Tracking the Huskers' Legacy Against the Blue Bloods

The Nebraska-USC game this weekend features two of the most legendary programs in college football history.

Both teams rank among the top 10 in most major college football categories, including all-time wins, bowl appearances, and Heisman winners. The Huskers once had a strong rivalry with Oklahoma, but that has become more of a memory than an annual event. While Nebraska's new conference schedule doesn't guarantee yearly games against its traditional rivals, this season is an exception, with three matchups against top-tier programs.

With USC and Nebraska meeting, it's a good time to reflect on how Nebraska has performed in these historic matchups. I’m using a similar approach to my preseason article reviewing the current Blue Bloods of college football. However, I made one change this time: this analysis is based on the Blue Bloods’ rankings at the time of each game. Therefore, Nebraska's games against Minnesota in the 1940s and 1950s would count as games against a Blue Blood opponent.

Defining a "Blue Blood"

For this analysis, I define a "blue blood" team quantitatively. A team earns this status if it ranks in the top 12 nationally based on its long-term performance—specifically, a rolling average of its team strength (or ELO rating) over its last 600 games (roughly 50 seasons). However, a program like Florida State, which didn’t start playing football until the 1950s, can begin to appear in the blue blood rankings after playing just 300 games. Once a program reaches its 601st game, only the most recent 600 will be considered in the rankings.

So, how has Nebraska fared when playing other blue bloods?

Saturday will mark the Huskers' 147th game against an active blue blood team. It will be only the Huskers' 81st game where both Nebraska and the opponent are considered blue blood programs. The achievements of Walter Booth, Jumbo Stiehm, and Dana Bible helped the Huskers become one of the sport's original blue bloods in the 1940s. Nebraska’s post-World War II struggles, along with more programs reaching the 300-game mark, pushed the Huskers out of the blue blood ranks by the late 1940s. By 1981, they had regained their status among college football's blue bloods and have maintained it ever since.

No program has ever peaked higher in the Blue Blood rankings than Nebraska. But lately, the Huskers have been in decline. | Arbitrary Analytics

Nebraska's Record in Historic Matchups

Overall, Nebraska has a 60-84-2 record against top-tier teams in the sport. The Oklahoma Sooners have been responsible for more than one-third of the Huskers' games against blue-blood opponents over the years. Nebraska's second-most-played blue-blood opponent goes back to early college football – Minnesota. When Bob Devaney transformed the program in the 60s and early 70s, he defeated a Minnesota team that was dropping from the blue blood ranks five times.

Looking closer, Nebraska's record shifts slightly worse when considering only games where they were also viewed as a blue blood. In matchups where both teams were ranked as blue bloods, Nebraska has a 40% win rate (a 32-48 record). Both the Huskers and Trojans are recognized as blue bloods of college football today.

Nationwide, only 27 college football teams have participated in games where both sides were considered blue bloods. Nebraska ranks 16th in win percentages in these matchups. Its all-time winning percentage against Blue Blood teams (regardless of Nebraska’s status at the time) is 15th in college football history. Throughout its history, Nebraska has faced 13 such teams, with a winning record against five of them: Notre Dame, Penn State, Army, LSU, and Tennessee.

Trojans-Huskers Matchup

USC fans on X have been commenting about Nebraska’s special “Blackout” jersey for this game. They’ve called this game “Nebraska’s Super Bowl,” given the extra attention paid to this uniform change this week. However, in these blue blood rankings, USC is only the second-highest rated team to travel to Lincoln this year. The Michigan Wolverines still rank higher in my blue blood ratings. Still, this USC team is the 28th highest-rated to ever play a game in Lincoln. The record for the highest-rated blue blood opponent to play in Lincoln was held by the 2022 Oklahoma Sooners. Since the ratings are based on the last 50 years of football history, the success of the Barry Switzer era was still influencing the Sooners’ high rankings.

Nebraska has its seventh chance to do something it's never done: beat USC. Both programs share a rich history of championships, Heismans, and numerous victories. A win this week for either team would bring them closer to a historic milestone that both have yet to reach – a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The pageantry, tradition, and history will be showcased for both teams on Saturday. These are the games that make college football the greatest sport there is.

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