Nebraska football joined an exclusive club with its win over Illinois on Saturday. The Huskers' 42-38 victory was the 900th in school history, making Nebraska the fifth program to reach 900 wins. Technically speaking.
Practically speaking, Nebraska is the sixth program to reach that mark. Notre Dame, which faced Georgia on Saturday, lists its all-time win total as 920 but the NCAA does not. From the NCAA's point of view, the Irish entered Saturday with 899 all-time wins thanks to 21 vacated wins from sanctions tied to academic misconduct during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Notre Dame lost at Georgia 23-17.
Oklahoma also entered Saturday at 899 all-time wins. The Sooners had a bye and will face Texas Tech next week.
"Nebraska belongs in the conversation with those types of schools," Scott Frost said this week of approaching 900 wins. "We're doing everything we can to get ourselves to that level again. Every school has kind of gone through downturns, all of those blue bloods have gone through their downturns.
"I look at Oklahoma and when I was in school, we beat them bad. They weren't as good a team, but then they got the right people back in there with [former head coach Bob] Stoops and [current head coach Lincoln] Riley and Oklahoma's humming again. That's what we want to accomplish. We're on our way to that. But it's great to be in the conversation with all of those schools that are at the top of the wins list."
Nebraska beat Oklahoma 37-0 in 1995 as Frost sat out the season after transferring from Stanford. In 1996, Frost’s first as the starting quarterback, the Huskers recorded a 73-21 win over the Sooners followed by a 69-0 win in 1997, Frost’s senior season. Since then, Oklahoma is 6-2 against Nebraska. The two historic rivals will play again in 2021 in Norman, the first meeting between the two since the 2010 Big 12 Championship game.
Here is the updated all-time wins leaderboard after Saturday's results
| SCHOOL | YEARS | W | L | T | PCT. |
| Michigan | 141 | 955 | 343 | 36 | .729 |
| Ohio State* | 130 | 915 | 325 | 53 | .728 |
| Texas | 127 | 911 | 371 | 33 | .705 |
| Alabama* | 128 | 909 | 329 | 43 | .726 |
| Nebraska | 130 | 900 | 389 | 40 | .692 |
| Notre Dame* | 133 | 899 | 389 | 40 | .692 |
| Oklahoma | 125 | 899 | 325 | 53 | .725 |
| Penn State | 133 | 890 | 391 | 41 | .689 |
| USC | 132 | 842 | 347 | 54 | .699 |
| Tennessee | 129 | 839 | 393 | 53 | .674 |
*Records adjust by NCAA Committee on Infranctions
Brandon is the Managing Editor for Hail Varsity and has covered Nebraska athletics for the magazine and web since 2012, Hail Varsity’s first season on the scene. His sports writing has also been featured by Fox Sports, The Guardian and CBS Sports.
