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1905 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Nebraska State Champions
ConferenceIndependent
1905 record8-2-0
Head coachWalter C. Booth (6th season)
Home stadiumAntelope Field
Seasons
← 1904
1906 →

The 1905 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1905 college football season. The team was coached by Walter C. "Bummy" Booth and played their home games at Antelope Field in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before the season[]

Coach Booth, after the extremely successful 1902 and 1903 seasons, sought to return to dominance after the relatively disappointing 7-3 1904 season. Last year's roster of 30 was reduced somewhat, with 26 players appearing in 1905.

Schedule[]

[1]

Date Opponent Site Result Attendance
September 23 Grand Island Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 30-0 -
September 30* Lincoln High Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 20-0 -
October 7 South Dakota Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 42-6 -
October 14 Knox Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 16-0 -
October 21 at Michigan Regents FieldAnn Arbor, Michigan L 0-31 -
October 28 at Creighton Omaha, Nebraska W 102-0 -
November 4 Iowa State Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 21-0 -
November 11 Colorado Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 18-0 4,012
November 18 at Minnesota Northrop Field • Minneapolis, Minnesota L 0-35 -
November 25 Doane Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 43-5 -
November 30 Illinois Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska W 24-6 -
*Exhibition Game.

Roster[]

[2]

Barta, Frank G
Barwick, Leonard QB
Bender, Johnny HB
Benedict, Maurice QB
Borg, Charles C
Burns, Donald T
Cotton, Charles RG
Craig, Hugh HB
Denslow, Lloyd E
Eager, Earl HB
Graves, Elliot HB
Hunter, Fred RG
Johnson, William E
Lundin, Alford T
Mason, Cyrus LT
Mason, John FB
McDonald, Gil E
Mills, Leslie QB
Morse, C.L. QB
Nelson, Thomas G
Ringer, John LG
Schmidt, Francis HB
Taylor, Robert RG
Weller, John HB
Wenstrand, Ralph G
Wilson, Harry 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

[3][4]

Game notes[]

Grand Island[]

Grand Island at Nebraska
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Grand Island 0 0 0
Nebraska 0 0 0

The Cornhuskers opened the season without Coach Booth on the sidelines, as he was recovering from illness. It seemed to matter little, as Nebraska rolled to their third win in three games against Grand Island in the last time these teams would meet. [5][6]

Lincoln High[]

Lincoln High at Nebraska
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Lincoln High 0 0 0
Nebraska 0 0 0
  • Date: 1905-09-30
  • Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

Ending another series, the University team defeated the Lincoln High School team for the 8th time in eight games, in this final exhibition game between the teams. [6]

South Dakota[]

South Dakota at Nebraska
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
South Dakota 0 0 0
Nebraska 0 0 0
  • Date: 1905-10-07
  • Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

South Dakota's only points came on a fumble lost by Nebraska that the Coyotes returned the length of the field. Except for that moment of excitement, the day belonged to the Cornhuskers, who pulled ahead of South Dakota 2-1 in the series. [5][6]

Knox[]

Knox at Nebraska
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Knox 0 0 0
Nebraska 0 0 0
  • Date: 1905-10-14
  • Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

Knox didn't put up much fight, but neither did Nebraska expend much effort in what was described as another early season walk through warm up game. Nebraska's record over Knox advanced to 4-0.[5][6]

Michigan[]

Nebraska at Michigan
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Nebraska 0 0 0 0 0
Michigan 0 31 0 0 31

Nebraska met Michigan for the first time in Ann Arbor, in the last season that the Wolverines played at Regents Field. This game had additional meanings, as it was Michigan who had been named Western Champion in 1902 over Nebraska, despite the Cornhuskers finishing the season with a perfect record of shutout victories. In addition, former Cornhusker head coach Fielding H. Yost was at the helm of the Michigan team. This was the first time Nebraska had faced one of its own former head coaches. Any hopes held by the Cornhuskers to settle its affairs against Michigan were silenced, as both teams fought to a draw in the first half only for Michigan to break through and run up 31 unanswered points against the Cornhuskers in the second half.[5][6]

Creighton[]

Nebraska at Creighton
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Nebraska 40 62 0 0 102
Creighton 0 0 0 0 0

Coach Booth allowed the Cornhuskers to absolutely smash Creighton in the week after the crushing loss to Michigan. Not holding back at all, Nebraska used trick plays and kept the pressure on throughout the entire game, scoring half again as much in the second half as the first. This game set new records for total points scored and largest margin of victory, displacing the 76-0 downing of Hastings in 1898, as the Cornhuskers moved up to 2-0 against Creighton. [5][6]

Iowa State[]

Iowa State at Nebraska
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Iowa State 0 0 0
Nebraska 0 0 0
  • Date: 1905-11-04
  • Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Game weather: Rain

After a three-year break, Nebraska renewed the series with Iowa State when the Cyclones traveled to Lincoln. The heavy rains kept scoring to a minimum, certainly there were less points scored by Nebraska than the previous week, but Iowa State scored no points at all and fell farther behind in the series, 2-5. [5][6]

Colorado[]

Colorado at Nebraska
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Colorado 0 0 0 0 0
Nebraska 6 12 0 0 18
  • Date: 1905-11-11
  • Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Game attendance: 4,012

The 4,000+ crowd counted at this game set a record for a non-Thanksgiving Day game crowd, as the Cornhuskers battled a determined Colorado team to emerge with the shutout win and move up in the series to 4-1.[5][6]


Minnesota[]

Nebraska at Minnesota
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Nebraska 0 0 0
Minnesota 0 0 0

Nebraska again traveled to Minneapolis to challenge the superiority of the Golden Gophers, who seemed to generally have Nebraska's number. The same was true today, as the Minnesota squad blanked the visiting Cornhuskers and improved their series lead over Nebraska to 4-1. [5][6]

Doane[]

Doane at Nebraska
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Doane 0 5 0 0 5
Nebraska 37 6 0 0 43
  • Date: 1905-11-25
  • Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

Doane arrived in Lincoln after a two year break in facing the Cornhuskers, but it was more of the same as Doane fell 5-43. Nebraska had run out ahead by 37 before the half, and though Doane figured out the Cornhuskers enough to play them to a second half draw, those early points were of course far too much to overcome. To Doane's credit, it was the first time in five games against Nebraska that they avoided the shutout. Nebraska's daunting record over Doane was stretched to 9-2. As Nebraska finished with wins against all in-state competition for the season, they recorded their second consecutive and sixth overall state championship. [5][6]

Illinois[]

Illinois at Nebraska
by Quarter 1 2 3 4 Total
Illinois 6 0 0 0 6
Nebraska 12 12 0 0 24
  • Date: 1905-11-30
  • Location: Antelope Field • Lincoln, Nebraska

Nebraska again closed the season with a win against Illinois. The Fighting Illini of 1905 were demoralized at this point, having been shut out in three of the previous four games, and did not put up a serious fight. Still winless in the series, Illinois was now down 0-4 against Nebraska. [5][6]

After the season[]

Coach Booth finished the year at 8-2, an improvement over 1904's final tally, and compiled a Nebraska career record of 46-8-1 (.845), which was a slight drop in percentage from the previous year, but which improved the program's overall record to 87-33-5 (.716). Coach Booth departed the program at the conclusion of the 1905 season, and does not appear to have continued his coaching career elsewhere. After the high turnover of the early years, Nebraska had enjoyed success with a stable coaching staff over the past six years, but once again was in search of a head coach to lead the football team.

References[]

  1. "Football - 1905 Schedule/Results". University of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletics Department. http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=3&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&KEY=&Q_SEASON=1905. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  2. "Nebraska Football 1905 Roster". University of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletics Department. http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=4&SPID=22&DB_OEM_ID=100&Q_SEASON=1905. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  3. "Nebraska head coaches". HuskerMax. http://www.huskermax.com/coaches.html. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  4. "118 Years of Cornhusker Football". University of Nebraska Athletics Department. Archived from the original on 2009-05-09. http://www.webcitation.org/5geksfQhG. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 "1905 Game Recaps". Husker Press Box. http://www.huskernews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/05/13/4478823fb890f?in_archive=1. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  6. 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 "the 1900s". HuskerMax. http://www.huskermax.com/1900s.html. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
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