1890 Nebraska Old Gold Knights football team The 1890 Nebraska Old Gold Knights football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1890 college football season . The team was coached by Langdon Frothingham . Nebraska played no home games . Before the season . 1890 was the first year that Nebraska fielded a football team . Coach Frothingham , a graduate of Harvard University just hired to the faculty at Nebraska , was named as coach of Nebraska ' s first football team mainly because he had brought a football with him . Game notes . Omaha YMCA . The University of Nebraska fielded their first team , as yet without an official name , for the inaugural game of the football program against the YMCA of Omaha . Approximately 500 students from the Lincoln campus were in attendance , which was a significant traveling group considering the transportation options of the era and the approximately 55 - mile journey . In this early era of American football , The game was divided merely into two halves instead of four quarters , touchdowns were worth four points , and field kicks after touchdowns were worth two . Omaha started the game with possession and drove 40 yards before giving up a fumble to Nebraska . Nebraska failed to capitalize , coming as close as 1 yard from the end zone before a penalty setback eventually resulted in the drive coming up empty . Omaha ' s subsequent possession ended early when an attempt to kick the ball out of the end zone failed and the kicker was tackled for a safety by Charles Chandler and James Porterfield , marking Nebraska ' s first - ever points scored and putting them ahead 2 - 0 . After several possession changes , Nebraska came close enough to try for a field goal . However , the play was executed as a drop - kick , and although it went through the uprights it was ruled as a punt by the officials , and no points were awarded . Nebraska soon after forced an Omaha fumble in their end zone , but Omaha recovered it to prevent the touchdown , instead suffering another safety which brought the scoreboard to 4 - 0 Nebraska . Both teams struggled in the 2nd half , trading possession several times until Nebraska ' s Albert Troyer broke through the line and scored a touchdown for four more points , however the field kick afterward failed , and the score then remained 8 - 0 until time expired . The YMCA ' s team colors were white and red , a pairing that would eventually be adopted by Nebraska . A rematch game in Lincoln was mentioned in the local newspaper , to be played a few weeks later , but was not played . Doane . The Nebraska football team , now christened the " Old Gold " and eventually remembered as the " Old Gold Knights " , played the second and final game of the program ' s inaugural season against Doane College in Crete , Nebraska . Nebraska started slowly on their initial possession , but then exploded with a 50 - yard pass to Ebenezer Mockett , and a subsequent 25 - yard touchdown run by Oliver . The field kick was good and Nebraska was ahead 6 - 0 . Later in the half , Oliver scored another touchdown , but the field kick failed and left Nebraska ahead 10 - 0 . Just before halftime , Ebenezer Mockett rushed for another touchdown and Doane found themselves down 0 - 14 at the break . During the second half , both teams struggled , resulting in numerous kicks and fumbles as the teams traded possession . Eventually , the Doane kicker dropped the ball in the endzone , which was recovered by James Porterfield for another Nebraska touchdown . Again , the field kick failed , and the score would remain 18 - 0 until time expired . After the season . Coach Frothingham suffered a broken leg while participating in a practice scrimmage in preparation for the Doane game , and returned to Boston to teach at Harvard after spending just the one year teaching at Nebraska . Having won both of their games against the only other viable Nebraska - based teams , the 1890 Old Gold Knights claimed what amounted to the Nebraska State Championship