1995 Nebraska vs. 2001 Miami

[HUSKER 37]

Don't remember seeing this before.

 

 

January 15, 1996Headed For A Fall?Nebraska may win another national title, but the days when such a colossus ruled the game are overTim Layden

 

It was tempting enough to become enthralled with Nebraska's brilliance in its 62-24 Fiesta Bowl humiliation of Florida on Jan. 2. It was impossible not to marvel at the performances of senior quarterback Tommie Frazier, junior I-back Lawrence Phillips and the Cornhuskers' swift, lethal pass rush. Even though Florida was a very good team, it left Tempe, Ariz., in little pieces.

 

In winning its second consecutive national championship, Nebraska was transcendent that night in the desert—and you're not going to see the likes of that team again. All season the Huskers trampled the opposition like a colossus, but in the fall the supremely talented Frazier, along with 10 other senior starters, will be gone, Phillips will probably be in the NFL, and Nebraska's unique talent base will have been eroded by the rules of the new Big 12—the Big Eight plus Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech—which begins play in 1996.

 

Sure, Nebraska will always be one of the most powerful programs in college football—along with teams like Florida State, Michigan and Notre Dame—but beginning next fall the Cornhuskers will be part of the pack, fighting with Florida (again), Tennessee, Michigan, Syracuse, Miami and, who knows, maybe even Kansas State, for a national title.

 

That is why Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, still soaked and shivering from the obligatory ice-water dousing by his players, used his Fiesta Bowl postgame press conference to grumble, in NCAA-speak, about preserving his program's might. He launched into a plea to the presidents of the Big 12 to reconsider their recent decision to limit the recruitment of student-athletes who were once known as Prop 48s.

 

We already knew that Osborne was not much of a celebrator. But his timing on this issue seemed awkward and inappropriate. His team had just become the first in 39 years to win back-to-back consensus national titles. The Cornhuskers had fallen three points short of winning three consecutive national titles (they lost the 1994 Orange Bowl to Florida State 18-16), which has never been done. The morning after the Fiesta Bowl, Osborne did call the 1995 Huskers his best team, yet rather than bask in their accomplishment, he steered a captive audience to an arcane topic. It was something he had done frequently in the days and weeks leading to the game, fearing his giant program would soon be diminished.

 

That the Cornhuskers have been so dominant during a period in which NCAA-mandated football downsizing has tended to create parity is remarkable. The limit of 85 football scholarships per school (down from 95 in 1991 and 105 in '76), in conjunction with the raising of admission standards and the tightening of recruiting rules, has helped programs such as Kansas State, Oregon, Virginia Tech and, most famously, Northwestern, rise to prominence.

 

Nebraska has flourished as a superpower during that time because the Cornhusker program benefits from the convergence of many supporting structures. The Huskers have a smart, stubborn coach with 23 years of experience; unshakable faith in a football system built on the option and the running game and brutal, fast-paced practices; and facilities that include a 30,000-square-foot weight room, which is advertised as the largest among NCAA schools. The only major public university in the state, Nebraska has virtually an open admissions policy and low tuition (less than $3,000 for in-state students), which brings in walk-ons by the dozen. (Nebraska had 141 players on its Fiesta Bowl roster, a number reminiscent of Bear Bryant's days at Alabama but unusual in 1996. By contrast, Florida had 94.) Nebraska also willingly accepts athletes who represent academic and/or social risks. Finally, there comes an occasional gift, a once-in-a-generation talent like Frazier, who arrived in Lincoln from Bradenton, Fla., in 1992.

 

"It's a machine up there," says Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel admiringly. "I know because I've got to beat them."

 

Still, Osborne dourly stumps. And with good reason. The loss of Frazier, the team's undisputed leader, is almost immeasurable—"Half an offense, by himself," said Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick. Without Frazier, Nebraska wouldn't have been competitive in its loss to No. 1-rankcd Florida State in the '94 Orange Bowl; the Huskers probably wouldn't have beaten Miami in the '95 Orange Bowl to win the national title; and there wouldn't have been talk of a dynasty coming out of the Fiesta Bowl. And for those who thought that Cornhusker freshman I-back Ahman Green was as good as Phillips, the Fiesta Bowl should have proved that Green is good, but Phillips, who rushed for 165 yards and scored three touchdowns against Florida, is exceptional.

 

Still, what most threatens Nebraska's championship streak is the Big 12's policy on accepting partial and non-qualifiers under NCAA freshman eligibility guidelines. (A partial qualifier is a prospective athlete who meets only one of two minimum academic requirements—grade point average or standardized test score. The minimums are a 2.0 GPA with a 900 on the SAT or 21 on the ACT; or a 2.5 GPA with a 700 SAT or 17 ACT. A non-qualifier meets neither standard. If a school accepts a partial or non-qualifier, the athlete is ineligible for athletics for one year). On Dec. 20 the Big 12 presidents voted unanimously to limit each school to four partial qualifiers per year (two men, two women) and no more than one in a single sport. Non-qualifiers were excluded entirely.

 

In the Fiesta Bowl, Nebraska started four partial or non-qualifiers (cornerback Michael Booker, defensive tackle Christian Peter, cornerback Tyrone Williams and defensive end Jared Tomich), and two others, wideout Reggie Baul and outside linebacker Jamel Williams, played almost as much as the starters. According to Nebraska officials there were at least 12 partial or non-qualifiers in the program last fall. "Among elite schools Nebraska is a true haven for partial and non-qualifiers," said the coach of another elite school.

 

Osborne's view on partial and non-qualifiers—he calls them "Props," harking back to Proposition 48, which created the aforementioned eligibility guidelines that affected incoming freshmen in 1986—is similar to his reasoning for reinstating Phillips, who was suspended from the team after he was arrested for assaulting his former girlfriend on Sept. 11. (Phillips eventually pleaded no contest and was restored to the team on Oct. 24.) In both cases, the argument goes, kids were given academic opportunities they might not otherwise have found. And Nebraska landed impact players.

 

"I hope [the Big 12 presidents] will take a look at the fact that the Big Eight has four teams in the top 10 [Nebraska, No. 5 Colorado, No. 7 Kansas State and No. 9 Kansas]," said Osborne, after the Fiesta Bowl. "We did it with Big Eight rules." (Actually, the Big Eight has no policy on partial and non-qualifiers.) If the Big 12 does not amend its rules, Osborne could threaten to pull Nebraska out of the conference. But it is unlikely that the Big East, Big Ten or Pac-10, the other major conferences that have no policy on partial and non-qualifiers, would welcome Nebraska because of its modest academic standards or remote location.

 

Prop 48—which is scheduled to be replaced by Prop 16 this summer—is still one of the hot-button issues in college sports: Who deserves an athletic scholarship? But in Nebraska's case, consider this: Two of the four partial or non-qualifiers who started in the Fiesta Bowl (Tyrone Williams and Peter) were among the five Cornhuskers charged with crimes in the last 22 months. Yet, if there have been occasional problems with partial and non-qualifiers at Nebraska, there has also been a significant athletic benefit. Both Williamses, Booker and 1994 cornerback Barron Miles (also a partial qualifier) were among the players who upgraded Nebraska's defense from the plodding bunch that couldn't keep up with Miami and Florida State in the late 1980s and early '90s to the swift, attacking unit that crushed Florida.

 

Osborne is no fool. Nebraska's hold on greatness is tenuous; that large gap between the Cornhuskers and everybody else could close quickly. Take away Frazier, Phillips and the partial and non-qualifiers, and Nebraska's 12-0 record this season could have been 10-2, which might have put the Huskers in a meaningless Cotton Bowl matchup instead of in a showdown for the national championship.

 

Osborne's staff is trying desperately to sign a quarterback who will be able to start next year as a freshman, just as Frazier did in '92. But a find like Frazier is rare, so there's a good chance that next year's Sugar Bowl, the site of the national championship game, will be played without Nebraska.

 

Florida will challenge for the national title again. Don't laugh. Think of the Gators as the football parallel to Duke's 1990 basketball team, which was drilled 103-73 by UNLV in the NCAA championship game and then came back the next year to beat the Runnin' Rebels en route to the first of its back-to-back titles. Gator quarterback Danny Wuerffel returns, along with two of his top three receivers and five other offensive starters. Yet for Florida to reach the title game—the Southeastern Conference title game—it will again have to dispose of Tennessee and its quarterback, Peyton Manning, whose poise and maturity only make him seem as if he's 30 years old and an NFL veteran. And Florida will travel to Knoxville this fall.

 

Or perhaps the national champion will come out of the Big East, where Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb might have the impact on his team that Frazier had on the Huskers, and where Miami has found a new quarterback in Ryan Clement and retains several experienced starters on both sides of the ball.

 

Assuming Michigan running back Tshimanga Biakabutuka doesn't go to the NFL and quarterback Scott Dreisbach recovers from the injured thumb on his right hand, the Wolverines will be the Big Ten favorite. Kansas State's nonleague schedule is again laughably soft, and next season Nebraska must travel to Manhattan, Kans., to play the Wildcats.

 

The field is open again. Keep your '96 Fiesta Bowl videotapes in a safe place, because you won't see dominance like that again. There are no more Nebraskas. Not even in Nebraska.

[deedsker15]

Don't remember seeing this before.

 

 

January 15, 1996Headed For A Fall?Nebraska may win another national title, but the days when such a colossus ruled the game are overTim Layden

 

It was tempting enough to become enthralled with Nebraska's brilliance in its 62-24 Fiesta Bowl humiliation of Florida on Jan. 2. It was impossible not to marvel at the performances of senior quarterback Tommie Frazier, junior I-back Lawrence Phillips and the Cornhuskers' swift, lethal pass rush. Even though Florida was a very good team, it left Tempe, Ariz., in little pieces.

 

In winning its second consecutive national championship, Nebraska was transcendent that night in the desert—and you're not going to see the likes of that team again. All season the Huskers trampled the opposition like a colossus, but in the fall the supremely talented Frazier, along with 10 other senior starters, will be gone, Phillips will probably be in the NFL, and Nebraska's unique talent base will have been eroded by the rules of the new Big 12—the Big Eight plus Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech—which begins play in 1996.

 

Sure, Nebraska will always be one of the most powerful programs in college football—along with teams like Florida State, Michigan and Notre Dame—but beginning next fall the Cornhuskers will be part of the pack, fighting with Florida (again), Tennessee, Michigan, Syracuse, Miami and, who knows, maybe even Kansas State, for a national title.

 

That is why Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, still soaked and shivering from the obligatory ice-water dousing by his players, used his Fiesta Bowl postgame press conference to grumble, in NCAA-speak, about preserving his program's might. He launched into a plea to the presidents of the Big 12 to reconsider their recent decision to limit the recruitment of student-athletes who were once known as Prop 48s.

 

We already knew that Osborne was not much of a celebrator. But his timing on this issue seemed awkward and inappropriate. His team had just become the first in 39 years to win back-to-back consensus national titles. The Cornhuskers had fallen three points short of winning three consecutive national titles (they lost the 1994 Orange Bowl to Florida State 18-16), which has never been done. The morning after the Fiesta Bowl, Osborne did call the 1995 Huskers his best team, yet rather than bask in their accomplishment, he steered a captive audience to an arcane topic. It was something he had done frequently in the days and weeks leading to the game, fearing his giant program would soon be diminished.

 

That the Cornhuskers have been so dominant during a period in which NCAA-mandated football downsizing has tended to create parity is remarkable. The limit of 85 football scholarships per school (down from 95 in 1991 and 105 in '76), in conjunction with the raising of admission standards and the tightening of recruiting rules, has helped programs such as Kansas State, Oregon, Virginia Tech and, most famously, Northwestern, rise to prominence.

 

Nebraska has flourished as a superpower during that time because the Cornhusker program benefits from the convergence of many supporting structures. The Huskers have a smart, stubborn coach with 23 years of experience; unshakable faith in a football system built on the option and the running game and brutal, fast-paced practices; and facilities that include a 30,000-square-foot weight room, which is advertised as the largest among NCAA schools. The only major public university in the state, Nebraska has virtually an open admissions policy and low tuition (less than $3,000 for in-state students), which brings in walk-ons by the dozen. (Nebraska had 141 players on its Fiesta Bowl roster, a number reminiscent of Bear Bryant's days at Alabama but unusual in 1996. By contrast, Florida had 94.) Nebraska also willingly accepts athletes who represent academic and/or social risks. Finally, there comes an occasional gift, a once-in-a-generation talent like Frazier, who arrived in Lincoln from Bradenton, Fla., in 1992.

 

"It's a machine up there," says Colorado coach Rick Neuheisel admiringly. "I know because I've got to beat them."

 

Still, Osborne dourly stumps. And with good reason. The loss of Frazier, the team's undisputed leader, is almost immeasurable—"Half an offense, by himself," said Colorado State coach Sonny Lubick. Without Frazier, Nebraska wouldn't have been competitive in its loss to No. 1-rankcd Florida State in the '94 Orange Bowl; the Huskers probably wouldn't have beaten Miami in the '95 Orange Bowl to win the national title; and there wouldn't have been talk of a dynasty coming out of the Fiesta Bowl. And for those who thought that Cornhusker freshman I-back Ahman Green was as good as Phillips, the Fiesta Bowl should have proved that Green is good, but Phillips, who rushed for 165 yards and scored three touchdowns against Florida, is exceptional.

 

Still, what most threatens Nebraska's championship streak is the Big 12's policy on accepting partial and non-qualifiers under NCAA freshman eligibility guidelines. (A partial qualifier is a prospective athlete who meets only one of two minimum academic requirements—grade point average or standardized test score. The minimums are a 2.0 GPA with a 900 on the SAT or 21 on the ACT; or a 2.5 GPA with a 700 SAT or 17 ACT. A non-qualifier meets neither standard. If a school accepts a partial or non-qualifier, the athlete is ineligible for athletics for one year). On Dec. 20 the Big 12 presidents voted unanimously to limit each school to four partial qualifiers per year (two men, two women) and no more than one in a single sport. Non-qualifiers were excluded entirely.

 

In the Fiesta Bowl, Nebraska started four partial or non-qualifiers (cornerback Michael Booker, defensive tackle Christian Peter, cornerback Tyrone Williams and defensive end Jared Tomich), and two others, wideout Reggie Baul and outside linebacker Jamel Williams, played almost as much as the starters. According to Nebraska officials there were at least 12 partial or non-qualifiers in the program last fall. "Among elite schools Nebraska is a true haven for partial and non-qualifiers," said the coach of another elite school.

 

Osborne's view on partial and non-qualifiers—he calls them "Props," harking back to Proposition 48, which created the aforementioned eligibility guidelines that affected incoming freshmen in 1986—is similar to his reasoning for reinstating Phillips, who was suspended from the team after he was arrested for assaulting his former girlfriend on Sept. 11. (Phillips eventually pleaded no contest and was restored to the team on Oct. 24.) In both cases, the argument goes, kids were given academic opportunities they might not otherwise have found. And Nebraska landed impact players.

 

"I hope [the Big 12 presidents] will take a look at the fact that the Big Eight has four teams in the top 10 [Nebraska, No. 5 Colorado, No. 7 Kansas State and No. 9 Kansas]," said Osborne, after the Fiesta Bowl. "We did it with Big Eight rules." (Actually, the Big Eight has no policy on partial and non-qualifiers.) If the Big 12 does not amend its rules, Osborne could threaten to pull Nebraska out of the conference. But it is unlikely that the Big East, Big Ten or Pac-10, the other major conferences that have no policy on partial and non-qualifiers, would welcome Nebraska because of its modest academic standards or remote location.

 

Prop 48—which is scheduled to be replaced by Prop 16 this summer—is still one of the hot-button issues in college sports: Who deserves an athletic scholarship? But in Nebraska's case, consider this: Two of the four partial or non-qualifiers who started in the Fiesta Bowl (Tyrone Williams and Peter) were among the five Cornhuskers charged with crimes in the last 22 months. Yet, if there have been occasional problems with partial and non-qualifiers at Nebraska, there has also been a significant athletic benefit. Both Williamses, Booker and 1994 cornerback Barron Miles (also a partial qualifier) were among the players who upgraded Nebraska's defense from the plodding bunch that couldn't keep up with Miami and Florida State in the late 1980s and early '90s to the swift, attacking unit that crushed Florida.

 

Osborne is no fool. Nebraska's hold on greatness is tenuous; that large gap between the Cornhuskers and everybody else could close quickly. Take away Frazier, Phillips and the partial and non-qualifiers, and Nebraska's 12-0 record this season could have been 10-2, which might have put the Huskers in a meaningless Cotton Bowl matchup instead of in a showdown for the national championship.

 

Osborne's staff is trying desperately to sign a quarterback who will be able to start next year as a freshman, just as Frazier did in '92. But a find like Frazier is rare, so there's a good chance that next year's Sugar Bowl, the site of the national championship game, will be played without Nebraska.

 

Florida will challenge for the national title again. Don't laugh. Think of the Gators as the football parallel to Duke's 1990 basketball team, which was drilled 103-73 by UNLV in the NCAA championship game and then came back the next year to beat the Runnin' Rebels en route to the first of its back-to-back titles. Gator quarterback Danny Wuerffel returns, along with two of his top three receivers and five other offensive starters. Yet for Florida to reach the title game—the Southeastern Conference title game—it will again have to dispose of Tennessee and its quarterback, Peyton Manning, whose poise and maturity only make him seem as if he's 30 years old and an NFL veteran. And Florida will travel to Knoxville this fall.

 

Or perhaps the national champion will come out of the Big East, where Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb might have the impact on his team that Frazier had on the Huskers, and where Miami has found a new quarterback in Ryan Clement and retains several experienced starters on both sides of the ball.

 

Assuming Michigan running back Tshimanga Biakabutuka doesn't go to the NFL and quarterback Scott Dreisbach recovers from the injured thumb on his right hand, the Wolverines will be the Big Ten favorite. Kansas State's nonleague schedule is again laughably soft, and next season Nebraska must travel to Manhattan, Kans., to play the Wildcats.

 

The field is open again. Keep your '96 Fiesta Bowl videotapes in a safe place, because you won't see dominance like that again. There are no more Nebraskas. Not even in Nebraska.

 

talk about visionary...can he tell me my fortune

[Glendower]

To someone on the outside these surely sound like homer posts, but that's because I frankly don't even see how it's worth discussing. But here I go anyways:

 

 

1. Nebraska destroyed everyone they played, including four top-10 teams. Miami barely survived two of their games, and the schedule doesn't seem to be (from my limited knowledge) as tough. Our closest win was by 14 points, due to late scores against 3rd stringers.

 

2. We would play an excess of 100+ players per game, going to 3rd and 4th string and running simple plays and still blew teams up.

 

3. Everyone points to Miami's insane draft class. So what? We're talking about the successes of the college team in terms of wins and losses and how good of a team they were.

 

4. Our offense was good. Really, really good. We averaged over 7.0 ypc on the season, despite ALWAYS running the ball and having teams load the box with 10 defenders. We didn't give up a single quarterback sack all year. We averaged 29.8 points per first half (untouchable statistic), and 53ppg. Average margin of victory was over 38 points (again, despite playing legitimate scrubs). I would compare Miami's stats, but what's the point? They are quite inferior. Their defense was statistically a bit better, and they might have had a better defense, who knows, but my guess is that our numbers are inflated from playing an insane number of back-up players so much. Either way, both defenses were staught. Oh, and Nebraska's special teams were insane, we gave up 12 total punt return yards all year.

 

 

 

I'm sure someone with better knowledge of both teams can provide even more reasons.

 

T.O. often had 2nd team in by the 2nd quarter. Our first team had it easy (except in practice ).

[Canesfan01]

Ran across this on google.

 

They making a documentary on The U part 2.

where is 95 Nebraska team at? If they were the best they would have a 30 for 30, as they should that team was awesome.

 

Miami had a better backfield with Portis, McGahee, and Frank Gore.

 

Dorsey was ok..his weapons made him look great.

 

That blackshirt secondary was good, but you seriously think Ed Reed, Antrell Rolle, Phillip Buchanon, James Lewis, Devin Hester, and Sean Taylor would be backups behind the blackshirts??

 

Nebraska was physical. Miami had more track speed..

[NUance]

Holy necro bumps!

[hskrpwr13]

Canesfan, its all in how you want to frame the argument. If the "best" criteria is about which team had the better pro talent/careers, Miami wins out. If the criteria is about which total team was more dominant/head-and-shoulders above the rest of the country's teams during the respective years, Nebraska wins that argument.

[Hedley Lamarr]

Ran across this on google.

 

They making a documentary on The U part 2.

where is 95 Nebraska team at? If they were the best they would have a 30 for 30, as they should that team was awesome.

 

Miami had a better backfield with Portis, McGahee, and Frank Gore.

 

Dorsey was ok..his weapons made him look great.

 

That blackshirt secondary was good, but you seriously think Ed Reed, Antrell Rolle, Phillip Buchanon, James Lewis, Devin Hester, and Sean Taylor would be backups behind the blackshirts??

 

Nebraska was physical. Miami had more track speed..

Track speed is great until you get punched in the mouth

[Hunter94]

you know, i am going to say this about the post and not the poster.......living in the past is old hat, pitiful we have to constantly bring up the old teams all the time to sound relevant....focusing on the future is more meaningful, let it go guys, geeezzzz

[knapplc]

Ran across this on google.

 

They making a documentary on The U part 2.

where is 95 Nebraska team at? If they were the best they would have a 30 for 30, as they should that team was awesome.

 

Miami had a better backfield with Portis, McGahee, and Frank Gore.

 

Dorsey was ok..his weapons made him look great.

 

That blackshirt secondary was good, but you seriously think Ed Reed, Antrell Rolle, Phillip Buchanon, James Lewis, Devin Hester, and Sean Taylor would be backups behind the blackshirts??

 

Nebraska was physical. Miami had more track speed..

 

They're making a 30/30 on Miami because they're controversial, and controversy sells. It has nothing to do with the quality of the team. If they made a 30/30 about 1995 Nebraska, what would they say? We steamrolled everyone, beat four teams that finished in the Top Ten by double digit points, and were never in jeopardy of losing a game.

 

That sounds boring to me, and I watched that team punish everyone they played.

 

Miami did NOT have a better backfield. Ahman Green was better than Portis, McGahee & Gore, and Phillips was better than Green.

 

Dorsey compared to Frazier is a joke.

 

Would they be backups? Maybe they'd mix in here or there. I wouldn't trade the 1995 defensive backfield for anything Miami had.

 

Not understanding that Nebraska had flat-out speed on that 1995 team invalidates any argument you're making here.

[knapplc]

you know, i am going to say this about the post and not the poster.......living in the past is old hat, pitiful we have to constantly bring up the old teams all the time to sound relevant....focusing on the future is more meaningful, let it go guys, geeezzzz

 

That is not what we're doing. This is mentioned every time there's a discussion about the 1990s teams and it's a copout argument.

 

We can't pretend those teams didn't exist. We can talk about them as part of our history without it being some attempt at relevance.

 

If you don't like talking about those teams, then don't post in these threads. End of story.

[commando]

i think i am going to jump over to a canes board and necro bump a 5 year old thread and watch to see what reaction i can stir up. lol

[VA Husker Fan]

Ran across this on google.

 

They making a documentary on The U part 2.

where is 95 Nebraska team at? If they were the best they would have a 30 for 30, as they should that team was awesome.

 

Miami had a better backfield with Portis, McGahee, and Frank Gore.

 

Dorsey was ok..his weapons made him look great.

 

That blackshirt secondary was good, but you seriously think Ed Reed, Antrell Rolle, Phillip Buchanon, James Lewis, Devin Hester, and Sean Taylor would be backups behind the blackshirts??

 

Nebraska was physical. Miami had more track speed..

Cool story, bro.

[DrunkInBottoms]

Do they not teach grammar at Coral Gables?

[southernoregonhusker]

The 2001 Husker team didn't have a defense. CU put 60+ up on us. If CU could do it and Miami could only rack up in the 30's on a team with a poor defense, then I like the 95 teams chances. I mean Bohl was fired for a reason bringing Bo into the Nebraska the first time for a reason. Even though the 2001 team played in the NC game, I don't even think they make the top 15-20 in terms of best Husker teams.

What I remember about that game is Miami jumped out to a big lead and shut it down. I was impressed they didn't run up the score and embarrass us. They easily could have.

[HuskerinSunDiego]

Miami 26 VA Tech 24

 

Miami 18 Boston College 7

 

No way we lose to this team. We win in the end, 38-21.