Back in the Day...

[Husker_x]

Hey everyone,

 

Since I'm a fairly new son of Husker nation, I was hoping maybe some of you could tell me a thing or two about a certain subject. Last season was the first season I truly became passionate about college football. I watched everything I could (particularly the Iowa/ISU games as they are the relevant teams in my state), and also made a decsive effort to learn my Husker history.

 

What I have yet to find, however, was what I most wanted to see. What, for those of you who know, was the reaction to our team during the 95 season? I've seen the National Championship game something like three times now, and I got to say, I've never seen anything like it. The defense––they were monsters. Our offense blew through the Gators like a powerwasher through a silk spiderweb.

 

It quickly came to my attention last year that nobody likes to give us our proper dues. During the USC game that POS Brent Musburger only ever opened his trap in praise of Vince Young. The same Vince Young who no longer plays college football––the one who is totally irrelevant to the USC-Nebraska game. My suspicions were confirmed when the whining, snivelling woman Kirk Herbstreit had a panic attack on ESPN when the 95 Huskers were officially recognized as the greatest team in history, which they most assuradely were.

 

But more to my original point, I haven't found much press about that team. What was the reaction to our utter dominance of the game that year? If we crushed the #2 team in the country and could have likely done so with our backups, how did the Florida-loving Big Sports Media handle their favorite children being absolutely humiliated by our unimaginative offense juggernaut?

 

I don't know about you guys, but if we could resurrect Touchdown Tommy, LP, Joel Machatoreyourfaceoff and the gang, I'd put my money on them to line up against any team before or since and sit back comfortably to watch the fireworks.

 

And USC must be razed to the ground.

[Eric the Red]

Hey everyone,

 

Since I'm a fairly new son of Husker nation, I was hoping maybe some of you could tell me a thing or two about a certain subject. Last season was the first season I truly became passionate about college football. I watched everything I could (particularly the Iowa/ISU games as they are the relevant teams in my state), and also made a decsive effort to learn my Husker history.

 

What I have yet to find, however, was what I most wanted to see. What, for those of you who know, was the reaction to our team during the 95 season? I've seen the National Championship game something like three times now, and I got to say, I've never seen anything like it. The defense––they were monsters. Our offense blew through the Gators like a powerwasher through a silk spiderweb.

 

It quickly came to my attention last year that nobody likes to give us our proper dues. During the USC game that POS Brent Musburger only ever opened his trap in praise of Vince Young. The same Vince Young who no longer plays college football––the one who is totally irrelevant to the USC-Nebraska game. My suspicions were confirmed when the whining, snivelling woman Kirk Herbstreit had a panic attack on ESPN when the 95 Huskers were officially recognized as the greatest team in history, which they most assuradely were.

 

But more to my original point, I haven't found much press about that team. What was the reaction to our utter dominance of the game that year? If we crushed the #2 team in the country and could have likely done so with our backups, how did the Florida-loving Big Sports Media handle their favorite children being absolutely humiliated by our unimaginative offense juggernaut?

 

I don't know about you guys, but if we could resurrect Touchdown Tommy, LP, Joel Machatoreyourfaceoff and the gang, I'd put my money on them to line up against any team before or since and sit back comfortably to watch the fireworks.

 

And USC must be razed to the ground.

 

 

Well the '95 team is regarded as the best team of all time, Kirk @ ESPN is convinced it's '02 Miami, I guess he doesn't realize defense and running the ball wins games.

[zoogs]

It quickly came to my attention last year that nobody likes to give us our proper dues. During the USC game that POS Brent Musburger only ever opened his trap in praise of Vince Young.

 

It REALLY irks me when the sports media talks about this "new wave" of flashy, exciting mobile quarterbacks. Like Michael Vick! Oh my, he can run! Changing the definition of the QB position! Revolutionizing the sport! Um....it's not like Nebraska hasn't been doing that for the past era?

[junior4949]

There are a couple of things we all took for granted when it came to the 95' Huskers. Rarely did we as students in the student section ever make it past half time during the home games. The score was typically a blow out and we headed off for the bar. We all expected the kind of dominance we saw due to the 94' season. In 1994, TO's first NC, we saw a second and third string QB lead us to the promised land for the better part of the season. Most of the starters from that team were back to play on the 95' team. We just expected them to dominate everyone they played.

 

The Florida game was a great game from a Husker standpoint, but we must all remember that Florida was playing in its first NC under Spurrier. I think they were shellshocked first by playing in the game and secondly by the speed of the Husker defense. Also, we had some DB's like Booker that had somewhat struggled during the season come in and play their best defense of the year. It's simply amazing how that one single game set a lot of things in motion. In 1995, Bob Stoops had the #1 defense in the country at Kansas State. Spurrier was so upset at how his defense played, he hired Stoops to come build his defense prior to the 96' which worked perfectly as Florida was the 96' NC. By Bob Stoops leaving KState, it opened the door for his brother to take over the coordinating duties at KState. That one single game probably got two pretty darn good coaches head coaching opportunities a lot faster than they would have otherwise.

 

There haven't been a lot of teams just simply expected to dominate like the 95' Huskers did, but there have been some. I think you'll probably see most of those teams who won back to back titles come with similar expectations. The dominance of the Huskers came with winning 3 NC in 4 years and playing for 4 NC's in 8 years.

[junior4949]

It quickly came to my attention last year that nobody likes to give us our proper dues. During the USC game that POS Brent Musburger only ever opened his trap in praise of Vince Young.

 

It REALLY irks me when the sports media talks about this "new wave" of flashy, exciting mobile quarterbacks. Like Michael Vick! Oh my, he can run! Changing the definition of the QB position! Revolutionizing the sport! Um....it's not like Nebraska hasn't been doing that for the past era?

 

 

I think they're talking about QB's that can actually throw the football rather than shooting bullets into the ground. There's a huge difference between mobile passing QB and running QB. I don't think Crouch, Frazier, etc. quite fit the mold of a Vince Young or Michael Vick. Apparently, the NFL agrees also as they have drafted QB's at Nebraska to play other positions than QB.

[Blackshirt316]

lol go watch some video of those years, Frazier could throw MUCH better than Michael Vick and probably better than Vince Young, he just didn't have to throw much. If it wasn't for his medical issues he would have been doing what those two are doing now, ten years ago.

[Bugeater]

Husker X-here's a link to the Huskerpedia page from the 1995 Fiesta Bowl. There's a list of links from media reports to the right of the page. Some may be dead by now though.

 

http://huskerpedia.com/games/1995/fiesta.html

[gamecocks]

I think Spurrier's post-game speech was the icing on the cake. I don't know if it is on the internet anywhere, but it should be posted here if it is.

[junior4949]

lol go watch some video of those years, Frazier could throw MUCH better than Michael Vick and probably better than Vince Young, he just didn't have to throw much. If it wasn't for his medical issues he would have been doing what those two are doing now, ten years ago.

 

 

Here are Frazier's outstanding passing stats over his career at NU: Passing: 250-509 (49.1%), 4,003 yards, 47 TD, 18 INT. Yeah, I'm sure that less than 50% completion percentage impressed the hell out of the scouts. It's not like we ran a complicated passing scheme. Most of his throws were play action and not difficult throws at all, yet he still didn't complete half of his passes. TF was a great QB for NU, and there is no doubt about that. However, I will argue until the cows come home that he wasn't even in the same league as Michael Vick or Vince Young when it comes to being a passing QB.

 

Here's Vincy Young's passing stats over his last year: As a junior, he was 182-of-285 (63.9 percent) for 2,769 yards and 26 TDs to go with 850 yards rushing and nine TDs. His 168.6 passing efficiency rating led the nation, and he became Texas’ single-season record-holder in total offense with 3,619 yards. HE LED THE FRIGGIN NATION IN PASSING EFFICIENCY! Over his career at Texas, he was 296-468 (63.2%), 4,191 yards, 32 TD, 17 INT. Huge difference IMO especially considering he led the nation in passing efficiency!

 

Here's some Michael Vick passing stats to chew on: Captured the first-ever Archie Griffin Award as college football Player of the Year as a redshirt freshman that season when he led the nation in passing efficiency at 180.37, the second-highest total ever, and guided the Hokies to a perfect 11-0 regular season record. HE LED THE FRIGGIN NATION IN PASSING EFFICIENCY AS A REDSHIRT FRESHMAN!!!!!! His completion percentage wasn't the best with a 177-313 (56.5%) for 3,074 yards. However, I believe his 180.37 passing efficiency says it all!

 

In no way am I saying Frazier was less of a college QB than either one of these guys. All I'm saying is that he's not in any way like them. They each in one year of their college career led the entire nation in passing efficiency.

[zoogs]

Hm, I would dispute that playaction throws are easiest to make. Given our system, I think we typically threw the ball on lower percentage situations (I think this was mentioned by the commentators during one of the Crouch era games I saw, so I can't really back this up, but it makes sense). The other guys attack the open field all the time, but at least in the Crouch era it was 2nd and long, 3rd and long situations, or with the playaction, which carries at least a fair risk of interception.

 

Well, I think anyway...don't really know.

 

Although Frazier's stats don't compare, I think evaluating based on talent alone, he was a great thrower, just used in different ways. I'm not so sold on Vick as a passer, but this is a debatable point, I suppose.

 

Also:

 

Frazier ended his senior season ranked first on the team in total offense with 1,996 yards (178.7 per game), third in scoring with 7.8 points per game and second in rushing with 604 yards on 97 attempts. He also finished second in the Big Eight Conference in passing efficiency at 156.14, a figure that would have ranked sixth nationally if he had produced the required 15 attempts per game.

 

Not bad for the type of system he ran. He completed 56% of his passes that year, compared to 43 the year before when he was largely injured. That doesn't say it all though, because he was also in the 40's as a freshman and sophomore, although with so few attempts.

[junior4949]

Frazier was also the only QB of the bunch to stay in college for 4 years or all of his eligibility. Can you imagine the type of numbers Vick and Young would have compiled if they'd have stayed in the same system for all the years they were eligible? Vick only played 2 seasons.

 

Not once did I say Frazier wasn't a great QB. He did finish second in Heisman. He was an outstanding collegiate QB. However, he was not a great passing QB. In the Crouch era there may have been several 2nd and long or 3rd and long situations. However, I'm doubting there were nearly as many when Frazier was QB especially in 95'. I mean he was the QB on what is considered the greatest team ever by many, but his arm and his throwing ability was not what made us dominant. Frost and Crouch each had 1,000-1,000 seasons. Frazier never did. Frazier was an outstanding option QB, arguably the best ever at NU and in the nation. But, he was not a great passing QB. He went undrafted due in large part to health concerns, but also because he wasn't exceptionally fast either. I believe he ran a 4.64 in the 40. He was an outstanding college QB, but he simply wasn't a great passing QB. If any NFL team would have thought he even had the chance of devloping into a passing QB, he would have been drafted. Even in his bio it states plain and clear that he was never known for his passing accuracy. TF was a great option QB that was adequate when it came to passing.

[zoogs]

Yeah...good points. It's just harder for me to have an informed opinion of Frazier, since I wasn't really cognizant of football in his heyday. I feel from the highlight tapes that he was a good passer, but I mean, you only get so much from a 5 minute tape of '95 season highlights.

 

I never liked Vick that much. Young is solid, but I think my Husker bias will weigh in also on the comparisons...

[Landlord]

Zoogies, you also have to take into account that, since we WERE Nebraska, and we DID average 400 yards rushing a game, defenses would often bring 8 or more people into the box to try and stop the run, and a HUGE percentage of our pass plays were to wide open receivers, because the run opened up the pass. When you think about this, Frazier's completion percentage, if he was a great throwing quarterback, should have at least been 50% on the career...

[Tommie15]

I guess he doesn't realize defense and running the ball wins games.

by the way our coaches recruit it doesn't seem like our current staff does either.

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

I guess he doesn't realize defense and running the ball wins games.

by the way our coaches recruit it doesn't seem like our current staff does either.