1918 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team The 1918 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1918 college football season . The team was coached by William G . Kline and played their home games at Nebraska Field in Lincoln , Nebraska . Before the season . The 1918 season was one of severe upheaval not just at Nebraska , but all over the United States , in every way . World War I was reaching full swing , calling away many thousands of men to fight for their country , including of course many college football players . The United States government limited cross country travel during this time , which limited the number of teams that could be met for games , and as a result only six games would be completed this year . Amidst these unsteady times , the 1918 flu pandemic was gripping the world and taking many times more lives than the casualties of the great war in progress in Europe . It was against this backdrop that a new head coach arrived , to try to guide the Cornhuskers through the storm . The role of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association was rolled back for 1918 , and no designated conference games were held , no standings recorded , and no champion crowned . Only three starters from the previous year were back , since many others ( including Nebraska ' s Captain - elect ) were training for battle or already overseas at war . Game notes . Iowa . During preparations for this game , on September 30 , the MVIAA announced that for the first time ever , freshmen athletes would be permitted to participate in football games , at least in the interim time period while so many of the experienced players were called away due to the war effort or unavailable because of the influenza epidemic . Both teams implemented personnel changes to plug in the freshmen , and thus both teams were untested machines when they finally met . Nebraska looked alive when they reached the Iowa 2 - yard line in the first quarter , but the Hawkeyes held strong and sent Nebraska away with no points . It was the last time the Cornhuskers posed a serious threat to Iowa , who scraped together 18 points later in the game to open Nebraska ' s season with a shutout loss , though the Cornhuskers still controlled the series with a 12 - 5 - 3 edge . Canceled Games . Due to wartime travel restrictions and the influenza outbreak of 1918 , the scheduled games with , and were canceled . The Syracuse series would be renewed briefly in 1919 , while Missouri would again be picked up in normal regional play next year as well . However , the cancellation of the West Virginia game would put off the first meeting between the Mountaineers and the Cornhuskers for 75 years , when they would finally meet in their 1994 season openers . Omaha Balloon . About two weeks before this game was played , word reached the University that Cornhusker Captain - elect Roscoe Rhodes , who had joined the war effort overseas before the start of the season , had been killed in action on October 25 . It was a sobering reminder to the entire University of the costs of the war and important contribution of its service members . The Omaha Ballon School was a training facility for Army personnel involved in the operation of dirigibles to be used during the war . As the Cornhuskers sat idle for an entire month , due to cancellations wrought by wartime travel restrictions and the ongoing influenza outbreak , a football squad from the Balloon School was assembled and traveled to Lincoln to face the University . As Nebraska was itself seriously hobbled by a lack of personnel , the Cornhuskers managed only one touchdown in each of the first three quarters , but held the Ballon School boys to no points . This was the only game between Nebraska and the Ballon School trainees . Kansas . In a muddy game , both teams put on a fight with their limited resources , a feat that was complicated because all of the players quickly become covered in so much mud as to look alike and also blend in with the field . Somehow Nebraska found ways to score while Kansas did not , and Nebraska improved to 16 - 9 all time against the Jayhawks . Camp Dodge . Nebraska hosted another team of men preparing for battle by welcoming a squad from Iowa ' s Camp Dodge to Lincoln . Unlike the Ballon School boys , however , the Camp Dodge squad showed the Cornhuskers a much more challenging front in this icy contest . Fumbles , errors , and missed opportunities hampered Nebraska , and ultimately the " Dodgers " handed the Cornhuskers a 7 - 23 loss in the only meeting between these teams . Notre Dame . With the signing of the Armistice ending World War I on November 11 , football teams were soon once again allowed to travel , and the Notre Dame game originally scheduled for early November but canceled by the restriction , was hurriedly put back on the slate at the end of the season . Both teams fielded inexperienced squads that had played rushed games against unplanned opponents with ever - changing rosters , and these elements made for a very different Nebraska - Notre Dame game than seen before . Coach Kline played a prevent - first game , keeping Knute Rockne ' s first Notre Dame team from ever scoring , waiting to take advantage of miscues to obtain points . However , Notre Dame also played it safe , and both teams ultimately settled for a scoreless tie . Nebraska still held a slim edge on the series at 2 - 1 - 1 . Washington University . The season had already been slightly extended with the late return of Notre Dame to the schedule , but Nebraska placed one more team on the 1918 slate when they scheduled the Washington University team as a postseason charity game . The Washington Pikers , led by former 1913 Cornhusker star HB Richard Rutherford , allowed Nebraska the first points , but then held off the Cornhuskers for the rest of the game while racking up 20 points in response . This was the first meeting of these squads despite having shared conference affiliations for many years . After the season . Perhaps it was due to the ever - shifting rosters and loose approach to allowing personnel to play who were not normally permitted to do so , as caused by the war and flu epidemic , but a glance at the official roster for the 1918 season lists two players by last name only : " Kline " and " Schissler " . A review of the season ' s coaching staff perhaps reveals who these semi - anonymous players were . Coach Kline finished the abbreviated season 2 - 3 - 1 ( . 417 ) , but under the difficult circumstances of the time this was as good an outcome as might have otherwise been expected . With the end of the war , a return to normalcy for 1919 was anticipated . The program ' s overall record slipped with the losses to 166 - 54 - 12 ( . 741 ) .