ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996 TAG: 9601030086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TEMPE, ARIZ.
SOURCE: Associated Press
A troubled football season ended in overwhelming triumph Tuesday night for Tom Osborne, Lawrence Phillips and a top-ranked Nebraska team that was forced to defend more than its national championship.
Tackle-busting runs by Phillips and Tommie Frazier, and a smothering defense helped the 'Huskers demolish No.2 Florida 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl, making them the first repeat champions in 16 years and the first team to win consecutive titles with perfect records in nearly four decades.
Nebraska dominated the showdown between the nation's only undefeated, untied NCAA Division I-A teams, scoring 29 consecutive points in the second quarter and taking the zip out of Florida's ``Fun 'N Gun'' offense by pounding quarterback Danny Wuerffel with seven sacks and picking off three of his passes.
``Nebraska's just way better than us,'' said Steve Spurrier, Florida's coach. ``They outcoached us and outplayed us. We got smashed up front ... Tommie Frazier made us look like we weren't trying at times.''
Phillips, considered a Heisman Trophy contender before serving a school-imposed six-game suspension for assaulting a former girlfriend, carried 25 times for 165 yards and scored three touchdowns in his first start since returning to the team in late October. He caught a 16-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, scored on a juking 42-yard run in the second period and added a 15-yard touchdown run in the final period.
Frazier, whose career nearly was ended by blood clots last season, ran 16 times for a career-high 199 yards and two touchdowns, including a 75-yard scamper in which he broke six tackles by four players.
``Frazier is a great football player,'' Osborne said. ``We think the option still has a place in football. He showed that tonight.''
The senior also completed six of 14 passes for 105 yards and one touchdown.
``I had a great career at Nebraska,'' Frazier said. ``There's no better way to end it.''
Wuerffel, who threw 35 touchdown passes and set an NCAA record for passing efficiency in the regular season, was harassed into his worst performance of the year. He was 17-of-31 for 255 yards with three interceptions and one touchdown.
The victory capped a remarkable 36-1 run by Frazier and the Huskers, who became the first major-college team to win 36 games in three years. Only a last-minute, two-point loss to Florida State in the 1994 Orange Bowl prevented Nebraska from winning an unprecedented three consecutive titles.
The only beating the Huskers took all year was from critics who portrayed them as outlaws after Phillips and three of his teammates were arrested during a three-month period. Osborne came under fire for allowing Phillips to rejoin the team and permitting two players charged in shootings to continue playing.
But, at least for one night, the off-the-field problems were overshadowed by Nebraska's brilliant play on the field.
The Huskers (12-0) simply were too strong, fast and efficient for the Gators (12-1), who seemed out of their element in their first national championship game.
An offensive machine that averaged 441/2 points during the regular season, Florida looked feeble against Nebraska's swarming defense. After Wuerffel's 1-yard touchdown sneak put the Gators ahead 10-6 with 1:17 left in the first quarter, Florida was held to no yards and no points in the second period as Nebraska turned a four-point deficit into a 25-point lead.
The Huskers are the first champions to repeat since Bear Bryant's Alabama teams in 1978-79 and the first to do it with perfect records since Bud Wilkinson's Oklahoma squads in 1955-56. Nebraska also won consecutive championships under Bob Devaney in 1970-71.
It was the second-worst rout in 30 meetings between the nation's top two teams, trailing only Army's 48-0 victory over Notre Dame in 1945. The game was the first national championship contest put together by the Bowl Alliance.
Phillips triggered Nebraska's second-quarter offensive explosion when he caught a cross-field pass from Frazier in the clear and somersaulted into the end zone. Kris Brown's low extra point kick was blocked, but, with exception of two errant passes by Frazier that were picked off, it was nothing but good times for Nebraska the rest of the way.
After Phillips' long touchdown run put Nebraska ahead 13-10, the Huskers piled it on with a safety, a 1-yard touchdown run by freshman Ahman Green, a 42-yard interception return by Michael Booker and a pair of field goals by Brown to break it open by halftime.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Nebraska tailback Lawrence Phillips (1) rips offby CNBa long gainer in the first quarter Tuesday night at the Fiesta Bowl.
2. Reserve quarterback Matt Turman celebrates another Nebraska
touchdown during the Cornhuskers' 62-24
demolition of Florida on Tuesday night at the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe,
Ariz. color.