Happy Halloween it was not, for Nebraska football anyway. The seventh-ranked Huskers lost for the second time in October 1998, and the first time at home since falling to Washington 36-21 in 1991.
This time the loss was to — knock, knock, who’s there? — unranked Texas, 20-16, ending the 47-game home winning streak before the largest Memorial Stadium crowd of the season, 76,434.
“Offensively, we really didn’t get anything going in terms of the ground game, to get the option going,” Coach Frank Solich said. “Our inside game was quite a bit of a struggle.”
That despite Texas ranking 64th nationally in rushing defense, and 77th in total defense.
The Huskers rushed for 194 yards on 47 carries, and finished with 311 total yards.
“It was rough going on the ground,” said Solich.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Eric Crouch was Nebraska’s leading rusher, with 108 yards on 17 carries. His 38-yard touchdown run gave the Huskers a 13-10 lead late in the third quarter.
With Bobby Newcombe sidelined by a posterior cruciate ligament injury and Crouch coming off a hip-pointer injury, senior walk-on Monte Christo got his first, and only, start. He was 4-for-4 passing, without an interception, for 58 yards, but gave way to Crouch with 8:24 remaining in the first half.
Crouch went 6-for-13, also without an interception, for 59 yards. Both took two sacks.
Wingback Shevin Wiggins was Nebraska’s leading receiver with four catches for 59 yards.
Texas finished with 398 total yards. Quarterback Major Applewhite completed 14-of-26 passes for 269 yards and the Longhorns’ two touchdowns. He threw one interception (to cornerback Ralph Brown) and took three sacks (from defensive tackle Loran Kaiser and linebackers Jay Foreman and Eric Johnson).
Rover Mike Brown made 19 tackles, including eight solo. His total was the most by a Husker since 1981. Rush end Mike Rucker had 11 tackles, Foreman 10.
Texas running back Ricky Williams, who would win the Heisman Trophy, rushed for 150 yards on 37 carries, an impressive total. But he went in averaging 210 yards a game.
“We were so off-and-on,” Husker defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said. “One minute we looked good, the next minute we looked awful.”
That was particularly the case early. “We looked a little flat early. I don’t know what it was,” said McBride. “Everybody was watching to see what was going to happen.
“There didn’t seem to be any enthusiasm.”
That included the crowd as well as the players.
Texas scored the first 10 points, beginning with Applewhite’s first touchdown pass, a 16-yarder, capping the Longhorns’ first possession. Kris Stockton kicked a 36-yard field goal 10 seconds into the second quarter. Kris Brown cut the Longhorn lead to seven with a 27-yard field goal as time elapsed in the half. He opened the second half with a 47-yard field goal, and Crouch followed with his touchdown run to give Nebraska the 13-10 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Brown responded to Stockton’s 19-yard, early fourth-quarter field goal, forced after the Longhorns had first-and-goal at the Nebraska 5-yard line, with a 42-yard field goal to give the Huskers a 16-13 lead with 8:33 remaining. But Texas regained the lead on Applewhite’s second touchdown pass, 2 yards, with 2:47 left. Final score: 20-16.
The loss was Nebraska’s first to an unranked opponent at home since mid-November 1978, when Missouri upset the second-ranked Huskers 35-31 at Memorial Stadium.
Trick or treat? Texas offered no treats for Nebraska, just a trick. The Huskers would drop to 14th in the Associated Press rankings, their first time out of the top 10 since 1992.
