11-26-24
AIRING IT OUT
Eric Crouch could run. One piece of evidence: he ran for a then-NCAA-quarterback-record 59 touchdowns during his career. He also could pass, as the Iowa game in 2000, his junior year,showed.
The game was the last the Huskers and Hawkeyes played as non-conference opponents. The “Heroes Game” rivalry began when Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011.
But back to 2000, at Memorial Stadium, the No. 1 Huskers’ last non-conference game.
“Iowa probably blitzed more today than I’ve seen them blitz over the last two years,” said Nebraska Coach Frank Solich. “They came with a lot of people and they came with their safeties an awful lot, and that will slow you down some in the running game.
“There are times when you catch them in that and you’ll get some big plays out of the running game. But it, also, if you’re able to protect it, opens up some of the passing game.”
The Huskers rushed for 331 yards, averaging 6.5 yards per carry, led by Dan Alexander, who rushed for 113 yards on 15 carries, and Correll Buckhalter, who rushed for 100 yards on 16 carries.
Crouch carried 12 times for a net of 93 yards, but consider this. He completed 10-of-13 passes, with no interceptions, for 159 yards and, pay attention now, five touchdowns.
Five touchdowns. Nebraska’s only other touchdown, its last, came on back-up free safety Troy Watchorn’s 39-yard interception return with 55 seconds remaining in the game.
More about the defense shortly, but consider Crouch’s five touchdown passes, three to tight end Tracey Wistrom and two to split end Matt Davison.
Wistrom’s were for 12, 10 and 4 yards, Davison’s 31 and 43 yards.
Solich was asked to grade Crouch’s performance.
“You’d have to give him an A-plus,” Solich said. No surprise.
“All in all, I thought Eric played another excellent football game on both the running and passing ends,” said Solich. “The leadership that he shows out there has also been outstanding.”
The 43-yard Davison touchdown pass came on the last play of the first half.
“We work a great deal on our passing game and our 2-minute offense,” Solich said. “We were really not in our 2-minute offense. We had timeouts and we still felt that we had time to mix it up a bit and not get stuck in a four-wideout passing offense. We don’t miss a day of running that pattern.”
Nebraska didn’t throw deep a lot, Solich said.
The Husker defense stepped up, too. Iowa finished with 299 yards of offense, only 88 in the second half. Iowa scored the game’s first touchdown and kicked two field goals in the second quarter. The Hawkeyes were shut out in the second half. “You can rack up yards, but if those points aren’t being racked up, your defense is probably doing a good job,” said Solich.
The Blackshirts sacked Iowa quarterback Scott Mullen six times and intercepted two passes. Linebacker Scott Shanle intercepted a pass and had a team-high nine tackles.
Linebacker Carlos Polk had nine tackles and one of the sacks. Cornerback Keyuo Craver had eight tackles and a sack. Linebacker Randy Stella had six tackles and a sack-and-a-half.
The passing game was something “we’ve worked on very hard over the last couple weeks,” Crouch said. “We have the talent to throw the ball, and we have the receivers to go out and make big plays.”
That’s what happened the afternoon of September 23, 2000.
Mike Babcock
