On the surface, those rankings would seem respectable, but the fact that the Huskers allowed three of its last four opponents to score 29 points or more during the team's 2-2 regular season stretch run hardly lived up to traditional Blackshirts' standards. In retrospect, one has to wonder exactly what was expected of the 2000 Husker defense. After all, it was a unit that lost quality starters at six positions, not to mention some very capable backups. Graduation took three NFL draft picks from Nebraska, including a pair of All-America defensive backs in Mike Brown and Ralph Brown. When you do that, anything can happen.
All bets are off.
It was an exciting time and there were some happy moments. The most notable of which probably came in Nebraska's 66-17 Alamo Bowl victory over Northwestern. Entering the game, the Wildcats ranked third nationally in total offense at 475.6 yards per game and were ninth in scoring offense at 38.6 points per game. Northwestern did manage 383 total yards in the game, but was largely neutralized by the Husker defense. Northwestern posed a big challenge.