Conference Big 12 Conference Coaches No. 14 2009 record 10–4 (6–2 Big 12) | Division North AP No. 14 Head coach Bo Pelini (2nd year) | |
The 2009 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cornhuskers played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska and were led by head coach Bo Pelini. The Cornhuskers finished the season 10–4, 6–3 in Big 12 and were Big 12 North Division champions and represented the division in the Big 12 Championship Game, where they lost to Texas 13–12. Nebraska was invited to the Holiday Bowl, where they defeated Arizona 33–0.
Contents
Before the season
The 2009 Cornhuskers began the regular season on Saturday, September 5, 2009 against the Florida Atlantic Owls. The Cornhuskers were led by second-year Head Coach Bo Pelini. Pelini previously served as Defensive Coordinator for LSU and Oklahoma following a season as Nebraska's Defensive Coordinator in 2003, and was brought back to Nebraska to lead the football program by Nebraska's former Head Coach and current Athletic Director, Tom Osborne after the conclusion of the 2007 season.
Schedule
Source:
After the season
After the bowl game it was revealed that QB Zac Lee had been playing with an injured throwing arm since the Arkansas State game on September 12, the second game of the season, and that off-season surgery was scheduled to help him ready for the 2010 season. Despite periods of fan outcries about Nebraska's offensive struggles, news of his injury had deliberately been withheld during the season to prevent opposing teams from using the specific knowledge to their advantage.
With the Holiday Bowl victory, Pelini secured the program's first 10-win season since 2003, which coincidentally was the season when former head coach Frank Solich was controversially fired before the bowl game and Pelini himself as interim coach led the Cornhuskers to their 10th win of 2003 in the Alamo Bowl against Michigan State. Nebraska finished 2009 with the nation's No. 1 scoring defense for only the second time in school history (1984). The Nebraska defense also led the country in pass efficiency defense and red zone efficiency defense, and it finished in the top ten in the four major defensive categories (scoring, total, pass efficiency, rushing) for the first time since 1999. Nebraska's overall program record at the end of the 2009 season stood at 827–341–40 (.701) all-time.