The pass plays were working fine for Tommie Frazier on Sunday - especially the two that turned into touchdown runs by Nebraska's freshman quarterback.
Frazier ended up passing for one and running for three touchdowns for the day, and No. 11 Nebraska finished with a 38-24 victory over Kansas State that sent the Cornhuskers to the Orange Bowl for the third time in five years.The Cornhuskers clinched the Big Eight championship with a 6-1 conference record and, at 9-2 overall, reached their 24th consecutive nine-win season.
Kansas State ended at 5-6 - 2-5 in the conference - but went home with some degree of satisfaction.
Athletic director Milt Richards said quarterback Matt Garber "played the best game of his life."
"Our offense worked today like we hoped it would work all season," he added.
But Nebraska's worked better in a scoring show that pleased the 50,000 mostly Japanese fans in Tokyo Dome watching the annual Coca Cola Bowl, the only NCAA regular reason football game played outside the United States.
Kansas State hasn't beaten Nebraska since 1968.
Frazier passed 18 yards to Corey Dixon for Nebraska's first touchdown 81/2 minutes into the game. Dixon made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch.
The next two times Nebraska had the ball, Frazier ended the drive by trying to pass for touchdowns again.
The first time, he scrambled 19 yards for a touchdown.
The second, "I just saw a man coming and I avoided him" - and kept going into the end zone on a 4-yard run.
The 18-year-old from Manatee High School in Bradenton, now about to go home to Florida for the Orange Bowl, said he had been determined to complete more than half his passes.
He did - 11 of 18 for 134 yards, including five completions to Dixon for a total of 72 yards. He also ran for 43 yards in 12 carries.
Meanwhile, Calvin Jones went well over his average 90 yards a game, carrying for 182 yards in 30 carries. One was a 38-yard scoring run down the sidelines after a pitchout. He also kept Nebraska's second scoring drive going with a successful fourth-and-one plunge from the KSU 21.
Garber hit on 19 of 33 passes for 255 yards.
He led KSU's first scoring drive when the Wildcats were down 21-0 midway through the second quarter, hitting Andre Coleman for the final 10 yards.