How good could Eric Crouch have been?

N

Nebraska option

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If he had a better o line and better players around him .

I re watched the national championship game from 2002 it seemed in his eyes and the way he ran he was trying to beat Miami by his self.

Watching other NU games it seemed like Eric crouch vs the world.

 
I remember watching that season think about after Eric was gone and not having the feeling like previous years of confidence. There was a lot of gray feeling about our talent level. To answer your question, Eric would have won the Heisman undisputably, still glad he won and been Big 12 champs that year and the Rose Bowl would have been a lot closer.

 
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Nebraska option said:
If he had a better o line and better players around him .

I re watched the national championship game from 2002 it seemed in his eyes and the way he ran he was trying to beat Miami by his self.

Watching other NU games it seemed like Eric crouch vs the world.
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Yea, with better surrounding talent he could have won the Heisman. Oh wait, he did win the Heisman. Doesn't get any better than that as an individual player does it? I think his offensive line and surrounding players were plenty good. We did play for the National Championship. You don't get to the NC game with just one guy. Not trying to be a smart a$$ but you could pretty much say "what could have been" with every single player in history. Eric Crouch was one of the greatest players I've ever had the joy to watch play. Him and his teammates have plenty to be proud of.

What if Lawrence Phillips had the mentality and work ethic of Rex Burkhead?

 
How good could Eric Crouch have been? Ummm....well there really wasn't all that much more he could have done in his Nebraska career than win a National Championship. Think about this for a minute, look at everything listed below and see what Crouch accomplished in his 4 years at Nebraska.

Honors and Awards:

2001 Heisman Trophy

2001 Walter Camp Player of the Year

2001 Dave O'Brien Quarterback Award Winner

2001 Sporting News National Offensive Player of the Year

2001 ABC/Chevrolet National Player of the Year

2001 First-Team All-American (AP, AFCA, The Sporting News, ABC Sports Online)

2001 Football News Offensive Player of the Year Semifinalist

2001 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year (Coaches, AP, Kansas City Star, Austin American Statesman, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star Telegram, San Antonio News Express, Waco Tribune Herald)

2001 First-Team All Big 12 (Coaches, AP, Kansas City Star, Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star Telegram, San Antonio News Express, Waco Tribune Herald)

2001 USAToday.com National Player of the Week (Sept. 24)

2001 Co-Guy Chamberlain Award Winner

2001 NACDA Pigskin Classic MVP ($5,000 Postgraduate Scholarship)

2001 Team Co-Captain

2000 Davey O'Brien Quarterback Award Semifinalist

2000 Football News Offensive Player of the Year Semifinalist

2000 Third-Team All-American (Collegefootballnews.com)

2000 Second-Team All-Big 12 (AP, The Sporting News, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle)

2000 Fiesta Bowl MVP vs. Tennessee

1999 Big 12 Co-Offensive Player of the Year (Coaches)

1999 Co-First Team All-Big (Coaches)

1999 Big 12 Commissioner's Spring Academic Honor Roll

Eight-Time Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week (2 in 1999, 3 in 2000, 3 in 2001)

16-time TV Player of the Game (13 by ABC, 1 by NBC and 1 by Fox Sports Net; 1 by Big 12 Syndicated; 1 in 1998, 6 in 1999, 4 in 2000, 5 in 2001)

Records

  • NCAA record for career rushing TD's by a QB (59)
  • 13th player in NCAA history to rush and pass for 1,000 yards in a season (1,115 rushing, 1,510 passing)
  • One of three quarterbacks in NCAA Division 1-A history to rush for 3,000 yards and pass for 4,000 yards in a career
  • Tied an NCAA scoring record by scoring a TD via run, pass, reception in the same game (vs. Cal, 1999)
  • Longest run in Nebraska history (95 yards) at Missouri, September 29th, 2001
  • Owns Nebraska career record for total-offense yards with 7,915, including a school and Big 12 record for most rushing yards by a quarterback (3,434), while ranking third in career passing (4,481)
  • School record holder with 88 total-offense touchdowns
  • Regular-season school record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a game (191 yards) at Missouri, September 29th, 2001
  • Tied school records for most TD passes in a game (5 vs. Iowa, 2000); most rushing TD's in a game by a quarterback (4 vs. Kansas and Iowa State 2001); and set a QB record for most rushing TD's in a season (20, 2000)
  • Set school records for most rushing attempts in a season for a QB (203, 2001); most total-offense yards by a sophomore (2,158); tied school record most rushing attempts in a game for a quarterback (27 vs KSU, 1999)

Now to answer your question:

I wouldn't necessarily say that Crouch needed a better Offensive Line or better players around him. Look at what he accomplished with the O-Line and players that he did have around him. I do agree with you that when you go back and re-watch many of Crouch's games that they did look like "Crouch vs. the world," but I think that goes back more to the scheme the coaches were running and their philosophy at the time.

I will be the first to tell you that Eric Crouch was and still is one of my favorite Husker players of all time, but looking back I do think the coaches relied too much on his gifted athletic abilities. Yes, he could make plays from almost anywhere on the field, but because of the fact that we relied on him so much that is what defenses started to key in on, and that is what I think cost us the 2001 game in Colorado and eventually our National Championship game against Miami.

I think if the coaches would have spread the ball out more to our other ball carriers then that could have kept opposing defenses at-bay from keying in on just defending Crouch.

Watching those games from 1999-2001 I always thought at the time that Crouch would win a National Championship for Nebraska, and while that is one accomplishment he was never able to achieve, it by no means diminishes the type of player he was, the type of person he is, and the value that he brought to the Nebraska football program.

Eric Crouch was, still is, and always will be one of the true legends in Nebraska football history.

 
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We didn't have a *bad* line in 2001. Toniu Fonoti and Dave Volk would have started on almost any team in the nation. Perhaps some drop-off from 2000 came because we had a hard time replacing Dominic Raiola and Russ Hockstein. How could we NOT have a hard time replacing those two?

To answer the OP's question, Crouch might well have picked up another Heisman if we didn't lose Raiola to the draft and Hockstein to graduation. Both of whom ended up playing Sundays.

 
Crouch won the Heisman, but you hear a lot of people who say that he was the worst Heisman winner ever (uh, Gino Torretta, anyone?). I assume that's part of what the OP is talking about, along with usually taking a back seat to Frazier and Gill in discussions about our best QB ever. We lost a few other guys in 2002--Fonoti, Volk, T. Wistrom--but much of the team returned and we went 7-7. I think that fall off says a lot about Crouch.

On the other hand, drop him in the 1983 offense, and does he really do more with it than Gill did? Likewise in 1995, is he overshadowed by others in that offense?

 
VA Husker Fan said:
Crouch won the Heisman, but you hear a lot of people who say that he was the worst Heisman winner ever (uh, Gino Torretta, anyone?). I assume that's part of what the OP is talking about, along with usually taking a back seat to Frazier and Gill in discussions about our best QB ever. We lost a few other guys in 2002--Fonoti, Volk, T. Wistrom--but much of the team returned and we went 7-7. I think that fall off says a lot about Crouch.
On the other hand, drop him in the 1983 offense, and does he really do more with it than Gill did? Likewise in 1995, is he overshadowed by others in that offense?
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Says a lot about Lord too.

Crouch was a great player, and he had the benefit of Solich's offense being completely catered to him. In 1999, with him, Newcombe, Alexander and Correll, only a fumble and horrific game management kept them from a title, (and they still should have gone over Vtech)

Ultimately, what kept Crouch from being better than he was ( and he was pretty damn good) wasn't what was around him, it was between his ears.

 
I will say that Eric was a great player for Nebraska.

He is also one of the main reasons for Nebraska's slide and Solich's departure I think.

Had Solich played Lord in Eric's last year, we would have had a better team. No experience due to the quest for the Hypsman put Lord at a no win situation.

I too agree Eric tried to do to much, but I think it was to win the Hypsman. We had descent running backs that could have taken the pitch and made good yards, taking some of the attention off of Crouch.

I know those are not popular thoughts, I think he was very selfish player, quitting on the team at one time, and taking every opportunity to make his quest for the Hypsman.

That said, we would not have won the NC even if he had been a better team player. Miami's cheer leaders looked faster than our slow plodding team. I will say that I think we lost that game due to not being prepared for it and no coaching control over the team prior to it.

He was a great player, but not the best team player we have ever had IMHO.

 
flatwaterfan said:
Personally I think Bobby would of been better if he hadn't blown out he knee.
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Newcombe *might* have been shiftier. Maybe But not faster than Crouch. And there's no way Newcombe was as tough as Crouch. Eric took a LOT of punishment his last couple of years. The guy had amazing durability.

 
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I know, I know.... enough with the stats already, Nexus!! <_<

Notice I bookended the three national title teams between the two teams that lost in national title games. As for the point the OP raises in this thread, it's worth noting that Crouch faced tougher defenses on average (cumulatively ranked 43rd) in 2001 than the previous 4 teams on this list. This indicates that his o-line was pretty darn good afterall. I wish there was a way to add SOS into the equation, but unfortunately Sagarin only lists the current season, hence no archive search that I'm aware of? Again, interpret these stats however you wish.

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NUance said:
flatwaterfan said:
Personally I think Bobby would of been better if he hadn't blown out he knee.
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Newcombe *might* have been shiftier. Maybe But not faster than Crouch. And there's no way Newcombe was as tough as Crouch. Eric took a LOT of punishment his last couple of years. The guy had amazing durability.
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I definitely agree that Crouch was much tougher and durable. Made him a great player. I think their top end speed was the same as they both ran official 10.4's in the 100. I think Crouch had a better burst while Bobby had smooth acceleration. I think Bobby would of been a much better passer.

 
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