Arbitrary Nebraska football stat of the week: AP Poll drought mercifully ends
By Eric Hess
After Nebraska football’s week two victory against the Colorado Buffaloes, the AP voters put the Huskers back in the top 25 for the first time since week 1 of 2019. This closes a drought of 82 straight AP polls with the Huskers on the outside looking in. In the 88-year history of the AP poll, the Huskers have only managed one longer streak of missing the top 25.
Coming off a Rose Bowl loss in 1940, the Huskers won their first two games of the 1941 season to hit number 15 in the AP Poll. A five-game losing streak knocked them out of the poll. It would take nearly a decade and 86 polls before the Huskers returned to No. 16 in 1950.
Nebraska football had several prolonged unranked droughts in the 1950s and 1960s that Bob Devaney ended in 1963. The Husker’s most recent streak outside the top 25 was much longer than all but the 1940s drought. After Mike Riley’s Music City Bowl loss to Tennessee, the Huskers fell out of the top 25 until the 2019 preseason poll and barely managed to stay ranked after week 1.
Nebraska football finally bucks the trend
Those two polls represented the peak of the Scott Frost era and prevented the 2nd and 5th longest streak from merging into a single, massive 118 poll absence for the Big Red from the Top 25.
The NCAA record for the longest gap between AP Poll appearances belongs to Louisiana, who played as the Southwestern Louisiana Bulldogs when the drought began in 1943. Billy Napier would finally return them to the AP Top 25 in 2020 after 1,100 unranked polls. North Texas owns the longest active streak of falling outside of the AP Top 25 at 994 polls.
The Mean Green hasn’t been ranked since November 14, 1959, but has started the season 2-0 under second-year head coach Eric Morris with a matchup against his alma mater, Texas Tech, this week.
Nebraska will almost certainly beat Northern Iowa to stay in the AP Top 25. The loser of Arizona and Kansas State will likely fall out of the polls, setting up a Top 25 matchup on Friday night in Lincoln, assuming Illinois takes care of Central Michigan.
A win against the Illini would give Nebraska football an excellent opportunity to remain ranked for its spooky trip to Ohio State before Halloween. As long as Matt Rhule and Dylan Raiola are on the Husker's sideline, I don't expect this streak to start again.
Week 1 Arbitrary Stat of the Week Update: Jacory Barney Jr. picked up two carries against Colorado, giving the Huskers 12 unique players with a carry. Nebraska football is now tied with Navy in second place, with UNLV leading the nation with 13 players with a carry in the 2024 season.