. Penn State played its first season in 1887, but had no head coach for their first five years, from 1887 to 1891. The teams played its home games on

8755-503: Was at the time a patch of land at the northern point of the Harvard campus, bordered by Everett and Jarvis Streets to the north and south, and Oxford Street and Massachusetts Avenue to the east and west. Harvard beat McGill in the "Boston Game" on the Thursday and held McGill to a 0–0 tie on the Friday. The Harvard students took to the rugby rules and adopted them as their own, The games featured

8858-429: Was commissioned and installed at the main entrance of the Osborne Athletic Complex on the north side of the stadium. Construction began in 2004 to renovate and expand the north end zone, adding an additional 6,000 seats and thirteen luxury boxes called "Skyline Suites," which brought the stadium's capacity to 81,067. At the time of its completion, the 33-foot (10 m) tall, 120-foot (37 m) wide scoreboard at Memorial Stadium

8961-661: Was completed on the 31,000-seat stadium in just over ninety days, in time for NU's first home game of the 1923 season, a 24–0 win over Oklahoma on October 13. Memorial Stadium was dedicated the following week to honor Nebraskans who served in the American Civil War and the Spanish–American War , and the 751 Nebraskans who died in World War I. Later, the dedication was expanded to honor Nebraskans who died in World War II ,

9064-443: Was completed, through 1969 . In 1970 , as part of head coach Bob Devaney's crusade to improve athletic facilities across the university, the stadium was fit with AstroTurf , an artificial turf glued to a foam plastic layer on a six-inch (15 cm) bed of asphalt. The Huskers won consecutive national championships in 1970 and 1971 . Several iterations of AstroTurf were installed at Memorial Stadium until 1999 , when it became

9167-402: Was expanded further in 1972, raising capacity to 73,650. In the early 1980s, portable lighting was occasionally used to allow Memorial Stadium to host late afternoon games on national television, often against Oklahoma . The first official night game at Memorial Stadium took place on September 6, 1986, when Nebraska defeated Florida State 34–17. Permanent lighting was installed in 1999, which

9270-527: Was felt they would dominate the Association. Penn State won the championship with a 4–1–0 record. Bucknell's record was 3–1–1 (losing to Franklin & Marshall and tying Dickinson). The Association was dissolved prior to the 1892 season. The first nighttime football game was played in Mansfield, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1892, between Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary and ended at halftime in

9373-523: Was initially conceived as a combination gymnasium-stadium-war museum complex to be called the "Nebraska Soldiers and Sailors Memorial." Enthusiasm for the fundraising effort was high following the death of former Nebraska football captain Dusty Rhodes, who was killed in action in France during World War I . Due to a slow post-war economy, the scope of the project was decreased to just a football stadium (though

9476-556: Was looking to pick "a twenty" to play a game of football against Columbia. This "twenty" never played Columbia, but did play twice against Princeton. Princeton won both games 6 to 0. The first of these happened on November 11, 1876, in Philadelphia and was the first intercollegiate game in the state of Pennsylvania . Brown entered the intercollegiate game in 1878. The first game where one team scored over 100 points happened on October 25, 1884, when Yale routed Dartmouth 113–0. It

9579-400: Was made available for companies and private parties to host events on a game-to-game basis. The university constructed two 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m ) research facilities inside the new East Stadium, one dedicated to athletics and one to campus research. The project was completed and dedicated on August 22, 2013. The project was initially voted on by fans and donors, who were asked whether

9682-435: Was ongoing, former quarterback Brook Berringer was killed in a private plane crash on April 18, 1996, just two days before the 1996 NFL draft , where he was projected to be an early- to mid-round pick. Berringer, a Scottsbluff native, was beloved for starting and winning several crucial games in place of injured starter Tommie Frazier during NU's 1994 national championship-winning season. A statue of Osborne and Berringer

9785-542: Was played at Princeton a week later under Princeton's own set of rules (one notable difference was the awarding of a "free kick" to any player that caught the ball on the fly, which was a feature adopted from The Football Association's rules; the fair catch kick rule has survived through to modern American game). Princeton won that game by a score of 8 – 0. Columbia joined the series in 1870 and by 1872 several schools were fielding intercollegiate teams, including Yale and Stevens Institute of Technology . Columbia University

9888-499: Was released from his contract by the university's board of trustees in February 1962, and was hired at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln at an annual salary of $ 17,000. Devaney was the fourth choice of Nebraska's athletic director, Tippy Dye . Utah 's Ray Nagel and Utah State 's John Ralston had turned down the job. Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty also turned down Dye, but recommended Devaney, his former assistant, for

9991-457: Was replaced with an LED lighting system in 2018. In the mid-1990s the university began a wide-ranging, $ 36-million expansion of West Stadium, adding luxury boxes, a larger press box, a stadium lounge, and a new façade facing Stadium Drive; the expansion raised the stadium's capacity to 74,056. It was re-dedicated on April 24, 1998, months after Tom Osborne retired from coaching, as "Tom Osborne Field at Memorial Stadium." While this construction

10094-421: Was significant momentum toward the building of a larger steel-and-concrete stadium for the Cornhuskers. The abrupt departure of highly successful head coach Ewald O. Stiehm temporarily slowed this momentum, but by the early 1920s, with "the present athletic field as inadequate now as the old one was in 1907," the university began plans to build a new stadium on the site of Nebraska Field. The new stadium project

10197-577: Was tentatively scheduled to begin in February 2024, and be completed in mid-2026. South Stadium would be demolished in early 2025, resulting in a temporary 22,000-seat decrease in Memorial Stadium’s capacity during the 2025 and possibly part of the early 2026 season. The total cost of the project was estimated at $ 450 to $ 500 million, with $ 225 million to come from university sources, including athletic department funds, university surplus, and lending through

10300-590: Was the 1881 Michigan team , which played at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. The nation's first college football league, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (also known as the Western Conference), a precursor to the Big Ten Conference , was founded in 1895. Led by coach Fielding H. Yost , Michigan became the first "western" national power. From 1901 to 1905, Michigan had

10403-588: Was the first game west of the Mississippi River . November 30, 1905, saw Chicago defeat Michigan 2 to 0. Dubbed "The First Greatest Game of the Century", it broke Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak and marked the end of the "Point-a-Minute" years. Organized collegiate football was first played in the state of Virginia and the south on November 2, 1873, in Lexington between Washington and Lee and VMI . Washington and Lee won 4–2. Some industrious students of

10506-477: Was the largest in any college football stadium. Before the 2009 season, two new high-definition video screens were added on the northeast and northwest pillars of the original stadium. Concurrently, ribbon boards stretching the length of the field were installed along the east and west balconies of the stadium. On October 15, 2010, the university announced its Board of Regents approved an East Stadium expansion project anticipated to cost up to $ 65 million, increasing

10609-488: Was the third school to field a team. The Lions traveled from New York City to New Brunswick on November 12, 1870, and were defeated by Rutgers 6 to 3. The game suffered from disorganization and the players kicked and battled each other as much as the ball. Later in 1870, Princeton and Rutgers played again with Princeton defeating Rutgers 6–0. This game's violence caused such an outcry that no games at all were played in 1871. Football came back in 1872, when Columbia played Yale for

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