1949 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team The 1949 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska and member of the Big 7 Conference in the 1949 college football season . The team was coached by Bill Glassford and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln , Nebraska . Before the season . Stepping up to fill the role of head football coach at Nebraska , Bill Glassford was the fifth to fill the role within the same decade , a period wrought with social change and economic recovery following World War II , and in which the fortunes of Cornhusker football had taken a serious downturn . Nebraska had now put together eight straight losing seasons , prior to which the program had not ever suffered even two consecutive losing seasons . Coach Glassford held over a couple of assistants from the 1948 staff and set to work in his attempt to restore Nebraska football to prominence . Game notes . South Dakota . The Glassford era opened with a win at memorial Stadium , though the foe was lowly South Dakota . The Coyotes had never really threatened Nebraska since their lone win in the 13 - game series , from 1899 . Still , as the Cornhuskers had now been struggling to succeed for years , the win was nice to get . Minnesota . The university ' s yearbook described the Cornhuskers ' style of play as " savage " , and unlike any performances seen in Memorial Stadium for a decade . Despite the effort , Minnesota extended their domination of Nebraska yet another year , this being their tenth straight win in the series , and improved to 25 - 4 - 2 over Nebraska all - time . The Golden Gophers went on to finish the season 7 - 2 and ranked # 8 . Kansas State . Kansas State , lately a perennial easy - win game for Nebraska , failed to simply roll over as expected when Nebraska came calling in Manhattan . The contest started off suggesting a rout , as the first play of the game was a full - field 100 - yard kickoff return for a touchdown to put the Cornhuskers up immediately . Thereafter , both teams struggled to make any headway until near the end of the first half , when another Cornhusker touchdown was put on the board . The Wildcats fought bravely in the second half but only came up with a single touchdown , which extended their losing streak against Nebraska to seven straight as they fell to 4 - 27 - 2 against the Cornhuskers . Penn State . Nebraska and Penn State met for only their second game to date , following a 0 - 20 loss to the Nittany Lions from 1920 . Once again in State College , Penn State defeated the Cornhuskers and owned the day except for one 82 - yard Nebraska punt return . The Cornhuskers returned to Lincoln winless in both tries of the series . This was the 150th Nebraska football loss in the history of the program . Oklahoma . Nebraska entered the fray with visiting Oklahoma , having won their first conference contest and still 2 - 2 on the season . The stadium was near capacity to see how the Cornhuskers would fare against the # 4 Sooners . Undaunted , Nebraska fought Oklahoma to a first - quarter draw and seemed poised to score when an interception turned the tide . Oklahoma converted the turnover into points and then never looked back , handing the Cornhuskers a demoralizing 0 - 48 home field defeat . It was the worst - ever loss handed to Nebraska at Memorial Stadium , and the largest margin of defeat since a 0 - 54 loss to Indiana in 1944 . It was Oklahoma ' s seventh straight win over Nebraska , setting a new single - team losing streak record , formerly held by Pittsburgh when the Panthers held Nebraska down six times in a row through the 1939 season . The series lead held by the Cornhuskers slipped to 16 - 9 - 3 . Oklahoma went on to take the Big 7 title , finished 10 - 0 on the season , and ended with a # 2 ranking by the AP Poll . Missouri . Missouri struck first with an early touchdown , but Nebraska fought back and was leading 13 - 7 by the half . It seemed like the Cornhuskers might have turned the corner and had victory in their grasp as they scored again and led 20 - 7 by the end of the 3rd quarter . The Tigers brought the battle back at Nebraska to draw within six points , and only four plays later scored again and converted the point after , which ultimately decided the outcome . Missouri had now taken five straight against the Cornhuskers , closing the series to 15 - 24 - 3 . By the close of the season , Missouri managed a 7 - 3 record , which was good enough for a # 20 ranking by the AP Poll . Kansas . Any hope Nebraska had of taking a win from this contest was washed away by the five Cornhusker turnovers lost inside of the Kansas 13 - yard line . Nebraska had started with a 7 - 0 lead before the blunders , fueling a hope for victory before the game got away and Kansas notched their third straight victory in the series . It was another homecoming heartbreak in Lincioln , but the Cornhuskers still held a 40 - 12 - 3 edge in the series . Iowa State . If not for a brilliant and exciting 70 - yard punt return for a Nebraska touchdown in the final quarter , this contest would likely have ended in a scoreless tie . The victory was the fourth in a row for the Cornhuskers in this series , but only the third of the 1949 season . Nebraska improved to 34 - 8 - 1 over the Cyclones all - time . Colorado . The Buffaloes arrived in Lincoln to close out the conference slate for the year , facing a Nebraska team with only two victories all season . Determined to not once again settle for only two wins on the season , Nebraska fought back from an initial 0 - 7 deficit to pull ahead and keep the lead long enough to end the season with three victories . Nebraska now led Colorado 6 - 2 in their shared history . After the season . Although Nebraska ended with a losing record of 4 - 5 , it marked the most wins since the 1941 season , which also ended at 4 - 5 . The 1949 conference record of 3 - 3 was the first non - losing league season since 1941 as well . Coach Glassford ' s initial year was still seen as a success under the circumstances , but Nebraskans remained stunned by the decade of the 1940s , which had brought unprecedented disappointments to the football program . Nebraska was now 320 - 153 - 31 ( . 666 ) overall , and 123 - 40 - 11 ( . 739 ) against conference opponents . Looking ahead to 1950 and the future , it remained to be seen if Coach Glassford was the one who could bring a brighter future for Nebraska football .