- Dirk Chatelain
- Nov 28, 2020
Nineteen years ago, the day after Thanksgiving, undefeated Nebraska traveled to rival Colorado and ran into a stampede: 62-36.
Husker football has never been the same. From the Rocky Mountains that afternoon, it’s been all downhill.
Nebraska’s 26-20 loss to Iowa on Friday was the program’s 100th loss since Colorado 2001. So being a glutton for punishment, I decided to rank them according to the pain inflicted on the Big Red fan base.
From the Rose Bowl to the Independence Bowl, from Blacksburg to Lubbock to Eugene to Happy Valley. You’ll find eight losses to Wisconsin; seven against Iowa; six to Texas, Colorado and Ohio State; five against Oklahoma and Northwestern. You’ll find Southern Miss, Northern Illinois and Troy, too.
I first compiled a list like this in October 2015 during the snakebitten first year of Mike Riley. At that point, the Huskers had dropped 66 games since November 2001. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that Nebraska would get to 100 only five years later. But here we are ...
My subjective criteria for measuring most painful: 1) how long the loss lingered; 2) how the game ended; 3) significance of the game; and 4) level of embarrassment or ineptitude.
The exercise provides valuable perspective on Nebraska’s hellish 19 years, but please do not read this while chewing on leftover turkey. You might choke and, frankly, I don’t want to be sued.
Chatelain: Ranking the Huskers' 100 losses since Colorado 2001
Being a glutton for punishment, Dirk Chatelain decided to rank the Huskers' 100 losses since Colorado 2001.
