# 2002 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

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

## Roster and coaching staff
### 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

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Arizona State | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| • Nebraska | 3 | 7 | 14 | 24 | 48 |

### Troy State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Troy State | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 16 |
| • Nebraska | 7 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 31 |

### Utah State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Utah State | 7 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| • Nebraska | 17 | 20 | 7 | 0 | 44 |

### Penn State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Nebraska | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| • Penn State | 0 | 13 | 20 | 7 | 40 |

### Iowa State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Nebraska | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| • Iowa State | 3 | 16 | 7 | 10 | 36 |

### McNeese State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| McNeese State | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| • Nebraska | 7 | 14 | 0 | 17 | 38 |
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

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Missouri | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| • Nebraska | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 24 |

### Oklahoma State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Nebraska | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
| • Oklahoma State | 0 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 24 |
Nebraska's first loss against Oklahoma State since 1961.

### Texas A&M

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Nebraska | 7 | 7 | 7 | 17 | 38 |
| Texas A&M | 14 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 31 |

### Texas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Texas | 3 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 27 |
| Nebraska | 3 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 24 |

### Kansas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Kansas | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| • Nebraska | 14 | 10 | 21 | 0 | 45 |

### Kansas State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Nebraska | 0 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 13 |
| • Kansas State | 14 | 7 | 7 | 21 | 49 |

### Colorado

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Colorado | 7 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 28 |
| Nebraska | 0 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 13 |

### Ole Miss

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Nebraska | 3 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 23 |
| • Ole Miss | 0 | 14 | 10 | 3 | 27 |

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked :
| | Week | 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 | 16 | Final |
| AP | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 18 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Coaches Poll | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 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 |