Football '00:
vs San Jose State, September 2, 2000

(1) NEBRASKA 49, SAN JOSE STATE 13

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - As Nebraska's only experienced quarterback, Eric Crouch was off-limits to tacklers during fall camp.

It looked like much of the same Saturday in the No. 1 Huskers season opener, when Crouch scored three touchdowns and passed for another as Nebraska beat San Jose State 49-13. The junior quarterback had only eight carries for 57 yards, but the Spartans couldn't stop him when the Huskers got close to the end zone. Crouch scored on runs of 6, 4 and 9 yards.

"If I get the ball 25 times a game and we're successful, fine. If I get the ball five times in a game, that's fine," said Crouch, who led the Huskers with 180 carries last season.

Crouch didn't need to be the leading rusher Saturday. Dan Alexander ran for 208 yards and two TDs and Correll Buckhalter had 117 yards on 13 carries for the Huskers, who scored on their first four possessions and didn't punt until the final quarter.

"It's nice to have all those running backs doing such a great job. We can be physical all game long and that takes a lot of pressure off me," Crouch said. "There weren't too many trickery plays in what we did. It was just option football -- power football. That's what we do."

Nebraska wore down the smaller Spartans on an afternoon when it reached 100 degrees by the beginning of the fourth quarter and the temperature on the artificial turf was 120. The Huskers had 596 yards, 505 rushing, of offense while winning their 15th straight opener.

"We pretty much had our way," Huskers center Dominic Raiola said. "We were trying for 350 (yards rushing) or more but when you see the numbers going up like that you just don't want to stop."

San Jose State didn't stop Nebraska in the first half until the Huskers' final possession, and that was an interception off a tipped pass.

"That offensive unit is very, very dominant. We could not stop them all day," San Jose State coach Dave Baldwin said.

While the offense backed up the Nebraska's No. 1 ranking, the defense did not. Nebraskahas six new starters on defense and it showed early Saturday as the Huskers missed several tackles early.

"We were disappointed with the tackling," defensive coordinator Craig Bohl said. "I do think we showed some signs of improvement during the course of the game, but there's no doubt we've got to be a better tackling football team."

The Spartans gained 346 yards and had three apparent touchdowns nullified because of penalties. Nebraska had trouble stopping Deonce Whitaker, a speedy 5-foot-6 senior, who rushed for 147 yards, 121 in the first half. Marcus Arroyo was 10-for-23 with two touchdowns for San Jose State.

"We tried to spread things out and do things that make us a tough first game," Baldwin said. "They came right after us. I don't know if they have a weakness."

1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH FINAL
--- --- --- --- -----
San Jose St. 6 0 7 0 13
Nebraska 14 14 14 7 49

First Quarter
Neb-Crouch 6 run (Brown kick), 11:33
Neb-Wistrom 27 pass from Crouch (Brown kick), 5:02
SJ-Truong 9 pass from Arroyo (kick blocked), 1:10
Second Quarter
Neb-Crouch 4 run (Brown kick), 10:56
Neb-Alexander 1 run (Brown kick), 3:24
Third Quarter
Neb-Alexander 56 run (Brown kick), 12:21.
SJ-Davis 19 pass from Arroyo (Gilliam kick), 9:03
Neb-Crouch 9 run (Brown kick), 4:30
Fourth Quarter
Neb-Diedrick 2 run (Long kick), 13:15

SJ Neb
--- ---
First downs 14 28
Rushes-yards 29-193 60-505
Passing 153 91
Comp-Att-Int 14-37-1 5-13-3
Return Yards 69 9
Punts-Avg. 7-40 1-28
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 12-65 4-31
Time of Possession 29:16 30:44

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-San Jose St., Whitaker 15-147, Morton 9-26, Crooks 3-20,
Arroyo 1-1 LeBlanc 1-(minus 1). Nebraska, Alexander 17-208,
Buckhalter 13-117, Crouch 8-57, W.Miller 6-51, Lord 4-27,
Diedrick 5-12, Davies 2-10, Grixby 1-9, R. Miller 1-9, Davis 1-3,
Collins 2-2.
PASSING-San Jose St., Arroyo 10-23-1-120, Crooks 4-14-0-33.
Nebraska, Crouch 4-10-2-67, Lord 1-3-1-24.
RECEIVING-San Jose St., LeBlanc 5-63, Davis 3-60, Troung 2-15,
Vaughn 1-6, Brewer 1-5, Green 1-3, Mears 1-1. Nebraska, Wistrom
2-51, Newcombe 2-18, Davison 1-22.
A-77,728.