1998 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

1998 Nebraska Cornhuskers football
Holiday Bowl, L 20–23 vs. Arizona
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Division	North Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 20
AP	No. 19
Record	9–4 (5–3 Big 12)
Head coach	Frank Solich (1st season)
Offensive scheme	I formation
Defensive coordinator	Charlie McBride (18th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium

1998 Big 12 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
North Division
No. 10 Kansas State x		8	–	0					11	–	2
No. 19 Nebraska		5	–	3					9	–	4
No. 21 Missouri		5	–	3					8	–	4
Colorado		4	–	4					8	–	4
Kansas		1	–	7					4	–	7
Iowa State		1	–	7					3	–	8
South Division
No. 11 Texas A&M x$		7	–	1					11	–	3
No. 15 Texas		6	–	2					9	–	3
Texas Tech		4	–	4					7	–	5
Oklahoma State		3	–	5					5	–	6
Oklahoma		3	–	5					5	–	6
Baylor		1	–	7					2	–	9
Championship: Texas A&M 36, Kansas State 33
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 1998 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Frank Solich and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
August 29	3:00 pm	Louisiana Tech*	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (Eddie Robinson Classic)	FSN	W 56–27	76,021	[1]
September 5	12:30 pm	UAB*	No. 4	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE		W 38–7	75,921	[2]
September 12	6:00 pm	at California*	No. 4	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	FSN	W 24–3	67,000
September 26	2:30 pm	No. 9 Washington*	No. 2	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (College GameDay)	ABC	W 55–7	76,372
October 3	6:00 pm	vs. Oklahoma State	No. 2	Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, MO	FSN	W 24–17	79,555
October 10	2:30 pm	at No. 18 Texas A&M	No. 2	Kyle Field College Station, TX	ABC	L 21–28	60,798
October 17	6:00 pm	Kansas	No. 8	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	FSN	W 41–0	76,174
October 24	11:30 am	No. 19 Missouri	No. 7	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	FSN	W 20–13	76,425
October 31	2:30 pm	Texas	No. 7	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	ABC	L 16–20	76,434
November 7	1:00 pm	at Iowa State	No. 14	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA		W 42–7	45,817
November 14	2:30 pm	at No. 2 Kansas State	No. 11	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (College GameDay) (rivalry)	ABC	L 30–40	44,298
November 27	1:30 pm	Colorado	No. 14	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE (rivalry)	ABC	W 16–14	75,958
December 30	7:30 pm	vs. No. 5 Arizona*	No. 14	Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA (Holiday Bowl)	ESPN	L 20–23	65,354
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Roster and coaching staff

1998 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class SE 17 Scott Aguglia Fr IB 38 Dan Alexander So G 64 Steve Altstadt Fr WB 82 Sean Applegate Jr C 51 Matt Baldwin Jr TE 94 Damien Bauman Jr TE 33 Sasho Becvarovski So SE 20 Tom Beveridge So TE Jon Bowling Fr WB 14 Lance Brown Sr IB 36 Correll Buckhalter So IB Chris Butler Fr SE 6 Kenny Cheatham Sr QB Joe Chrisman Fr QB 9 Monte Christo Sr FB 31 Chris Cielocha Fr OT 68 Jeff Clausen Jr OL Wes Cody Fr SE Danny Cork Fr WB 81 Ben Cornelsen Fr QB 7 Eric Crouch Fr TE Will Dabbert Fr SE 3 Matt Davison So TE 85 T.J. DeBates Jr IB 31 Dahrran Diedrick Fr OT 76 Billy Diekmann So SE Chad Duryea Fr OL Kyle Eisenhauer Fr IB 4 DeAngelo Evans So WB 2 Demond Finister Jr SE 83 Craig Fischer Jr WB Austin Forster Fr OL Joe Freeman Fr SE 29 Pat Friesen Fr WB 30 Paul Fujan Fr OT 74 Lonnie Fulton Jr G 72 Ben Gessford Sr WB 8 John Gibson So TE Aaron Golliday Fr FB 46 Nick Gragert Fr OT 74 Mike Green Fr RB DeAntae Grixby Fr QB Sam Gutz Fr SE Seth Gutz Jr OL Andy Gwennap Fr SE 80 Billy Haafke Sr SE Troy Hassebroek Fr C 78 Aaron Havlovic Jr C 78 Aaron Havolovic Jr WB Dan Hennings Fr C 59 Josh Heskew Sr G 55 Russ Hochstein So FB Casey Hughes Fr TE 88 Sheldon Jackson Sr OT 69 Adam Julch Jr FB Paul Kastl Fr FB 33 Ben Kingston Jr SE John Klem Fr OL Scott Koethe Fr OT 75 Kyle Kollmorgen Fr OL David Kolowski Fr OL Nate Kolterman Fr FB 40 Billy Legate Sr QB 1 Frankie London Jr SE Josh Lyman Fr FB 45 Joel Makovicka Sr WB Shawn McGann Fr TE 87 Jake McKee So FB 15 Willie Miller So TE 43 John Murphy So QB 12 Bobby Newcombe So FB 37 Hank Piening So C 54 Dominic Raiola Fr IB Tyler Rauenzahn Fr QB 16 Jay Runty So G 66 Jon Rutherford RFr G 79 Chris Saalfeld So OT 65 Jason Schwab Jr G 63 James Sherman Jr OL Matt Shook Fr OL Leif Sidwell Fr IB 32 Travis Soucie So FB 48 Jeremy Stanislav So OT 73 Jim Tansey Jr SE Wilson Thomas Fr IB 24 Alik Tillery Fr FB Tyrone Uhlir Fr OL Justin Valencia Fr WB 26 Casey Vanderhoef So OT 58 Dave Volk Fr G 61 Brandt Wade Sr IB 34 Dan White Fr WB 5 Shevin Wiggins Sr OL Mike Wilford Fr TE 90 Tracey Wistrom Fr OL Steve Ziemba Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class RE Demoine Adams Fr NT 89 Luis Almanzar So RCB 28 Josh Anderson So WLB 41 Rod Baker So ROV 4 Mic Boettner Fr FS 14 Dion Booker Fr ROV 21 Mike Brown Jr RCB 22 Ralph Brown Jr MLB 39 Ben Buettenback Jr MLB 48 Jamie Burrow Fr DL Jon Clanton Fr MLB 52 Jon Coyne Fr CB 3 Keyuo Craver Fr DB Mike Demps Fr LB Mason Dutton Fr FS 33 Mitch Ebke So ROV John Eisenberg So FS 19 Clint Finley So ROV 38 Eric Fischer So MLB 44 Jay Foreman Sr LB Gabe Fries Fr SLB 43 Russell Froehlich Sr NT 77 Bobby Gill So RE 97 Matt Grummert So SLB 53 Chris Gustafson Fr FS 45 Brad Hamik So LCB 18 Jeff Hemje Fr SLB 49 Quint Hogrefe Sr DL Richard Hughes Fr RCB 24 Matt Ickes Fr WLB 50 Julius Jackson Jr WLB 1 Eric Johnson Sr DT 91 Loran Kaiser So RE 57 Chad Kelsay Sr RE Chris Kelsay Fr WLB 47 Josh Kohl Jr DB Paul Kosch Fr DB Adam Lechtenberg Fr ROV 29 Gregg List Jr DL Jason Lohr Fr RE Jeremy Lyman Fr DL Stephen Manning Fr DT 70 Matt McGinn Fr FS 27 Greg McGraw Jr SLB 32 Levi Mehl Fr RE 93 Brandon Mooberry So DB Christopher Moran Jr DT 90 Casey Nelson Fr DL Jeff Nelson Fr DL Andrew Offner Fr SLB 37 Tony Ortiz Jr MLB 42 Jon Penny Fr RCB 11 Jerome Peterson Jr MLB 13 Carlos Polk So ROV 10 Brandon Quindt So SLB 23 Steve Raymond Jr LCB 9 Khari Reynolds So RE Kyle Ringenberg Fr MLB 34 Brandon Roth Fr RE 84 Mike Rucker Sr RE 80 Eric Ryan Jr LB Scott Shanle Fr SLB 46 Brian Shaw Jr RE 98 Scott Siebenborn So DT Jeremy Slechta Fr WLB Jemond Smith Fr RE Justin Smith Fr LB Luke Smith Fr LB Randy Stella Fr LCB 16 Erwin Swiney So LB Tony Tata Fr DB Aaron Terpening Fr RE 92 Travis Toline Sr RCB 12 Arion Turner Fr MLB 48 Chad Tuttle So RE 83 Kyle Vanden Bosch So WLB 26 Mark Vedral Fr ROV 25 Joe Walker So RE 94 Brandon Wardyn So NT 96 Steve Warren Jr FS 42 Troy Watchorn So RE 95 J.P. (John Paul) Wichmann Fr RE 81 Aaron Wills Jr RE Colin Wills Fr DT 99 Jason Wiltz Sr LCB 20 Wes Woodward Fr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class PK Josh Brown Fr PK 35 Kris Brown Sr PK 17 Dan Hadenfeldt Jr P 23 Bill Lafleur Sr PK 28 Chace Long So P 8 Brian Morro Sr P/PK 17 Chuck Tack Fr	Head coach Frank Solich    1st season    20th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Coordinators/assistant coaches Charlie McBride    18th season as DC/DL coach    22nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Colorado Turner Gill    7th season as QB coach    7th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Craig Bohl    4th season as LB coach    7th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Ron Brown    12th season as WR/TE coach    12th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Brown Dan Young    16th season as OL/K coach    16th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Reed Milt Tenopir    25th season as OL coach    25th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Sterling Nelson Barnes    2nd season as RE coach    2nd year at Nebraska    Alma mater: North Texas George Darlington    DB coach    26th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Rutgers Dave Gillespie    1st season as RB coach    10th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska-Omaha Boyd Epley    30th season as S&C coach    30th year at Nebraska    Alma mater: Nebraska Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: January 17, 2011

Depth chart

Defense FS Mike Brown Clint Finley Dion Booker Greg McGraw WILL MIKE SAM Eric Johnson Jay Foreman Tony Ortiz Julies Jackson Carlos Polk Brian Shaw Josh Kohl Jamie Burrow Rod Baker ROVER Joe Walker Mike Brown Gregg List Troy Watchorn CB Erwin Swiney Keyuo Craver Jeff Hemje DE DT DT DE Mike Rucker Jason Wiltz Steve Warren Loran Kaiser Chad Kelsay Aaron Wills Jason Lohr Jeremy Slechta Kyle Vanden Bosch Travis Toline Bobby Gill Luis Almanzar J.P. Wichmann CB Ralph Brown Khari Reynolds Jerome Peterson Offense WR Matt Davison Kenny Cheathman Billy Haafke LT LG C RG RT Adam Julch James Sherman Josh Heskew Ben Gessford Jason Schwab Kyle Kollmorgan Dominic Raiola Dominic Raiola Russ Hochstein Dave Volk Ben Gessford Jon Rutherford Matt Baldwin Brandt Wade. Billy Diekmann TE Sheldon Jackson Tracey Wistrom T.J DeBates Damien Bauman WR Shevin Wiggins Lance Brown Sean Applegate Frankie London QB Eric Crouch Bobby Newcombe Monte Christo ⋅ RB Correll Buckhalter Dan Alexander DeAngelo Evans Dan White FB Joel Makovicka Billy Legate Willie Miller Special teams PK Kris Brown P Bill Lafleur KR Shevin Wiggins PR Joe Walker

Game summaries

Louisiana Tech

Louisiana Tech at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Louisiana Tech 0 6 15 6 27 • Nebraska 14 21 7 14 56 Date: August 29 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 76,021 TV announcers (FSN): Ron Thulin, Artie Gigantino and Eric Clemons

UAB

UAB at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total UAB 0 7 0 0 7 • Nebraska 7 14 0 17 38 Date: September 5 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 75,921

California

Nebraska at California [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 7 7 0 10 24 California 0 0 3 0 3 Date: September 12 Location: California Memorial Stadium, Berkeley, California Game attendance: 67,000

Washington

Washington at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Washington 0 7 0 0 7 • Nebraska 21 14 20 0 55 Date: September 26 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 76,372

Oklahoma State

Nebraska vs Oklahoma State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 0 3 14 7 24 Oklahoma State 0 3 7 7 17 Date: October 3 Location: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri Game attendance: 79,555

Texas A&M

Nebraska at Texas A&M [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 7 0 14 21 • Texas A&M 7 7 7 7 28 Date: October 10 Location: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas Game attendance: 60,798

Kansas

Kansas at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Kansas 0 0 0 0 0 • Nebraska 10 7 14 10 41 Date: October 17 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 76,174

Missouri

Missouri at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Missouri 0 13 0 0 13 • Nebraska 3 3 7 7 20 Date: October 24 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 76,425

Texas

Texas at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Texas 7 3 0 10 20 Nebraska 0 3 10 3 16 Date: October 31 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 76,434

Iowa State

Nebraska at Iowa State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total • Nebraska 7 14 7 14 42 Iowa State 0 0 0 7 7 Date: November 7 Location: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa Game attendance: 45,817

Kansas State

Nebraska at Kansas State [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 7 10 7 6 30 • Kansas State 7 7 10 16 40 Date: November 14 Location: KSU Stadium, Manhattan, Kansas Game attendance: 44,298

Colorado

Colorado at Nebraska [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Colorado 7 0 7 0 14 • Nebraska 7 3 3 3 16 Date: November 27 Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska Game attendance: 75,958

Arizona

Nebraska vs Arizona [box score]

1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 0 13 0 7 20 • Arizona 6 3 0 14 23 Date: December 30 Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego Game attendance: 65,354

Rankings

See also: 1998 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
( ) = First-place votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	4 (4)	4 (2)	3 (1)	2 (1)	2 (7)	2 (1)	8	7	7	14	11	17	14	13	14	19
Coaches Poll	3 (12)	3 (8)	3 (7)	2 (7)	2 (15)	2 (6)	8	7	7	15	11	19	17	17	16	20
BCS	Not released								6	12	11	14	12	11	11	Not released

After the season

First-year Head Coach Solich was new to the job title but still in his element, after having served as an assistant in varying capacities with Nebraska since 1975. Solich completed his inaugural season with a final record of 9–4 (5–3), after having lost much of the 1997 national championship team's talent to graduation. Nonetheless, Nebraska finished tied for 2nd place in the Big 12 North Division, and tied for 4th conference-wide.

The season was concluded by #14 Nebraska falling to #5 Arizona 20–23 at the Holiday Bowl.

Awards

^[3]

Award	Name(s)
All-American 2nd Team	Sheldon Jackson
All-American 3rd Team	Ralph Brown
All-Big 12 1st team	Ralph Brown, Josh Heskew, Sheldon Jackson, Jay Foreman, Mike Brown, Chad Kelsay
All-Big 12 2nd team	Kris Brown, Mike Rucker, Joe Walker, Bill Lafleur
All-Big 12 3rd team	Shevin Wiggins
All-Big 12 honorable mention	Kenny Cheatham, Matt Davison, Russ Hochstein, Joel Makovicka, Jason Schwab

NFL and pro players

The following Nebraska players who participated in the 1998 season later moved on to the next level and joined a professional or semi-pro team as draftees or free agents.^[4]

Name	Team
Demoine Adams	Edmonton Eskimos
Dan Alexander	Tennessee Titans
Josh Brown	Seattle Seahawks
Kris Brown	Pittsburgh Steelers
Mike Brown	Chicago Bears
Ralph Brown	New York Giants
Correll Buckhalter	Philadelphia Eagles
Keyuo Craver	New Orleans Saints
Eric Crouch	St. Louis Rams
Clint Finley	Kansas City Chiefs
Jay Foreman	Buffalo Bills
Aaron Golliday	Scottish Claymores
DeJuan Groce	St. Louis Rams
Russ Hochstein	Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Sheldon Jackson	Buffalo Bills
Eric Johnson	Oakland Raiders
Chad Kelsay	Pittsburgh Steelers
Chris Kelsay	Buffalo Bills
Bill Lafleur	Barcelona Dragons
Joel Makovicka	Arizona Cardinals
Bobby Newcombe	Montreal Alouettes
Tony Ortiz	Scottish Claymores
Carlos Polk	San Diego Chargers
Dominic Raiola	Detroit Lions
Mike Rucker	Carolina Panthers
Scott Shanle	St. Louis Rams
Jeremy Slechta	Philadelphia Eagles
Erwin Swiney	Green Bay Packers
Kyle Vanden Bosch	Arizona Cardinals
Joe Walker	Tennessee Titans
Steve Warren	Green Bay Packers
Jason Wiltz	New York Jets

References

1. "NU passes still test". Lincoln Journal Star. August 30, 1998. Retrieved July 15, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Rough start turns into rout". Lincoln Journal Star. September 6, 1998. Retrieved December 12, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
3. 1998 Husker Honors
4. "All Time NFL Huskers". Archived from the original on August 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.