1906 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team


The 1906 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Nebraska as an independent during the 1906 college football season. In its first and only season under head coach Amos Foster, the team compiled a 6–4 record and outscored opponents by a total of 164 to 73. The team played its home games at Antelope Field in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before the season

New coach Foster arrived to replace previous coach Walter C. Booth, after compiling an 11-4 record in two years coaching for the University of Cincinnati.
New rules going into effect this year significantly changed the way the game was played, including an increase in the distance required to get a first down to ten yards, and also that an incomplete pass would be considered a turnover. Nebraska's existing schemes were not built around these new rules, and bringing in a new coach also unsettled affairs somewhat going into the season.

Schedule

Roster

Coaching staff

Game summaries

Hastings

Nebraska opened the season under new coach Foster with a solid shutout performance against Hastings College in the first meeting of these teams.

South Dakota

South Dakota seemed to have figured out how to shut down Nebraska's offense, forcing the Cornhuskers to win with field goals instead of touchdowns. The low-scoring affair was Nebraska's third win in four games against the Coyotes.

Drake

For the second week in a row, as the offense struggled, the Nebraska defense came through and kept the other team off the board so that Nebraska's single touchdown was enough to get the win. It had been five years since these teams last met, and Nebraska extended the series lead to 3-1.

Iowa State

Nebraska's home field winning streak of 38 straight games dating back to the beginning of the 1901 season was broken when Iowa State took advantage of the Cornhuskers' struggling offensive output. A late safety prevented Nebraska from being shut out, and Iowa State reduced their series deficit to 3-5.

Doane

Nebraska again defeated Doane in Lincoln, in a shutout win, to try to erase the memory of the previous week's home field loss. Nebraska's lead in the series was increasingly getting out of reach at 10-2.

Minnesota

Nebraska's frustration with rival Minnesota was continued as the Golden Gophers again shut out the Cornhuskers in Minneapolis for the second year in a row, which was also Nebraska's third loss to Minnesota over the past three years. The defensive fight kept the scoreboard empty until the second half, when Minnesota again broke through and extended their lead over Nebraska to 5-1. Minnesota would go on to finish as Big Nine Co-Champion.

Creighton

Nebraska bounced back from the demoralizing loss at Minnesota by putting away Creighton in Omaha, notching another shutout win. This was the final time these teams would meet, the record ending with all three wins in the Nebraska column. Nebraska finished with wins against all in-state teams for the third year in a row to claim another state championship.

Kansas

After a three-year break, Kansas and Nebraska met on the field again. The series afterward would continue uninterrupted until 2010. Multiple Cornhusker mistakes cost Nebraska the game on this day, resulting in the second home field loss for the Cornhuskers this season. Nebraska's lead in the series slipped to just 7-6.

Chicago

Nebraska traveled to Chicago to meet the City's University squad for the first time. At that time, Chicago was a member of the vaunted Big Nine Conference. The conference reputation was apparently well-deserved, as the Cornhuskers struggled to make serious progress while Chicago rolled up 38 points and sent them home with their 4th loss of the season.

Cincinnati

Coach Foster's former team, Cincinnati, traveled to Nebraska for the only time to date that these teams would meet until 2020. It was a positive end to a season of some disappointment for the Cornhuskers, as the Cincinnati team was sent back home to Ohio smarting from a 0-41 blanking.

After the season

Coach Foster only made it through this one year before moving on. His previous coaching job was again offered to him, but he instead passed that post up and went to coach for Miami University in Ohio, where he compiled a 13-1 record in his two years there.
Foster's one-year Nebraska record of 6-4-0 caused a slight drop in Nebraska's overall program record, which fell to 93-37-5.