CLASSIC LOON DROPPINGS
Nebraska 24, Miami 17
National Championship
January 1, 1995
Imagine this wacky scenario: Tommie Frazier, the fleet-footed, option-happy Husker quarterback, starts things off with a bang. But before long, he gives way to Brook Berringer, the steady, reliable hand that keeps things afloat while the jitterbug collects himself. Then, as things appear to be winding down, back comes No. 15, and BAM! POW! Nebraska comes out on top. Think I'm talking about the 1995 FedEx Orange Bowl -- that frenzied, frenetic contest that saw NU come out as national champs? Well, yeah, I am, but the same scenario is accurate for this entire, charmed season, which had more plot twists than The Crying Game and Legends of the Fall combined. At last, at long last Dr. Tom, an avid fisherman, is no longer Ahab searching the ocean for his prize. Cuz regardless of what happens in Pasdeener tomorrow, after 22 years Ozzie is truly the king fish.
A few takes:
WHAT A SAPP: It looks like all the hot air that Warren "The Blimp" Sapp and the rest of his mouthy Miami teammates were leaking throughout the first three quarters finally ran out in the fourth period. Ironically, Miami peetered out of gas at approximately the exact same time Chris Collinsworth said, "I just don't think Nebraska can afford to run any more options tonight." Two scores later, the top-ranked Hurricane defense looked about as potent as a six-pack of Old Milwaukee. Appropriately, Cory Schlesinger, a corn-fed, thick-necked white boy from a half-horse Nebraska town, provided the winning scores to clam up Dennis Erickson's jukin', jivin', lip-flapping 'Canes. It was of particular gratification to see Sapp, No. 76, walking off the field with his head bowed, sucking wind and his big mouth shut. After a job well done, you can bet that champagne is flowing through The Pipeline tonight.
TWO-TIMIN': The east end zone at Miami's Orange Bowl Stadium has been a particular bugaboo for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. It was in that same, wretched spot in 1984 that Kenny Calhoun knocked down Turner Gill's two-point pass that humbled the Huskers and jump-started the Hurricane Dynasty. NU also missed a two-point attempt in the same end zone just last year against the Seminoles, which turned out to cost the Cornhuskers at least a piece of the national title. So it was with sublime joy that I watched one Tommie Frazier thread the needle and fire a heat-seeking missle to Eric Alford in the back of the endzone to forge a 17-17 tie with just 7 minutes left. Rumor has it that Frazier threw the ball so hard, it is still wedged in Alford's solar plexus. After that conversion, you could just tell that the 'Canes were razed.
ERSTAD-Y AS SHE GOES: While most of the credit is going to the Husker offense, which took over in the final quarter in a show of brute strength not seen since Lou Ferrigno's days on The Incredible Hulk, there is at least one unsung hero who deserves as much, if not more, credit. Darin Erstad, the best baseball player on the football team, kept the Canes so deep in their own territory that Frank Costa once had to start a drive from Fort Lauderdale. His trusty foot -- particularly in the fourth quarter -- twice set up the NU offense with a short field. And we all know now what they can do with a short field, now don't we?
I CAN SEE FOR MILES AND MILES: What a great birthday present this National Championship is for No. 14, Nebraska cornerback Barron Miles. Though standing only three-foot-four, Barron is more opportunistic than Bill Clinton at a Hawaiian Tropic convention. He smothered the lanky, speedy Hurricane wideouts all night long, giving them about as much chance to succeed head-to-head as Chicago Hope has against ER. Though exposed as susceptible to the big play, the entire Blackshirt unit played lights-out against the quicksilver Miami attack. It was best exemplified on the final drive of the night, when Costa got a reeeeal good look at Terry Conneally. All of him.
ROSES ARE BLUE: After Schlesinger rumbled in for that last touchdown, I was hoping the D could get the ball back quickly so NU could ram in yet another score against the wilting Hurricanes to make it 31-17. After all, NU had two drives snuffed out by turnovers earlier in the second half, and it would have only been fitting to rub Denny's nose in it a little bit. It also would have helped the Cornhuskers' cause in the polls, where they lead Penn State by a decent, but not necessarily insurmountable margin. I'd guess that Kerry, Ki-Jana and the boys could overtake the Huskers in the rankings if they beat mighty, mighty Oregon soundly tomorrow in the Rose Bowl. Say .... 222-0, and maybe I'll reconsider. On second thought, no, I won't.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Ain't it funny that in the course of a 60-minute football game, Dr. Tom went from the coach of a paper tiger who couldn't win the big one to instantly becoming one of the best coaches in the history of the game? Ozzie might say that it's More Than Winning, but for many people, including us Red Clad Loons, winning is just fine, thankyouverymuch. Osborne says it's the pursuit of the national championship, not winning it, that's the gratifying part of it. And for that, he's all the more deserving. As for us, drink it in and go buy a "National Championship" t-shirt, fellow Loons -- the Cornhuskers are back where they belong. On top. And who knows? With a gaggle of starters coming back next year, this could be the start of something really, really special. In the meantime, let's Simonize our watches. The Michigan State game is exactly 234 days away right ..... NOW!
==STEVE==