It’s No Joke: Nebraska Hands Kansas Worst Loss in Its 94-Year History, 70-0

Coach Bob Valesente had joked that Kansas playing sixth-ranked Nebraska “will be like me getting into the ring with Marvin Hagler,” but it was actually much worse.

The referee would stop a Valesente-Hagler fight in the first round. But football games go 60 minutes, and Nebraska battered Valesente’s Jayhawks, 70-0, Saturday for the worst defeat in Kansas’ 94-year history.

Two weeks ago on this field, Oklahoma handed Kansas its second-worst loss, 64-3.

Although Steve Taylor, Nebraska’s No. 1 quarterback, sat out the game with bruised ribs, the Cornhuskers (9-2, 5-1) scored 21 points in the first quarter and led, 35-0, at halftime while beating the Jayhawks for the 18th straight year.

“I’m sorry it had to occur,” said Valesente, 3-7 overall and 0-6 in the Big Eight in his first season as head coach. “Sometimes, somebody has to be beaten like this. I feel sorry for the university and the players. But we got beat by an outstanding football team.”

Nebraska’s Keith Jones, whose season was thought to be finished with a thumb injury two weeks ago, scored two touchdowns 11 seconds apart in the first quarter as the Huskers got rolling on a day that saw them amass 587 yards in total offense to Kansas’ 100. Nebraska punted only once.

“It’s hard to say much after a game like that,” Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said. “I was surprised at the score. I thought we’d win, but maybe (by) 14 or 17 points.”