Tommie Frazier took a trip to the Downtown Athletic Club on the eve of the 1994 Kickoff Classic, and the sight of the Heisman Trophy must have inspired the Nebraska quarterback.
Frazier rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns and threw another Sunday as No. 4 Nebraska started its "Unfinished Business" season by dominating No. 24 West Virginia 31-0 at Giants Stadium in the opener of the college football season."No one is talking big," said tackle Zach Wiegert, part of a massive offensive line that helped Nebraska post a 468-89 advantage in total offense. "But we think we have a good team and we want to get back to play for the title."
The Cornhuskers had that chance last year in the Orange Bowl against Florida State, but the national title sailed away with an errant field goal in the closing seconds. It was the only blemish after an 11-0 regular season.
The nucleus of that team is back and it had little trouble handling a West Virginia team hurt by graduation.
Last year, a bowl game between the two undefeated teams might have been a great way to decide the national champion. But it was a mismatch on Sunday, especially the way the Cornhuskers' defense harried sophomore quarterbacks Chad Johnston and Eric Boykin.
Neither had much experience coming into the game and they were running ragged most of the afternoon. They were a combined 6-of-19 for 46 yards and two interceptions.
On the other side, Frazier was simply running to daylight, especially around left end on the option keeper. The junior sandwiched touchdown runs of 25 and 27 yards around a 12-yard TD pass to Reggie Baul in the second quarter as the Huskers opened a 24-0 halftime lead.
Frazier capped his 12-carry, 137-yard effort with a 42-yard TD scamper in the fourth quarter.
After that, the only thing of interest was whether West Virginia would be able to avoid its first shutout since 1986. It could have, but coach Don Nehlen elected to go for a touchdown on a fourth and 9 at the Nebraska 9 in the closing minutes and Boykin's pass was intercepted in the end zone by Sedric Collins.
"What's the difference?" asked Nehlen, whose offense did not get the ball in Nebraska territory until a fumble was recovered in the fourth quarter. "Why go for the field goal at that point? We just wanted to execute a play."
While he wasn't perfect, Frazier looked very good. Besides single-handedly outgaining West Virginia on the ground, he also completed 8 of 16 passes for 100 yards. He also threw two interceptions deep in Mountaineer territory.
Fourteen of West Virginia's 57 offensive plays went for losses, with Nebraska registering eight sacks.
"Our defense has felt all along we could come in and compete with anybody," said Huskers freshman linebacker Grant Wistrom, who had 11/2 sacks. "A lot of people don't pay our defense enough respect and I think we showed everybody today we're for real and we're going to be contenders."
West Virginia will have to regroup this week with Ball State scheduled at home next weekend.
"We have a lot of work to do on offense, on defense, everywhere," Nehlen said after his team's worst offensive performance in his tenure as coach. "But we knew that coming in."
West Virginia's Robert Walker, who gained a school-record 1,250 yards last season, was held to 46 yards on 12 carries.