2000 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

2000 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Big 12 North co-champion Alamo Bowl champion
Alamo Bowl, W 66–17 vs. Northwestern
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Division	North Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 8
Record	10–2 (6–2 Big 12)
Head coach	Frank Solich (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	I formation
Defensive coordinator	Craig Bohl (1st season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

2000 Big 12 Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Division
No. 9 Kansas State xy		6	–	2					11	–	3
No. 8 Nebraska x		6	–	2					10	–	2
No. 25 Iowa State		5	–	3					9	–	3
Colorado		3	–	5					3	–	8
Kansas		2	–	6					4	–	7
Missouri		2	–	6					3	–	8
South Division
No. 1 Oklahoma x$#		8	–	0					13	–	0
No. 12 Texas		7	–	1					9	–	3
Texas A&M		5	–	3					7	–	5
Texas Tech		3	–	5					7	–	6
Oklahoma State		1	–	7					3	–	8
Baylor		0	–	8					2	–	9
Championship: Oklahoma 27, Kansas State 24
# – BCS National Champion $ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2000 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Frank Solich and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The Cornhusker's 2000 Red-White spring game featured Nebraska's first (and currently only) female player: KaLena "Beanie" Barnes, a senior sprinter for Nebraska's women's track-and-field teams, played in spring practice as a punter and recorded one 35-yard punt. She would not stay with the team for the regular season.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	11:30 am	San José State*	No. 1	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska	PPV	W 49–13	77,728
September 9	1:30 pm	at No. 23 Notre Dame*	No. 1	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, Indiana (College GameDay) (rivalry)	NBC	W 27–24 OT	80,232
September 23	2:30 pm	Iowa*	No. 1	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)	ABC	W 42–13	78,070
September 30	6:00 pm	Missouri	No. 1	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)	FSN	W 42–24	77,744
October 7	2:30 pm	at Iowa State	No. 2	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, Iowa	ABC	W 49–27	50,074
October 14	6:00 pm	at Texas Tech	No. 1	Jones SBC Stadium Lubbock, Texas	FSN	W 56–3	48,961
October 21	1:00 pm	Baylor	No. 1	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska		W 59–0	77,959
October 28	11:00 am	at No. 3 Oklahoma	No. 1	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, Oklahoma (rivalry, College GameDay)	ABC	L 14–31	75,989
November 4	2:30 pm	Kansas	No. 5	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)	ABC	W 56–17	78,096
November 11	6:00 pm	at No. 16 Kansas State	No. 4	KSU Stadium Manhattan, Kansas (rivalry)	FSN	L 28–29	53,811
November 24	11:00 am	Colorado	No. 10	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska (rivalry)	ABC	W 34–32	77,672
December 30	7:00 pm	vs. No. 18 Northwestern*	No. 9	Alamodome San Antonio, Texas (Alamo Bowl)	ESPN	W 66–17	60,028
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Roster and coaching staff

2000 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class IB 32 Matt Albertson So IB 38 Dan Alexander Sr G 64 Steve Altstadt Jr G Jake Andersen Fr SE 20 Tom Beveridge Sr TE 84 Jon Bowling So IB 36 Correll Buckhalter Sr QB 11 Joe Chrisman So G 59 Wes Cody So IB 1 Thunder Collins Jr SE 32 Kelly Cook Fr WB 86 Ben Cornelsen So QB 7 Eric Crouch Jr TE 91 Will Dabbert So FB 4 Judd Davies Fr IB 2 Josh Davis Fr SE 3 Matt Davison Sr G 57 Jon Dawson Fr IB 30 Dahrran Diedrick So G Mike Erickson Fr OT M.J. Flaum Fr G 77 Toniu Fonoti So C 52 John Garrison So WB 8 John Gibson Sr TE 99 Aaron Golliday So FB 49 Nick Gragert Jr OT 72 Tim Green Fr IB 6 DeAntae Grixby So SE 83 Seth Gutz Sr G 62 Andy Gwennap So G 69 Brian Hale Fr WB 89 Troy Hassebroek So G 55 Russ Hochstein Sr SE Jason Jisa Fr TE 82 Trevor Johnson Fr FB 44 Paul Kastl So TE Dusty Keiser Fr WB 19 John Klem So OT 73 Scott Koethe So OT 75 Kyle Kollmorgen Jr C 74 David Kolowski So OT 67 Nate Kolterman So FB Steve Kriewald Fr SE 28 Tim Liley Fr G 70 Jack Limbaugh Fr QB 14 Brett Lindstrom Fr WB DeWayne Long Fr G 71 Chris Loos Fr QB 10 Jammal Lord Fr WB Alvin Marshall Fr WB 33 Luke McGowan Fr TE 90 Jake McKee Sr SE Ryan Mikluscak Fr IB 21 Robin Miller RFr FB 15 Willie Miller Sr TE 43 John Murphy Sr OT 63 Brian Nelson Fr WB 12 Bobby Newcombe Sr WB Jack O'Holleran Fr SE 23 Ryan Ommert Fr WB 81 Matt Plooster RFr OT Nick Povendo Fr C 54 Dominic Raiola Jr IB 46 Tim Reese RFr G 66 Jon Rutherford Jr G 79 Chris Saalfeld Sr OT 65 Jason Schwab Sr TE Chris Septak Fr C 53 Matt Shook So G 76 Dan Swantek Fr SE 9 Wilson Thomas So SE 47 Fred Thorne RFr FB 35 Curtis Tomasevicz Fr OT 68 Dan Vili Waldrop RFr OT 56 Cody Volk RFr OT 58 Dave Volk Jr FB 27 Andy Wingender Fr TE 87 Tracey Wistrom Jr WB Ben Zajicek Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class RE 98 Demoine Adams So ROV 27 Willie Amos Fr RCB 28 Josh Anderson Sr SLB 41 Rod Baker Sr NT 59 Ryon Bingham Fr ROV 12 Rob Blomeier Fr ROV 4 Mic Boettner Jr FS 14 Dion Booker Jr RE Manaia Brown Fr SLB 49 Brad Bryan Fr WLB 36 Chad Buller Fr FS Dan Burrow Fr MLB 48 Jamie Burrow Jr LCB Terrell Butler Fr NT 55 Jon Clanton So MLB Shaun Coleman Fr SLB Ira Cooper Fr MLB 52 Jon Coyne Jr LCB 3 Keyuo Craver Jr ROV 37 Tim Demerath Jr ROV 2 Mike Demps So RE 46 Ty Dilts So FS 19 Clint Finley Sr FS 38 Eric Fischer Sr SLB 53 Gabe Fries So ROV 1 Taylor Gehman So RCB 5 DeJuan Groce So RE 97 Matt Grummert Sr LCB 26 Kevin Guse Fr LCB 18 Jeff Hemje Jr SLB 51 Anthony Hoke Fr SLB T.J. Hollowell Fr WLB Lannie Hopkins Fr RCB 24 Matt Ickes Jr LCB Joel Jackson Fr WLB 23 Blanchard Johnson Fr DT 94 Patrick Kabongo Fr DT 91 Loran Kaiser Sr RE 57 Chris Kelsay So NT 70 Jason Lohr Jr MLB 44 Jason Long Fr MLB 54 Mike Makris RFr DT 79 Stephen Manning So RE Jeff McBride Fr LCB 33 Dwayne McClary Sr DT 71 Matt McGinn Jr RCB 6 Lornell McPherson Fr WLB 58 Tim Miller RFr RE 93 Brandon Mooberry Sr RCB 22 Don Neal Fr NT 87 Casey Nelson Jr CB Jamie Otto Fr RE 78 Phil Peetz RFr SLB 44 Jon Penny Jr FS 21 Jerrell Pippens RFr MLB 13 Carlos Polk Sr WLB Jason Richenberger Fr RCB 13 Pat Ricketts RFr RE 85 Kyle Ringenberg So MLB 50 Steve Safranek RFr FS 11 Carl Scholting RFr SLB 43 Scott Shanle So DT 56 Jeremy Slechta Jr WLB 15 Jemond Smith So RE 92 Justin Smith So MLB 40 Luke Smith So WLB 34 Randy Stella So RCB 16 Erwin Swiney Sr NT 96 Junior Tagoa'i RFr MLB 90 Tony Tata So ROV 8 Aaron Terpening So RE Benard Thomas Fr RE 83 Kyle Vanden Bosch Sr WLB 9 Mark Vedral Jr ROV 25 Joe Walker Sr NT Brian Wanish Sr RE 99 Adrian Warrior So FS 42 Troy Watchorn Sr LCB 29 Jay White So RE 95 J.P. (John Paul) Wichmann Jr ROV 20 Wes Woodward Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK 26 Josh Brown So PK 22 Sandro DeAngelis Fr P 17 Dan Hadenfeldt Sr P 18 Kyle Larson Fr PK 10 Chace Long Sr	Head coach Frank Solich    3rd season    22nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Coordinators/assistant coaches Craig Bohl    1st season as DC/LB coach    9th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Turner Gill    9th season as QB coach    9th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Ron Brown    14th season as WR/TE coach    14th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Brown Jeff Jamrog    1st season as DL coach    3rd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Dan Young    18th season as OL/K coach    18th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Reed Milt Tenopir    27th season as OL coach    27th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Sterling Nelson Barnes    4th season as RE coach    4th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: North Texas George Darlington    DB coach    28th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Rutgers Dave Gillespie    3rd season as RB coach    12th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska-Omaha Boyd Epley    32nd season as S&C coach    32nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

Depth Chart

Defense
FS Dion Booker Troy Watchorn Willie Amos		WILL MIKE SAM Randy Stella Carlos Polk Scott Shanle Mark Vedral Jamie Burrow T.J. Hollowell Jon Penny Tony Tata Rod Baker					ROVER Joe Walker Clint Finley Wes Woodward
CB Keyuo Craver Pat Ricketts Dwayne McClary		DE DT DT DE Kyle Vanden Bosch Jason Lohr Loran Kaiser Chris Kelsay J.P. Wichmann Jon Clanton Jeremy Slechta Demoine Adams Kyle Ringenberg Junior Tagoa'i. Casey Nelson Justin Smith						CB DeJuan Groce Erwin Swiney Jeff Hemje
Offense
WR Matt Davison Wilson Thomas Tom Beveridge		LT LG C RG RT Dave Volk Toniu Fonoti Dominic Raiola Russ Hochstein Jason Schwab Jon Rutherford Dan V Waldrop Jon Rutherford Jon Dawson Kyle Kollmorgen Chris Loos Wes Cody Matt Shook John Garrison Scott Koethe					TE Tracey Wistrom Aaron Golliday Jon Bowling Trevor Johnson	WR Bobby Newcombe John Gibson Troy Hassebroek
				QB Eric Crouch Jammal Lord Joe Chrisman
		RB Dan Alexander Correll Buckhalter Dahrran Diedrick Thunder Collins			FB Willie Miller Judd Davies Paul Kastl		Special teams PK Josh Brown P Dan Hadenfeldt KR Joe Walker PR Bobby Newcombe

Game summaries

San José State

San José State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total San José State 6 0 7 0 13 • Nebraska 14 14 14 7 49 Date: September 2 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,728 TV announcers (PPV): Warren Swain (Play-by-play) & Adrian Fiala (Color)

Notre Dame

Nebraska at Notre Dame [box score]

1 2 3 4 OT Total • Nebraska 7 7 7 0 6 27 Notre Dame 0 7 7 7 3 24 Date: September 9 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, Indiana Game attendance: 80,232 TV announcers (NBC): Craig Minervini (Play-by-play), Pat Haden (Color) & Bob Wischusen (Sideline)

Iowa

Iowa at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Iowa 7 6 0 0 13 • Nebraska 7 14 7 14 42 Date: September 23 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 78,070 TV announcers (ABC): Sean McDonough (Play-by-play) & Ed Cunningham (Color)

Missouri

Missouri at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Missouri 7 7 10 0 24 • Nebraska 7 21 7 7 42 Date: September 30 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,744 TV announcers (FSN): Ron Thulin (Play-by-play), James Lofton (Color) & Eric Clemons (Sideline)

Iowa State

Nebraska at Iowa State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 0 13 8 28 49 Iowa State 7 7 6 7 27 Date: October 7 Location: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa Game attendance: 50,074 TV announcers (ABC): Chip Tarkenton (Play-by-play) & Reggie Rivers (Color)

Texas Tech

Nebraska at Texas Tech [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 14 14 7 21 56 Texas Tech 0 0 3 0 3 Date: October 14 Location: Jones SBC Stadium, Lubbock, Texas Game attendance: 48,961 TV announcers (FSN): Ron Thulin (Play-by-play), James Lofton (Color) & Eric Clemons (Sideline)

Baylor

Baylor at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Baylor 0 0 0 0 0 • Nebraska 38 14 7 0 59 Date: October 21 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,959

Oklahoma

Nebraska at Oklahoma [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 14 0 0 0 14 • Oklahoma 0 24 7 0 31 Date: October 19 Location: Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma Game attendance: 75,989 TV announcers (ABC): Brad Nessler (Play-by-play), Bob Griese (Color) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Kansas

Kansas at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Kansas 0 3 0 14 17 • Nebraska 21 14 14 7 56 Date: November 4 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 78,096 TV announcers (ABC): Brad Nessler (Play-by-play), Bob Griese (Color) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Kansas State

Nebraska at Kansas State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 14 0 0 14 28 • Kansas State 7 10 6 6 29 Date: November 11 Location: KSU Stadium, Manhattan, Kansas Game attendance: 53,811 TV announcers (FSN): Ron Thulin (Play-by-play), James Lofton (Color) & Eric Clemons (Sideline)

Colorado

Colorado at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Colorado 0 10 7 15 32 • Nebraska 14 0 7 13 34 Date: November 24 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,672 TV announcers (ABC): Brad Nessler (Play-by-play), Bob Griese (Color) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Northwestern

Nebraska vs Northwestern [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 7 31 21 7 66 Northwestern 3 14 0 0 17 Date: December 30 Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas Game attendance: 60,028 TV announcers (ESPN): Dave Barnett (Play-by-play), Bill Curry (Color), Mike Golic (Color) & Michele Tafoya (Sideline)

Rankings

See also: 2000 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	1 (36)	1 (35)	1 (39)	1 (41)	1 (43)	1 (39)	2 (28)	1 (67)	1 (66)	1 (67)	5	4	10	9	10	9	8
Coaches Poll	1 (36)	1 (40)	1 (43)	1 (48)	1 (44)	1 (44)	1 (37)	1 (53)	1 (57)	1 (58)	6	5	10	8	9	8	7
BCS	Not released									1	4	4	8	8	8	8	Not released

After the season

Nebraska finished in a tie for 1st place in the Big 12 North Division, and tied for 3rd conference-wide, with a final record of 10–2 (6–2).

The season was concluded by #9 Nebraska blowing out #18 Northwestern by 66–17, the largest margin of victory in Alamo Bowl history.

Head Coach Frank Solich's career record improved to 31–7 (18–6).

Awards

Award	Name(s)
Rimington Trophy	Dominic Raiola
Draddy Trophy	Kyle Vanden Bosch
Sports Illustrated All-Bowl Team	Russ Hochstein
All-American 1st Team	Dominic Raiola, Carlos Polk, Russ Hochstein
All-American 2nd Team	Eric Crouch, Tracey Wistrom
All-Big 12 1st team	Dan Alexander, Keyuo Craver, Toniu Fonoti, Dan Hadenfeldt, Russ Hochstein, Carlos Polk, Dominic Raiola, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Tracey Wistrom
All-Big 12 2nd team	Eric Crouch
All-Big 12 3rd team	Troy Watchorn
All-Big 12 Honorable Mention	Correll Buckhalter, Matt Davison, Bobby Newcombe, Dave Volk

NFL and pro players

The following Nebraska players who participated in the 2000 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
Dan Alexander	Tennessee Titans
Ryon Bingham	San Diego Chargers
Josh Brown	Seattle Seahawks
Correll Buckhalter	Philadelphia Eagles
Eric Crouch	St. Louis Rams
Keyuo Craver	New Orleans Saints
Josh Davis	New York Jets
Clint Finley	Kansas City Chiefs
Toniu Fonoti	San Diego Chargers
Aaron Golliday	Scottish Claymores
DeJuan Groce	St. Louis Rams
Russ Hochstein	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
T. J. Hollowell	New York Giants
Trevor Johnson	New York Jets
Patrick Kabongo	Detroit Lions
Chris Kelsay	Buffalo Bills
Kyle Larson	Cincinnati Bengals
Jammal Lord	Houston Texans
Bobby Newcombe	Montreal Alouettes
Jerrell Pippens	Chicago Bears
Carlos Polk	San Diego Chargers
Dominic Raiola	Detroit Lions
Scott Shanle	St. Louis Rams
Jeremy Slechta	Philadelphia Eagles
Erwin Swiney	Green Bay Packers
Kyle Vanden Bosch	Arizona Cardinals
Joe Walker	Tennessee Titans