1927 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team The 1927 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1927 college football season . The team was coached by Ernest Bearg and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln , Nebraska . Before the season . Coach Bearg ' s third season began with a reduction from the record 60 players on the Cornhusker squad in 1926 , heading into the 1927 season with 45 on the roster . Nebraska had not performed well in Bearg ' s first season , finishing well down in the conference standings , but had improved to 2nd place in 1926 . 1927 seemed as likely as any for Bearg to attain his first conference title . Game notes . Iowa State . Iowa State was first up for the 1927 slate , and coach Bearg made an effort to get all of the new Cornhusker players in the game . Nebraska only scored six in the contest , but still secured the shutout victory to open conference play and advance farther ahead in the series to 17 - 4 - 1 . Missouri . Although Nebraska racked up impressive statistics and seemed at times to move the ball with ease , time and time again the Missouri squad held back the Cornhuskers . Nebraska HB Presnell rolled up more yards on the day then the entire Missouri team combined , but it was the Tigers that emerged the winner by one point , marking their third straight victory over the Cornhuskers . Those three straight wins accounted for half of all of Missouri ' s wins against Nebraska since the beginning of the series in 1892 , and they gained slightly on the series by pulling up to 6 - 14 - 1 . Grinnell . Nebraska responded severely to the continued frustration dealt to them by Missouri the previous week by absolutely smashing Grinnell in Lincoln with a shutout 58 - 0 performance , which was the most points they had scored against an opponent since the 66 - 0 downing of South Dakota in 1922 . Grinnell and Nebraska had shared conference affiliations since 1919 , but this was the first time the teams had met on the field since 1908 . It was also the last meeting of the teams , ending one of the oldest series in the Nebraska program ' s history dating back to 1894 , with Nebraska in command at 7 - 2 . Syracuse . Three years had passed since the Cornhuskers had last taken a shot at the Orangemen , and Nebraska was aiming to cut the 2 - game series lead held by Syracuse . The success of the previous game was extended as the Cornhuskers played an additional four quarters of football without being scored upon , sending the eastern team home as recipients of a 0 - 21 blanking in Lincoln . The win brought Nebraska up to within one game of tying the series , to 2 - 3 all - time against Syracuse . Kansas . The Cornhuskers were on a roll , after recording two consecutive shutouts since the bitter loss to Missouri , and ran over Kansas with minimal effort . Though the shutout streak was broken , the margin of victory was indicative of the offensive production put forth by the Nebraska team . Even with the 1 - point loss to the Tigers in the second game , the Cornhuskers had outscored their opponents 138 - 20 during the season so far . Nebraska improved their series lead with Kansas to 23 - 9 - 2 . Pittsburgh . The Cornhuskers journeyed to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers for only the second time ever , the previous meeting a Pitt victory in 1921 . Undefeated Pittsburgh scored first , but was soon matched by an answering score from Nebraska . The match was a close contest which remained in doubt until late in the game , but ultimately Nebraska returned to Lincoln winless against Pitt all - time despite the honorable effort . Kansas State . The Kansas State Aggies had played Nebraska close in the previous two seasons , pulling down a tie and a three - point loss for their efforts , and today seemed like it might be another fight as halftime arrived and Nebraska was ahead with a weak 6 - 0 edge . The second half was a different story , however , as Nebraska piled on the points and kept the Aggies scoreless for the duration of the game . Kansas State sent the Cornhuskers home , but were left harboring a bitter , winless 0 - 11 - 1 record against Nebraska to date . New York University . For the second time of the season , Nebraska met an undefeated eastern team when NYU arrived in Lincoln . Although the Cornhuskers scored first and held a respectable 19 - 6 lead by the half , the Violets stormed back to pull within one point after the half . Nebraska then buckled down as the stands came to life with spectators on their feet , as the Cornhuskers rolled off an additional eight unanswered points and defeated the visiting NYU squad in glorious fashion to end the season with victory . This was the second and last game between NYU and Nebraska , with both contests recorded as Cornhusker victories After the season . Coach Bearg ' s third season was another moderate success , although the conference title once again eluded him , as his career record improved to 16 - 6 - 2 ( . 708 ) . The program ' s overall record edged up slightly to 213 - 73 - 19 ( . 730 ) , but Nebraska ' s conference record slipped a touch down to 49 - 8 - 5 ( . 831 ) . Despite the two ties that marred the undefeated season , Nebraska ' s strength of schedule resulted in a final # 9 national ranking under the Dickinson System . The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association was fractured following the 1927 season , as Drake , Grinnell , Oklahoma A & M , and Washington ( MO ) departed the MVIAA to form the Missouri Valley Conference . The larger remaining schools , Iowa State , Kansas , Kansas State , Missouri , Nebraska , and Oklahoma remained in the MVIAA and became informally known as the Big Six .