30 Years Without Being Shut Out: Nebraska's Streak Reaches a Major Milestone

On Saturday, Sept. 21, 1996, No. 1 ranked Nebraska lost at No. 17 Arizona State by a score of 19-0. At the time, it was a stunning upset loss for the two-time defending national champions. Nebraska had won 26 games in a row, and 37 straight games in the regular season.

But in the years and decades that have followed, that game has become notable for a different reason. It is the last time the Cornhuskers failed to score a point in a football game.

As Nebraska's scoring streak hits its 30th anniversary, let's take a look at how NU's run compares to other teams, the Huskers' shutout history, and that fateful night in the desert (and the events that likely had a hand in it happening).

The Streak

As of the 30th anniversary of the 1996 ASU game (Sept. 21, 2026), Nebraska has scored at least three points in each of the last 380 games they have played. Nebraska's run of 10,957 days without a shutout is the most among the current Big Ten teams (almost 14 months longer than Southern Cal, and 27 years longer than Iowa's current streak).

Among all college football teams, the Florida Gators are the shutout-free kings. They were last blanked in October 1988, putting them almost 100 games ahead of NU. Other schools with an active streak longer than Nebraska's: TCU (1991 to present), Georgia (1995), and Virginia Tech (1995). Boise State and Southern Cal (both 1997) are just behind the Huskers. Every other P4 team has been shutout at least once since 2000.

Nebraska's shutout history

Nebraska has played 1,410 football games since the program began in 1890. The Cornhuskers* have been shut out 98 times by 31 different teams, including Doane, Grinnell, South Dakota, Iowa Pre-Flight, and the KC Medics. The Cornhuskers have been involved in 15 games that ended in a 0-0 tie. As a result, Nebraska's winning percentage in games where they failed to score is .077.

*Thirteen of the 98 shutouts came before Cornhuskers was adopted at the official team nickname, including the three by the KC Medics (1898, 1899, and 1900).

Since Bob Devaney became head coach in 1962, Nebraska has only been shut out six times. For comparison, Iowa was shut out three times in the 2023 season. Rutgers has 26 shutout losses in the last 30 years.

Devaney was shut out three times. The first was a 10-0 loss at Kansas in 1967. The loss snapped a 59-game streak that dated back to Bill Jennings in 1961.

In November of 1968, Kansas State came to Lincoln and won 12-0. That game marked the 25th time Nebraska failed to score in Memorial Stadium. The Huskers have not been shut out at home since - a run of 382 home games over nearly 58 years.

Nebraska closed the 1968 season with a 47-0 beating at Oklahoma. It was NU's second shutout loss of the season, the first time that had happened since 1961.*

*The 1899 and 1942 teams hold the dubious distinction of being shut out five times in a season. Bill Jennings's 1957 squad was shutout four times. Jennings has the most shutout losses in school history: an unlucky 13.

That 1968 loss to the Sooner did have some silver linings, as it led to Bob Devaney making some big changes in the program. Notably, he promoted his young wide receivers coach (a guy named Tom Osborne) to offensive coordinator. Osborne scrapped Devaney's Wing T scheme and moved the I-formation. Also, Devaney approved Osborne's request to have players start lifting weights under the supervision of an injured pole vaulter named Boyd Epley.

Those changes led to Nebraska becoming one of the powers of college football throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. When Devaney retired, Osborne became the head coach. His first shutout loss came at the end of his first season at Oklahoma, by a score of 27-0.

Osborne had his own impressive stretch of not being shut out (220 games across 18 years*) until the 1991 team was blanked 22-0 by Miami in the 1992 Orange Bowl.

*The run of 220 games is just outside the top ten longest streaks in this history of major college football.

Did the 1996 shutout have an origin story in 1995?

I believe the seeds for the 1996 shutout were planted on Sept. 16, 1995.

Arizona State visited Nebraska for a nonconference game. The Huskers - playing their first game without the suspended Lawrence Phillips - made a statement on the first play of the game. Clinton Childs took a handoff 65 yards for a touchdown. NU led 35-7 after one quarter and 63-21 at halftime. The game was such a blowout that Nebraska's backup kicker, Ted Retzlaff, made two PATs… in the first half!

With less than a minute to go in the game, Nebraska had the ball and a 70-28 lead. Wanting to run out the clock (and get a few more plays for his third- and fourth-string players), Osborne called for 12-yard hook route to extend the drive. As quarterback Matt Turman dropped back, the hook route was covered… but wingback Lance Brown had beaten his man over the middle. Turman threw a 39-yard touchdown with 38 seconds remaining to make the score 77-28. Brown celebrated his first career touchdown with a backflip on the Nebraska sideline. Osborne called the touchdown pass "a bush league thing to do" and apologized to ASU coach Bruce Snyder.

The 1995 game was a perfect storm. Nebraska - who had been under a white-hot spotlight in the wake of the Phillips arrest - wanted to let out their frustrations. On that day, it didn't matter who the opponent was. Nebraska was going to destroy them.

From the ASU sideline, all they saw was disrespect. Osborne calling timeout in the final minute of the first half to set up another Tommie Frazier touchdown. With the game well in hand, Nebraska still had the playbook wide open, calling a halfback pass, running a tackle eligible play, and other wrinkles. And if a 39-yard touchdown pass with a 42-point lead was not disrespectful enough, Brown celebrating the play with a backflip was like rubbing salt in their wounds.

The 1996 game

On Saturday, Sept. 21, 1996, Nebraska traveled to Tempe to play Arizona State. Just like 1995, it was a perfect storm for the home team.

Nebraska entered the game ranked No. 1, having blown out Nick Saban's Michigan State Spartans 55-14 in the opener. NU had won 26 straight games, and 37 regular season games in a row, including back-to-back national championships. The 1996 Fiesta Bowl - where Nebraska scored 62 points - was played on the same Sun Devil Stadium turf less than nine months earlier. To say that the Huskers were confident would be an understatement.

But 1996 Nebraska was not the same team as the 1995 squad widely considered the greatest in the history of the sport. Seven offensive starters from the 1995 team graduated. With Phillips no longer in the program, all of NU's skill position starters were new, including quarterback Scott Frost. The ASU game would be his second career start, and first on the road.

Nebraska's Ahman Green is sprawled in the end zone after the first of Arizona State's three safeties on Sept. 26, 1996. | Asbury Park Press/AP/Newspapers.com

Meanwhile, Arizona State was on the rise. The 1995 Sun Devils finished 6-5, but four of their losses were to ranked teams. They finished the season with two upset wins (over No. 10 Oregon and No. 22 UCLA) in their final four games. The 1996 team was preseason No. 20. When the two-time defending national champs came to town, ASU was 2-0 and ranked No. 17. This was the Sun Devils' chance to make a statement.

ASU took the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards for a touchdown. On NU's first series, a bad pitch led to a safety. Nebraska now trailed 9-0, their largest deficit in 15 games dating back to the 1995 Orange Bowl. At halftime, NU had 74 yards of offense on 31 plays (2.4 yards per play). Their first half drives ended in safety, fumble, punt, punt, punt, safety, and halftime. As the first half wound down, the TV crew asked about the last time Nebraska had been shut out in the first half*.

*That would be the 1992 Orange Bowl vs Miami. The Huskers had scored in the first half of the 50 previous games.

In his halftime interview, Osborne said, "we're going to have to play better. That's all. Both sides of the ball. Defense hasn't been too bad. Offense, we gotta move the ball."

Mistakes and missed opportunities

After a fresh rewatch of the 1996 Arizona State game, two things are crystal clear:

The Sun Devil defense played an amazing game. Defensive coordinator Phil Snow (yes, the current associate head coach on Matt Rhule's staff) put together a tremendous game plan. He disrupted Osborne's option offense and flustered quarterback Scott Frost. The Sun Devils were fast and physical. Future NFL standouts Derrick Rodgers and Pat Tillman were outstanding.
Nebraska was uncharacteristically sloppy and undisciplined. They only had five penalties, but they were all killers. NU was 3 of 16 on third down. The Huskers fumbled six times, losing three. Two other fumbles ended in safeties.

It felt like Arizona State had a force field protecting their half of the field. Nebraska crossed midfield seven times in the game but failure would soon follow. Twice, a Nebraska I-Back carried the ball over the 50 and fumbled a few yards later. Frost crossed midfield on a QB draw play. With green grass in front of him, he stumbled and fell. Nebraska punted on the next play.

The Huskers had three legitimate scoring opportunities in the game.

In the first quarter, Ahman Green ran a trap play into Sun Devil territory, but dropped the ball as he crossed the ASU 48-yard line. The ball was recovered by Sheldon Jackson at the 34. On the next play, Frost tossed the ball to Damon Benning, who threw a gorgeous halfback pass . The ball hit Kenny Cheatham's fingertips in the back of the end zone, but Cheatham was running too fast to haul it in and drag his toes.

Later in the same drive, Nebraska had third-and-three from the five-yard line. Frost runs the option, but gets smacked as he tries to pitch the ball to Benning. Arizona State recovers the fumble at their own 22.

On NU's final drive, Matt Turman came in to replace Frost. Ahman Green got the ball across midfield with just over three minutes to go. A few plays later, Turman ran the option and pitched to Green. Green is running towards the end zone when he fumbles at the five. Tillman recovered the fumble.

Game over.

It was the first time Nebraska had been shut out since the 1992 Orange Bowl, a stretch of 50 games. It was the third - and final - time Osborne was shut out in his 307 games as a head coach.

30 years without a shutout loss

Since that fateful night in the Arizona desert, Nebraska has played 380 games without being shut out. Yes, there have been a handful of close calls*, including a field goal in the 2004 Oklahoma game that was made with no time left on the clock.

*For a complete list of the lucky 13 times from the last 30 years that Nebraska avoided a shutout with a single score, click here.

Since Osborne retired after winning the 1997 national championship, every Husker head coach (including interim head coach Mickey Joseph) has had at least one close call.

If we're being honest, it is rather amazing that Nebraska has managed to go this long without being shut out. As you may have heard, Nebraska is no longer the unstoppable juggernaut program they were in the 1990s. The Huskers lost their way at some point after the most recent national championship game appearance in 2001. Since the start of the 2002 season, Nebraska has had 11 seasons since that ended .500 or worse.

Without taking any unnecessary shots at former players, think about some of the backup (or third string) quarterbacks to start a game for Nebraska in the last 30 years. Those guys all managed to lead Nebraska to points.

The future

Place your bets on which one lasts longer: Nebraska's shutout-less streak or the Memorial Stadium sellout streak?

Based on early results from the 2026 season, the Husker offense looks potent. And as I've previously written, the administrative appetite to prop up the sellout streak does not appear to be as strong as it used to be.

That said, I would still vote for the sellout streak living longer. If the Huskers are stuck on zero points late in the fourth quarter, they cannot call in a booster or corporate sponsor to save the day like they can (and have done) with the sellout streak.

The reality is that at some point Nebraska fail to score a point in a football game again. It may not happen this year, next year, or possibly for another decade. But it will happen again.

Until that day comes, we should appreciate the 30-year stretch without a shutout loss.

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