Nebraska football onescore games: What's Cornhuskers' record in close contests? Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORKAugust 28, 2025 at 7:05 AM Nebraska is one of college football's historic powers, a program whose accomplishments are central to the sport's lore.
- - Nebraska football one-score games: What's Cornhuskers' record in close contests?
Craig Meyer, USA TODAY NETWORKAugust 28, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Nebraska is one of college football's historic powers, a program whose accomplishments are central to the sport's lore.
From 1970 through 2001, the Cornhuskers won five national championships, produced three Heisman Trophy winners and became a fixture of the top 10 of the major national polls and New Year's Day bowl games.
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For much of this century, though, going back to its loss to Miami in the national championship game at the end of the 2001 season, Nebraska has struggled, especially compared to its historically high standard. Over the past 23 seasons, the Huskers won at least 10 games only four times. They haven't won a conference championship since 1999. Heading into last season, they had gone seven straight years without a bowl appearance.
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While Nebraska hasn't been close to what it was under the halcyon days of Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne (or even Frank Solich), it maybe hasn't been quite as bad as its record over the past decade might indicate.
The Huskers have been perpetually snake-bitten in close games, regularly coming up on the wrong end of matchups decided by a single score. Even last season, when coach Matt Rhule and quarterback Dylan Raiola helped lead it back to a bowl for the first time since 2016, Nebraska went just 2-5 in one-score games, meaning a 7-6 finish was very nearly something much better.
Heading into their Week 1 game against Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, here's a closer look at the Huskers' shortcomings in one-score games:
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Nebraska record in one-score games
Whether it's poor execution in critical moments, subpar coaching or just flat-out bad luck — or some combination of all those variables — Nebraska has struggled mightily in close games for nearly a decade.
Just how bad has it been?
Since the start of the 2017 season, the program's final season under coach Mike Riley, the Huskers have gone 11-38 in games decided by eight points or fewer. Over those eight seasons, they've never finished better than 2-3 in one-score games.
Much of that stretch occurred under former coach Scott Frost, a Nebraska native and national-championship-winning quarterback at the school. Frost's disappointing tenure at his alma mater from 2018-22 was defined by close losses. Though he went just 16-31 and was fired three games into his fifth season, Frost lost 22 games by one score, 12 of which came by five points or fewer. Each of his final 13 losses came by single digits.
Rhule has improved Nebraska in his first two seasons at the school, going 12-13 and getting the program back to a bowl game, but he, too, has been plagued by heartbreaking losses. The Huskers are 3-10 in one-score games under their current coach.
Here's a year-by-year look at how Nebraska has fared in games decided by eight or fewer points since the start of the 2017 season:
2017: 1-3
2018: 1-5
2019: 2-4
2020: 2-3
2021: 0-8
2022: 2-5
2023: 1-5
2024: 2-5
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Nebraska schedule 2025
Here's a game-by-game look at the Huskers' 2025 schedule:
Thursday, August 28: vs. Cincinnati*
Saturday, September 6: vs. Akron
Saturday, September 13: vs. Houston Christian
Saturday, September 20: vs. No. 14 Michigan
Saturday, October 4: vs. Michigan State
Saturday, October 11: at Maryland
Friday, October 17: at Minnesota
Saturday, October 25: vs. Northwestern
Saturday, November 1: vs. USC
Saturday, November 8: at UCLA
Saturday, November 22: at No. 3 Penn State
Friday, November 28: vs. Iowa
* Game is at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nebraska one-score games: How have Huskers done in closest contests?
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