2005 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

2005 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Alamo Bowl Champions
Alamo Bowl, W 32–28 vs. Michigan
Conference	Big 12 Conference
	North Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 24
AP	No. 24
2005 record	8–4 (4–4 Big 12)
Head coach	Bill Callahan (2nd year)
Offensive coordinator	Jay Norvell (2nd year)
Offensive scheme	West Coast offense
Defensive coordinator	Kevin Cosgrove (2nd year)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 73,918)

2005 Big 12 football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Northern Division
Colorado x		5	–	3					7	–	6
#24 Nebraska		4	–	4					8	–	4
Iowa State		4	–	4					7	–	5
Missouri		4	–	4					7	–	5
Kansas		3	–	5					7	–	5
Kansas State		2	–	6					5	–	6
Southern Division
#1 Texas x$#		8	–	0					13	–	0
#20 Texas Tech		6	–	2					9	–	3
#22 Oklahoma		6	–	2					8	–	4
Texas A&M		3	–	5					5	–	6
Baylor		2	–	6					5	–	6
Oklahoma State		1	–	7					4	–	7
Championship: Texas 70, Colorado 3
# – BCS National Champion $ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 2005 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Bill Callahan and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Before the season

Nebraska experienced many changes to their team's roster; not only did key wide receiver Ross Pilkington leave the team after he gave up football, but after the spring game, new junior college transfer Zac Taylor replaced the 2004 starter Joe Dailey at the key position of quarterback. Shortly thereafter Joe Dailey transferred to North Carolina.

Schedule

^[1]

Date	Time	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	6:10 PM	Maine*		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE	FSN PPV	W 25–7	77,469
September 10	6:10 PM	Wake Forest*		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE	TBS	W 31–3	77,380
September 17	2:30 PM	Pittsburgh*		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE	ABC	W 7–6	77,336
October 1	2:30 PM	No. 23 Iowa State		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE	ABC	W 27–20 ^OT	77,433
October 8	3:00 PM	No. 15 Texas Tech		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE	TBS	L 31–34	77,580
October 15	6:05 PM	at Baylor		Floyd Casey Stadium • Waco, TX	FSN PPV	W 23–14	40,857
October 22	11:30 AM	at Missouri		Faurot Field • Columbia, MO (Rivalry)	FSN	L 24–41	60,641
October 29	11:00 AM	Oklahoma		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE (Rivalry)	ABC	L 24–31	77,438
November 5	12:00 PM	at Kansas		Memorial Stadium • Lawrence, KS		L 15–40	51,750
November 12	1:05 PM	Kansas State		Memorial Stadium • Lincoln, NE		W 27–25	77,761
November 25	2:30 PM	at Colorado		Folsom Field • Boulder, CO (Rivalry)	ABC	W 30–3	54,831
December 28	7:00 PM	vs. No. 20 Michigan*		Alamodome • San Antonio, TX (Alamo Bowl)	ESPN	W 32–28	62,016
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game. All times are in Central Time.

Roster and coaching staff

2005 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 7 Adams, JordanJordan Adams So OL 65 Austin, GregGreg Austin Jr WR 23 Brooks, ChrisChris Brooks Fr OL 59 Byford, BrettBrett Byford So WR 82 Cammack, WesWes Cammack Fr OL 62 Christensen, AndyAndy Christensen RFr QB 15 Davis, BeauBeau Davis So WR 26 Erickson, DanDan Erickson So OL 77 Evwaraye, SeppoSeppo Evwaraye Sr FB 47 Farino, PaulPaul Farino Fr WR 28 Fluellen, IsaiahIsaiah Fluellen Jr OL 57 Fredinburg, ConanConan Fredinburg Fr OL 79 Fuamatu-Thomas, CornealiusCornealius Fuamatu-Thomas Sr QB 8 Ganz, JoeJoe Ganz RFr OL 69 Gibson, AdamAdam Gibson Jr IB 34 Glenn, CodyCody Glenn Fr WR 7 Hardy, FrantzFrantz Hardy So TE 35 Harvey, DavidDavid Harvey Fr OL 73 Helming, JaredJared Helming Sr TE 11 Herian, MattMatt Herian Sr TE 86 Hill, SeanSean Hill So OL 61 Huff, MikeMike Huff RFr IB 32 Jackson, BrandonBrandon Jackson So OL 75 Koch, BrandonBrandon Koch Sr FB 36 Lawson, ThomasThomas Lawson RFr WR 9 LeFlore, MarkMark LeFlore Sr OL 74 Lingenfelter, NewtonNewton Lingenfelter Jr IB 20 Lucky, MarlonMarlon Lucky Fr OL 50 Mann, KurtKurt Mann Jr WR 5 McKoy, ShamusShamus McKoy Sr FB 33 Miller, GrantGrant Miller Jr TE 81 Mueller, JoshJosh Mueller So WR 84 Mulkey, GrantGrant Mulkey Jr OL 76 Murtha, LydonLydon Murtha RFr WR 83 Nunn, TerrenceTerrence Nunn So FB 45 Otto, WillWill Otto Jr OL 78 Pasteur, BrockBrock Pasteur Jr OL 54 Patrick, ChrisChris Patrick So WR 17 Peterson, ToddTodd Peterson RFr TE 85 Phillips, J.B.J.B. Phillips So OL 68 Picou, JordanJordan Picou Jr OL 72 Picou, RodneyRodney Picou Fr OL 56 Pike, GaryGary Pike Sr OL 63 Roark, CraigCraig Roark Fr IB 4 Ross, CoryCory Ross Sr TE 48 Sand, AndyAndy Sand So WR 14 Schroeder, MattMatt Schroeder Sr TE 88 Sievers, ClaytonClayton Sievers RFr OL 70 Slauson, MattMatt Slauson Fr WR 87 Swift, NateNate Swift RFr QB 13 Taylor, ZacZac Taylor Jr TE 89 Teafatiller, HunterHunter Teafatiller Fr FB 41 Todd, DaneDane Todd Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL 96 Adams, TitusTitus Adams Sr DE 48 Blankenship, AdamAdam Blankenship RFr CB 1 Bowman, ZackaryZackary Bowman Jr LB 34 Bradley, StewartStewart Bradley Jr LB 40 Brandenburgh, LanceLance Brandenburgh So SS 21 Brothers, TitusTitus Brothers So SS 26 Brown, MychealMycheal Brown Jr DL 65 Bryant, ChrisChris Bryant Jr SS 14 Bullocks, DanielDaniel Bullocks Sr DE 90 Carriker, AdamAdam Carriker Jr LB 45 Covey, NickNick Covey Fr DL 94 Cryer, BarryBarry Cryer Jr DL 54 Dagunduro, OlaOla Dagunduro Jr CB 6 DeFrand, DonaldDonald DeFrand Sr LB 38 Dillard, PhillipPhillip Dillard Fr SS 46 Eisenhart, BenBen Eisenhart So FS 4 Fisher, TylerTyler Fisher Sr CB 18 Gingery, TravisTravis Gingery So CB 30 Green, TierreTierre Green So CB 2 Grixby, CortneyCortney Grixby So LB 49 Ickes, AdamAdam Ickes Sr CB 35 LeFlore, ChrisChris LeFlore So DE 89 Luhrs, KevinKevin Luhrs So LB 13 McKeon, CoreyCorey McKeon So LB 58 Moore, DontrellDontrell Moore Jr DE 44 Moore, JayJay Moore Jr DE 55 Muhammad, WaliWali Muhammad Sr SS 33 O'Hanlon, MattMatt O'Hanlon Fr LB 52 O'Shea, MarkMark O'Shea Fr DL 95 O'Shea, MattMatt O'Shea Sr LB 15 Octavien, SteveSteve Octavien Jr DE 98 Potter, ZachZach Potter Fr DE 86 Poulosky, AndyAndy Poulosky So DE 85 Rice, ThomasThomas Rice So SS 24 Rigoni, BrandonBrandon Rigoni Jr CB 19 Robison, JoeyJoey Robison Sr LB 51 Ruud, BoBo Ruud So FS 8 Shanle, AndrewAndrew Shanle Jr DL 66 Smith, Le KevinLe Kevin Smith Sr SS 39 Souder, JeffJeff Souder Fr DE 43 Steinkuhler, TyTy Steinkuhler RFr FS 16 Stuntz, MikeMike Stuntz Sr DL 77 Suh, NdamukongNdamukong Suh Fr FS 25 Tiedtke, BlakeBlake Tiedtke Sr DL 99 Turner, BarryBarry Turner Fr LB 59 Voges, BrianBrian Voges Jr CB 28 Wilson, BryanBryan Wilson So LB 53 Wortman, TylerTyler Wortman RFr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK 93 Alegria, JordanJordan Alegria Fr LS 52 Benzel, BryanBryan Benzel Fr PK 29 Congdon, JordanJordan Congdon Fr PK 27 Dyches, DavidDavid Dyches Jr P 19 Kester, TylerTyler Kester So P 37 Koch, SamSam Koch Sr PK 91 Lueshen, EricEric Lueshen So LS 55 McBride, NathanNathan McBride Fr LS 82 O'Leary, T.J.T.J. O'Leary Fr LS 9 Peetz, JakeJake Peetz Sr P 97 Titchener, DanDan Titchener RFr PK 98 Wesch, JakeJake Wesch RFr	Head coach Bill Callahan    2nd season    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Benedictine Coordinators/assistant coaches Jay Norvell    2nd season as OC/QB coach    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Iowa Kevin Cosgrove    2nd season as DC/LB coach    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: UW-Oshkosh John Blake    2nd season as DL coach    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Oklahoma Bill Busch    2nd season as ST/S coach    6th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Wesleyan Scott Downing    3rd season as TE/ST coach    6th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Sterling Phil Elmassian    1st season as CB coach    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: William & Mary Ted Gilmore    1st season as WR coach    1st year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Wyoming Randy Jordan    2nd season as RB coach    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: North Carolina Dennis Wagner    2nd season as OL coach    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Utah Dave Kennedy    2nd season as S&C coach    9th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Aaron Stamn    2nd season as GA coach    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Minnesota Mankato Angus McClure    1st season as GA coach    1st year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Sacramento State Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: January 16, 2011

Game notes

Maine

Maine at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Maine 0 0 0 7 7 • Nebraska 0 9 6 10 25 Date: September 3 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 6:10 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,469 TV announcers (PPV): Greg Sharpe (Play-by-play), J. C. Pearson (Color) & Kent Pevelka (Sideline)

Speculation that the 2005 season could perhaps be worse than the 2004 season began when Nebraska struggled to defeat the severe underdog Maine team 25–7.

Wake Forest

Wake Forest at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Wake Forest 0 3 0 0 3 • Nebraska 14 0 10 7 31 Date: September 10 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 6:10 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,380 TV announcers (TBS): Ron Thulin (Play-by-play), Charles Davis (Color) & Craig Sager (Sideline)

The team went on to crush the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (Zac Taylor's former four year college) 31–3. The win was unusual in that Nebraska's defense scored more points than either team's offense (Nebraska's defense scored 18 points, their offense 6, their special teams 7).

Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Pittsburgh 0 0 6 0 6 • Nebraska 0 7 0 0 7 Date: September 17 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 2:30 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,336 TV announcers (ABC): Brent Musburger (Play-by-play), Gary Danielson (Color) & Jack Arute (Sideline)

Their next game is arguably one of the most climactic in the history of all of football. The score was Nebraska 7 and the Pittsburgh Panthers 6. With 7 seconds remaining, the Panthers were going to attempt a game winning field goal from 36 yards. The ball was snapped with the holder unprepared for the play. The ball rebounded off the holder's helmet. Pittsburgh's kicker recovered the ball and threw it incomplete to preserve time. One second remained on the clock as Pittsburgh prepared for the final play. Pittsburgh attempted the kick again, the holder prepared this time. Pittsburgh's kicker looked as though he would have made the field goal had it not been blocked by Nebraska's Adam Ickes.

Iowa State

Iowa State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 OT Total Iowa State 0 3 10 0 7 20 • Nebraska 3 0 7 3 14 27 Date: October 1 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 2:30 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,433 TV announcers (ABC): Dr. Jerry Punch (Play-by-play), Terry Bowden (Color) & Trenni Kusnierek (Sideline)

Nebraska's next game was equally exciting as unranked and undefeated Nebraska took on the #23 Iowa State Cyclones. They won in a hard fought match that went into 2 overtimes by a score of 27–20. The game marked the first time that overtime had occurred in Memorial Stadium. Regardless of the quality win, Nebraska remained unranked.

Texas Tech

Texas Tech at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Texas Tech 7 14 6 7 34 Nebraska 0 14 7 10 31 Date: October 8 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 3:00 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,580 TV announcers (TBS): Bob Neal (Play-by-play), Tom Ramsey (Color) & Kip Lewis (Sideline)

Nebraska was the only team that was unranked and had no losses going into their next game against the 15th ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders. After trailing 21–0 in the first half, Nebraska fought back and eventually gained a 31–27 foothold over Texas Tech. In the final minutes of the game, Nebraska seemingly sealed their victory and a top 25 ranking when lineman LeKevin Smith intercepted a Texas Tech pass only to fumble it seconds later to return possession to Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were given a second-chance and with time winding down threw the game winning touchdown pass to defeat Nebraska.

Baylor

Nebraska at Baylor [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 3 10 7 3 23 Baylor 7 0 7 0 14 Date: October 15 Location: Floyd Casey Stadium, Waco, Texas Game start: 6:05 p.m. CST Game attendance: 40,857 TV announcers (PPV): Dan McLaughlin (Play-by-play), Gary Reasons (Color) & Greg Sharpe (Sideline)

Missouri

Nebraska at Missouri [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 10 14 0 0 24 • Missouri 21 3 7 10 41 Date: October 22 Location: Faurot Field, Columbia, Missouri Game start: 11:30 a.m. CST Game attendance: 60,641 TV announcers (FSN): Bill Land (Play-by-play), Dave Lapham (Color) & John Rhadigan (Sideline)

Oklahoma

Oklahoma at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Oklahoma 7 14 3 7 31 Nebraska 0 3 7 14 24 Date: October 29 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 11:00 a.m. CST Game attendance: 77,438 TV announcers (ABC): Gary Thorne (Play-by-play), Ed Cunningham (Color) & Mark Morgan (Sideline)

Kansas

Nebraska at Kansas [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 2 7 6 0 15 • Kansas 14 3 7 16 40 Date: November 5 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, Kansas Game start: 12:00 p.m. CST Game attendance: 51,750

The Huskers lost 3 of their next 4 games, including losses to their rival Missouri Tigers, who defeated them 41–24, a crushing 40-15 defeat to the Kansas Jayhawks (which snapped a 36-year winning streak over Kansas), and rival Oklahoma Sooners, the latter being lost in the final minutes of the game. (This victory was vacated by an NCAA disciplinary panel in July 2007 and then conversely overruled in February 2008.) The only win in this slump was a victory over a sub-par Baylor team.

Kansas State

Kansas State at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Kansas State 6 6 10 3 25 • Nebraska 7 10 7 3 27 Date: November 12 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game start: 1:05 p.m. CST Game attendance: 77,761

In a particularly windy game against Kansas State, Nebraska trailed 25–24 with 4:18 remaining in the game. Zac Taylor was on the receiving end of a hard hit that landed him with a mild concussion, removing him from the game. Zac remained on the ground for a couple of minutes with Callahan and KSU's Bill Snyder towering over him. The sold out crowd began to chant his name, as Taylor tried to recompose himself. Backup quarterback, freshman Harrison Beck, burned his redshirt in order to record his first action in a college football game. After throwing an interception in his first drive, he threw a key reception in Nebraska's final drive. Freshman kicker Jordan Congdon came in to make the go-ahead field goal. This was a risky move as the wind was swirling and was so strong that it ripped the stadium's mammoth U.S. flag off a crane that was suspending it, seemingly as a testament to its power. Regardless, Congdon made the 40-yard field goal to give Nebraska the win.

Colorado

Nebraska at Colorado [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 3 17 7 3 30 Colorado 3 0 0 0 3 Date: November 25 Location: Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado Game start: 2:30 p.m. CST Game attendance: 54,831 TV announcers (ABC): Mike Tirico (Play-by-play), Tim Brant (Color) & Suzy Shuster (Sideline)

Nebraska's final regular season game of 2005 was at Colorado. Colorado, who was leading the Big 12 North division in the race to the Big 12 championship game, was the heavy favorite, as Nebraska was cold after 3 straight losses followed by a near miss against a struggling Kansas State team. Tension built up between the rivals as a verbal skirmish involving every player erupted in the center of the field between the two teams when Nebraska mistook Colorado players walking toward their half of the field as an insult. Colorado was stunned, however, when Nebraska dominated Colorado in every aspect of the game. Wearing motivational T-shirts reading "RESTORE THE ORDER" underneath their jerseys, Nebraska beat Colorado 30–3 with breakout performances from nearly every player, particularly Zac Taylor and Colorado native Cory Ross.

Michigan

Nebraska vs Michigan [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Michigan 7 7 7 7 28 • Nebraska 7 7 3 15 32 Date: December 28 Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas Game start: 7:00 p.m. CST Game attendance: 62,016 TV announcers (ESPN): Mike Tirico (Play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (Color) & Erin Andrews (Sideline)

The team finished with 7 wins and 4 losses in the regular season. Nebraska would play their bowl game against the Michigan Wolverines in the 2005 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. With 2 seconds left in the game the Wolverines trailed the Cornhuskers 32-28 and set up the hook & lateral play for a miracle touchdown. In one of the wildest finishes ever, Michigan lateraled the football 9 times, fumbling once on their way to a 59-yard gain. In the midst of all this the entire Nebraska sideline stormed the field in celebration thinking the game was over when Michigan fumbled the ball (from their point of view they could not see that the ball was loose and assumed the Michigan player to be down). Many players thinking the play was over stopped playing entirely. This allowed the Michigan ball carrier to run by them, In all the confusion some Michigan players did not block for their carrier. Before the play was over the Cornhuskers, several Michigan players and coaches, and several other individuals along with the awards podium were on the field, and the game officials had left to submit their votes for the award winners. The Michigan ball carrier had been pushed out of bounds inside of the red zone. No penalties were awarded to either team because the officials had already left. When all was said and done, Nebraska came off with a victory and ended their season with an 8–4 record.

Rankings

Ranking Movement

Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	24
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	24
Harris	Not released				NR	NR	25	NR	24	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	N/A
BCS	Not released							23	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	N/A

After the season

Bill Callahan's second season as coach concluded with his Huskers finishing the season with an 8–4 record, an improvement over the 5–6 record of 2004.

Awards

^[2]

Award	Name(s)
Freshman All American 1st team	Jordan Congdon, Barry Turner
All-Big 12 1st team	Adam Carriker, Sam Koch, Terrence Nunn
All-Big 12 2nd team	Daniel Bullocks, Jordan Congdon, Kurt Mann, Corey McKeon, Cory Ross
All-Big 12 honorable mention	Titus Adams, Seppo Evwaraye, Cortney Grixby, Brandon Koch, Jay Moore, Bo Ruud, Nate Swift
Freshman All-Big 12 1st team	Jordan Congdon, Nate Swift, Barry Turner

NFL and pro players

The following Nebraska players who participated in the 2005 season later moved on to the next level and joined a professional or semi-pro team as draftees or free agents.^[3]

Name	Team
Titus Adams	New York Jets
Stewart Bradley	Philadelphia Eagles
Daniel Bullocks	Detroit Lions
Adam Carriker	St. Louis Rams
Seppo Evwaraye	Carolina Panthers
Joe Ganz	Washington Redskins
Cortney Grixby	Carolina Panthers
Brandon Jackson	Green Bay Packers
Sam Koch	Baltimore Ravens
Jay Moore	San Francisco 49ers
Lydon Murtha	Detroit Lions
Terrence Nunn	New England Patriots
Chris Patrick	New York Giants
Todd Peterson	Jacksonville Jaguars
Andy Poulosky	Sioux City Bandits
Cory Ross	Baltimore Ravens
Bo Ruud	New England Patriots
Andrew Shanle	Chicago Bears
Le Kevin Smith	New England Patriots
Ty Steinkuhler	New York Jets
Nate Swift	Denver Broncos
Zac Taylor	Tampa Bay Buccaneers

References

1. "Football - 2005 Schedule/Results". University of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletics Department. Retrieved May 13, 2009.
2. 2005 Husker Honors
3. "All Time NFL Huskers". nflhuskers.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2009. Retrieved May 13, 2009.