1916 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team The 1916 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1916 college football season . The team was coached by E . J . Stewart and played their home games at Nebraska Field in Lincoln , Nebraska . Before the season . Nebraska was riding high on one of the most successful periods in program history : Six straight conference titles , a remarkable 153 - 47 - 11 overall record , fear and respect from other teams nationwide , and a satisfying 1915 win against Notre Dame . However , Nebraska ' s head coach of the previous five years , Ewald O . Stiehm , stepped down after winning the most games by percentage for any head coach in the history of the program . With an established program , returning experienced players , and a reputation to uphold , it was time to see what would happen to the Cornhuskers under new leadership . Game notes . Drake . Nebraska tuned up on conference foe Drake again , pummeling the Bulldogs in coach Stewart ' s opener . Drake was now winless for five straight games and 1 - 5 against Nebraska all time . Kansas State . The Aggies from Kansas State found only more frustration as their quest to get their first win against Nebraska again fell short after six tries . However , their 0 - 14 loss to the Cornhuskers was the closest margin of loss so far in the series . Oregon Agricultural . Nebraska traveled by train up through Washington State via Seattle and Spokane , making frequent publicity stops along the way , in a major road trip to face new coach Stewart ' s previous team in Portland . The University ' s annual yearbook of the time predicted that this game would be the last time the Nebraska team traveled so far from home . Those hoping to see a strong Cornhusker team were not disappointed at the first meeting of these teams , as Nebraska returned home with its first west coast victory . Nebraska Wesleyan . Perhaps emboldened by the high - profile win against Oregon Agricultural last week , Nebraska came out relatively flat against a Nebraska Wesleyan team that should have been more thoroughly outclassed in every way , even with Cornhusker backups on the field . The shutout win was secured and moved the Cornhuskers to 6 - 0 against NWU all time , but the relatively low - scoring game caused concern . Iowa State . Worries aroused the previous week when the Cornhuskers failed to blow out Nebraska Wesleyan seemed to not be misplaced , as Nebraska uncharacteristically struggled to put away Iowa State in Lincoln . Unable to secure even a single touchdown against a foe normally put away with ease , the Cornhuskers were forced to rely on a single field goal to advance their edge over the Cyclones to 12 - 3 - 1 . Kansas . Nebraska ' s doldrums had not been shaken off , and Kansas came to Lincoln smelling blood for the first time in years . The Cornhuskers learned that reputation and record alone cannot win games , as the Jayhawks held Nebraska to just a 2nd quarter field goal before shutting them down completely , while Kansas made a series of big plays in the 3rd quarter to get a single touchdown , good enough for the win . The defeat of the Cornhuskers snapped their 34 - game unbeaten streak , and was the first time in 39 home games at Lincoln across six years that Nebraska had fallen . It was the first Nebraska Field loss that any players on the team had ever experienced . The previous Nebraska home field defeat from 1909 was also delivered by the Jayhawks before they entered the losing streak to Nebraska that was finally broken on this day . And so it was that Kansas was the only team to have ever defeated the Cornhuskers at Nebraska Field , and had done so twice . With the win , Kansas edged closer to Nebraska in the series , but still lagged 9 - 14 . Iowa . Nebraska was now thoroughly awakened to its vulnerability and practiced with renewed intensity in preparation for the match in Ames . Iowa was well aware of the weakened state of the Cornhuskers and confidently started the game with the first touchdown . The Hawkeyes would continue to score , but the Cornhuskers were now on fire with something to prove , and secured the win to stay ahead in the series 11 - 4 - 3 . Notre Dame . Notre Dame was smarting for payback after being defeated the first time these teams met , and Nebraska had stumbled somewhat from its formidable former confidence . Nothing the Cornhuskers tried was successful in keeping Notre Dame from gashing the defense for big gains and scoring several times , while Nebraska itself was helpess to score points of its own . Notre Dame closed out Nebraska ' s season by handing over a shutout defeat , the first Cornhuskers shutout loss since Minnesota blanked them in 1912 , and squared up the series at 1 - 1 . Notre Dame head coach and future College Football Hall of Fame inductee Jesse Harper was not in attendance due to an annual coach ' s meeting in Chicago . In his place : Assistant Coach and legendary fellow future College Hall of Famer Knute Rockne . After the season . Coach Stewart ' s first season ended with disappointment compared with the triumphs of previous seasons , but all was clearly not lost , as the Cornhuskers still enjoyed a winning season overall and extended the already unprecedented conference championship streak to seven straight years . The winning percentage of the Nebraska football program was unchanged as it was updated to 159 - 49 - 11 ( . 751 ) , while the one conference loss to Kansas dropped the conference record slightly , to 22 - 3 - 2 ( . 825 ) , which was still a remarkably strong record compared with their other conference foes .