# 2000 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

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 StadiumLincoln, Nebraska | PPV | W 49–13 | 77,728 |
| September 9 | 1:30 pm | at No. 23 Notre Dame* | No. 1 | Notre Dame StadiumNotre Dame, Indiana (College GameDay) (rivalry) | NBC | W 27–24 $^{OT}$ | 80,232 |
| September 23 | 2:30 pm | Iowa* | No. 1 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska (rivalry) | ABC | W 42–13 | 78,070 |
| September 30 | 6:00 pm | Missouri | No. 1 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska (rivalry) | FSN | W 42–24 | 77,744 |
| October 7 | 2:30 pm | at Iowa State | No. 2 | Jack Trice StadiumAmes, Iowa | ABC | W 49–27 | 50,074 |
| October 14 | 6:00 pm | at Texas Tech | No. 1 | Jones SBC StadiumLubbock, Texas | FSN | W 56–3 | 48,961 |
| October 21 | 1:00 pm | Baylor | No. 1 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska | | W 59–0 | 77,959 |
| October 28 | 11:00 am | at No. 3 Oklahoma | No. 1 | Oklahoma Memorial StadiumNorman, Oklahoma (rivalry, College GameDay) | ABC | L 14–31 | 75,989 |
| November 4 | 2:30 pm | Kansas | No. 5 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska (rivalry) | ABC | W 56–17 | 78,096 |
| November 11 | 6:00 pm | at No. 16 Kansas State | No. 4 | KSU StadiumManhattan, Kansas (rivalry) | FSN | L 28–29 | 53,811 |
| November 24 | 11:00 am | Colorado | No. 10 | Memorial StadiumLincoln, Nebraska (rivalry) | ABC | W 34–32 | 77,672 |
| December 30 | 7:00 pm | vs. No. 18 Northwestern* | No. 9 | AlamodomeSan Antonio, Texas (Alamo Bowl) | ESPN | W 66–17 | 60,028 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||

## 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

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| San José State | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 13 |
| • Nebraska | 14 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 49 |

### Notre Dame

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| • Nebraska | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 27 |
| Notre Dame | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 24 |

### Iowa

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Iowa | 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| • Nebraska | 7 | 14 | 7 | 14 | 42 |

### Missouri

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Missouri | 7 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 24 |
| • Nebraska | 7 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 42 |

### Iowa State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Nebraska | 0 | 13 | 8 | 28 | 49 |
| Iowa State | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 27 |

### Texas Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Nebraska | 14 | 14 | 7 | 21 | 56 |
| Texas Tech | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |

### Baylor

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Baylor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| • Nebraska | 38 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 59 |

### Oklahoma

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Nebraska | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| • Oklahoma | 0 | 24 | 7 | 0 | 31 |

### Kansas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Kansas | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 17 |
| • Nebraska | 21 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 56 |

### Kansas State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Nebraska | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 28 |
| • Kansas State | 7 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 29 |

### Colorado

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Colorado | 0 | 10 | 7 | 15 | 32 |
| • Nebraska | 14 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 34 |

### Northwestern

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Nebraska | 7 | 31 | 21 | 7 | 66 |
| Northwestern | 3 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 17 |

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking ( ) = First-place votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | 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 | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 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 |