Nebraska's quest to return to its dominating winning ways was rather far off the track, the last three bright spots on the record books increasingly far into the past.

[6][7] In front of one of the larger crowds to watch a Nebraska football game, the Cornhuskers stumbled out of the gate in Columbus and found themselves behind 0-27 by the end of the first half.

As the game was drawing to a close, the Cornhuskers still trailed 6-7 when Nebraska PK George Harshman booted a 24-yard field goal in the final seconds to extract the win.

However, if the outcome was foretold, someone failed to tell the Wildcat team, as Kansas State then put up a solid defensive effort to hold off any further Nebraska scores while punching in one of their own.

[6][8] Nebraska looked to be in form to bounce back from the upset loss to Kansas State the week prior, and made a statement suggesting as much when they jumped out to a 14–0 lead over the Hoosiers.

[6][9] The Cornhuskers were handed their first shutout loss of 1956 by Colorado, whose two touchdowns and safety provided the points to break their two-game losing streak to Nebraska.

The win moved the Buffaloes to 6-9-0 over the Cornhuskers all-time, and left Nebraska nursing three straight losses, with just a 1–2 record in conference play so far for the season.

The momentum of the game finally turned completely when Baylor returned a punt 91 yards for a score, and the Bears eventually pulled away by 19 points.

Backfield Coach Bill Jennings was subsequently named as Elliott's successor and assumed control over the struggling Cornhusker football program.