1920 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team The 1920 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1920 college football season . The team was coached by Henry Schulte and played their home games at Nebraska Field in Lincoln , Nebraska . Before the season . Looking for stability after a rough couple of years prior , Nebraska had some vacancies to fill with the departure of several seniors to graduation over the summer . The season was easier than the unusually demanding slate of 1919 , but contests with powerhouses Notre Dame and Penn State , and against high - profile Rutgers in New York , loomed ahead . Game notes . Washburn . The Cornhuskers tuned up on Washburn to open the season , only scoring 14 points in the process but still getting the season underway with a win . The margin of victory would probably have been greater if coach Schulte had not rested most of the starters while looking ahead at the Notre Dame game two weeks away . This was the last game between Nebraska and Washburn , the final record in the series all Nebraska wins at 4 - 0 . Colorado Ag . The first game between Nebraska and the Agricultural College of Colorado was not as easy a task as might have been expected , with starters again held back to stay healthy for Notre Dame in a week . The Aggies made quite a game of it , preventing the Cornhuskers from producing much on the scoreboard . Nebraska barely escaped with a 3 - point win to go 1 - 0 in the series . Notre Dame . Notre Dame arrived in Lincoln for the sixth meeting of these teams , with the series tied at 2 - 2 - 1 . Knute Rockne ' s team that year included quarterback Joe Brandy and the legendary George Gipp ( of " Win one for the Gipper " fame ) , and Nebraska clearly had their work cut out for them . While the Cornhuskers did not score first , they led by the end of the first quarter . Unfortunately , that was the end of Nebraska scoring , as Rockne modified his game plan to prevent Nebraska from scoring by controlling the time of possession with low - risk , low - gain plays that chewed up the clock while still managing to get ahead mainly due to the efforts of Gipp . Gipp at one point even defied Rockne ' s directives to play conservatively , and continued to try to score , managing in the process to score another touchdown and contribute 218 personal rushing yards to the team ' s net of only 174 . South Dakota . Nebraska rebounded from the disappointing loss to Notre Dame by blanking South Dakota in Lincoln , the team ' s sixth - straight home game victory stretching back into 1919 . The Cornhuskers improved in the series to 6 - 1 - 2 . Rutgers . The Cornhuskers outclassed and dominated the Scarlet Knights in the only game ever played between these teams . This was Nebraska ' s farthest trip eastward to date , and the large New York City crowd presented a rare opportunity to shine in a locale unaccustomed to Nebraska football . Rutgers went on to finish the season just 2 - 7 , thus the high - profile game ended up being less about a contest between strong teams , instead ultimately mainly providing more exposure for Nebraska in the east . Penn State . Nebraska was entirely shut down by the Nittany Lions , though the Cornhuskers held Penn State to a single touchdown and stayed in the game until the 4th quarter . It would be nearly 30 years before these teams would cross paths again , leaving Nebraska 0 - 1 in the series for a very long time . Penn State ' s Percy W . Griffiths , Charley Way and Glenn Killinger , coached by Hugo Bezdek , went on to finish their season unbeaten . Kansas . Nebraska ran ahead to a 20 - 0 lead by halftime in their drive to avenge the bitter loss to Penn State , and the game seemed to be decided early . However , Kansas stormed right back and matched the 20 in the second half , with the help of at least one controversial call in their favor . Ultimately the contest ended in a draw , with Nebraska still firmly in charge of the series at 17 - 9 - 1 . MAC . Returning home after three straight games on the road , the Cornhuskers had little difficulty with the Aggies , dispatching them 35 - 7 despite the high regard held for the Michigan Ag squad before the game . This was only the second time these teams had met to date , with the last game from 1914 also a Nebraska win . Washington State . In the first meeting between these teams , the Cougars of State College in Washington made the long journey to Lincoln . It was a season to end in disappointment for the Cornhuskers , as Nebraska failed to hold on to a 20 - 0 halftime lead , scoring no additional points afterward , and then ultimately losing the game by just 1 point . After the season . Coach Schulte departed soon after the conclusion of the season , leaving the Cornhuskers looking for their fourth head coach in just six years . Schulte ' s career record with Nebraska ended at 8 - 6 - 3 ( . 559 ) , the third lowest in program history up to that point , for coaches on at least a full year or more . Nebraska ' s overall record fell to 174 - 60 - 15 ( . 729 ) . Nebraska subsequently rejoined the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association for the upcoming 1921 season , ending two years of playing as an independent .