Sports: Husker Football

NU Beats Injuries, Errors In 41-31 Win Over Texas Tech

by Ed Howard

October 21, 2001

LINCOLN - Eric Crouch tossed three touchdown passes and ran for a fourth score Saturday as No. 3 Nebraska thrilled a Cornhusker homecoming crowd with a 41-31 victory over Texas Tech.

From the beginning the game had ebbs and flows worthy of a Hollywood script. Fumbles, dropped passes, great catches, bad passes, a touchdown on a punt return, the calling back of a TD on a kickoff return. It was not a contest for faint-hearted fans of either team.

The win lifted NU to 8-0, and 4-0 in the Big 12 Conference. In addition to the victory, Nebraska collected some possibly worrisome injuries among its starters. And the Huskers were sufficiently error-prone in the first half to make the most devoted fan worry about the coming contest with Oklahoma.

The Red Raiders fell to 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the conference.

Crouch was credited with 299 yards of total offense. It would have been 301 or so, but the Heisman Trophy candidate lost a few yards with a couple of "kneel downs" at the end of the game. And, while Crouch again proved his versatility as a runner and passer, he also got tagged with a couple of interceptions.

The excitement got started when Wes Welker drew first blood for Texas Tech, romping 85 yards with a first-quarter punt return.

Nebraska responded with an 80-yard drive, capped by a 27-yard Crouch to Jon Bowling TD pass. It seemed like one of those days when the Huskers had a special-teams breakdown, but came right back to show everyone who was who.

Texas Tech's Jason Wesley fumbled the ensuing kickoff and NU's Tim Demerath recovered at the Tech 25-yard line. Judd Davies scored on the next play. Yep. Everything seemed on schedule. Nebraska's up, 14-7.

The Red Raiders had gone from landing the first big punch to looking as though they were getting punchy. But it didn't last.

Tech mounted a balanced, 50-yard drive that resulted in a 35-yard Robert Treece field goal. Nebraska 14, Texas Tech 10.

Not to worry. Nebraska starts at its own 32 and rolls 68 yards, just as though the whole thing was scripted, and scores on a 19-yard pass from Crouch to Wilson Thomas. So. It's NU 21, Tech 10. and Husker fans are thinking that, now, things are shaping up.

Forget it. Another Tech drive. Treece boots a career-best, 42-yard field goal. You can see how those Texans held out so long at the Alamo. There ain't no quit in 'em, for sure. NU 21, TT 13.

Fine. If the Texans want to hang in there for a good beating, let them do it. Crouch to Wilson, again, 35 yards, touchdown, again. Are you keeping score? Nebraska 28, TT 13. That should do it, one might have thought. Incorrectly.

Texas Tech does a Nebraska. A 74-yard drive that ends with Anton Paines scoring on a 1-yard pass from quarterback Kliff Kingsbury. It was still 28-20 in NU's favor, but it was also clear that this see-saw was neither fluke nor coincidence.

Time marched on and, when NU started on its own 18-yard line, Husker hopes were for another patented Nebraska drive. Instead, Crouch was intercepted on the first play of the �drive,� and Tech had the ball on the NU 28. Ohhhhhhhh, dear.

Then Dion Book picked off a Kingsbury pass on the next play and, bingo, NU is back in business on its own 26 yard-line. But nothing happened. Nothing very good, anyway. Punt.

And then the Texans started doing another imitation of Nebraska, beginning on their own 20 and end up in NU's endzone 80 yards later when Ricky Williams scored on a 12-yard run. And Kingsbury hit Paige with a 2-point conversion pass. The drive took 46 seconds. Just five plays.

The halftime score: NU 28, Texas Tech 28.

But it wasn't necessarily as good as it looked. Welker had returned another punt, 80 yards for a touchdown, prior to Tech's game-tying TD. It was called back. At the half, Husker fans could contemplate the fact that, there but for a stupid Red Raider offside penalty, NU would be trailing by a TD. And those 28 points were the most anyone had scored against Nebraska in a first half since 1988, when UCLA put 38 on the board. It seemed there was no guarantee that this would be a happy homecoming for the 77,383 NU fans.

Nebraska rolled out in the third period like a bunch of guys who were ready to take care of business. To close the deal, actually. After taking the second-half kickoff, the Huskers went from their own 30 to the Tech end zone in nine plays, with Crouch running him from the 7 yard-line to score. NU 35, Texas Tech 28. A little more than five minutes later, Josh Brown booted a 33-yard field goal. Things looked better for NU. Two possessions, two scores.

Then, Treece smacked another field goal, a 31-yarder with 1:39 left in the quarter. The Texans stayed within striking distance.

The curtain rose on the fourth period with NU up, 38-31, but with no one in the Big Red sea awash with absolute confidence that the Red Raiders were finished trying to ruin an otherwise beauteous homecoming day.

As it turned out, the Texans weren't finished trying. But they were finished scoring.

Curtis intercepted another Crouch pass, this one in the Tech endzone. There were thoughts of "Here we go, again" around and about the Husker faithful.

It wasn't to be.

NU's Brown polished off the scoring with another field goal, this one from 36 yards out.

The Red Raiders' offense did a better job against NU than any Husker opponent to date this season. They rolled up 440 total yards. In the fourth quarter, Tech failed to convert a couple of fourth down plays.

Husker I-back Dahrran Diedrick broke the 100-yard rushing barrier again, picking up 157 yards on 20 carries.

The effort from Crouch might well get the attention of some Heisman voters. He completed 10 of 22 passes for 196 yards, and he rushed 105 yards on 21 carries. It was the fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing day for the senior from Omaha.

The Huskers' overall numbers were impressive. NU had 531 yards total offense, with 335 coming on the ground.

Kingsbury enjoyed good success against the Huskers, as the Tech pass-oriented offense had the Blackshirts running in all directions. Kingsbury connected on 33 of 63 passes for 353 yards.

While every coach preaches that every teach should play one game at a time, there was the possibility that the Tech game could carry over with the Huskers for awhile. Five Nebraska starters were injured. Four of them had ankle injuries: Cornerback Keyuo Craver, wingback John Gibson, offensive tackle Vili Waldrop and fullback Judd Davies. Offensive lineman Dave Volk suffered a shoulder injury. And add to this unpleasantness the fact that tight end Tracey Wistrom, a favorite target for Crouch, was sidelined last week with a knee injury.