1897 Nebraska Bugeaters football team The 1897 Nebraska Bugeaters football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1897 college football season . The team was coached by Eddie N . Robinson and played their home games at Antelope Field in Lincoln , Nebraska . Nebraska ' s football team began its history as the " Old Gold Knights " , and was also sometimes known as the " Tree Planters " , " Nebraskans " , " The Rattlesnake Boys " , " Red Stockings " , " Antelopes " or " Goldenrods " in their early years . Before the season . Coach Robinson returned for his second season at Nebraska , leading a team with even less players on the roster than last year , having reduced from 22 down to 20 players . Game notes . Iowa State . Nebraska was unable to keep pace with Iowa State , and were not helped by windy conditions that favored the Cyclones during the first half but died down when it would have helped the Bugeaters . The series was now even at 1 - 1 between the teams . As it would turn out , this would be the only loss of the season for Nebraska . Tarkio . This was the first meeting between Nebraska and the squad from Tarkio College in Missouri , and also the first game played on the campus at the University of Nebraska . On this day , the new field ( which would eventually be known as Antelope Field ) was a muddy mess that was little improved by efforts before kickoff to make it more layable . Tarkio was overmatched by the Bugeaters , never getting closer than the Nebraska 30 yard line and unable to prevent the Bugeaters from scoring . Nebraska Wesleyan . When Nebraska Wesleyan arrived , it was unclear if the game would be played , as they did not have enough members present to field a team . A bid to have their coach play , a solution seen in some previous years , was denied as against league rules . NWU eventually resolved the problem by adding a local high school football player to their team for the day . In addition , the game was shortened to 15 minute halves . Despite the setbacks weighing on NWU , Nebraska was unable to score in the first half and lost two players to injuries , eventually settling for just 10 points in the second to get the win and extend their unbeaten record over NWU to 3 - 0 . Missouri . Nebraska scored four times in the first half in the conference opener , easily putting the game out of reach early on , but they didn ' t let off the pressure and went ahead with even more offensive production in the second half while shutting out the Tigers 41 - 0 . This game set new Nebraska records for total points scored and largest margin of victory , besting the 38 - 0 mark set against the Sioux City Athletic Club in 1895 . Nebraska ' s record over Missouri improved to 4 - 0 . Kansas . In an unusually contentious meeting between these teams , controversy was the order of the day . Even before kickoff , disagreement began over the person chosen by Kansas as their officiating representative . Over and over again , the Bugeaters protested calls made by the umpire . Later , a Kansas field kick that many spectators claimed missed the mark was ruled good by the umpire . Nebraska chose to continue playing at that point , but officially under protest . All of the argued calls continually delayed the game ' s progress , until finally the Jayhawks argued a late Nebraska touchdown for so long that the contest was eventually called for lack of daylight and Nebraska was awarded the 10 - 5 win . Kansas demanded a rematch , but it was never scheduled . Despite the Kansas loss , they still owned twice as many wins as Nebraska in the series , 4 - 2 . University of Kansas records indicate the final score of this game was a 6 - 5 Nebraska victory . KC Medics . The death of a Commandant Jackson resulted in this game being canceled , though it is not clear which team or school he was associated with . The game was initially rescheduled for December 5 but was never played . Iowa . Some sources indicate that Iowa failed to follow league requirements prior to the start of the season , which disqualified them as league participants , however league standings from the time show Nebraska as having played all three expected league games . In any case , The Bugeaters managed 6 points against a stiff Iowa defense for the win , sweeping all conference opponents and claiming their first outright league title . Nebraska ' s record over the Hawkeyes also improved to 4 - 2 - 2 . After the season . Unbeaten against all conference foes , Nebraska claimed its first outright conference title , but once again lost their head coach when Coach Robinson returned to his alma mater to coach for Brown University . Robinson ' s overall record with Nebraska over his two years at the helm was 11 - 4 - 1 ( . 719 ) , and this season concluded with Nebraska ' s program record improving to 32 - 15 - 3 ( . 670 ) .