Thislist of Nebraska Cornhuskers bowl games shows thebowl games theNebraska Cornhuskers football program has participated in since the inception of college football'sbowl system in 1902. Nebraska has played in fifty-four bowl games, including a record thirty-five straight from 1969 to 2003, with a record of 27–27.[1]
In 1915, Nebraska was invited to faceNorthwest Conference championWashington State in thesecond bowl game ever played, but university officials balked at the cost of sending the team toPasadena and declined.[2] NU played its first bowl game in the1941 Rose Bowl, losing to eventual national championStanford. Nebraska was invited to the1955 Orange Bowl despite its 6–4 record (conference rules prevented championOklahoma from appearing in consecutive seasons), falling toDuke 34–7 atBurdine Stadium (later the Miami Orange Bowl) in its first of seventeenOrange Bowl appearances.[3]
Bob Devaney's inaugural season ended with the first bowl victory in program history, a 36–34 win overMiami in the1962 Gotham Bowl.[1] Three years later, he took Nebraska to its first national championship game (though it was not yet an official designation) againstAlabama in the1966 Orange Bowl;Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide won 39–28 in the first of three bowl meetings between the coaches.[4] Nebraska did not appear in a bowl game in 1967 or 1968, but returned to postseason play in 1969 and began an NCAA-record streak of thirty-five consecutive seasons with a bowl appearance.[a] NU won eight of its first nine games in this stretch under Devaney and Osborne, including two national championships. Nebraska regularly featured in theOrange Bowl due to the Big Eight's bowl affiliations; its1983 defeat toMiami is considered one of college football's greatest games.[6]
NU lost seven straight bowl games two decades into Osborne's tenure, many of them uncompetitive defeats to southeastern opposition. After a controversial championship game loss in 1993, he won his first major-poll national championship in 1994, avenging three previous Orange Bowl losses to Miami.[7] Osborne retired after taking Nebraska to seven straightNew Year's Six bowl games. NU's lengthy bowl streak continued through Frank Solich’s tenure but ended in 2004.
Nebraska missed a bowl game in 2017 for the first time in ten years, beginning a seven-year stretch without postseason play that coveredScott Frost's entire tenure as head coach. Nebraska returned to a bowl game in 2024.[8]
^Florida State reached a bowl game in thirty-six consecutive seasons from 1982 to 2017, but its2006 Emerald Bowl appearance was vacated by the NCAA, which recognizes Nebraska as the record holder.[5]
