Nebraska Cornhuskers Football - Logos and Uniforms

Logos and Uniforms

Nebraska has worn traditional uniforms throughout its history. The first helmet was red, with a white stripe. This was later changed to a plain white helmet with a black number on the side. During 1967–1969, a red, offset "NU" was placed on each side of the helmet. From 1970, the "NU" was changed to the simple, familiar "N" that remains today, although it is thought a few "NU" helmets remained in use as late as 1972. There were not enough U stickers available before the 1970 season, which became the first national championship season. The single letter was considered a good luck charm so it remained.

The helmet design has remained essentially unchanged since 1970, with the exception of the face mask, as it was changed from grey to red prior to the 1982 Orange Bowl game against Clemson.

The jerseys have only been altered a few times, with the addition of shoulder stripes and numbers. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Huskers wore full shoulder stripes reminiscent of those worn by the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts of the NFL. These were gradually phased out when mesh and tearaway jerseys became popular. For the 1974 Cotton Bowl Classic, the jersey has the script "Nebraska" embroidered onto the front. From 1980–83, Nebraska's jerseys featured just a simple block "N" on the sleeves. In 1984, two sleeve stripes and sleeve numbers were added back to the uniform, where they essentially remain today, although the stripes and numbers have decreased in size as jersey sleeves have shortened over the years.

Shoulder patches were added to the jerseys beginning in 1989, with a patch that commemorated the 100th season of Nebraska football. The following season, a patch with "Nebraska Football: A Winning Tradition" embroidered on it was added above the left breast of the jersey. In 1999 a new version of this patch debuted and it has remained there to date.

Names began appearing on the backs of the jerseys for bowl games beginning in the 1970s. Around 1980, the players' names began appearing on the road jerseys. The home jerseys remained nameless except for when worn during bowl games, with one exception. A brief tradition was established for the last home game of each season, where seniors (playing their final game in Memorial Stadium) were allowed to wear names on their jerseys; underclassmen, however, did not. This explains why footage of many Oklahoma-Nebraska games played in Lincoln during this era feature some Nebraska players with names on their jerseys and some without. From approximately 1988 onwards, names were permanently affixed to the home jersey, where they remain.

The team traditionally wears white pants at home and red on the road, although there have been exceptions. Nebraska donned red pants with red jerseys for the first (and to date, only) time in school history for its 1986 contest against Oklahoma. Nebraska led this game for 58½ minutes before losing a 20-17 heartbreaker due to some late OU heroics, and the combination was deemed to be unlucky.

Nebraska began periodically donning all-white, beginning with the 1991 Citrus Bowl game against Georgia Tech (a game in which they were blown out, 45-21). They next tried the combo during the 1992 season, wearing all-white for the first three road games of that year. They lost two of the three, including an embarrassing 19-10 decision to an unranked Iowa State squad. The combination was not tried again until the ill-fated 2002 uniform (see next paragraph) and was also worn during Bill Callahan's last game as head coach (another embarrassing loss, this time 65-51 to Colorado). As a result, Husker fans typically associate the all-white look with losing and tend to prefer the red road pants.

From 1968–94, the pants had two stripes down each side. Originally they were thin stripes, but became thicker sometime in the mid-1970s.These were removed prior to the 1995 season, and the pants remained stripe-less until 2001. For the 2002 season, Nebraska experimented with side panels on the jersey and pants, and went to all white permanently on the road. The look was overwhelmingly disliked by most fans, presumably because the Huskers went 7-7, which was at the time their worst season in 40 years. In 2003, Nebraska returned to a look similar to the one they wore from 1995–2001. In 2004, the two pant stripes returned to the uniform, where they have remained since.

On September 26, 2009, for the first time in school history, the Cornhuskers wore "throwback" uniforms from 1962 in honor of Nebraska's 300th consecutive sell out. Adidas is the official shoe and uniform sponsor of Nebraska athletics.

For the 2010 season, the numbers on the outside of the shoulder were placed on the top of the shoulder pads, similar to the style of the late 1970s.