2002 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

2002 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Independence Bowl, L 23–27 vs. Ole Miss
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Division	North Division
Record	7–7 (3–5 Big 12)
Head coach	Frank Solich (5th season)
Offensive scheme	I formation
Defensive coordinator	Craig Bohl (3rd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

2002 Big 12 Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Division
No. 20 Colorado xy		7	–	1					9	–	5
No. 7 Kansas State		6	–	2					11	–	2
Iowa State		4	–	4					7	–	7
Nebraska		3	–	5					7	–	7
Missouri		2	–	6					5	–	7
Kansas		0	–	8					2	–	10
South Division
No. 5 Oklahoma xy$		6	–	2					12	–	2
No. 6 Texas x		6	–	2					11	–	2
Texas Tech		5	–	3					9	–	5
Oklahoma State		5	–	3					8	–	5
Texas A&M		3	–	5					6	–	6
Baylor		1	–	7					3	–	9
Championship: Oklahoma 29, Colorado 7
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2002 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Frank Solich and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nebraska finished in 4th place in the Big 12 North Division and tied for 8th conference–wide, with a final record of 7–7 (3–5). With their loss to Ole Miss in the Independence Bowl, the Huskers streak of 40 straight winning seasons came to an end. Earlier, a loss to Iowa State knocked the Huskers out of the AP Poll for the first time since October 11, 1981. The run of 348 consecutive weeks in the rankings was the longest in college football history.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 24	6:45 pm	Arizona State*	No. 10	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (BCA Classic)	ESPN	W 48–10	77,779
August 31	6:00 pm	Troy State*	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE		W 31–16	77,831
September 7	6:00 pm	Utah State*	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE		W 44–13	78,176
September 14	7:00 pm	at Penn State*	No. 8	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ABC	L 7–40	110,753
September 28	2:30 pm	at No. 19 Iowa State	No. 20	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA	ABC	L 14–36	51,888
October 5	11:30 am	No. 2 (I-AA) McNeese State*		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	HDNet	W 38–14	77,192
October 12	11:30 am	Missouri		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	PPV	W 24–13	78,014
October 19	11:30 am	at Oklahoma State		Lewis Field Stillwater, OK	FSN	L 21–24	45,017
October 26	6:00 pm	at Texas A&M		Kyle Field College Station, TX	TBS	W 38–31	81,054
November 2	6:00 pm	No. 7 Texas		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	FSN	L 24–27	78,268
November 9	12:30 pm	Kansas		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)		W 45–7	77,351
November 16	11:30 am	at No. 11 Kansas State		KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	FSN	L 13–49	52,221
November 29	2:30 pm	No. 13 Colorado		Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	ABC	L 13–28	77,804
December 27	3:30 pm	vs. Ole Miss*		Independence Stadium Shreveport, LA (Independence Bowl)	ESPN	L 23–27	46,096
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Roster and coaching staff

2002 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class SE 38 Brandon Biodrowski RFr TE 84 Jon Bowling Sr QB 11 Joe Chrisman Sr G 59 Wes Cody Sr IB 1 Thunder Collins Sr SE 32 Kelly Cook Jr WB 81 Ben Cornelsen Sr TE 80 Will Dabbert Sr FB 4 Judd Davies Jr IB 25 Josh Davis Jr IB 30 Dahrran Diedrick Sr G 78 Mike Erickson So OT 77 M.J. Flaum So WR 28 Isaiah Fluellen Fr C 52 John Garrison (C) Sr FB 39 Zach Giesselmann RFr TE 99 Aaron Golliday Sr G 72 Tim Green Jr IB 6 DeAntae Grixby Jr WB 89 Troy Hassebroek Sr TE 42 Matt Herian Fr IB 5 David Horne Fr OT 51 Richie Incognito RFr WB 31 Joel Jackson So FB 37 Paul Kastl Sr TE 47 Dusty Keiser So SE 19 John Klem Sr TE 46 John Knopp Fr C 75 Brandon Koch RFr OT 73 Scott Koethe Sr C 74 David Kolowski Sr OT 67 Nate Kolterman Sr FB 45 Steve Kriewald So WR 27 Mark LeFlore Fr G 66 Jermaine Leslie Fr SE 13 Tim Liley Jr C 63 Jack Limbaugh Jr WB 12 DeWayne Long So OT 76 Chris Loos Jr QB 10 Jammal Lord Jr OT 65 Nate Manley RFr C 64 Kurt Mann Fr WB 18 Mike McLaughlin RFr SE 14 Ryan Mikluscak So FB 32 Grant Miller Fr IB 21 Robin Miller Jr IB 23 Nanfwang Mutfwang RFr G 61 Brian Nelson Jr WB 24 Jack O'Holleran So WB 8 Ryan Ommert Jr TE 82 Phil Peetz Jr G 56 Gary Pike RFr SE 2 Ross Pilkington Fr OT 69 Nick Povendo So IB 36 Tim Reese Jr TE 86 Kyle Ringenberg Sr IB 22 Cory Ross RFr G 54 Carson Schott RFr SE 85 Matt Schroeder RFr TE 83 Chris Septak So C 79 Josh Sewell Jr TE 87 Alex Shada So QB 17 Scott Siefken So IB 33 Marques Simmons RFr QB 16 Mike Stuntz So G 55 Junior Tagoa'i Jr SE 9 Wilson Thomas Sr OT 57 Cory Timm Fr FB 41 Dane Todd Fr OT 68 Dan Vili Waldrop Jr G 53 Cody Volk Jr WB 20 Kiffin Wigert So FB 34 Andy Wingender Jr TE 44 Matthew Woodward RFr SE 3 Ben Zajicek So	Defense Pos. # Name Class RRE 98 Demoine Adams Sr NT 96 Titus Adams RFr LRE 61 Peter Alta RFr LCB 27 Willie Amos Jr LG 71 Jake Andersen So NT 68 Matt Behrends Sr NT 59 Ryon Bingham Jr LCB 16 Cole Biodrowski RFr FS 21 Philip Bland So WILL 39 Chad Buller Jr ROV 14 Daniel Bullocks RFr FS 20 Josh Bullocks RFr LCB 6 Rodney Burgess Sr FS 36 Dan Burrow So LCB 4 Terrell Butler Jr RE 90 Adam Carriker Fr NT 55 Jon Clanton Sr SLB 11 Ira Cooper So DT 97 Seppo Evwaraye RFr LRE 62 Anthony Fisher Fr WILL 41 Jared Franzluebbers RFr WILL 51 Gabe Fries Sr DT 99 Brandon Greeson Fr RCB 5 DeJuan Groce (C) Sr RCB 26 Kevin Guse Jr NT 73 Jared Helming RFr WILL 17 T.J. Hollowell Jr ROV 40 Lannie Hopkins So RCB 29 Kellen Huston So RCB 49 Adam Ickes RFr RRE 88 Trevor Johnson Jr DT 94 Patrick Kabongo Jr LRE 57 Chris Kelsay (C) Sr RRE 95 Nathan Krug RFr RE 64 Kristopher Lewin RFr FS 15 Brett Lindstrom Jr NT 70 Jason Lohr Sr FS 32 Derek Matteo So RRE 50 Jeff McBride So LCB 1 Lornell McPherson So WILL 58 Tim Miller Jr RE 44 Jay Moore Fr DT 63 Matt O'Shea RFr ROV 13 Jamie Otto So FS 31 Jerrell Pippens Jr CB 29 Seth Rexilius RFr LCB 28 Pat Ricketts Jr ROV 35 James Roark So RCB 30 Joey Robinson RFr MIKE 38 Barrett Ruud So MIKE 42 Steve Safranek Jr FS 8 Andrew Shanle Fr SLB 43 Scott Shanle Sr LRE 76 Matt Shrader So RCB 23 Shane Siegel RFr MIKE 54 Chad Sievers So SLB 45 Jemond Smith Sr LRE 92 Justin Smith Sr DT 66 Le Kevin Smith RFr MIKE 90 Tony Tata Sr ROV 2 Aaron Terpening Sr LRE 10 Benard Thomas Jr CB 25 Fred Thorne Jr CB 25 Blake Tiedtke RFr LRE 93 Tyler Toline So LB 35 Curt Tomasevicz Jr CB 3 Fabian Washington Fr LCB 12 Jay White Sr RCB 33 Seth White Jr WILL 7 Demorrio Williams Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK 26 Josh Brown Sr PK 22 Sandro DeAngelis So PK 32 Dale Endorf Jr P 37 Sam Koch RFr P 19 Kyle Larson Jr PK 48 Zach Wright RFr	Head coach Frank Solich    5th season    24th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Coordinators/assistant coaches Craig Bohl    3rd season as DC/LB coach    11th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Turner Gill    11th season as QB coach    11th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Ron Brown    16th season as WR/TE coach    16th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Brown Jeff Jamrog    3rd season as DL coach    5th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Dan Young    20th season as OL/K coach    20th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Reed Milt Tenopir    29th season as OL coach    29th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Sterling Nelson Barnes    6th season as RE coach    6th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: North Texas George Darlington    DB coach    30th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Rutgers Dave Gillespie    5th season as RB coach    14th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska-Omaha Boyd Epley    34th season as S&C coach    34th 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 Josh Bullocks Jerrell Pippens ⋅		WEAK MIDDLE STRONG Demorrio Williams T.J. Hollowell Barrett Ruud Scott Shanle Chad Buller Chad Sievers Ira Cooper ⋅ ⋅ ⋅					ROVER Phillip Bland Aaron Terpening Lannie Hopkins Daniel Bullocks
CB Fabian Washington Pat Ricketts ⋅		DE DT DT DE Demoine Adams Trevor Johnson Ryon Bingham Patrick Kabongo Chris Kelsay Titus Adams Jon Clanton Le Kevin Smith Justin Smith ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅						CB DeJuan Groce Lornell McPherson ⋅
Offense
WR Wilson Thomas Ross Pilkington ⋅		LT LG C RG RT Richie Incognito Mike Erickson John Garrison Wes Cody Dan Vili Waldrop Nick Povendo Junior Tagoa'l Josh Sewell Jake Anderson Nate Kolterman ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅					TE Matt Herian Aaron Golliday Jon Bowling	WR Troy Hassebroek Ben Cornelson ⋅
				QB Jammal Lord Mike Stuntz ⋅
		RB Dahrran Diedrick David Horne Cory Ross Josh Davis			FB Judd Davies Steve Kriewald ⋅		Special teams PK Josh Brown P Kyle Larson KR Josh Davis PR DeJuan Groce

Game summaries

Arizona State

Arizona State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Arizona State 3 0 7 0 10 • Nebraska 3 7 14 24 48 Date: August 24 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 77,779 TV announcers (ESPN): Ron Franklin (Play-by-play), Mike Gottfried (Color) & Adrian Karsten (Sideline)

Troy State

Troy State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Troy State 0 3 7 6 16 • Nebraska 7 7 14 3 31 Date: August 31 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 6:00 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,831

Utah State

Utah State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Utah State 7 0 0 6 13 • Nebraska 17 20 7 0 44 Date: September 7 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 6:00 p.m. CST Game attendance: 78,176

Penn State

Nebraska at Penn State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 7 0 0 7 • Penn State 0 13 20 7 40 Date: September 14 Location: Beaver Stadium, University Park, Pennsylvania Game start: 7:07 p.m. CST Game attendance: 110,753 TV announcers (ABC): Brad Nessler (Play-by-play), Bob Griese (Color) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Iowa State

Nebraska at Iowa State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 7 7 0 14 • Iowa State 3 16 7 10 36 Date: September 28 Location: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa Game start: 2:37 p.m. CST Game attendance: 51,888 TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger (Play-by-play), Gary Danielson (Color) & Jack Arute (Sideline)

McNeese State

McNeese State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total McNeese State 0 7 0 7 14 • Nebraska 7 14 0 17 38 Date: October 5 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 11:35 a.m. CST Game attendance: 77,192 Television network: HDNet

This was the first week Nebraska was not featured in the AP Poll since their 59-0 defeat of Colorado on October 10, 1981.

Missouri

Missouri at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Missouri 10 3 0 0 13 • Nebraska 7 7 7 3 24 Date: October 12 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 11:36 a.m. CST Game attendance: 78,014 TV announcers (PPV): Dave Armstrong (Play-by-play), Rich Baldinger (Color), Bill Doleman (Sideline) & Chris Gerving (Sideline)

Oklahoma State

Nebraska at Oklahoma State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 7 0 14 21 • Oklahoma State 0 3 14 7 24 Date: October 19 Location: Lewis Field, Stillwater, Oklahoma Game start: 11:39 a.m. CST Game attendance: 45,017 TV announcers (FSN): Bill Land (Play-by-play), Gary Reasons (Color) & Jim Knox (Sideline)

Nebraska's first loss against Oklahoma State since 1961.

Texas A&M

Nebraska at Texas A&M [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 7 7 7 17 38 Texas A&M 14 7 10 0 31 Date: October 26 Location: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas Game start: 6:07 p.m. CST Game attendance: 81,054 TV announcers (TBS): Ron Thulin (Play-by-play), Charles Davis (Color) & Craig Sager (Sideline)

Texas

Texas at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Texas 3 3 14 7 27 Nebraska 3 0 7 14 24 Date: November 2 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 6:09 p.m. CST Game attendance: 78,268 TV announcers (FSN): Joel Meyers (Play-by-play), Dave Lapham (Color) & Eric Clemons (Sideline)

Kansas

Kansas at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Kansas 7 0 0 0 7 • Nebraska 14 10 21 0 45 Date: November 9 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 12:30 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,351

Kansas State

Nebraska at Kansas State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 6 7 0 13 • Kansas State 14 7 7 21 49 Date: November 16 Location: KSU Stadium, Manhattan, Kansas Game start: 11:39 a.m. CST Game attendance: 52,221 TV announcers (FSN): Bill Land (Play-by-play), Gary Reasons (Color) & Jim Knox (Sideline)

Colorado

Colorado at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Colorado 7 0 14 7 28 Nebraska 0 10 3 0 13 Date: November 29 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 2:36 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,804 TV announcers (ABC): Brad Nessler (Play-by-play), Bob Griese (Color) & Lynn Swann (Sideline)

Ole Miss

Nebraska vs Ole Miss [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 3 14 3 3 23 • Ole Miss 0 14 10 3 27 Date: December 27 Location: Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana Game start: 3:38 p.m. CST Game attendance: 46,096 TV announcers (ESPN): Jeff Hullinger (Play-by-play), Todd Christensen (Color) & Stacy Paetz (Sideline)

Rankings

See also: 2002 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP	10	9	9	8	18	20	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Coaches Poll	8	8	8	7	19	19	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
BCS	Not released									—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Not released

After the season

Nebraska finished in 4th place in the Big 12 North Division and tied for 8th conference-wide, with a final record of 7-7 (3-5).

Awards

Award	Name(s)
All-America 1st team	DeJuan Groce, Richie Incognito
All-America 2nd team	Fabian Washington
All-America 4th team	David Horne
All-Big 12 1st team	Josh Brown, DeJuan Groce, Richie Incognito
All-Big 12 2nd team	John Garrison, Chris Kelsay, Kyle Larson
All-Big 12 3rd team	Dahrran Diedrick
Freshman All-Big 12 1st team	Matt Herian, David Horne, Richie Incognito, Ross Pilkington, Le Kevin Smith, Fabian Washington

NFL and pro players

The following Nebraska players who participated in the 2002 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
Adam Carriker	St. Louis Rams
Josh Davis	New York Jets
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
Sam Koch	Baltimore Ravens
Kyle Larson	Cincinnati Bengals
Jammal Lord	Houston Texans
Jay Moore	San Francisco 49ers
Jerrell Pippens	Chicago Bears
Cory Ross	Baltimore Ravens
Barrett Ruud	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Scott Shanle	St. Louis Rams
Le Kevin Smith	New England Patriots
Fabian Washington	Oakland Raiders
Demorrio Williams	Atlanta Falcons