Remembering the Last Elite Nebraska Football Team: The 1999 Season

A three-part ode to the forgotten greatness of the 1999 Nebraska football team

Frank Solich and Mike Brown with the Fiesta Bowl trophy after the win against Tennessee.. / Nebraska Athletics

It was the era of mesh jerseys, oversized pads, and classic facemasks. Bowl games with questionable selection criteria were the determining factor for crowning a champion. The internet was still a fledgling curiosity that had not yet spawned its first “fire our coach” web page and no official had yet uttered the word “targeting.” The idea of an 18-team super conference was fanciful at best, ridiculous at worst. It was college football in 1999, and it was perfect.

The Huskers of that year were elite, the end result of a formula tinkered with over decades and perfected during the dominance of the mid-'90s. Quick-twitch athletes from reputed speed states manned the secondary while homegrown talent anchored the lines and position changes occurred to make the defense just a hair faster—these were the quintessential components of a '90s-era team. The 1999 squad embodied them all and the result was a championship football team.

But their road to greatness wasn’t a straight line, nor did it start with the loftiest of expectations. The Huskers entered 1999 somewhat tattered, their aura diminished. 1998 saw the Huskers stumble to a then-unthinkable four losses, the most since 1968. Their seven-year home-win streak, the longest in the sport, was razed in a loss to unranked Texas. Patchwork lineups cobbled together out of necessity in the wake of an injury pandemic left the Huskers looking clunky and more vulnerable than they had in a generation. They’d limp off to the Holiday Bowl, an end to their 17-year streak of “major” bowl games.

Suddenly, Nebraska looked less like the Goliath of Tempe Fiesta Bowl fame and more like the David of the late ’80s and early ’90s, swinging and missing at southern schools in a desperate grab at national respect. They were good, sure, but no longer a team to be feared.

But they’d exit the ‘99 season as arguably the best team in the country, finishing No. 2 in the coaches poll despite not playing in the title game. Their defense was nothing short of otherworldly, their quarterback, Heisman-caliber, and their special teams were some of the best they ever put forth onto the gridiron.

Sadly, they were also the last of the great teams Nebraska has fielded to this date. They’ve had good teams and even some sensational players in the last 25 years, but no team that belonged among the best of the sport in their particular year. But because of their lack of a national championship, the ‘99 squad is often forgotten among the shinier trophies that occupy the display case in Memorial Stadium.

Here's an ode to their forgotten greatness. 

The Season

The Huskers began the season looking to reassert their place in the food chain, to prove their championship mettle and remind everyone that Nebraska was still the resident bully of the Big XII, and college football at large. But fall camp and early season were marred by off-the-field politics. Much of the drama centered around the quarterback competition between incumbent Bobby Newcombe and occasional starter, Eric Crouch, who’d filled in admirably after Newcombe suffered a PCL injury in a Pyrrhic victory against Louisiana Tech to open the 1998 season.

Newcombe missed spring ball still recovering from surgery but entered fall camp the man to beat. After a competition in the fall in which Crouch arguably outplayed Newcombe, Solich tabbed Bobby as the starter, echoing Husker policy when he reasoned that Bobby should not lose his job solely due to injury. Eric drove home to Omaha amid speculation that he had quit the team, but a reassuring conversation with coach Solich, who made the surprising decision to chase after Crouch, assuaged any fears of a transfer.

The Huskers’ other hallmark offensive position was also at issue. DeAngelo Evans started the fall as the presumptive starter at I-back after flashing at times in ’96 and ’98, before a series of injuries hobbled him. He rehabbed from two abdominal surgeries that kept him sidelined for most of ‘98 but reported to camp overweight. His lost step was apparent from the season opener. He failed to shake loose against Iowa and much of the running consequently fell to Newcombe, who was similarly stymied in a frustrating first half against a Hawkeye team with a first-year head coach named Kirk Ferentz. An optimist might argue that Nebraska was playing out its usual strategy, softening the belly of the opponent with a steady diet of I-back plunges that would enable a fourth-quarter touchdown binge. But even casual observers could see the Huskers weren’t clicking.

Crouch, rotating in per Solich’s design, still shined early and often, drawing first blood in the contest with a 28-yard run. He’d score two more touchdowns before the afternoon was through, including one after this statement-making hit that still sneaks into highlight reels. Newcombe accounted for three scores himself but also committed a trio of turnovers to match.

Eric had another distinguished outing in the following week’s matchup against Cal, completing the running, passing and receiving touchdown trifecta in the span of 11 minutes as both a receiver and fill-in quarterback. A 45-0 shutout should have been cause for celebration in the week to follow. But Nebraska’s dysfunction on the field (the offense managed just 114 yards rushing), and off, hit its crescendo shortly thereafter.

Citing the offense’s transformation into a QB-run-focused operation, first- and second-string I-backs DeAngelo Evans and Correll Buckhalter quit the team. Buckhalter was talked into returning and sat for much of the next week as penance. But Evans, who asked for a return shortly after, was denied. Branded as toxic by teammates, he burnt the bridge behind him on his way out, a sorry end to a once-promising career.

In the midst of all this turmoil, Newcombe voluntarily moved to wingback as the fan fervor over Crouch had become a distraction neither he nor the rest of the team could continue to endure.

Realistically, the move to make QBs the primary weapon in the offense felt less like a thoughtful shift in philosophy and more of a necessity given the Huskers’ failure to find a game-breaking running back post-Ahman Green. The Huskers’ best athlete after Dr. Tom left – Newcombe, Crouch, Jammal Lord – was routinely their signal caller.

But Crouch’s first showing as a starter in ’99 was a forgettable one. Nebraska failed to get any kind of rhythm on offense against a nationally ranked Southern Miss team. The offense managed just eight first downs, fewest since 1968, and eked out a long gain of 14 yards on the day. Faced with the prospect of a huge upset, senior linebacker Julius Jackson stepped up to score not one, but two defensive touchdowns. Just as valuable as Jackson was corner Keyou Craver, who sparked the second TD on a blitz and snagged two interceptions in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

Between the offense’s ineptitude and the public locker room drama, national pundits branded the Huskers a floundering program. Solich was harangued all week by reporters criticizing his inconsistent handling of the I-back departures and the offense’s woes. Big Red fans accustomed to seeing effortless execution and far less melodrama were making their displeasure known.

But something funny happened amid all this unrest: the Huskers found their footing.

In their first three conference games, the Cornhuskers routed Missouri by 30 points, trounced Oklahoma State by 24, and crushed an Iowa State team – one that fancied itself on par with NU – by 35. “The Huskers not only beat you, but they also strip away your illusions, wave them in your face and spike them in the end zone,” a Des Moines Register columnist wrote the next day.

The Huskers heard about the Cyclones’ top five defense and waltzed to 524 yards of total offense. They saw ISU's number one rushing offense going into the game and allowed the Cyclones 146, nearly 200 yards below their average, which is more than they allowed Mizzou’s fourth-ranked rushing engine, granting them a charitable 25 yards. Then they listened as Oklahoma State, just short of victory against Big Red in 1998, crowed that this year would be the one they’d break their 23-year losing streak. NU quickly disavowed them of the notion by racing to a 38-0 lead.

It was a return to form for the Huskers, who were beginning to resemble the mid-'90s outfits that waylaid opponents and left a trail of carnage in their wake. Their feet to the fire in the weeks following Southern Miss, Solich and his war council were now methodically marching their Big Red forces to hostile territory and leaving the spectators scrambling for the exits by halftime. The Huskers found themselves 6-and-0, outscoring their opponents 4-to-1. 

It wasn’t until they visited the Longhorns of Texas that they found themselves in a proper scrap. All year long, the Huskers’ offense fumbled, dropping the ball as if it were dial-up connection and relying heavily on their stalwart defense to cover their tracks. They faced a reckoning in Austin. The Huskers outgained the hated Horns by 154 yards but fumbled twice in enemy territory, once on the single yard line, and Texas capitalized. Final Score: Texas 24, Nebraska 20.

The loss to Texas – and its implications for Nebraska’s national title hopes – took the wind out of the Huskers’ proverbial sails. They showed up in Lawrence for a tilt with perennial doormat Kansas the next week looking listless and uninterested. Hellbent on orchestrating a rousing upset, Jayhawk quarterback Dylen Smith bought time with his feet and gave the Blackshirts fits, a harbinger of what was to come in college football’s shift toward mobile triggermen. Big Red went to the locker room down a head-scratching nine to nothing. With a near catastrophic loss at their feet, the Huskers shook themselves out of their self-pity. Bobby Newcombe collected a touchdown catch on a four-verticals pattern and sprung loose for a touchdown on a punt return to secure victory. Solich would later call it the turning point of the season.

With their newfound resolve, the Huskers reintroduced themselves the following week at home against a Texas A&M squad that upset them the year before, ending their six-year streak of regular season conference wins. Suffice it to say they would not permit a similar outcome in ‘99.

The Blackshirts orchestrated a symphony, forcing five turnovers, hounding QB Randy McCown to the tune of eight sacks, and composing the Aggies’ first shutout since 1988. Senior co-captain Mike Brown created four turnovers of his own and racked up a sack to end things on a high note. The lone blemish was the Huskers’ eye-watering eight fumbles on the day.

The fumbling woes continued the next week, though, dropping the ball a must-be-a-misprint 10 times total against Kansas State... and they still won easily, clinching the Big XII North division in the process.

“The Huskers could have fumbled five more times and the nation's No. 4 defense would have probably bailed them out,” Dennis Dodd wrote after the game.

His I-backs failing him again, Solich put the ball in Eric’s hands, calling his number a school QB record 27 times. Crouch made good use of his touches, darting and weaving for 158 yards and two touchdowns. They handed the Wildcats their only loss of the season, ultimately relegating them to the Holiday Bowl against Washington.

The Huskers were firing on all cylinders again. They’d continue to do so the rest of the season, save for one disastrous quarter.

In the regular-season finale against Colorado, Nebraska cruised to a 21-point halftime lead, thanks in part to 250-pound Dan Alexander sprinting past Buffalo speedster Ben Kelly for a long touchdown run. Solich routinely exercised restraint when the Huskers accumulated a three-score lead. This time it would cost him. The Buffs mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback, scoring 24 unanswered points and tying the Huskers with a 21-yard TD pass to Javon Green. An errant option pitch to Alexander gave Colorado the ball and an opportunity for a 34-yard game-winning field goal. Mercifully, the kick drifted wide right, sending the game to overtime, where Big Red escaped with yet another close win against the despised Buffs, their second-to-last in a blissful series of them.

The hex the Huskers held over Colorado was the opposite of their luck against the Longhorns, who had dealt Nebraska devastating defeats in three consecutive meetings. The first time, in the inaugural Big XII title game, getting upset likely cost Nebraska a third consecutive national championship. The second, in ’98, cost them their seven-year consecutive home win streak and earned Ricky Williams the Heisman. The last, during the ’99 regular season, kept them out of the BCS National Championship game. For those counting at home, that’s two national titles and a beloved streak the Big XII’s Machiavelli robbed NU of.

They’d get revenge in the Big XII Title Game rematch.

In contrast to the first game, Charlie McBride came out blitzing. It was a smart strategy – the Blackshirts played with their hair on fire and harried Major Applewhite all day, accumulating seven sacks and holding Texas to just nine yards rushing. The defense was so effective it posted a shutout, the lone six points being scored on a fumble return for a touchdown.

“I can die now,” Mike Brown quipped in the postgame presser. He and his teammates held Texas to 173 yards of total offense, their lowest output since 1991.

A commanding victory over the Longhorns on neutral ground had proved that no team could truly claim to be their equal on the gridiron. Once again, they had demonstrated their championship mettle. During a taping of Big Red Wrap-Up on Nebraska Public Television, Kevin Kugler, Tom Shatel, and Steve Sipple convened to discuss the game, concluding that the Huskers’ aura had been restored, their standing in college football reaffirmed.

But sadly, there was little drama after the season when the final BCS standings were released. The lost style points in the close win over Colorado closed the door on any shot of usurping undefeated Virginia Tech for number two in the BCS standings. As expected, Nebraska came in at number 3 in the final polls and was forced to watch the Hokies and Seminoles be paired for a rumble in New Orleans.

The Huskers were positioned to play either Tennessee or Alabama but the Orange Bowl, with the first pick, went with the SEC champion Tide while the Fiesta Bowl opted for a rematch of the ‘98 Orange Bowl, pitting the Huskers against the Volunteers, defending national champs and a team that was a mere four points away from another undefeated season in ’99.

Far from being disappointed, the Volunteers were foaming at the mouth for revenge after the trouncing they bore two years prior. They freely credited Nebraska and their Orange Bowl drubbing for teaching them to get bigger, stronger, and play the brand of football that would make the SEC famous in the next decade.

If the Huskers were disappointed in their bowl destination, they didn’t show it. They bolted to a 14-0 first-quarter lead on the back of their O-line's Herculean push and Bobby Newcombe’s electrifying punt return for touchdown. The Volunteers parried the early blows with swing passes to their receivers that sprang for big gains and closed the margin to 10 at halftime.

The Huskers looked vulnerable after an early second-half turnover allowed Tennessee to get within three. Backed up to their four-yard line and faced with the nauseating possibility that they may forfeit a big lead to end their season, Nebraska went back to basics. Far from the identity crisis that plagued the Huskers in the post-Solich years, Nebraska still knew who they were in ’99: an indomitable, unrelenting ground-and-pound attack that paired power running with option and play-action passing.  

Two long eon-spanning drives of 96 and 99 yards ensued, the game film of which will be studied and waxed poetic about by students of the game for generations to come. On the first drive for 96 yards, Crouch threaded two perfect passes on the run to convert third downs. Then, from the Tennessee 13-yard line, Crouch hit freshman Aaron Golliday in the corner of the end zone on a perfectly lobbed pass. The 99-yard crusade on the subsequent drive featured 10 plays, all runs, and not a single third down. They’d broken the Vols yet again.

Tennessee tacked on a garbage-time touchdown to make the margin of defeat more respectable, but the damage was done. Nebraska had rushed for 321 yards on the nation’s seventh-best rushing defense, one that had not allowed 150 yards in any game all season. Volunteer stars routinely left the game smarting from either a bone-crunching hit or a devastating block. It was a virtuosic performance that showcased Nebraska’s continued dominance as the biggest, baddest team on the block.

"Tennessee was strong, but we're stronger,” Dan Alexander neatly summed it up.

The coaches acquitted themselves well, adjusting at halftime to stop the swing passes to the Tennessee wide receivers. In a postgame interview, longtime defensive coordinator Charlie McBride fought back tears officially announcing his retirement.

Many felt, and continue to feel, that Nebraska was the best team in the country in ‘99 and would have summarily vanquished Florida State if given the opportunity. Their body of work was that impressive and the win over the Vols on Jan. 2 was the necessary exclamation point to drive the notion home.  

But if the 2000 Fiesta Bowl was the 1999 team’s magnum opus, it was, in the grand scheme of things, also the program’s Waterloo. The Huskers haven’t tasted a conference championship since. It was as if, after the clock struck midnight on the 20th century, the Huskers reverted into a pre-Devaney-era pumpkin. They’d still enjoy some success in the 2000s, but the program’s run of fortuitous luck and championship-caliber football was at its end. There’d be few lucky bounces in the Aughts.

And fewer wins.

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