Dejuan Groce would fair well in standings were Nebraska to have been in the Big Ten. Getty Images/Brian Bahr.
Something to chew on while we wait for the season to begin (only 16 days away now!) - what individual Big Ten records would Nebraska hold if we were members of the Big Ten Conference over the past... oh... 100 years?
Keep in mind that Nebraska does not get to take any of these records with them when they make the move to the new conference. (Also keep in mind we're not taking into account competition, we're merely looking at comparable records.)
The Huskers will be starting from scratch in the Big Ten record book, one of the casualties of switching conferences.
Keep in mind that these are current going into the 2010 season. Next year we'll take another look, after our defense swarms the Big 12, and our offense scores early and often.
I was surprised that the Big Ten Conference does not track tackle records.
Offense
Rushing
Season: Mike Rozier's '83 season would be tops in the Big 10, bettering Ron Dayne's 1996 season (2,148 vs. 2,109). Ahman Green's '97 season would place him eighth behind Rozier, Dayne, and 5 others.
Career: Rozier's 4,780 yards would rank 6th in Big Ten history.
Longest: Eric Crouch's 95 yard scramble against Mizzou in 2001 would tie Bill Swingle of Northwestern for 4th longest run.
Touchdowns/Season: Mike Rozier's 29 in 1983 tops Anthony Thompson (1988, Indiana) and Ki-Jana Carter's (1994, Pen State) 26
Touchdowns/Career: Eric Crouch's 59 ranks 3rd behind Ron Dayne (71) and Thompson (68)
Quarterback Rushing - Game: Jammal Lord's 234 yards against Texas in '02 and 218 yards against McNeese State in '02 tops Northwestern's Mike Kafka (217 yards in 2008). Eric Crouch's 191 against Mizzou in '01 would rank 8th.
Quarterback Rushing - Season:
Nebraska's quarterback's would obliterate every Big Ten quarterback not named Antwaan Randle-El. Randle-El occupies the top 3 positions, but his 1270 yards in 2000 would fall to 2nd behind Lord's 1412 yards in '02.
Randle-El's 964 yards in 2001 would fall from 2nd to 6th behind '01 Crouch (1115 yds),
97 Scot Frost (1095), and '00 Crouch (971). Randle-El's 873 yards in '98 would fall from 3rd to 10th behind '03 Lord (948 yds), '89 Gdowski (925 yds), and '99 Crouch (889 yds).
Quarterback Career Rushing: Randle-El would remain on top, but Eric Crouch would be 2nd and Jamaal Lord would be 3rd. Steve Taylor would be 6th.
Passing
Game: Joe Ganz's 510 yards passing against K-State in '07 would be 9th most in Big Ten history.
Season: Ganz's 3568 yards in 2008 would be tenth most.
Season Completion Percentage: Ganz's .6786 would appear to bump Wisconsin's Darrell Bevell (.678) out of first place.
Career Completion Percentage: Ganz's .6513 would lead the Big Ten, bumping Iowa's Chuck Long (.650) to second.
Pass Efficiency: Gerry Gdowski's 177.3 rating in 1989 would bump Indiana's Tim Clifford (1980) to second.
Touchdown passes/game: Joe Ganz's 7 against KSU in '07 would tie Iowa's Chuck Hartlieb for the conference lead.
Scoring
Game: Calvin Jones' 36 pts against Kansas in 1991 would tie for 3rd all time
Defense
Interceptions - Season:
The 10 interceptions in one season from Josh Bullocks (03) would tie for fourth with Tom Curtis, Michigan (68) and Mike Gow, Illinois (73). Three are tied at 11, Al Brosky having 11 each in 1950 and 1951, and Jim Leoard, Wisconsin in 2002.
Sacks
Game: Jared Crick's Five sacks against Baylor last season would tie for second with eight players. The top place is six, Tim Jordan, Wisconsin vs Northwestern, 1985.
Season: Jim Skow's (85) and Trev Albert's (93) 15 sacks in a season would tie for eighth with four Big Ten players.
Tackles for Loss
Game: Three Nebraska players have seven tackles for loss in a single game. Jim Skow vs Missouri in 1985, Jared Crick vs Baylor and Ndamukong Suh vs Texas in last year's Big 12 title game. They would tie for first with Jeff Zagonia, Purdue vs Northwestern in 1992 and three other players.
Season: The Big Ten tackles for loss season leader is Tom Burke of Wisconsin, in 1998. Jim Skow had 25 in 1985, which would not place him in the top ten.
Career: Grant Wistrom is Nebraska's career tackle for loss leader with 58.5 from 1994-97. He would not place in the top ten. The Big Ten leader here is Jared DeVries, Iowa, with 78 from 1995-98.
Forced Fumbles (Fumble Recoveries)
Game: Broderick Thomas' three fumble recoveries at Colorado in 1986 would tie for first with three Big Ten players.
Season: Thomas' six fumble recoveries in 1986 would place him at third.
Career: Ron Pruitt had nine fumble recoveries between 1973-76, which would place him at third in career.
Blocked Kicks/Punts:
Big Ten does not list season or career records in this category.
Tackles, Total Tackles
Surprisingly, the Big Ten does not list this information in their media guide and I have so far been unable to locate it anywhere else. If I find it, I'll do an update.
Special Teams
Punt Returns - Game: Dana Stephenson's nine punt returns at TCU in 1967 would tie seven other players for second place.
Punt Returns - Season: Dejuan Groce's 43 returns in 2002 would be in fourth place.
Punt Returns - Career: Johnny Rodgers 98 punt returns from 1970-72 would tie David Boston (1996-98 ) for fifth place.
Punt Return Yardage - Game: Johnny Rodgers 170 yards (7 returns) at Oklahoma State in 1971 would be tie Neal Colzie, Ohio State vs Michigan State, 1973, although Colzie needed eight returns to get the same yardage.
Punt Return Yardage - Season: DeJuan Groce's 732 yards in 2002 would shatter Neal Colzie's 679 yards in 1973 for first place. Johnny Rodgers' 618 yards in 1972 would be fourth, and his 548 yards in 1971 would be fifth.
Punt Return Yardage - Career: Johnny Rodgers 1,515 yards would be second behind Steve Breaston of Michigan's 1,218 yards from 2003-06. DeJuan Groce's 1,218 yards would be good enough for third place.
Punt Return - Longest: Bobby Newcombe's 94-yard return against Missouri in 2000 would tie for second with two Big Ten players.
Punt Return Touchdowns - Career: Johnny Rodgers' seven punt return touchdowns in his career would top the Big Ten record of six by Ted Ginn, Jr of Ohio State from 2004-06.
Kick Returns - Season: Cortney Grixby's 1,094 yards in 2007 would be second place all-time. I'm not knocking Grixby, but this is one record you'd rather not have.
Kick Return Average - Career: Tyrone Hughes 28.29 average from 1989-92 would be second place all-time.
Kick Return Touchdowns - Career: I can't believe this is right, but Nebraska's record book shows that the Huskers have never had a kick returner score more than one touchdown on a kick return in his career. Stan Brown of Purdue scored five from 1968-70.
Field Goals-Season: Alex Henery's 24 in 2009 would tie for fifth all time.