1942 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team The 1942 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska and member of the Big 6 Conference in the 1942 college football season . The team was coached by Glenn Presnell and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln , Nebraska . Before the season . Former assistant coach Glenn Presnell was promoted to the top spot after the departure of Lawrence Mcceney " Biff " Jones , who was recalled to active military duty when the United States was drawn into World War II following Japan ' s attack on Pearl Harbor . Wartime conditions had drastically altered life across the nation , with travel restrictions , blackouts , and rationing . Football teams were made threadbare by the mass volunteer enlistment of young men into the armed services . It was against this backdrop , and with a roster that included at least two players recovering from broken legs sustained in the previous year , that a new head coach would attempt to carry a Nebraska team still reeling over the disappointing 1941 season that saw a new record set for consecutive losses at five straight . Game notes . Iowa . Nebraska opened their season with their first wartime game , traveling to Iowa City to meet the Hawkeyes . Hopes to open the season with victory were quickly deflated as Iowa had little difficulty getting around the Cornhusker line . By the final whistle , Iowa had posted 27 unanswered points to shut out Nebraska , and had snapped their skid of eight straight losses to the Cornhuskers . It was the first time that Nebraska had been held scoreless to open the season since the 1929 0 – 0 tie opener against Southern Methodist , and their first shutout loss to open a season since a 0 – 18 blanking handed down by the Hawkeyes in 1919 . Iowa made a move to narrow their series deficit , going to 8 – 20 – 3 . Iowa State . The Cornhuskers utilized much of the same forms of attack that Iowa had utilized in their win the previous week , and in doing so Nebraska took an uncharacteristic turn towards an aerial attack to befuddle the Cyclones , leaving Iowa State in disarray for much of the game . The Cornhuskers completed 11 of 16 passes and kept the Cyclones off the board to bounce back from the disappointing season opener . It was Nebraska ' s fourth straight win in the series as they improved to 31 – 5 – 1 against Iowa State all time . Indiana . The Nebraska season started low , then high , and dropped right back into gloom when Indiana came to Lincoln and defeated Nebraska for the second time in a row , in front of the homecoming crowd . Nebraska had gone undefeated in the first five meetings of these teams , only to suffer its second loss to the Hoosiers despite a spirited defensive effort . Minnesota . The # 14 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers seemed to be back to their ways , again handing Nebraska an all - too - familiar defeat . If not for a flashy blocked punt in the second quarter , with the Gophers pinned just six inches off their goal , the Cornhuskers would not even have managed the 2 - point safety to avoid being blanked for the third time in four straight games . Minnesota improved to 18 – 4 – 2 over Nebraska , but had slipped to a 5 – 4 record and three - way tie for 19th in the AP Poll by the conclusion of the season . Oklahoma . After a very disappointing opening stretch to the 1942 season , the Cornhuskers found a bright spot and darkened the spirits of Oklahoma by handing the Sooners a shutout loss in Norman , the first home opening loss to be suffered by Oklahoma in eighteen years . Nebraska was able to taste some victory and enjoy their 4th straight win in the series , improving to 16 – 3 – 3 over the Sooners to date . This win marked Nebraska ' s 300th program victory of all time . Kansas . This game was a back and forth affair with neither team able to put points up until only ten minutes remained . Finally , Nebraska ' s third - string quarterback provided the spark to produce points . The Jayhawks responded in kind once , but could not answer Nebraska ' s second touchdown . Kansas saw their record run of futility stretch to 26 straight games without a win against the Cornhuskers , as they fell to 9 – 37 – 3 in the series . Missouri . Missouri overcame Nebraska ' s single early game score to steadily run up the points and easily pull away from the Cornhuskers . Although both teams had fifteen first downs , and despite Nebraska not lagging far behind with 325 overall yards compared to Missouri ' s 390 , the game was not as close as some statistics might imply . Tiger quarterback Roy Long accounted for 258 all purpose yards , setting a new quarterback single - game national record . The Tigers kept the Missouri - Nebraska Bell for another season , enjoying their tenth win against Nebraska all time in 36 meetings . Pittsburgh . Nebraska ' s rough fortunes so far this season may have caused some to not hope for much success at Pitt Stadium against longtime nemesis Pittsburgh . The Cornhuskers came out strong , and their stiff defensive effort produced a tipped Panther pass in the first quarter that unfortunately redirected the ball into the hands of another Pitt receiver . The result was the first points of the game , but Nebraska allowed no others . The Cornhuskers produced successful drives , twice pulling up to the Panther six yard line before being turned away on downs , and accumulated 15 first downs on the day compared to only 6 for Pittsburgh while holding the time of possession advantage . For all those stats and efforts , the Cornhuskers were never able to actually score , allowing the one first - quarter Panther touchdown to carry the game . Nebraska fell to 3 – 11 – 3 in the series . Iowa Pre - Flight . As the United States had enetered World War II , five " service teams " joined the college football landscape in 1942 . With so many former college players to choose from , condensed into those five teams , the service team rosters contained a disproportionate number of former stars and all - Americans . One of those teams was the Iowa Pre - Flight Seahawks , affiliated with the University of Iowa , and so it was that the Cornhuskers returned to Iowa Stadium for the second time of the season . Even at full strength , Nebraska would have faced long odds , but the Cornhusker roster was so short due to injuries that a tackle had been moved into the starting fullback position . The outcome was never in doubt , as the Seahawks rolled up and down the field at will and kept Nebraska from ever finding the scoreboard . It was the worst ever defeat for Nebraska to date , as no other team had ever scored so many points or won by such a large margin of victory in the 50 - year history of the program , supplanting the previous record 0 – 40 loss to Pittsburgh in 1931 . This was the only game ever played between the teams , denying Nebraska any opportunity of payback . Kansas State . Nebraska ended the 1942 season on another down note , dropping another shutout loss , this time to Kansas State in Lincoln . It was the 2nd win in a row and just the 4th win overall against the Cornhuskers for the Wildcats in all 27 tries . This loss also set a new record for consecutive losses to close a season , the four closing losses exceeding the record of the three losses posted to close the 1899 campaign . After the season . The 1942 season ended as one of the worst seasons in program history . It was only the second time ever that Nebraska dropped seven games in a single season , the previous being the bleak 1 - 7 - 1 record from the A . Edwin Branch ' s single season at the top in 1899 . While the cause of these disappointments could be attributed to the personnel changes at the top , the depleted roster , or the high number of injuries , the numbers posted for the 1942 season were no less of a disappointment . Coach Presnell subsequently stepped down after just one year , and assistant Adolph J . Lewandowski assumed the role of head football coach and also athletic director . Presnell ' s single season career at Nebraska was the second - worst in the program ' s history to date , which contributed to the football team ' s overall record slipping to 301 - 110 - 31 ( . 716 ) , as the conference tally also fell , to 107 - 19 - 11 ( . 821 ) .