| Year: | 1896 |
| Team: | Nebraska Bugeaters |
| Sport: | football |
| Conference: | Western Interstate University Football Association |
| Short Conf: | WIUFA |
| Record: | 6–3–1 |
| Conf Record: | 1–1–1 |
| Head Coach: | Edward N. Robinson |
| Hc Year: | 1st |
| Stadium: | "M" Street Park |
| Champion: | Nebraska state champion |
The 1896 Nebraska Bugeaters football team represented the University of Nebraska in the 1896 college football season. The team was coached by first-year head coach Edward N. Robinson and played their home games in at the "M" Street Park in Lincoln, Nebraska. They competed as members of the Western Interstate University Football Association.
Future College Football Hall of Fame head coach Robinson became Nebraska's third official head coach when Charles Thomas left for Arkansas. Robinson was the first Nebraska coach to require each player to pass a physical.
| Eddie N. Robinson | Head coach | 1896 | Brown | ||
| Jack Best | Trainer | 1890 | Nebraska | ||
| Harry Oury | Manager | 1896 | Nebraska | ||
| John Cameron | Assistant manager | 1896 | Nebraska |
Nebraska hosted Doane in Lincoln for the eighth meeting of these squads. The Bugeaters started slow but pulled away in the second half to win 20–0.
See also: Missouri–Nebraska football rivalry.
Nebraska made its first trip to Columbia to open conference play in 1896. Missouri scored the only points of the first half, but was unable to answer two second-half Nebraska touchdowns.
Nebraska hosted nearby Nebraska Wesleyan for the first time, though it was essentially a home game for both teams; Nebraska Wesleyan was then located in the town of University Place, later absorbed into Lincoln. Wesleyan's first points came following a blocked punt, and another touchdown before halftime kept the game close, but they were never able to pull ahead of the Bugeaters.
See also: Kansas–Nebraska football rivalry.
Kansas rebounded from an error-prone first half, shutting out the Bugeaters in the second half en route to an 18–4 win.
University of Kansas records suggest that this game was played on November 8, 1896.[4]
Nebraska traveled to Missouri for their first meeting with the . Both teams agreed beforehand to play a shorter-than-normal game, and the abbreviated first half ended scoreless. The Bugeaters went ahead 6–0 after halftime and survived a scare when KC scored with 30 seconds left to play, but missed the game-tying field kick.
The Butte Athletic Club made the lengthy trip to Lincoln after a visit from Nebraska in 1895. Butte dominated the Bugeaters for the second consecutive year, scoring the game's final 14 points to win 20–6. This was the final meeting between Butte AC and Nebraska.
This was the first meeting between teams that would later meet annually for decades, as members of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Big Eight, and Big 12. Iowa Agricultural, later renamed Iowa State, entered 7–1, but Nebraska controlled the game en route to a 12–4 victory.
Nebraska led 28–0 at halftime in the second 1896 meeting between the two teams. Wesleyan, playing without several key players, never managed to get the ball inside Nebraska's 10-yard line. Nebraska's wins over Nebraska Wesleyan and victory over Doane made the Bugeaters Nebraska's state champion for the second consecutive year.
See also: Iowa–Nebraska football rivalry.
Heavy snow and blizzards kept many spectators away on Thanksgiving Day in 1896, and the conditions led to a sloppy, scoreless game. The teams agreed to play for an additional ten minutes to break the tie, again without producing any points. Both teams, displeased with the scoreless draw, agreed to play again two days later.
See also: Iowa–Nebraska football rivalry.
The rematch between Iowa and Nebraska was held as scheduled just two days later, and the weather was marginally better. A first-half Iowa touchdown proved to be the only scoring of the game. While this game is an official contest in both schools' record books, it did not take the place of the scoreless conference game on November 26. As such, this game counts toward both teams' overall records, but not toward WIUFA standings or statistics. Iowa still won the conference championship outright at 2–0–1.