American college football season
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.
Date Time Opponent Rank Site TV Result Attendance August 24 6:45 pm Arizona State * No. 10 ESPN W 48–1077,779 August 31 6:00 pm Troy State * No. 9 Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE W 31–1677,831 September 7 6:00 pm Utah State * No. 9 Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE W 44–1378,176 September 14 7:00 pm at Penn State * No. 8 ABC L 7–40110,753 September 28 2:30 pm at No. 19 Iowa State No. 20 ABC L 14–3651,888 October 5 11:30 am No. 2 (I-AA ) McNeese State * Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE HDNet W 38–1477,192 October 12 11:30 am Missouri Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry ) PPV W 24–1378,014 October 19 11:30 am at Oklahoma State FSN L 21–2445,017 October 26 6:00 pm at Texas A&M TBS W 38–3181,054 November 2 6:00 pm No. 7 Texas Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE FSN L 24–2778,268 November 9 12:30 pm Kansas Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry ) W 45–777,351 November 16 11:30 am at No. 11 Kansas State FSN L 13–4952,221 2:30 pm No. 13 Colorado Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry ) ABC L 13–2877,804 3:30 pm vs. Ole Miss * ESPN L 23–2746,096 *Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time
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Roster and coaching staff [ edit ] 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 Special teams Head coach Coordinators/assistant coaches Craig Bohl Nebraska Turner Gill Nebraska Ron Brown Brown Jeff JamrogNebraska Dan YoungReed Milt TenopirSterling Nelson BarnesNorth Texas George DarlingtonRutgers Dave GillespieNebraska-Omaha Boyd EpleyNebraska Legend (C) Team captain(S) Suspended(I) IneligibleRoster
Defense
FS Josh Bullocks Jerrell Pippens ⋅
WEAK MIDDLE STRONG Demorrio Williams Barrett Ruud Scott Shanle Chad Buller Chad Sievers Ira Cooper ⋅ ⋅ ⋅
ROVER Phillip Bland Aaron Terpening Lannie Hopkins
CB Fabian Washington Pat Ricketts ⋅
DE DT DT DE Demoine Adams 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
FB Judd Davies Steve Kriewald ⋅
Arizona State at Nebraska [box score]
Troy State at Nebraska [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total Troy State 0 3 7 6 16 • Nebraska 7 7 14 3 31
Utah State at Nebraska [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total Utah State 7 0 0 6 13 • Nebraska 17 20 7 0 44
Nebraska at Penn State [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 7 0 0 7 • Penn State 0 13 20 7 40
Nebraska at Iowa State [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 7 7 0 14 • Iowa State 3 16 7 10 36
McNeese State at Nebraska [box score]
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 at Nebraska [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total Missouri 10 3 0 0 13 • Nebraska 7 7 7 3 24
Nebraska at Oklahoma State [box score]
Nebraska's first loss against Oklahoma State since 1961 .
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
Texas at Nebraska [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total • Texas 3 3 14 7 27 Nebraska 3 0 7 14 24
Kansas at Nebraska [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total Kansas 7 0 0 0 7 • Nebraska 14 10 21 0 45
Nebraska at Kansas State [box score]
Colorado at Nebraska [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total • Colorado 7 0 14 7 28 Nebraska 0 10 3 0 13
Nebraska vs Ole Miss [box score] 1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 3 14 3 3 23 • Ole Miss 0 14 10 3 27
Ranking movementsLegend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking 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
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).
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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 [ edit ] 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.[ 3]
Venues Bowls and rivalries Culture and lore People Seasons National championship seasons in bold
