1909 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
Encyclopedia
The 1909 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1909 college football season
. The team was coached by William C. "King" Cole and played their home games at Nebraska Field
in Lincoln, Nebraska
.
Nebraska broke in the new playing field by battling it out with visiting South Dakota. After falling behind in the 1st half 0-6, the Cornhuskers were able to stop the Coyotes from scoring again, though only managed 6 points of their own to secure a tie. Nebraska still held a comfortable lead in the series, at 4-1-1.
Three years had passed since Knox went up against the Cornhuskers, but the outcome followed the pattern of the previous meetings in the series when Nebraska cruised to a relatively easy win. This was the last time Knox played Nebraska, and the series ended with Nebraska in command 5-0.
The first time these teams met, in 1900, the game was held in Lincoln. Since then, the following seven games were Minnesota home games played in Minneapolis. Finally, for 1909, the Cornhuskers had Minnesota heading south to Nebraska again, albeit to Omaha instead of Lincoln. Despite the change in venue, the outcome was an all-too familiar Cornhusker loss, as Minnesota padded their series lead to 7-1-1.
Nebraska kept Iowa out of the end zone all day, but the Hawkeyes still managed two field goals to put the Cornhuskers behind 0-6. Nebraska almost dropped the game when they lost a fumble inside the Iowa 5, but the ball was recovered and run in for a touchdown, and the point after ended the scoring with a tie. Nebraska's series advantage was still relatively safe at 7-4-3.
Records indicate that Nebraska substituted many players in the course of this match, in order to obtain playing time for inexperienced players and build depth. Despite the heavy use of backups, the Cornhuskers still emerged with a shutout win, and improved their dominating series lead over Doane to 13-2.
Nebraska committed several costly miscues, fumbling the ball and committing painful penalties. On the drive that killed the Cornhuskers' hopes, two 15-yard penalties eventually resulted in a Nebraska punt that Kansas returned for the game-winning score. Finally, Kansas had caught back up to Nebraska and evened the series at 8-8.
Nebraska scored on a lucky kickoff play, and rode those points to secure the win. It was a Denver kickoff where the returner signaled a fair catch, but then fumbled the ball instead of catching it. The Denver players, pulling up at the signal of the fair catch, were not prepared for another Nebraska player to scoop up the fumble, and the ball was then successfully run down the field for the touchdown. Nebraska moved up to 3-0 against Denver.
Nebraska was hoping to win at the conclusion of the season for the first time in coach Cole's tenure, but Haskell denied the attempt. An 80-yard play produced Nebraska's only touchdown, while Haskell managed to block five Nebraska punts to repeatedly establish a favorable starting field position. Nebraska's record against Haskell fell to 4-2.
1909 college football season
The 1909 college football season was the first for the 3-point field goal, which had previously been worth 4 points. The season ran from Saturday, September 25, until Thanksgiving Day, November 25, although a few games were played on the week before....
. The team was coached by William C. "King" Cole and played their home games at Nebraska Field
Nebraska Field
Nebraska Field hosted the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team beginning in 1909 until it was replaced with the new Memorial Stadium, which was built in the same location and opened for the 1923 Nebraska football season...
in Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
.
Before the season
Nebraska's new home playing venue, Nebraska Field, was opened this year on the grounds of the campus, to use in place of Antelope Field at the 'M' Street Park. Coach Cole entered his 3rd year at the helm of the program.Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2* | South Dakota | Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379.... |
T 6-6 | - |
| October 9* | Knox | Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska | W 34-0 | - |
| October 16* | Minnesota | Omaha, Nebraska Omaha, Nebraska Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River... |
L 0-14 | - |
| October 23 | Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska | T 6-6 | - | |
| October 30* | Doane Doane College Doane College is a private liberal arts college in Crete, Nebraska, United States, with additional campuses located in Lincoln and Grand Island.-History:... |
Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska | W 12-0 | - |
| November 6 | Nebraska Field • Lincoln, Nebraska | L 0-6 | - | |
| November 20* | at Denver Denver Pioneers The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver. They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, with most teams participating in the Sun Belt Conference. The Western Athletic Conference will become Denver's primary sports conference on July 1, 2012.The... |
Denver, Colorado Denver, Colorado The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains... |
W 6-5 | - |
| November 25* | at Haskell Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Indian Nations University is a tribal university located in Lawrence, Kansas, for members of federally recognized Native American tribes in the United States... |
Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County... |
L 5-16 | - |
| *Non-Conference Game. | ||||
Roster
Beltzer, Oren HB Bentley, Orlando QB Chauner, Walter E Collins, Sydney C Dobson PLAYER Elliott, E.B. G Ewing, Henry Harry W. Ewing Harry W. "Buck" Ewing was an American football player, coach of football and basketball, and college athletics administrator. He was a 1909 graduate of University of Nebraska where he played football... RG Frank, Owen HB Harte, Louis LT Hascoll, Vincent QB Johnson, Frank E Lofgren, Gus E Magor, Louis E McDonald HB Rathbone, Harvey FB Schauner E Shonka, Sylvester C Spellmeyer RT Sturmer, Frederick LT Sturzenegger, Alfonzo A. J. Sturzenegger Alfonzo John "A. J." Sturzenegger , sometimes also referred to as Jack Sturzenegger, was an American football and baseball player and coach. He played college football and baseball at the University of Nebraska... FB Temple, LeRoy RT Wendstrand PLAYER Wenstrand, Ralph RG Wolcott, O.M. LG |
||||||
Coaching staff
| Name | Title | First year in this position |
Years at Nebraska | Alma Mater |
| William C. "King" Cole | |Head Coach | 1906 | 1906–1910 | Marietta Marietta College Marietta College is a co-educational private college in Marietta, Ohio, USA, which was the first permanent settlement of the Northwest Territory. The school offers 42 majors along with a large number of minors, all of which are grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation... |
| Jack Best | |Trainer | 1890 | 1890–1922 |
South Dakota
|
Nebraska broke in the new playing field by battling it out with visiting South Dakota. After falling behind in the 1st half 0-6, the Cornhuskers were able to stop the Coyotes from scoring again, though only managed 6 points of their own to secure a tie. Nebraska still held a comfortable lead in the series, at 4-1-1.
Knox
|
Three years had passed since Knox went up against the Cornhuskers, but the outcome followed the pattern of the previous meetings in the series when Nebraska cruised to a relatively easy win. This was the last time Knox played Nebraska, and the series ended with Nebraska in command 5-0.
Minnesota
|
The first time these teams met, in 1900, the game was held in Lincoln. Since then, the following seven games were Minnesota home games played in Minneapolis. Finally, for 1909, the Cornhuskers had Minnesota heading south to Nebraska again, albeit to Omaha instead of Lincoln. Despite the change in venue, the outcome was an all-too familiar Cornhusker loss, as Minnesota padded their series lead to 7-1-1.
Iowa
|
Nebraska kept Iowa out of the end zone all day, but the Hawkeyes still managed two field goals to put the Cornhuskers behind 0-6. Nebraska almost dropped the game when they lost a fumble inside the Iowa 5, but the ball was recovered and run in for a touchdown, and the point after ended the scoring with a tie. Nebraska's series advantage was still relatively safe at 7-4-3.
Doane
|
Records indicate that Nebraska substituted many players in the course of this match, in order to obtain playing time for inexperienced players and build depth. Despite the heavy use of backups, the Cornhuskers still emerged with a shutout win, and improved their dominating series lead over Doane to 13-2.
Kansas
|
Nebraska committed several costly miscues, fumbling the ball and committing painful penalties. On the drive that killed the Cornhuskers' hopes, two 15-yard penalties eventually resulted in a Nebraska punt that Kansas returned for the game-winning score. Finally, Kansas had caught back up to Nebraska and evened the series at 8-8.
Denver
|
Nebraska scored on a lucky kickoff play, and rode those points to secure the win. It was a Denver kickoff where the returner signaled a fair catch, but then fumbled the ball instead of catching it. The Denver players, pulling up at the signal of the fair catch, were not prepared for another Nebraska player to scoop up the fumble, and the ball was then successfully run down the field for the touchdown. Nebraska moved up to 3-0 against Denver.
Haskell
|
Nebraska was hoping to win at the conclusion of the season for the first time in coach Cole's tenure, but Haskell denied the attempt. An 80-yard play produced Nebraska's only touchdown, while Haskell managed to block five Nebraska punts to repeatedly establish a favorable starting field position. Nebraska's record against Haskell fell to 4-2.