Ankle surgery forced Crouch to
redshirt for the 1997 co-national championship-winning season. In 1998,
Bobby Newcombe began the season as the starting
quarterback, but he was sidelined by a knee injury after the first game and Crouch took over the starting duties. Against UAB, Crouch rushed for two touchdowns and completed 11 of 17 passes in his first career start. 1998 proved to be a chaotic season for the Cornhuskers. Crouch made another start before being replaced by a healthy Bobby Newcombe. Newcombe started the next five games, but was pulled in the middle of a game because of a PCL strain. Senior walk-on Monte Christo took over for Newcombe and started the following week against Texas. With
Texas leading 10–0 in the middle of the second quarter, Christo was pulled and replaced by Crouch. Crouch remained the starter for the rest of the season, which ended with a 23–20 loss to Arizona in the
Holiday Bowl. The next fall Newcombe was named the starting quarterback, and it was rumored that Crouch might leave the team. Crouch, however, was given significant playing time in the first and second games. He started the third game against Southern Mississippi, and Newcombe moved to
wingback. Crouch led Nebraska in a season that saw NU avenge its only loss of the season in a rematch against Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Cornhuskers finished the season with a 12–1 record and ranked No. 3 after defeating
Tennessee in the
Fiesta Bowl. Crouch started every game in the 2000 season, which ended with a 66–17 trouncing of Northwestern in the
Alamo Bowl. Nebraska's only losses during the 10–2 season were to eventual national champion,
Oklahoma Sooners, and the
Kansas State Wildcats. In 2001 Crouch had his best year, breaking
school or NCAA records almost weekly and appearing to be a serious contender for the
Heisman Trophy. In the first game of the 2001 season, a 21–7 defeat of
TCU, Crouch surpassed
Tommie Frazier as Nebraska's all-time total offense leader. He became the Big 12 all-time career rushing quarterback in the emotionally charged game against Rice. The following week, against
Missouri, Crouch was backed up near the goal line when he scrambled to escape from defenders and pulled off a 95-yard touchdown run, the longest in school history. Against
Iowa State the following week, Crouch broke the record for career touchdowns by a quarterback. Crouch became only the fourth player in Division 1 history to both pass and rush for 3,000 yards in a career with his performance against
Texas Tech. Next, in a hard-fought game against defending national champion Oklahoma, Crouch again showed off his speed and playmaking abilities, this time serving as quarterback and receiver in a single play, the famous "
Black 41 Flash Reverse" in which Crouch made a 63-yard touchdown reception. By mid-November Crouch had set a school record for most career wins as a starter and became only the ninth quarterback in D-1A history to have won 35 games as a starter. The Cornhuskers were 11–0 going into the annual contest with
Colorado the day after Thanksgiving. While playing from behind the whole game, Crouch set the school record for offense yards in a single game with 360 yards. The
Nebraska defense was dominated by the Buffaloes, however, and gave up a then-record 62 points to Colorado. The 62–36 loss did not end Nebraska's hopes of playing for the national championship and Crouch's chances of winning the Heisman. Two weeks later, Crouch was announced as the recipient of the award, edging out
Florida's
Rex Grossman and
Miami's
Ken Dorsey in the closest Heisman ballot since 1985. His outstanding season also was recognized when he won the
Davey O'Brien Award for being the best collegiate quarterback in the nation during the 2001 season. In the meantime, several highly ranked teams were upset and in the final
BCS rankings, Nebraska beat out one-loss
Oregon and two-loss Colorado to earn the No. 2 spot in the BCS rankings. The final BCS rankings were steeped in controversy, with Nebraska going to the Rose Bowl for the national championship despite not winning a conference or division championship. In the
Rose Bowl on January 3, 2002, Crouch rushed for 114 yards against the Miami Hurricanes but was denied a touchdown for the first time since September, 1999. The No. 1 Hurricanes defeated the Cornhuskers 37–14, leaving Crouch with a 35–7 record as a starting quarterback.
Awards • 2001
Heisman Trophy • 2001
Walter Camp Award • 2001
Davey O'Brien Award • 2001
Big 12 Conference offensive player of the year • 2000 Third-Team
All-American (
College Football News) • 2000 Second-Team All-Big 12 (
AP,
Sporting News,
Dallas Morning News,
Houston Chronicle) • 2000 Third-Team All-Big 12 (Coaches) • 2000
Fiesta Bowl Offensive MVP vs.
Tennessee • 1999 Big 12 Co-Offensive Player of the Year (Coaches)
Records • One of three quarterbacks in Division I-A history to rush for 3,000 and pass for 4,000 yards in a career • 13th player in
NCAA to rush and pass for 1,000 in a season (1,115 rushing, 1,510 passing) •
Nebraska career total offense leader with 7,915 yards • Former Nebraska single-season total offense leader with 2,688 yards • Former Nebraska single-game total offense record of 360 yards • Nebraska career total-offense touchdown leader with 88 • Owns Nebraska career record for most rushing yards by a quarterback (3,434) • NCAA record for most career rushing
touchdowns by a quarterback (59) • Most rushing attempts by a
Husker quarterback (648) • Former Nebraska total TD passes in a game (5 vs.
Iowa) • Most rushing TDs in a game by a quarterback (4 vs.
Kansas) • Set a QB record for most rushing TDs in a season (20) • Set school records in 2001 for most rushing attempts in a season for a quarterback (203) • Most total offense yards by a sophomore (2,158) • Tied an NCAA record by scoring a TD via run, pass, reception in the same game (vs.
University of California, Berkeley, 1999) • Nebraska school record longest run from scrimmage, 95 yards (vs.
Missouri, 2001)
College statistics ==Professional career==