1904 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

The 1904 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Nebraska as an independent during the 1904 college football season. In its fifth season under head coach Walter C. Booth, the team compiled a 9–3 record and outscored opponents by a total of 339 to 52.[1] The team played its home games at Antelope Field in Lincoln, Nebraska.

1904 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Nebraska state champion
Conference	Independent
1904 record	9–3
Head coach	Walter C. Booth (5th season)
Home stadium	Antelope Field

1904 Midwestern college football independents records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Saint Louis			–					11	–	0	–	0
Haskell			–					8	–	1	–	0
Michigan Agricultural			–					8	–	1	–	0
Cincinnati			–					7	–	1	–	0
Butler			–					6	–	1	–	0
Doane			–					5	–	1	–	0
Kansas			–					8	–	1	–	1
DePauw			–					8	–	2	–	0
Iowa State			–					7	–	2	–	0
Nebraska			–					9	–	3	–	0
Michigan State Normal			–					6	–	2	–	0
Wittenberg			–					6	–	2	–	0
Marquette			–					5	–	2	–	0
Detroit College			–					4	–	2	–	0
Notre Dame			–					5	–	3	–	0
Iowa State Normal			–					5	–	3	–	1
Heidelberg			–					6	–	4	–	1
Drake			–					5	–	4	–	0
North Dakota Agricultural			–					3	–	3	–	0
Wabash			–					4	–	4	–	0
Fairmount			–					4	–	5	–	0
Lake Forest			–					3	–	5	–	1
Ohio Medical			–					2	–	4	–	2
Washington University			–					4	–	7	–	0
Ohio			–					2	–	4	–	1
Missouri			–					3	–	6	–	0
Mount Union			–					2	–	6	–	0
Kansas State			–					1	–	6	–	0
American Medical			–					0	–	3	–	0

Before the season

The Cornhuskers were rolling, coming off of two dominating undefeated seasons, the first of which consisted entirely of shutout victories with no points scored against Nebraska. The nation was beginning to take serious notice of the program in Lincoln. The team was also continuing to grow, now having a roster of 30 players.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 24		Grand Island	Antelope Field Lincoln, NE	W 72–0
September 27		Lincoln High	Antelope Field Lincoln, NE	W 17–0
October 1		Grinnell	Antelope Field Lincoln, NE	W 46–0
October 8		at Colorado	Gamble Field Boulder, CO	L 0–6
October 15		at Creighton	Vinton Street Park Omaha, NE	W 39–0
October 20		Lincoln Medics	Antelope Field Lincoln, NE	W 29–0
October 22		Knox	Antelope Field Lincoln, NE	W 34–0
October 29		at Minnesota	Northrop Field Minneapolis	L 12–16	12,000
November 5	3 p.m.	Iowa	Antelope Field Lincoln, NE	W 17–6
November 12		vs. Haskell	Kansas City, MO	L 6–14
November 19		Bellevue[lower-alpha 1]	Antelope Field Lincoln, NE	W 51–0
November 24		Illinois	Antelope Field Lincoln, NE	W 16–10

[3]

1. Now-defunct Bellevue College, not to be confused with present-day's Bellevue University[2]

Roster

[4]

Barta, Frank G Barwick, Leonard QB Bell, Johnny HB Bender, Johnny HB Benedict, Maurice QB Berry E Borg, Charles C Burns, Donald RT Cotton, Charles RT Craig, Hugh HB Denslow, Lloyd E Eager, Earl HB Fenlon HB Hunter, Fred RG Johnson, William E Knapp QB Lundin, Alford LT Marsh, Earl HB Mason, Cyrus LT Mason, John FB McDonald, Gil QB Mills, Leslie G Reddick QB Richardson LT Robinson E Ryan E Scallon LT Speer RG Standeven E Weller, John HB

Coaching staff

Name	Title	First year in this position	Years at Nebraska	Alma Mater
Walter C. "Bummy" Booth	Head Coach	1900	1900–1905	Princeton
Jack Best	Trainer	1890	1890–1922
John Westover	Assistant Coach	1904	1901–1905	Nebraska

[5][6][7]

Game summaries

Grand Island

Grand Island at Nebraska

1 2 Total Grand Island 0 • Nebraska 72 Date: 1904-09-24 Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

Coach Booth started out easy on Grand Island as the teams met for the second time, by not using the starters in the first half, but allowed them in afterwards. The result was a 72-0 shutout thrashing of the Grand Island squad, which was the second highest-margin of victory and total scoring in Nebraska history, behind only the 76-0 win over Hastings in 1898. Nebraska improved over Grand Island to 2-0.[8][9]

Lincoln High

Lincoln High at Nebraska

1 2 Total Lincoln High 0 • Nebraska 17 Date: 1904-09-27 Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

It isn't recorded whether the Nebraska starters played in this game or not, or what role the short two-day turnaround since the Grand Island game may have played, or if the Lincoln High School team was just that good, but the Cornhuskers put up only 17 points in their 7th straight win over the local high schoolers in their annual exhibition game.[9]

Grinnell

Grinnell at Nebraska

1 2 Total Grinnell 0 • Nebraska 46 Date: 1904-10-01 Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

A wet field created messy conditions, but on this day it didn't seem to set back the Cornhuskers at all as they rolled up 46 points and shut out Grinnel for a 25th straight win and 6th straight shutout (counting exhibition games). Nebraska improved to 4-2 over Grinnell.[8][9]

Colorado

Nebraska at Colorado

1 2 Total Nebraska 0 0 0 • Colorado 6 0 6 Date: 1904-10-08 Location: Gamble Field • Boulder, Colorado

See also: Colorado–Nebraska football rivalry

Nebraska's long streaks of success came to an abrupt end as Colorado handed Nebraska a shutout loss of their own, the first since Wisconsin blanked the Cornhuskers 18-0 in 1901. Nebraska had three opportunities inside of the Colorado 10-yard line, but failed to capitalize, and Colorado notched their first win in the series to get on the board at 1-3 behind Nebraska.[8][9]

Creighton

Nebraska at Creighton

1 2 Total • Nebraska 39 Creighton 0 Date: 1904-10-15 Location: Omaha, Nebraska

Creighton hosted Nebraska in Omaha for the first meeting of these teams, but it was back to the Nebraska of old as the Cornhuskers once again posted a shutout victory with seemingly little effort.[8][9]

Lincoln Medics

Lincoln Medics at Nebraska

1 2 Total Lincoln Medics 0 • Nebraska 29 Date: 1904-10-20 Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

In a second exhibition game for the season, the Cornhuskers defeated the Lincoln Medics in another shutout win, though the victory did not count towards the season record. This was the only time these teams would meet.[8][9]

Knox

Knox at Nebraska

1 2 Total Knox 0 • Nebraska 34 Date: 1904-10-22 Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

The Cornhuskers had only one day off after the defeat of the Lincoln Medics when Knox arrived for the third contest between these teams. Coach Booth's personnel changes seemed effective in the end as the Cornhuskers put up yet another shutout victory and moved up to 3-0 against Knox.[8][9]

Minnesota

Nebraska at Minnesota

1 2 Total Nebraska 12 • Minnesota 16 Date: 1904-10-29 Location: Northrop Field • Minneapolis Game attendance: 12,000

After a one-year break, the series with recent rival Minnesota resumed in Minneapolis. The Gophers scored first, but Nebraska tied the game shortly afterwards, which was the first time that any team had scored against Minnesota during the entire season to date and back into 1903, ending their shutout streak at 12 straight. Despite the rare points put up on the Gophers, Minnesota came up with more to defeat the Cornhuskers and advance their lead in the series to 3-1.[8][9]

Iowa

Iowa at Nebraska

1 2 Total Iowa 6 • Nebraska 17 Date: 1904-11-05 Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

Iowa fought a good game and scored a late touchdown to avoid the shutout, but the 17 points assembled by the Cornhuskers sent the Hawkeyes home with a loss and lagging in the series 4-6-2.[8][9]

Haskell

Nebraska vs. Haskell

1 2 Total Nebraska 3 3 6 • Haskell 14 0 14 Date: 1904-11-12 Location: Kansas City, Missouri

In the 4th meeting of these teams, as they played outside of Lincoln for the first time, Haskell unexpectedly upended the Cornhuskers for the first time. Nebraska's points came only as the result of a recovered Haskell fumble in the end zone. Having now dropped three games on the season, Nebraska headed home in defeat but still owning the series edge 3-1.[8][9]

Bellevue

Bellevue at Nebraska

1 2 Total Bellevue 0 • Nebraska 51 Date: 1904-11-19 Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

Bellevue suffered the brunt of Nebraska's wrath following the previous week's loss to Haskell, as the Cornhuskers punched out 51 unanswered points despite having numerous starters sidelined with injuries. Nebraska's record over Bellevue improved to 2-0, both shutout wins. This win was Nebraska's third against significant in-state competition for the season, and with a win against the Lincoln Medics and an exhibition win against Lincoln High, the Cornhuskers recorded their fifth state championship.[8][9]

Illinois

Illinois at Nebraska

1 2 Total Illinois 10 • Nebraska 16 Date: 1904-11-24 Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

For the second year in a row, the Cornhuskers faced Illinois to end the season, and once again Nebraska came away with a win, though not in as convincing fashion as may have been desired. The scoring was back and forth, with Illinois initially in the lead and later coming back within a point before the Cornhuskers put the game away.[8][9]

After the season

After the record-setting 1902 and 1903 seasons, 1904 was relatively disappointing in its 7-3 finish. Nebraska's record game-winning streak (counting exhibition games) was capped at 27 this year. Coach Booth's overall career record at Nebraska fell to 38-6-1 (.856), while the program's overall record fell very slightly to 79-31-5 (.709).

References

1. "1904 Nebraska Cornhuskers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
2. http://www.lostcolleges.com/bellevue-college
3. "Football - 1904 Schedule/Results". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Athletics Department. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
4. "Nebraska Football 1904 Roster". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Athletics Department. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
5. "Nebraska head coaches". HuskerMax. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
6. "118 Years of Cornhusker Football" (PDF). University of Nebraska Athletics Department. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-05-10. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
7. "1902 Sombrero - University of Nebraska Yearbook". University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
8. "1904 Game Recaps". Husker Press Box. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
9. "the 1900s". HuskerMax. Retrieved 2009-11-14.