Bugeaters!

[MelroseHawkins]

Where exactly did that name come from or what's the tie?

 

[ChosenChildren]

That was their original nickname but I do not know how it originated

 

[1hawkeye1]

I think it's cause people from Nebraska enjoy eating bugs.

 

[MrEHawk]

Bugs are an excellent source of protein and are eaten by cultures around the world.

 

[1hawkeye1]

Bugs are an excellent source of protein and are eaten by cultures around the world.

You sound like a cornhusker.

 

[damnfinn]

bugeaters was officially adapted as the nickname in 1892 after the insect devouring bull bats that hovered over the plains. The name only stuck for a few years. Around the turn of century some Lincoln sportswriter decided he liked calling them the cornhuskers, actually stealing the name from Iowa. At that time Iowa was occasionally know as the cornhuskers.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

bugeaters was officially adapted as the nickname in 1892 after the insect devouring bull bats that hovered over the plains. The name only stuck for a few years. Around the turn of century some Lincoln sportswriter decided he liked calling them the cornhuskers, actually stealing the name from Iowa. At that time Iowa was occasionally know as the cornhuskers.

No sheeite. Interesting! Thanks.

 

[damnfinn]

I forgot an important detail. Most Iowans did not like the nickname Cornhuskers, so it never caught on. They preferred the name Hawkeyes.

 

[HobbieHawk]

bugeaters was officially adapted as the nickname in 1892 after the insect devouring bull bats that hovered over the plains. The name only stuck for a few years. Around the turn of century some Lincoln sportswriter decided he liked calling them the cornhuskers, actually stealing the name from Iowa. At that time Iowa was occasionally know as the cornhuskers.

Gold star for damnfinn!

 

[HawkinCarroll]

From Huskers.com:

Before 1900, Nebraska football teams were known by such names as the "Old Gold Knights", "Antelopes", "Rattlesnake Boys", and the "Bugeaters". In its first two seasons (1890-91), Nebraska competed as the Old Gold Knights, but beginning in 1892, Nebraska adopted Scarlet and Cream as its school colors and accepted Bugeaters as its most popular nickname until the turn of the century. Named after the insect-devouring bull bats that hovered over the plains, the Bugeaters also found their prey in the Midwest, enjoying winning campaigns in every year of the 1890s until a disappointing season in 1899.

After its first losing season in a decade, it must have seemed only fitting that Nebraska move in a new direction, and Lincoln sportswriter Charles S. Sherman, who was to gain national renown as the sports editor of the Lincoln Star and helped originate The Associated Press Poll, provided the nickname that has gained fame for more than a century. Sherman tired of referring to the Nebraska teams with such an unglamorous term as Bugeaters. Iowa had, from time to time, been called the Cornhuskers, and the name appealed to Sherman.

Iowa partisans seemed to prefer "Hawkeyes", so Sherman began referring to the Nebraska team as "Cornhuskers", and the 1900 team was the first to bear that label.

Of course, the name caught on and became a Nebraska byword, eventually becoming the official nickname for the state.

 

[Hawkcrush]

They say yOu should learn something everyday. So thank you for the dime drop.

 

[PhoenixHawk]

Nebraska actually asked the university if they could use the name before officially adopting it.