2001 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

The 2001 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Frank Solich and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

2001 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Big 12 North co-champion
Rose Bowl (BCS NCG), L 14–37 vs. Miami (FL)
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Division	North Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 8
Record	11–2 (7–1 Big 12)
Head coach	Frank Solich (4th season)
Offensive scheme	I formation
Defensive coordinator	Craig Bohl (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

2001 Big 12 Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Division
No. 9 Colorado xy$		7	–	1					10	–	3
No. 8 Nebraska x%		7	–	1					11	–	2
Iowa State		4	–	4					7	–	5
Kansas State		3	–	5					6	–	6
Missouri		3	–	5					4	–	7
Kansas		1	–	7					3	–	8
South Division
No. 5 Texas xy		7	–	1					11	–	2
No. 6 Oklahoma		6	–	2					11	–	2
Texas Tech		4	–	4					7	–	5
Texas A&M		4	–	4					8	–	4
Oklahoma State		2	–	6					4	–	7
Baylor		0	–	8					3	–	8
Championship: Colorado 39, Texas 37
$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 25	2:30 pm	TCU*	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (Pigskin Classic)	ABC	W 21–7	77,473
September 1	11:30 am	Troy State*	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	FSN	W 42–14	77,812
September 8	7:00 pm	No. 17 Notre Dame*	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (College GameDay) (rivalry)	ABC	W 27–10	78,118
September 20	7:30 pm	Rice*	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE		W 48–3	77,344
September 29	11:30 am	at Missouri	No. 4	Faurot Field Columbia, MO (rivalry)	FSN	W 36–3	64,204
October 6	6:00 pm	Iowa State	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	FSN	W 48–14	78,002
October 13	1:00 pm	at Baylor	No. 4	Floyd Casey Stadium Waco, TX		W 48–7	38,102
October 20	6:00 pm	Texas Tech	No. 3	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	FSN	W 41–31	77,838
October 27	11:00 am	No. 2 Oklahoma	No. 3	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry) (College GameDay)	ABC	W 20–10	78,031
November 3	6:00 pm	at Kansas	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS (rivalry)	FSN	W 51–7	50,750
November 10	2:30 pm	Kansas State	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	ABC	W 31–21	77,818
November 23	2:30 pm	at No. 14 Colorado	No. 2	Folsom Field Boulder, CO (rivalry)	ABC	L 36–62	53,790
January 3, 2002	7:00 pm	vs. No. 1 Miami (FL)*	No. 4	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl) (College GameDay) (rivalry)	ABC	L 14–37	93,781
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Roster and coaching staff

2001 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class IB 41 Matt Albertson Jr G Steve Altstadt Sr G 71 Jake Andersen RFr SE 38 Brandon Biodrowski Fr TE 84 Jon Bowling Jr SE Clifford Brye Jr QB 11 Joe Chrisman Jr G 59 Wes Cody Jr IB 1 Thunder Collins Jr SE 32 Kelly Cook So WB 81 Ben Cornelsen Jr QB 7 Eric Crouch Sr TE 80 Will Dabbert Jr FB 4 Judd Davies So IB 25 Josh Davis So G 50 Jon Dawson So IB 30 Dahrran Diedrick Jr WB 29 Andrew Dunn RFr G 78 Mike Erickson RFr OT 65 M.J. Flaum RFr G 77 Toniu Fonoti Jr C 52 John Garrison Jr WB 8 John Gibson Sr TE 99 Aaron Golliday Jr FB 49 Nick Gragert Sr OT 72 Tim Green So IB 6 DeAntae Grixby So SE 89 Troy Hassebroek Jr C Richie Incognito Fr SE 80 Jason Jisa RFr FB 37 Paul Kastl Jr TE 41 Dusty Keiser RFr SE 19 John Klem Jr OT 73 Scott Koethe Jr OT 75 Kyle Kollmorgen Sr C 74 David Kolowski Jr OT 67 Nate Kolterman Jr FB 45 Steve Kriewald RFr SE 28 Tim Liley So C 63 Jack Limbaugh So QB 15 Brett Lindstrom So WB 12 DeWayne Long RFr OT 76 Chris Loos So QB 10 Jammal Lord So QB Mike McLaughlin So SE 14 Ryan Mikluscak RFr IB 21 Robin Miller So G 61 Brian Nelson So WB 24 Jack O'Holleran RFr SE 23 Ryan Ommert So TE 82 Phil Peetz So OT Gary Pike Fr WB 27 Matt Plooster So OT 69 Nick Povendo RFr IB 36 Tim Reese So TE 86 Kyle Ringenberg Jr IB Cory Ross Fr G 66 Jon Rutherford Sr TE 83 Chris Septak RFr G 79 Josh Sewell So TE 42 Alex Shada RFr C 53 Matt Shook Jr QB 13 Scott Siefken RFr IB Marques Simmons Fr QB 16 Mike Stuntz Fr G 55 Junior Tagoa'i So SE 9 Wilson Thomas Jr WB 31 Fred Thorne So FB 35 Curt Tomasevicz RFr OT 68 Dan Vili Waldrop So OT 57 Cody Volk So OT 58 Dave Volk Sr SE 20 Kiffin Wigert RFr FB 25 Andy Wingender So TE 87 Tracey Wistrom Sr WB 5 Ben Zajicek RFr	Defense Pos. # Name Class RE 98 Demoine Adams Jr NT Titus Adams Fr FS 27 Willie Amos So DT 59 Ryon Bingham So ROV 21 Philip Bland Fr ROV 29 Mic Boettner Sr FS 14 Dion Booker Sr NT 91 Manaia Brown RFr WLB 39 Chad Buller So FS Daniel Bullocks Fr ROV Josh Bullocks Fr ROV 19 Jesse Yoder RFr CB Rodney Burgess Jr FS 36 Dan Burrow RFr MLB 48 Jamie Burrow Sr ROV 4 Terrell Butler So NT 55 Jon Clanton Jr MLB 47 Ira Cooper RFr LCB 3 Keyuo Craver Sr ROV 32 Tim Demerath Sr NT Seppo Evwaraye Fr SLB 51 Gabe Fries Jr RCB 5 DeJuan Groce Jr LCB 26 Kevin Guse So NT Jared Helming Fr RCB 18 Jeff Hemje Sr WLB 46 Anthony Hoke So MLB 17 T.J. Hollowell So ROV 40 Lannie Hopkins RFr RCB 15 Kellen Huston RFr RCB 24 Matt Ickes Sr LCB 30 Joel Jackson RFr WLB 23 Blanchard Johnson So RE 88 Trevor Johnson So DT 94 Patrick Kabongo So RE 57 Chris Kelsay Jr CB Randy Landingham Fr NT 70 Jason Lohr Sr MLB 53 Mike Makris So CB Danieal Manning Fr DT 79 Stephen Manning Jr RE 76 Jeff McBride RFr LCB 6 Lornell McPherson RFr WLB 58 Tim Miller So DT 85 Casey Nelson Sr LCB 13 Jamie Otto RFr FS 31 Jerrell Pippens So WLB 44 Jason Richenberger RFr LCB 13 Pat Ricketts So MLB Barrett Ruud Fr MLB 47 Steve Safranek So FS 35 Carl Scholting So SLB 43 Scott Shanle Jr RE 97 Matt Shrader Fr LB Chad Sievers So DT 56 Jeremy Slechta Sr SLB 45 Jemond Smith Jr RE 92 Justin Smith Jr DT Le Kevin Smith Fr WLB 34 Randy Stella Jr RCB 16 Erwin Swiney Sr MLB 90 Tony Tata Jr ROV 2 Aaron Terpening Jr RE 10 Benard Thomas So RE 93 Tyler Toline RFr WLB 9 Mark Vedral Sr RE 97 Adrian Warrior Jr LCB 29 Jay White Jr LCB 33 Seth White So RE 95 J.P. (John Paul) Wichmann Sr ROV 20 Wes Woodward Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK 26 Josh Brown Jr PK 22 Sandro DeAngelis RFr P 19 Kyle Larson So	Head coach Frank Solich    4th season    23rd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Coordinators/assistant coaches Craig Bohl    2nd season as DC/LB coach    10th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Turner Gill    10th season as QB coach    10th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Ron Brown    15th season as WR/TE coach    15th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Brown Jeff Jamrog    2nd season as DL coach    4th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Dan Young    19th season as OL/K coach    19th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Reed Milt Tenopir    28th season as OL coach    28th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Sterling Nelson Barnes    5th season as RE coach    5th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: North Texas George Darlington    DB coach    29th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Rutgers Dave Gillespie    4th season as RB coach    13th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska-Omaha Boyd Epley    33rd season as S&C coach    33rd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: January 16, 2011

Depth chart

Defense
FS Willie Amos Dion Booker Jerrell Pippens		WILL MIKE SAM Mark Vedral Jamie Burrow Scott Shanle T.J. Hollowell Barrett Ruud Ira Cooper Blanchard Johnson Jason Richenberger Gabe Fries					ROVER Dion Booker Philip Bland Aaron Terpening
CB Keyuo Craver Pat Ricketts Lornell McPherson		DE DT DT DE Demoine Adams Jon Clanton Jeremy Slechta Chris Kelsay J.P. Wichmann Trevor Johnson Ryon Bingham Casey Nelson Justin Smith ⋅ Manaia Brown Patrick Kabongo Benard Thomas						CB DeJuan Groce Erwin Swiney Jeff Hemje
Offense
WR Wilson Thomas Ben Cornelson Mike Stuntz		LT LG C RG RT Dave Volk Toniu Fonoti John Garrison Jon Rutherford Dan Vil Waldrop Scott Koethe Steve Altstadt David Kolowski Wes Cody Chris Loos Kyle Kollmorgen Mike Erickson Matt Shook. Junior Tagoa'i Nate Kolterman					TE Tracey Wistrom Aaron Golliday Jon Bowling Kyle Ringenberg	WR John Gibson Troy Hassebroek John Klem
				QB Eric Crouch Jammal Lord Joe Chrisman
		RB Dahrran Diedrick Thunder Collins DeAntae Grixby			FB Judd Davies Steve Kriewald Paul Kastl		Special teams PK Josh Brown P Kyle Larson KR Josh Davis PR DeJuan Groce

Game summaries

TCU

TCU at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total TCU 7 0 0 0 7 • Nebraska 13 0 8 0 21 Date: August 25 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,473 TV announcers (ABC): Mike Tirico (Play–by–play), Tim Brant (Color) & Todd Harris (Sideline)

Troy State

Troy State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Troy State 7 7 0 0 14 • Nebraska 14 14 7 7 42 Date: September 1 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,812 TV announcers (FSN): Drew Goodman (Play–by–play), Dave Lapham (Color) & Jim Knox (Sideline)

Notre Dame

Notre Dame at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 0 3 0 7 10 • Nebraska 17 10 0 0 27 Date: September 8 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 78,118 TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger (Play–by–play), Gary Danielson (Color) & Jack Arute (Sideline)

Rice

Rice at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Rice 0 0 0 3 3 • Nebraska 21 7 20 0 48 Date: September 20 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,344 TV announcers (FSN): Joel Meyers (Play–by–play), James Lofton (Color) & Eric Clemons (Sideline)

Rice at Nebraska, on September 20, 2001 was the first NCAA College Football game following the infamous Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.

Missouri

Nebraska at Missouri [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 0 13 9 14 36 Missouri 3 0 0 0 3 Date: September 29 Location: Faurot Field, Columbia, Missouri Game attendance: 64,204 TV announcers (FSN): Drew Goodman (Play–by–play), Dave Lapham (Color) & Jim Knox (Sideline)

Iowa State

Iowa State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Iowa State 0 0 14 0 14 • Nebraska 20 21 0 7 48 Date: October 6 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 78,002 TV announcers (FSN): Joel Meyers (Play–by–play), James Lofton (Color) & Eric Clemons (Sideline)

Baylor

Nebraska at Baylor [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 7 7 7 27 48 Baylor 0 7 0 0 7 Date: October 13 Location: Floyd Casey Stadium, Waco, Texas Game attendance: 38,102

Texas Tech

Texas Tech at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Texas Tech 13 15 3 0 31 • Nebraska 21 7 10 3 41 Date: October 20 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,838 TV announcers (FSN): Joel Meyers (Play–by–play), James Lofton (Color) & Eric Clemons (Sideline)

Oklahoma

Oklahoma at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Oklahoma 0 10 0 0 10 • Nebraska 0 10 3 7 20 Date: October 27 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 78,031 TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger (Play–by–play), Gary Danielson (Color) & Jack Arute (Sideline)

Kansas

Nebraska at Kansas [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 0 20 7 24 51 Kansas 0 0 0 7 7 Date: November 3 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, Kansas Game attendance: 50,750 TV announcers (FSN): Joel Meyers (Play–by–play), James Lofton (Color) & Eric Clemons (Sideline)

Kansas State

Kansas State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Kansas State 0 14 0 7 21 • Nebraska 0 13 15 3 31 Date: November 10 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,818 TV announcers (ABC): Brad Nessler (Play–by–play), Bob Griese (Color) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Colorado

Nebraska at Colorado [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 3 20 7 6 36 • Colorado 28 14 0 20 62 Date: November 23 Location: Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado Game attendance: 53,790 TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger (Play–by–play), Gary Danielson (Color) & Jack Arute (Sideline)

#14 ranked Colorado pulled off a huge upset over #2 ranked Nebraska.

Miami (FL)

Nebraska vs Miami (FL) [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 0 7 7 14 • Miami (FL) 7 27 0 3 37 Date: January 3 Location: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California Game attendance: 93,781 TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson (Play–by–play), Tim Brant (Color), Todd Harris (Sideline) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Rankings

See also: 2001 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	6	5	4	8
Coaches	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	6	4	4	7
Harris	Not released						N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Not released
BCS	Not released								2	1	1	1	1	4	3	2	Not released

After the season

Nebraska finished in a tie for 1st place in the Big 12 North Division and also tied for 1st conference-wide, with a final record of 11–2 (7–1).

The events which took place at the end of the season put a strain on the system of college rankings and polls. The Cornhuskers lost their final regular season game to Colorado 36–62, leaving both tied for 1st place in the Big 12 North Division. As Colorado won the head-to-head contest, Colorado then participated in the Big 12 Championship and defeated Texas 39–37. Despite Colorado's accomplishments, Nebraska's strength-of-schedule component in the Bowl Championship Series selection system resulted in the Cornhuskers being selected to play in the 2002 Rose Bowl for the BCS National Championship Game against Miami, despite the fact that Nebraska had not played in its own conference championship game and technically had not even won its own division.

Nebraska then fell to Miami 14–37 in the Rose Bowl, but the controversy of these events led to more modifications to the BCS formula, which followed a pattern of seasonal tweaks dating back nearly to when the BCS system was implemented.

Senior Cornhusker quarterback Eric Crouch was the 2001 recipient of the Walter Camp Award, the Davey O'Brien Award, and the Heisman Trophy. Coach Solich was also selected Big 12 Football Coach of the Year.

Awards

Award	Name(s)
Heisman Trophy	Eric Crouch
Walter Camp Award	Eric Crouch
Davey O'Brien Award	Eric Crouch
Sporting News Player of the Year	Eric Crouch
ABC/Chevrolet Player of the Year	Eric Crouch
Big 12 Coach of the Year	Frank Solich
All-American 1st Team	Toniu Fonoti, Keyuo Craver, Eric Crouch
All-American 2nd Team	Chris Kelsay
All-American 3rd Team	Tracey Wistrom
All-Big 12 1st team	Toniu Fonoti, Eric Crouch, Keyuo Craver, Dahrran Diedrick
All-Big 12 2nd team	Dave Volk, Chris Kelsay, Jamie Burrow
All-Big 12 3rd team	Tracey Wistrom, Jeremy Slechta, DeJuan Groce, Kyle Larson

NFL and pro players

The following Nebraska players who participated in the 2001 season later moved on to the next level and joined a professional or semi-pro team as draftees or free agents.

Name	Team
Demoine Adams	Edmonton Eskimos
Titus Adams	New York Jets
Ryon Bingham	San Diego Chargers
Josh Brown	Seattle Seahawks
Daniel Bullocks	Detroit Lions
Josh Bullocks	New Orleans Saints
Eric Crouch	St. Louis Rams
Keyuo Craver	New Orleans Saints
Josh Davis	New York Jets
Toniu Fonoti	San Diego Chargers
Aaron Golliday	Scottish Claymores
DeJuan Groce	St. Louis Rams
T. J. Hollowell	New York Giants
Richie Incognito	St. Louis Rams
Trevor Johnson	New York Jets
Patrick Kabongo	Detroit Lions
Chris Kelsay	Buffalo Bills
Kyle Larson	Cincinnati Bengals
Jammal Lord	Houston Texans
Jerrell Pippens	Chicago Bears
Cory Ross	Baltimore Ravens
Barrett Ruud	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Scott Shanle	St. Louis Rams
Jeremy Slechta	Philadelphia Eagles
Le Kevin Smith	New England Patriots
Erwin Swiney	Green Bay Packers