Big Red Truth / Titles, Heismans and Nebraska greatness
Five football national championships. Three Heisman winners. Assess the championship seasons, individual honors and sustained support that defined Nebraska’s competitive standard.
Historical briefs / 5 entries · Generated illustration, not archival photography
1970–71
Football
Bob Devaney turns a struggling program into a national champion — twice.
Devaney arrived in 1962. Nebraska claimed its first national championship in 1970, then repeated with an undefeated 1971 season. Consecutive titles establish the achievement; comparisons with other great teams remain evaluative judgments.
1971
Football
No. 1 Nebraska 35, No. 2 Oklahoma 31 — on Thanksgiving Day in Norman.
Nebraska defeated Oklahoma 35–31 in a matchup of the top two ranked teams. Johnny Rodgers’ punt return is a defining play in that result; his 1972 Heisman belongs to the following season’s individual honors record.
1962–
Football
A home-game sellout record beginning in 1962.
Memorial Stadium’s reported sellout streak began in 1962. Treat sellout status as a ticket-sales measure—not a count of people physically attending—and keep that distinction separate from on-field performance.
1994–97
Football
Three national titles in four seasons, capped by the 1995 juggernaut.
Nebraska won national titles in 1994 and 1995; the latter season ended with a 62–24 Fiesta Bowl victory over Florida. The 1997 championship was shared. Three titles in four seasons is the competitive result; the shared designation remains explicit.
1983 & 2001
Football
Two more Heismans for the trophy case.
Mike Rozier won the 1983 Heisman; Eric Crouch won the 2001 award. Their individual recognition belongs beside team results, not in place of them. Crouch’s touchdown reception against Oklahoma remains a signature play of his award season.