Nebraska Football: Remembering Tommie Frazier

 The most memorable game that I have ever watched on TV, the most indelible mark that has been etched into my memory about Miami football, was not their National Championship in '01.

Rather, it was watching the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers come from behind in the fourth quarter to beat the Miami Hurricanes in the 1995 Orange Bowl.

Since that day there is no PLAYER in my mind that is more reviled than Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier (I capitalize player because the ref who called Pass Interference on Glenn Sharpe in the back of the end zone in 2002 would be dead if I ever got an address).

Frazier's numbers for that game were, to put it lightly, bad.  The star quarterback had just 31 yards on seven carries, and through the air he was three for five for 25 yards and one interception.  Brook Berringer, his backup, was better when he replaced Frazier for the second and third quarters.

But with Nebraska losing 17-9 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Tom Osborne went back to his star, and Frazier immediately began to enrage my family.

It really took just one play for Frazier to show he was back.  On the first play from scrimmage, the Miami defense was eager to get after Frazier, and they knew the option was coming.

When it did, they jumped the play, but Frazier eluded a defender and at the last possible second pitched it to Lawrence Phillips for 25 yards.

After a touchdown and two-point conversion, Frazier set up the winning score by scampering 25 yards on an option play deep into Miami territory before correctly reading the triple option and letting his fullback bull into the end zone.

This is the epitome of why Tommie Frazier was so great.  The main reason the option was so successful in the early '90s and is no longer as successful now is because of defensive speed.  The players now, especially the linebackers, are physical freaks who can run sideline to sideline easily and shut down the option.

Back when Frazier played, Nebraska had success with it because linebackers were bigger, stronger, and slower.  But Miami was ahead of the curve—their linebacking corps for that game was led by Ray Lewis, and featured six or seven players who were under 230 pounds and could fly to the football.

Lewis even bragged before the game that the option would be useless against the team speed of Miami—and for three quarters, it was.  But when Frazier reentered in the fourth quarter, Miami couldn't stop him.

Keep in mind that Frazier had also had a three-month layoff from football before the game because he had been suffering from severe blood clots in his legs, something that would eventually curtail his NFL dreams.

Frazier is most famous for his absolutely absurd 75-yard touchdown gallop in the 1996 National Championship game against Florida.  Watch the replay and the blend of power, grace, agility, and speed in the form of Frazier becomes apparent.

He bulldozes multiple Gator defenders, and then once he is free he just runs away from them.  That touchdown put the finishing touches on a beatdown by the Huskers to the tune of 62-24, and helped Frazier win his third consecutive MVP award of a national championship game.

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