Postgame notes: 2001 Nebraska vs. Missouri football
Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics
The No. 4/4 Nebraska Cornhuskers improved to 5-0 on the season with a 36-3 win to open Big 12 Conference play at Missouri. The win for the Huskers was Nebraska’s seventh straight overall; NU’s 23rd consecutive over Missouri; the Huskers 13th consecutive win in Columbia; Coach Frank Solich’s fourth straight over the Tigers in four tries; Nebraska’s fifth straight win in road openers; snapped a rare two-game road losing streak; and gave Coach Solich a 26-0 record vs. Missouri (3-0 as a player, 19-0 as an assistant, 4-0 as a head coach).
Nebraska had a slow start, hampered by two turnovers in the first quarter. Quarterback Eric Crouch threw his third interception of the season, and DeJuan Groce fumbled a punt return. Both turnovers took place inside the Missouri 30-yard line and the Husker defense held the Tigers as they were unable to convert either turnover. Missouri scored first on a 28-yard field goal by Brad Hammerich with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter. It marked the second time Nebraska has trailed this season (also vs. Troy State). Nebraska did not record a first down and had just 62 yards in the first quarter compared to Missouri’s 108. On Nebraska’s last drive of the first quarter, which extended into the second quarter, Crouch converted three third downs (11-yard pass to Judd Davies, his first this season, an 11-yard run and a 19-yard run and a successful fourth-down conversion when he handed off to I-Back Dahrran Diedrick, who scored Nebraska’s first touchdown on a one-yard run. The 14-play drive that took 5:21, were both season longs for the Huskers (73 yards).
The Huskers took a 13-3 halftime lead, after Crouch led the Huskers on a 67-yard drive that culminated in a four-yard TD run by Diedrick. Crouch completed a 10-yard pass to Missouri native Tracey Wistrom, which gave him the school TE receiving record, and a 37-yard pass to Wilson Thomas.
Nebraska extended the margin to 13 points on a Josh Brown 38-yard field goal. That drive of 15 plays, 54 yards and 6:20, were season bests for long plays and long time. NU went up 22-3 after Crouch broke a 20-year-old school record, with a 95-yard touchdown run. Crouch also scored on a 15-yard TD run and reserve quarterback Jammal Lord scored on a one-yard run to give the Huskers the final 36-3 margin. Crouch had a record-setting day with 191 yards rushing and 311 in total offense. NU totaled a season-best 412 yards rushing, 120 passing and a season-best 532 total-offense yards. Missouri had 205 total-offense yards, on 138 passing yards and 67 by rush. Missouri is the fourth opponent that the Blackshirts have held to less than 70 yards rushing.
• Senior quarterback Eric Crouch improved to 29-5 as a starter. Crouch carried 17 times for 191 yards and completed 8-of-14 passes for 120 yards. He had one interception and no touchdowns thrown. Crouch went over the 100-yard rushing mark, with a career-best, school-record 95-yard touchdown run, which gave Nebraska a 22-3 lead with two minutes remaining in the third quarter. The previous school record was 94 yards by Craig Johnson vs. Kansas 1979 and Roger Craig vs. Florida State in 1981. Crouch’s previous long TD run was 62 yards vs. Notre Dame in 2000. For Crouch, it is his first 100-yard rushing game of the season and 11th of his career. His last 100-yard rushing game was against Colorado last season, when he had 125. His previous career best in single-game rushing yards was 158 yards on 27 carries vs. Kansas State in 1999. Crouch also had a career-best 311 yards of total offense, breaking his previous best of 302 yards vs. Iowa State last season (138 rushing, 164 passing). Today’s game marks Crouch’s sixth game when he has totaled at least 250 yards of total offense, all coming in the last two seasons. Crouch set the regular-season single-game rushing record for a Husker quarterback by the end of the third quarter with 191 rushing yards. The previous record was 174 yards by Gerry Gdowski vs. Iowa State in 1989. (Tommie Frazier had 199 yards vs. Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl.) Crouch also had a 15-yard TD run with 9:56 in the fourth quarter, which put the Huskers up 29-3 to give him two TDs on the day.
Crouch already owns Nebraska school records for career rushing yards by a quarterback (2,755) and career total offense (6,359). On a 37-yard completion to Wilson Thomas, Crouch passed Tommie Frazier’s 3,521 yards from 1992 to 1995 to move up to third on the NU all-time passing chart. He now has 3,604 passing yards. Crouch’s rushing yards rank seventh overall at NU (passing Derek Brown’s 2,699 from 1990 to 1992), 10th in the Big 12 (up from 12th) and eighth among NCAA Division I-A quarterbacks (moving up three spots from 10th). Crouch is second all time at NU in rushing TDs with 47 and needs three more to take the school record away from Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier (49 from 1981 to 1983).
Crouch threw his third interception of the season, his 18th of his career in the first quarter, ending a two-game, nine-quarter, 25-attempt streak where he had not thrown an interception. After the interception, Crouch marched the Huskers on a 14-play, 73-yard drive in the first quarter that spanned 73 yards. Crouch carried for 30 of the yards, twice rushing for first downs on third-and-long situations (11 yards, 19 yards).
• Senior tight end (and Webb City, Mo., product) Tracey Wistrom broke the Husker record for career receiving yards with his first catch. On a 10-yard reception from Crouch on Nebraska’s second scoring drive, Wistrom totaled 52 receptions for 1,049 yards, breaking the career record previously held by Junior Miller, who had 1,045 from 1977 to 1979. Wistrom also caught a 16-yard pass from Crouch on NU’s second drive of the third quarter giving NU a third-down conversion. He had two catches for 26 yards in the game, giving him 53 catches for 1,039 yards in his career. Wistrom is tied for third in career receptions and is eight catches behind Jerry List’s school-record 61 receptions (from 1970 to 1972), four behind Miller’s 55, and tied with Jim McFarland’s 53 from 1968 to 1969. Wistrom has caught at least one pass in each of the last nine regular-season games.
• Junior linebacker Scott Shanle had a career-best three pass breakups in the game and was the Husker leader with eight tackles. No linebacker or defensive tackle at Nebraska has ever had four pass breakups in a game. The three PBU’s by Shanle ranked tied for seventh on the NU single-game list, tied with 35 others.
• Junior I-back Dahrran Diedrick scored the Huskers? first two touchdowns of the game, on runs of one and four yards, both in the second quarter. Diedrick leads the Huskers with 470 yards in four games played. Diedrick totaled 36 yards in the first quarter, 67 at halftime on 18 carries and 86 yards on 24 carries in the game. He did not play in the fourth quarter. Diedrick has 985 yards in his career, just 15 short of the 1,000 yard rushing plateau.
• Junior cornerback DeJuan Groce had a career-best day returning punts. He returned seven punts for 145 yards. Four of his returns bettered his previous career long of 20 yards set last week against Rice. Groce had returns of 26 yards, 24 yards, 21 and 24 yards, but fumbled and lost the first 24-yard return to Missouri. The Tigers did not convert. Groce’s previous career bests were four returns for 58 yards vs. Rice. Groce also had four pass breakups.
• Sophomore I-back Josh Davis had two long kickoff returns, of 26 yards to open the first half, and 33 yards to open the second half. Davis now has five kickoff returns of more than 25 yards.
• Junior split end Wilson Thomas caught a 37-yard pass from Crouch that led to Nebraska’s second touchdown of the game. He also made a 15-yard grab that led to Josh Brown’s 38-yard field goal on NU’s second drive of the third quarter. He had three for 59 in the game.
• Linebacker T.J. Hollowell recorded his first career sack, a 12-yard tackle for loss. NU has had at least one sack in every game this season.