The 2016 Nebraska Cornhuskers went 9–3 in the regular season to clinch an appearance in the Music City Bowl against Tennessee, a game they would lose 38–24. Even with the disappointing result, the Huskers, in their second year under coach Mike Riley, improved by three wins and reached a bowl for a ninth consecutive season.
At the time, it was unthinkable that the Huskers would wind up being the face of bowl game futility among major conference programs, and yet that is exactly how things played out. Riley was fired in 2017 as Nebraska finished 4-8. Scott Frost, a former Huskers quarterback fresh off of an undefeated season at UCF, topped at at five wins in 2019, going just 16–31 in five seasons. The team improved in 2023, its first under Matt Rhule, but finished 5–7, missing a bowl for the seventh season in a row. That streak was the worst among any program in a Power 4 league.
The 2024 season looked like it might become the most brutal bowl-less campaign yet during the Huskers' run, after the team fell from 5–1 to 5–5. To add to the stress of the Huskers' situation, Saturday's game came against Wisconsin, a program riding a 10-game winning streak over Nebraska dating back to 2012.
Saturday's game at Memorial Stadium proved to be exactly what Rhule's program needed, with the offense—now helmed by newly-installed offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen—breaking the 400-yard mark for the first time since September and notching its season high in points in a 44–25 win over the Badgers.
Dylan Raiola (@RaiolaDylan) wanted everyone to know the #Huskers are going bowling 🎳
— Mason Kern Local4 (@MasonKernMedia) November 24, 2024
Drought going back to 2016 finally ends + Nebraska also takes the Freedom Trophy from Wisconsin 🏆
Coverage on @KSNBLocal4 + @Local4_Sports: https://t.co/ckGBUbhS45 pic.twitter.com/1BnxaVkbmn
At six or seven wins (depending on next week's game against Iowa), Nebraska won't be heading to a particularly flashy bowl game. Reaching bowl eligibility is the bare minimum for most programs the stature of Nebraska, one of the sport's true superpowers a few decades ago. Even so, no one will be able to tell Rhule, freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola and the rest of those wearing scarlet and cream that this isn't an accomplishment worth celebrating.
Now, the pressure is on Wisconsin to beat rival Minnesota next week to clinch its own bowl bid. The Badgers have the third-longest bowl eligibility streak in the country at 22 seasons, behind only Oklahoma (27) and Georgia (25).
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nebraska Snaps Pair of Embarrassing Streaks With Rare Win vs. Wisconsin.
