Tom Osborne understated top-ranked Nebraska football’s performance in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2, 1996, you might say. He “felt we had a little better defense than they’d seen and a better running game than they’d seen,” Osborne said, referring to the second-ranked Florida Gators.
Florida did lead 10-6 at the end of the first quarter. But 32 seconds into the second quarter, Tommie Frazier and Lawrence Phillips teamed up on a 16-yard touchdown pass and the Huskers never looked back. They led 35-14 at the half. The final score was 62-24.
Gator Coach Steve Spurrier said afterward, over the stadium loudspeaker: “We were out-matched. In order to beat Nebraska, (you’ve) got to be as strong as they are. We got clobbered.”
Florida’s “Fun-and-Gun” passing attack, under the direction of *Danny Wuerffel, was considered “college football’s offense of the ‘90s.” The 12-0 Gators ranked second nationally in passing yards per game (360.8), third in points (44.5) and fourth in total offense (534.4 yards per game).
The passing was impressive. But “there is still a place in college football for a running quarterback,” said Osborne. That “doesn’t mean there’s not other ways to do it.
“But we think the option still has a place.”
His statement was supported by Frazier’s 199 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. Both touchdowns came in the third quarter, the first 35 yards, the second 75 yards.
The 75-yarder came with 1 second remaining in the quarter, 51 seconds after a Wuerffel touchdown pass and two-point conversion cut the lead to 42-18. According to the official statistics, Frazier, the CBS Offensive Player of the Game, broke seven tackles during the run.
Husker defensive tackle Christian Peter said he counted 11 broken tackles.
“I don’t know how many guys (missed tackles) or whether they were trying to take the ball,” said Frazier, who was 6-for-14 passing for 105 yards and the Phillips touchdown, with two interceptions. “They kept contacting me, but I kept my legs going. I felt them trying to take the ball, next thing you know … I just came out the other end.”
Phillips carried 25 times for 165 yards and two touchdowns. Ahman Green ran for 68 yards and a touchdown. Brook Berringer scored Nebraska’s last touchdown with 4:44 remaining.
Reidel Anthony returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for Florida’s final touchdown.
Kris Brown, whose first-quarter extra-point kick was blocked, kicked field goals from 24 and 26 yards. The Huskers finished with 629 total yards, including 524 rushing — with no losses.
Such totals were not unexpected. Nebraska led the nation in rushing, 399.8 yards per game. The Huskers also ranked first in scoring, 52.4 points, and second in total offense, 556.3 yards.
Osborne said he was also “very proud” of the Husker defense, which allowed Florida 269 yards, a total diminished by minus-28 yards rushing on 21 attempts.
Again, you might say Osborne understated what the defense did.
“The pressure on Danny Wuerffel was pretty good,” he said. Wuerffel was 17-of-31 passing for 255 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw three interceptions and took seven sacks.
He had thrown only 10 interceptions all season. Michael Booker returned one 42 yards for a touchdown. Eric Stokes and Tony Veland had the other interceptions.
Terrell Farley had two sacks, including one that preceded Jamel Williams’ sack of Wuerffel for a safety, less than 2 minutes after Phillips’ touchdown early in the second quarter.
The game, promoted as the “Duel in the Desert,” drew a Sun Devil Stadium record crowd, 79,864. Nebraska became only the third team to win back-to-back national-championship seasons twice. The others were Oklahoma, 1955-56 and 1975-76, and Alabama, 1964-65 and 1978-79. Bob Devaney’s Huskers went undefeated in 1970-71 to win national championships.
“Everybody wasn’t as emotional tonight as last year,” Osborne said, referring to Nebraska’s victory against Miami in the 1995 Orange Bowl. “It wasn’t ho-hum, but more matter-of-fact.”
*Wuerffel lived in Lincoln for a time and attended every Husker home game in 1983. “I grew up a big fan of Nebraska, Mike Rozier, Turner Gill and Irving Fryar,” he told the Lincoln Journal Star. He remained a Husker fan, he said, but wasn’t recruited out of high school in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Wuerffel would win the Heisman Trophy in 1996.
