| Year: | 1932 |
| Team: | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
| Sport: | football |
| Conference: | Big Six Conference |
| Short Conf: | Big 6 |
| Record: | 7–1–1 |
| Conf Record: | 5–0 |
| Head Coach: | Dana X. Bible |
| Hc Year: | 4th |
| Stadium: | Memorial Stadium |
| Champion: | Big 6 champion |
The 1932 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Nebraska in the Big Six Conference during the 1932 college football season. In its fourth season under head coach Dana X. Bible, the team compiled a 7–1–1 record (5–0 against conference opponents), won the Big Six championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 105 to 52.[1] The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Coach Bible began his third season at Nebraska with two conference titles to his credit, as Nebraska held two of the three titles awarded since the Big 6 Conference came into being after evolving from the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association 1929, and three of the last four conference titles overall. Assistant coaches Day and Lehman did not return for 1932, but former head coach and later assistant coach for the linemen, Henry Schulte, who had never left the university while coaching for other sports, returned to the football staff by taking up his old position as lineman coach. Two new assistants also came aboard to assist with the freshman team. Nebraska's domination of the Big 6 made them favorites to win the title again in 1932.[2] [3]
| Name | Title | First year in this position | Years at Nebraska | Alma mater | ||
| Dana X. Bible | Head coach | 1929 | 1929–1936 | Carson-Newman | ||
| Henry Schulte | Lineman Coach | 1931 | 1919–1924, 1931–1937 | Michigan | ||
| Ed Weir | Freshmen Coach | 1929 | 1926, 1929–1937, 1943 | Nebraska | ||
| W. Harold Browne | Assistant coach | 1930 | 1930–1940 | |||
| "Dutch" Koster | Assistant Freshman Coach | 1932 | 1932 | |||
| "Red" Young | Assistant Freshman Coach | 1932 | 1932 |
1932 opened with a choppy performance, where the game was won through individual performances, and not lost despite the lack of effective teamwork. Iowa State figured out how to deal with the Nebraska line by the end of the third quarter, but could not score a second touchdown to draw even before time expired. The Cyclones fell to 4-22-1 against the Cornhuskers all-time.[8] [9]
Reviving an old and storied series with the powerhouse Minnesota team, a battle last fought in 1913, the Cornhuskers struck first and early, using the wind to their advantage in the passing game. The wind subsequently turned against Nebraska when the point after went wide. In the second quarter, the Golden Gophers powered in their own score, and their point after was good. That one point ultimately decided the game, as both teams managed to fight each other to a defensive, scoreless tie in the second half. According to the university's yearbook, some media representatives considered Nebraska the winner of the game, if not the scoreboard. Officially, however, the result placed another "L" in the record against Nebraska, which moved the Cornhuskers to 2-11-2 against the Golden Gophers since the series began in 1900, farther away from their hopes of some day catching up with Minnesota.[8] [10]
Any hangover from the Minnesota loss was quickly shaken off when the Cornhuskers made their second straight road game appearance and once again defeated Kansas with relative ease. The game was never seriously in doubt, and the Jayhawks suffered yet another loss in a long line of disappointments dating back to 1917. The Jayhawks were set farther back, to 9-28-2 against the Cornhuskers.[8] [11]
The Kansas State squad fought stubbornly and kept Nebraska's homecoming game in doubt until the very end. A mostly defensive event, Nebraska did not manage to get the game-winning score until less than three minutes remained on the clock to save the day and move up to 15-1-1 against the Wildcats since 1911.[8] [12]
Nebraska scratched a lead from the field by putting the Hawkeyes behind 0-14, a score that held through the start of the fourth quarter, but Iowa did not roll over and give up. A couple of quick touchdowns late in the game put a scare into the Cornhuskers, but defeat was averted when an Iowa point after went wide, allowing Nebraska to escape Ames with a win, and improving them to 14-7-3 against the Hawkeyes.[8] [12]
Nebraska, failing to win against Pittsburgh since 1921, which was their only win to date in six tries, fought the favored powerhouse Panthers to a scoreless tie in Lincoln, notching a moral victory if not a scoreboard win. Pittsburgh managed only eight first downs on the day to Nebraska's thirteen, and the Cornhusker defense nabbed three very timely turnovers to keep the Panthers out of the end zone, handing both teams the third tie in their shared series.[8] [13]
See also: Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry. Oklahoma fought Nebraska at every turn and held on to a scoreless first half, but finally cracked in the third quarter when the Sooners allowed a Cornhusker field goal to break the drought. Oklahoma was still fighting to take the game back when the Sooner QB was tackled in his own end zone to hand Nebraska two more points to end the scoring. The win clinched the league title for Nebraska and moved the Cornhuskers ahead on the series to 8-2-2.[8] [14]
See also: Missouri–Nebraska football rivalry. Missouri's futility in regaining possession of the Missouri-Nebraska Bell was extended yet again as Nebraska closed out the conference season unbeaten. The Tigers attempted to make a game of it, trailing by only a point at the halftime break, and successfully holding back Nebraska through the third quarter before finally breaking under the pressure and allowing the Cornhuskers to run off 14 points and pull away. Missouri's disappointment was made all the worse as they fell farther back in their record against Nebraska, to 6-17-3.[8] [15]
After a year off since the first meeting of these squads, a scoreless tie, Nebraska and SMU squared off to settle affairs. The Mustangs became the only team on Nebraska's 1932 slate to manage a running touchdown through the Cornhusker line, but SMU miscues and lost fumbles in the first half gave Nebraska all the points they would need to secure the victory. The Mustangs and Cornhuskers never met on the field again, leaving the abbreviated series owned by the Cornhuskers 1-0-1.[8] [16]
Nebraska's domination of the Big 6 continued, as the Cornhuskers now owned four of the five Big 6 championships since the league's reformation. Coach Bible's teams were well-established as a force to be feared nationwide, and his Nebraska career record improved to 23-7-6 (.722). The Nebraska program enjoyed yet another improvement in the overall record, moving to 243-81-26 (.731), while the conference record was now up to a dominating 69-10-8 (.839).