Tommie Heisman Hit Bump: OU Defense
BY John Klein
Nov 25, 1995
3/16/08 at 7:37 AM
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Oklahoma's defense may have thrown up the last
roadblock in Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier's Heisman Trophy
hopes.
Despite a 37-0 romp over the Sooners, it was Nebraska's
defense and not Frazier that did the most damage on Friday at
Nebraska's Memorial Stadium.
Frazier, hitting nearly 60 percent of his passes through the
first 10 games, connected on only 12-of-25 for 128 yards. He was
intercepted once.
The Sooners, stubborn against the run, didn't allow Frazier
to get outside on the option. He ran for only 35 yards.
Appearing on national television the final time before the
Heisman ballots are collected, Frazier probably did little to help
his chances.
"The voters are going to vote," said Nebraska coach Tom
Osborne. "What can I say? I get kind of tired of coaches saying
that their team is the greatest or their player is the
greatest...who pays attention to that, anyway? But I will tell you
this. If you look at the four years of productivity and results,
the guy has produced.
"He's a great player. I don't know what else is out there. I
can't talk about anyone else's players because I don't know. He
sure has meant a lot to this program for a four-year period. Very
few quarterbacks had ever come in to start as a true freshman."
As usual, Frazier shrugged off talk about the Heisman.
"Right now I really don't care about that," he said. "That's
left up to the voters. The best guy's going to win it.
"I was playing the game like I usually play it. They were
doing some things to catch us off guard. I'm not going to say I had
a bad game. I went out and did what I normally do."
Nebraska finally broke free of the shackles with two
fourth-quarter touchdowns.
"They're a very good football team," said OU coach Howard
Schnellenberger. "When they put the pressure on, they do it quite
well. Lincoln is a tough place to play because of its fine football
team and its fine coaches.
"I thought we did a wonderful job on their passing game,
except the obvious one busted signal. It's awfully hard to stop a
football team when you flat bust a coverage. When we play the right
coverage we play pretty well."
