1939 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1939 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Conference	Big Six Conference
Ranking
AP	#18
1939 record	7-1-1 (4-1-0 Big 6)
Head coach	Biff Jones (3rd year)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

1939 Big 6 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#6 Missouri $	5	–	0	–	0			8	–	2	–	0
#18 Nebraska	4	–	1	–	0			7	–	1	–	1
#19 Oklahoma	3	–	2	–	0			6	–	2	–	1
Kansas	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
Iowa State	1	–	4	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Kansas State	1	–	4	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1939 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was the representative of the University of Nebraska in the 1939 college football season. The team was coached by Biff Jones and played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before the season

Coach Jones was under some scrutiny upon the start of his third year at the helm of the program, as it wasn't entirely clear if his successful first year in 1937 was a product of his leadership or a remnant of former head coach Dana X. Bible's legacy. After suffering a 3-5-1 campaign in 1938, the most losses in a single season since 1899, coach Jones needed to get the program back on its feet.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank#	Site	Result	Attendance
September 30*	at Indiana		Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, Indiana	T 7-7	-
October 7*	Minnesota		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	W 6-0	33,000
October 14	at Iowa State		Clyde Williams Field • Ames, Iowa	W 10-7	11,770
October 21*	#19 Baylor	#16	Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	W 20-0	-
October 28	at Kansas State	#10	Memorial Stadium • Manhattan, Kansas	W 25-9	-
November 4	at Missouri	#10	Memorial Stadium • Columbia, Missouri	L 13-27	-
November 11†	Kansas		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	W 7-0	-
November 18*	at Pittsburgh		Pitt Stadium • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	W 14-13	-
November 25	#14 Oklahoma		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska	W 13-7	-
*Non-Conference Game †Homecoming #Rankings from AP

Roster

Abel, George #47 G Alfson, Warren #22 G Ashburn, Jack #55 E Behm, Forrest #33 T Blue, Wayne #39 HB Burruss, Robert #49 C Carper, Charles #58 E DeFruiter, Robert #46 HB Dobson, Adna #53 G Francis, Vike #38 FB Fuenning, Sam #57 G Haynes, Edgar #36 T Herndon, Clarence #34 T Herrmann, William #29 G Hopp, Harry #37 FB Kahler, Robert #35 HB Kahler, Royal #42 T Kelly, Howard #56 C Klum, Arlo #51 G Knickrehm, Hubert #40 T Knight, George #21 QB Leik, Francis #60 T Ludwick, Robert #30 E Luther, Walter #27 HB Meier, Fred #20 C		Monsky, Hubert #45 G Muskin, Leonard #43 T Myers, Lynn #64 G Nelson, Jack #65 T Petsch, Roy #13 QB Porter, George #18 HB Preston, Fred #52 E Prochaska, Jerome #32 E Prochaska, Ray #31 E Ramey, Robert #16 C Rohn, Henry #15 FB Rohrig, Herman #25 HB Rubottom, Don #10 HB Schwartzkopf, Ed #17 G Schwartzkopf, Sam #54 T Seeman, George #41 E Simmons, Kenneth #19 HB Stearns, George #48 G Thompson, Marvin #44 HB Thompson, Theos #26 HB Vincent, Jack #23 HB Waddick, Donald #24 E Ziegler, Donald #50 E Zorn, Howard #68 G

Coaching staff

Name	Title	First year in this position	Years at Nebraska	Alma Mater
Lawrence Mcceney "Biff" Jones	Head Coach	1937	1937–1941	Army
W. Harold Browne	Assistant Coach	1930	1930–1940
Roy Lyman		1936	1936–1941
Harold Petz		1938	1936, 1938–1940
Charles Armstrong		1937	1937–1942, 1944
Adolph J. Lewandowski		1937	1937–1944	Nebraska
Paul Amen		1938	1938–1941
Glenn Presnell		1938	1938–1942, 1946	Nebraska
Robert Mills		1939	1939
William Pfeiff		1939	1939, 1942

Game notes

Indiana

Nebraska at Indiana

1 2 Total Nebraska 7 Indiana 7 Date: September 30 Location: Memorial Stadium • Bloomington, Indiana

Indiana scored first and held Nebraska off with the narrow 7-0 lead for most of the rest of the game. Finally, as time was running out, the Cornhuskers pulled up to the Hoosier 1 yard line. After two subsequent scoring attempts were turned away, Nebraska executed a reverse around the right and scored with less than 90 seconds remaining to play. Indiana responded valiantly, quickly driving from their own 35 to the Nebraska 10 before a turnover ended their last hope with 35 seconds still on the clock. Indiana thus remained winless against Nebraska in all four of their attempts.

Minnesota

Minnesota at Nebraska

1 2 3 4 Total Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 • Nebraska 0 6 0 0 6 Date: October 7 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 33,000

Nebraska brought old nemesis Minnesota to Lincoln and attacked the Gophers with a powerful running offense, while the Cornhusker defense put up an outstanding effort to keep Minnesota off the scoreboard all day long. Nebraska threw only a single pass during the contest, and made their lone score using the same play that slipped past Indiana in the previous game. The rare win was savored by the Cornhuskers, but Nebraska had a long way to go if they ever hoped to even up the series, as the Gophers still held a dominating edge of 15-4-2 over the Cornhuskers.

Iowa State

Nebraska at Iowa State

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 3 0 7 0 10 Iowa State 0 0 0 7 7 Date: October 14 Location: Clyde Williams Field • Ames, Iowa Game attendance: 11,770

Nebraska opened the 1939 conference slate with a relatively easy win over Iowa State, running out to a 10-0 lead by the start of the 4th quarter. The Cyclones did manage a late rally to put up 7 late points, but the Cornhuskers successfully avenged the previous year's upsetting loss to Iowa State and padded the series lead over the Cyclones to 28-5-1.

Baylor

#19 Baylor at #16 Nebraska

1 2 3 4 Total #19 Baylor 0 0 0 0 0 • #16 Nebraska 6 0 14 0 20 Date: October 21 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska

Baylor met Nebraska for the first time in what was presented initially as a marquee matchup of two highly touted lines. The day belonged to Nebraska all the way, however, as the Cornhuskers pulled up to a 6-0 lead by the half before breaking away with two more touchdowns in the 3rd quarter on their way to blanking the Bears in Lincoln.

Kansas State

#10 Nebraska at Kansas State

1 2 Total • #10 Nebraska 25 Kansas State 9 Date: October 28 Location: Memorial Stadium • Manhattan, Kansas

See also 1939 Nebraska vs. Kansas State football game

Kansas State found the scoreboard first on an early field goal, but a punt returned for a touchdown turned the tide, and two Wildcat fumbles later on handed additional points to the Cornhuskers, who never looked back. It was Nebraska's fourth straight win over Kansas State as the series was advanced to 20-2-2 all time.

The game was the second televised college football game of all time, and the first ever televised homecoming game.

Missouri

#10 Nebraska at Missouri

1 2 Total #10 Nebraska 13 • Missouri 27 Date: November 4 Location: Faurot Field • Columbia, Missouri

See also: Missouri–Nebraska football rivalry

Missouri handed Nebraska its first and only loss of the season in Columbia, easily holding Nebraska off by a two-touchdown margin to hold onto the Missouri-Nebraska Bell. It was the second straight Tiger victory, but Missouri still lagged in the series 8-22-3.

Kansas

Kansas at Nebraska

1 2 3 4 Total Kansas 0 0 0 0 0 • Nebraska 7 0 0 0 7 Date: November 11 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska

The Cornhuskers wasted no time in finding the scoreboard early on, but wasted two scoring attempts soon afterward to lost fumbles. The game remained fairly evenly matched thereafter, until a late spirited attack by the Jayhawks put a brief minor scare in Nebraska before being warded off. This was the 14th straight game dropped to the Cornhuskers, and the Jayhawks fell to 9-34-3 against the Cornhuskers in the series.

Pittsburgh

Nebraska at Pittsburgh

1 2 Total • Nebraska 14 Pittsburgh 13 Date: November 18 Location: Pitt Stadium • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The bitter rivalry with Pittsburgh was continued when the Cornhuskers arrived for the game at Pitt Stadium with hopes to end the long streak of Nebraska futility against the Panthers. The Cornhuskers battled to a slim 7-6 halftime lead, a margin which would eventually prove enough for the win after both teams each managed a second half touchdown apiece. Nebraska's six-game losing streak and twelve-game winless streak against Pittsburgh, both all-time program records to date, were snapped at last. Still, this was only Nebraska's second win against Pittsburgh in all 14 attempts, leaving a long way for the Cornhuskers to go to catch up.

Oklahoma

#14 Oklahoma at Nebraska

1 2 3 4 Total #14 Oklahoma 7 0 0 0 7 • Nebraska 0 13 0 0 13 Date: November 25 Location: Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, Nebraska

See also: Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry

Oklahoma, a recent source of frustration to Nebraska after defeating the Cornhuskers in the previous year and drawing up a tie the year before that, once again fell to Nebraska as the Cornhuskers wrapped up the conference slate with just one loss overall, to Big 6 champion Missouri. Though the Sooners scored early, Nebraska promptly answered before the half to take the lead, and no further scores were attained by either team afterwards. Nebraska improved in the series to 13-3-3.

After the season

Coach Jones redeemed himself in a convincing manner following the disappointing 1938 season. Although Nebraska did not bring home a conference title this year, the Cornhuskers were able to defeat both bitter rivals Minnesota and Pittsburgh in the same season for the first time ever, and wrapped up the season with a defeat of #14 Oklahoma to move into the rankings themselves in the postseason poll. Coach Jones saw his overall career record at Nebraska bounce back substantially, to 16-7-4 (.667), while his conference total also improved to 9-4-2 (.667). The Cornhuskers now owned an overall record of 286-96-31 (.730) and a Big 6 conference record of 96-15-11 (.832).

Awards

Award	Name(s)
All American 2nd team	Warren Alfson
All Big 6	Warren Alfson, Herman Rohrig