Nebraska Unveils New "Blackout" Jerseys for USC Game - Blackshirts History Explained
Get ready for the Big Ten Saturday Night “blackout” game between the USC Trojans and Nebraska Cornhuskers.
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NBC’s Big Ten Saturday Night is heading to Nebraska for a bigtime college football clash on Saturday, November 1, and the Cornhuskers’ home-field setting — coming just a day after Halloween — couldn’t be more apt for the occasion.
As Nebraska gets set to host the USC Trojans under the lights on Saturday, the university is amping up the attitude with its first-ever officially-sanctioned “blackout” game. For both the players and the fans, it’s just what it sounds like: The Cornhuskers will take the field sporting unique all-black uniforms for their showdown against the No. 23-ranked Trojans, while fans in the stands will ditch their traditional scarlet-and-cream gameday attire in favor of an all-black color palette.
Check out the new-look all-black jerseys right here.
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Saturday’s blackout game at Nebraska comes with more than just present-day pep rally vibes; there’s actually a deeper connection that links those all-black unis to the Cornhuskers’ storied football past. Keep scrolling below for more on how to catch the game… and to find out why the Huskers are getting back to black this weekend.
USC vs. Nebraska: How to watch the "Blackout" game on Big Ten Saturday Night
First things first: The USC Trojans (5-2) will travel to Lincoln on Saturday, November 1 to face the Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-2) for an in-conference Big Ten showdown in this week’s featured college football matchup on Big Ten Saturday Night.
The Kickoff time for Nebraska's "Blackout" game is set for 7:30 p.m. ET, with NBC and Peacock broadcasting the game live from what’s sure to be an electrified Memorial Stadium — blacked out to the max, of course — at Nebraska.
Nebraska’s Blackshirt history: A college football tradition explained
One of the most dominant and storied programs in college football history, the Nebraska Cornhuskers never need to announce their presence for fans familiar with their game. Their traditional uniforms remain among college football’s most recognizable old-school looks, featuring scarlet home jerseys, cream pants, and the iconic Nebraska “N” in scarlet against a white-shelled helmet whose only other adornment is a simple front-to-back scarlet stripe.
The helmets will still be white for Saturday’s blackout game, but that’s where the color similarities end. The Cornhuskers will hit the field with an all-black look from head to toe, including black pants and black jerseys alongside blacked-out helmet markings (the stripe and the “N”), with hardly a hint of scarlet to be seen.
The all-black spectacle might be new for this weekend’s gameday at Nebraska, but on the practice field, black is a color that Cornhusker fans have held close to their college football hearts for decades. Beginning in the 1960s and cherished as part of Nebraska’s proud winning tradition ever since, black jerseys — or “Blackshirts,” in Cornhusker parlance — have signified Nebraska’s historically stingy defense, all thanks to an unlikely tradition that began under legendary head coach Bob Devaney.
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Devaney coached the Cornhuskers from 1962 to 1972, winning two back-to-back national championships in 1970 and 1971. Early in his tenure as head coach at Nebraska, Devaney and his staff realized they’d get more out of their practice sessions by making the team’s defensive players easier to recognize at a glance, and began handing out black pullover practice shirts for defensive players only.
"We had no idea then of the tradition that was beginning,” former defensive starter Mike Kennedy shared with the university for a deep dive into the origins of Nebraska’s Blackshirt legacy. And to be fair, college football traditions like the Blackshirts tend to only take root when winning — and winning big — is part of the tradition.
At Nebraska, winning definitely became the standard thanks to Devaney’s landmark national championship teams, propelling the Blackshirt tradition into a time-honored university ritual that would walk hand in hand beside the Cornhuskers’ dominant string of championship-winning seasons all throughout the remainder of the 20th Century. In all, the Huskers have won five college football national championships, adding three more after Devaney’s tenure under former head coach Tom Osborne — who would go on to coach Nebraska to college football’s ultimate title in 1994, 1995, and 1997.
