Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium: The 10th Decade, 2013-22

As the venue’s first 100 seasons drew to a close, futility defined Husker football. Glory days were but a distant memory.

Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

Thirteenth and final part in a series marking the 100th season of Nebraska football in Memorial Stadium. Pictured above: A fan watches the final moments of Nebraska’s 2017 loss to Northern Illinois.

It became hard to watch, and some fans chose not to. As Memorial Stadium’s 10th decade played out from 2013 through 2022, what once was unfathomable for a tradition-rich program became all too real:

• Six losing seasons in a row.
• A 10-game losing streak.
• An 0-6 start to a season.
• Half a decade without so much as a three-game winning streak.
• Twenty-one losses in a row to ranked teams. 
• A sellout streak on life support.

This 10-year span saw three coaching searches, which is a lot, and three winning seasons, which isn’t. Still, as the stadium inscription goes, it’s “not the victory but the action.” Thrilling finishes and inspiring performances unfolded. Individual records were set. A 7-year-old boy scored a touchdown. Win or lose, athletes gave it their all.

With the stadium’s 101st season about to begin in 2023, there’s hope that a new head coach can reverse the slide. New facilities adjacent to the stadium are about to be put into use. Plans are being drafted for major stadium renovations that will improve the game-day experience for fans.

That’s plenty to look forward to. To look back, scroll past the facts box for a sampling of games from Memorial Stadium’s 10th decade.

Just the facts: 2013-22
• Home record: 36-31 (.537) • Overall record: 56-64 (.467) • Conference titles: None • All-Americans: None. • Head coaches: Bo Pelini 2008-14, Mike Riley 2015-17, Scott Frost 2018-2022, Mickey Joseph 2022 (interim).

A Hail Mary wins it

2013: Nebraska 27, Northwestern 24. It was an unforgettable finish: a 49-yard bomb from Ron Kellogg III to Jordan Westerkamp for the win as time expired. Four plays earlier, Ameer Abdullah made it all possible by willing his way to a first down on a fourth-and-15 reception. Also huge were Randy Gregory and the defense in holding the Wildcats to a field goal with 1:20 left after Northwestern had reached the Nebraska 1-yard line following an interception.

The Huskers coped with inexperience at quarterback for most of the year after a career-ending injury to senior Taylor Martinez in September, but they pulled off a bowl upset of Georgia to give Bo Pelini another season with at least nine wins. | HuskerMax game page

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Taming the ’Canes

2014: Nebraska 41, Miami 31. The largest crowd in Memorial Stadium history — 91,585 — witnessed this high-intensity win. Leading 24-21, Nebraska seized control late in the third quarter when linebacker Trevor Roach forced a fumble and cornerback Josh Mitchell returned it 57 yards for a touchdown.

I-back Ameer Abdullah was breaking tackles and making cuts all night as he rushed for 229 yards against the Huskers’ old nemesis. Game officials had their hands full during the second half as skirmishes repeatedly broke out on the field. A Miami player at one point was flagged for making an obscene gesture at the crowd.

The win was part of an 8-1 start for the 2014 Huskers, but a massive collapse late in the year at Wisconsin followed by a home loss to Minnesota seemed to seal coach Bo Pelini’s fate, and he was out after seven seasons. | HuskerMax game page

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91 yards in 38 seconds  

Fans and players alike stuck around to celebrate the win / © Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

2015: Nebraska 39, Michigan State 38. Down 38-33 with 55 seconds left, coach Mike Riley’s Huskers needed a touchdown against the nation’s sixth-ranked team. Trouble was, they had 91 yards to travel and were out of timeouts.

Turns out it was hardly any trouble at all. Tommy Armstrong Jr. hit Jordan Westerkamp for 28 yards, then again for 33 yards. After just two plays, the Huskers were in business at the Michigan State 30.

A near-interception in the end zone almost ended Nebraska’s chances on first down. On second down, Armstrong dropped back and lofted the ball down the left sideline to Brandon Reilly. The junior receiver, who had stepped out of bounds and back in during contact with a Spartan defender, gathered the ball in at the 3 and took it into the end zone for the game-winner with 17 seconds left. The play survived an official review, and the eventual Big Ten champion Spartans suffered their only regular-season loss. It remains the last time the Huskers have beaten a top-10 opponent. | HuskerMax game page

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Tommy toughs it out

De'Mornay Pierson-El's 40-yard punt return to the Oregon 19 helped Nebraska score a pivotal touchdown in the final seconds of the second quarter.  / Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

2016: Nebraska 35, Oregon 32. Fighting off cramps that had hobbled him earlier in the final quarter, Tommy Armstrong Jr. ran 34 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 2½ minutes left. Then the defense iced the victory by stopping the Ducks’ last-chance drive at midfield.

Armstrong’s big run came two plays after he kept the winning drive alive with a fourth-and-9 completion to Jordan Westerkamp. Memorial Stadium’s 350th consecutive sellout crowd ended up going home happy after it appeared in the early going that Oregon might run away with it, leading by 13 shortly before halftime.

While each team scored five touchdowns, the difference proved to be Oregon coach Mark Helfrich’s puzzling decision to go for a two-point conversion every time. Only the first try succeeded.

The win was part of a 7-0 start to the season that gave way to a 2-4 finish. Since beating the No. 21 Ducks, the Huskers have lost 21 times in a row to ranked teams. | HuskerMax game page

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Huskers get sMACked

Juwaun Johnson scores on NIU’s second pick-six / Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

2017: Northern Illinois 21, Nebraska 17. Two pick-sixes in the first quarter got the Huskers into a 14-0 hole, and the Huskies from the Mid-American Conference made just enough plays the rest of the way to pull off the the shocker in Lincoln. An abysmal performance on offense cost the Huskers dearly, including a game-sealing interception thrown by quarterback Tanner Lee in the final two minutes.

Five days after the loss, Athletic Director Shaun Eichorst was fired, and it was the beginning of the end for third-year coach Mike Riley. As the season wore on, the defense seemed more and more lost, with four of Nebraska’s final six opponents hanging at least 54 points on the Huskers. | HuskerMax game page

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Finally, a victory

Adrian Martinez rushed for 125 yards and passed for 276 / Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

2018: Nebraska 53, Minnesota 28. A 10-game losing streak for the 2017 and ’18 Huskers ended in emphatic fashion with coach Scott Frost’s first win in seven tries. It was like days of old with three players — Devine Ozigbo, Adrian Martinez and Maurice Washington — rushing for 100-plus yards against the Gophers. The Huskers’ 53 points were their most in a Big Ten Conference game, as were their 659 yards of total offense. The win was part of a 4-2 finish that was marred only by narrow losses at Ohio State and Iowa. | HuskerMax game page

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Kicked again by Iowa

2019: Iowa 27, Nebraska 24. For the second year in a row, a last-second field goal gave the Hawkeyes a victory over Nebraska. This time, the dagger came after a quick turn of fortunes in the last 60 seconds.

Before surrendering the winning kick, the Huskers had been near midfield in the game’s final minute with a chance to win it with a kick of their own — or, at worst, to run out the clock and go into overtime. But 15-yard penalty followed by an ill-advised run out of bounds allowed Iowa to get the ball back at its own 26 with 32 seconds remaining.

A pair of 22-yard pass plays set the table for placekicker Keith Duncan. He nailed the 48-yard game-winner with one second remaining and then rubbed it in by blowing kisses toward the Nebraska bench. The loss meant the Huskers would once again sit out bowl season. | HuskerMax game page

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First win in a strange season

Safety Deontai Williams runs 26 yards for a touchdown after knocking the ball loose from Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford on a second-quarter sack / Bruce Thorson-USA TODAY Sports

2020: Nebraska 30, Penn State 23. A mid-November home opener? An empty stadium with cardboard cutouts serving as fans? Such were the oddities of a season that had nearly been derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Huskers, quarterbacked by Luke McCaffrey after Adrian Martinez’s benching the previous week, bolted to a 27-6 halftime lead with astonishing ease but had to hold on for dear life in the final 30 minutes as Penn State stormed back. Late in the fourth quarter, the Blackshirts twice slammed the door on Penn State drives with fourth-down stops in the red zone. Luke Reimer and Ben Stille provided big defensive plays at the very end. | HuskerMax game page

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Just a little short — again

Rahmir Johnson sprints toward the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown on a pass from Adrian Martinez late in the third quarter / Kenny Larabee, KLIN

2021: Michigan 32, Nebraska 29. This was the year of the single-digit loss for Nebraska. Every one of the Huskers’ nine defeats were by nine or fewer points, with six of the setbacks coming against nationally ranked teams. The Wolverines, the eventual Big Ten champs, were ranked ninth in the nation but needed a pair of field goals in the final three minutes to pull out the victory. The winning kick was set up when Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez was stood up and stripped of the ball after he had picked up three yards on a third-and-1 run in the final two minutes. | HuskerMax game page

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End of the Frost era

Khaleb Hood makes a diving catch for a 27-yard gain on Georgia Southern’s winning drive / Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

2022: Georgia Southern 45, Nebraska 42. The Huskers surrendered 642 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown drive on the Eagles’ last-chance possession, and the visitors from the Sun Belt Conference dealt Nebraska a stunning defeat that triggered the program’s third coaching change in eight years. After the Eagles scored the go-ahead touchdown with 36 seconds left, quarterback Casey Thompson moved Nebraska into field goal position, but Timmy Bleekrode’s 52-yard attempt spun wide left.

Three games into the 100th season of Nebraska football in Memorial Season, the Huskers were now 1-2 with Oklahoma up next. The next day, Athletic Director Trev Alberts fired head coach Scott Frost, the program’s would-be savior, and named wide receivers coach Mickey Joseph his interim replacement. | HuskerMax game page

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