Series history:
The Buckeyes lead the all-time series 7-1. Guess which of those eight games I drove all the way to Lincoln, Nebraska to watch in person? It was a great trip anyway and
@FearlessF was a wonderful host. Games:
- 1955: Ohio State won 28-20 in Columbus
- 1956: Ohio State won 34-7 in Columbus
- 2011: Nebraska won 34-27 in Lincoln
- 2012: Ohio State won 63-38 in Columbus
- 2016: Ohio State won 62-3 in Columbus
- 2017: Ohio State won 56-14 in Lincoln
- 2018: Ohio State won 36-31 in Columbus
- 2019: Ohio State won 48-7 in Lincoln
The two games played before Nebraska joined the league were played at a down point for Nebraska and a high for Ohio State so it isn't surprising that the Buckeyes won both. Devaney didn't arrive until 1962 and the Cornhuskers were flat out terrible immediately before that. They went 5-5 in 1955 and 4-6 in 1956 and it actually got worse after that. In the five years before Devaney's arrival (1957-1961) Nebraska only won 15 games.
2011 (UNL 34, tOSU 27 in Lincoln):
The 2011 game that I attended was the first-ever BigTen game in Lincoln. Nebraska was coming off of a 48-17 loss in Madison to open their first B1G campaign while Ohio State was coming off of a 10-7 home loss to MSU. Ohio State was in the short-lived Fickell era between Tressel's resignation and Meyer's hiring.
Ohio State led almost the whole game. The Buckeyes took at 27-6 lead in the third quarter then forced a 3-and-out on Nebraska's ensuing possession. Then Ohio State stalled, then Nebraska scored, then Braxton Miller got injured and the bottom line is that Nebraska outscored Ohio State 28-0 in the final 23 minutes to pull out a 34-27 win.
2012 (tOSU 63, UNL 38 in Columbus):
Nebraska held a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter then tOSU just exploded. The Buckeyes led 35-24 at the half and 56-31 early in the fourth quarter.
2016 (tOSU 62, UNL 3 in Columbus):
The Cornhuskers came into this game 7-2 and ranked #10 but that didn't matter. The #6 ranked Buckeyes dominated from the initial kickoff. Nebraska received the opening kick then threw a pick-6 on the third play of the game. By halftime it was 31-3 and the Buckeyes scored another 31 points in the second half while coasting to a 62-3 win.
2017 (tOSU 56, UNL 14 in Lincoln):
It was 42-0 in the third quarter before Nebraska got on the board and ended up 56-14.
2018 (tOSU 36, UNL 31 in Columbus):
In the only competitive game in this series since 2011 the dreadful Cornhuskers (they came into the game 2-7 overall and 1-5 in conference) managed to find a way to compete with the top-10 Buckeyes but it wasn't as close as the score indicates. Nebraska scored first then held Ohio State but committed a safety on the ensuing possession to cut their lead to 7-2. Then Ohio State scored two TD's to take a 16-7 lead. Then Nebraska scored two TD's to take a 21-16 lead into halftime. That was their last lead of the game. The Buckeyes won the third quarter 14-0 to take a 30-21 lead into the fourth quarter. Nebraska
kicked a FG to get within one score at 30-24 but Ohio State answered with a TD to push the lead to 12 points at 36-24. Nebraska scored a late TD to get back within one score but they never got the ball after that as Ohio State was able to run out the clock.
2019 (tOSU 48, UNL 7 in Lincoln):
As bad as that final score is, the game wasn't even that close. The Buckeyes outgained the Cornhuskers 580-231 and built a 48-0 lead late in the third quarter before sending in the reserves. When Ohio State scored their final TD Nebraska had no points and less than 100 yards.
