The winning season of 1940 was a distant memory for Nebraska through the remainder of the 1940s. Shortly after the Rose Bowl loss against Stanford, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The bombing not only had an impact on American society, but also on the quality of coaches and players the Cornhuskers saw for the remainder of the decade.
In 1941, Nebraska lost Coach Biff Jones and many of its best players to the armed forces. During the war, many major universities had military officer training programs. While students finished their training, they could play football. Teams like Notre Dame and Big Ten schools never experienced a drop-off in talent. Nebraska had no military program, so men enlisting in the Air Force and Navy had to leave the state for training.
Not only did Nebraska lack good players, they also lacked a stable coaching base. Nebraskans saw six coaches in the 1940s. One of those coaches was A.J. Lewandowski who, at one time, worked as head football coach while he led the basketball team, acted as athletic director, and managed the business sector of the athletic department. One player rejuvenated the Cornhusker's spirits in the second half of the decade. Omahan Tom "Trainwreck" Novak reminded Nebraska they were still in the game, even after the devastation war had on the state.
