Nebraska’s Legacy: Black E Or One Of Best Ever? Ongoing Controversies Take The Edge Off National Championship Season

Nebraska coach Tom Osborne must be wondering what the year after a second national championship will bring.

The Cornhuskers’ road to their second straight title seemed filled with ugly detours into court and criticism of Osborne, one of the game’s most respected coaches.

What about tailback Lawrence Phillips, who returned to brilliance in the Fiesta Bowl after a six-game suspension for beating a former girlfriend? What about two other players charged in separate shootings, including one with attempted murder.

Why was Osborne playing these guys?

To a national audience, these were the questions that surrounded Nebraska as it routed 12 opponents, including Florida in the national championship game. Almost lost in a haze of court dates and tense news conferences was the final season of quarterback Tommie Frazier, the Heisman Trophy runner-up who ran for a career-high 199 yards against Florida to cap a 33-3 career as a starter.

The 62-24 victory was Nebraska’s 36th in three years, a modern record, and the 25th win in a row. It was embarrassingly easy.

Will back-to-back titles be the team’s legacy? Or will Nebraska be the team with the permanent black eyes?

“I’m glad the season is over,” Osborne told reporters moments after the Fiesta Bowl. “I hope all you guys concentrate on basketball now. I need a vacation.”

Earlier that day, a Nebraska basketball player had been arrested on suspicion of hitting his girlfriend and was suspended from the team. It was an odd coincidence, but not the first of the season; four months earlier, Osborne told his team to “stay out of trouble” as they arrived in Lincoln after the Sept. 9 game at Michigan State.

A few hours later, Phillips beat former girlfriend Kate McEwen and Nebraska’s season changed forever. The victories were still there - Nebraska notched a third consecutive undefeated regular season - but there was a cloud over Lincoln.

Osborne had been questioned a few times about his decision to play cornerback Tyrone Williams, who is accused of shooting at an occupied car in January 1994. Osborne said he believed Williams is innocent.

Osborne was questioned again after receiver Riley Washington was charged after allegedly shooting a man at a convenience store. Osborne played Washington, too, saying he was innocent.

But it was Phillips’ case - and Osborne’s decision to keep him on the team - that brought the firestorm of attention to Lincoln.

Phillips, a junior from West Covina, Calif., had been in trouble before this season but never for something as serious as assault.

He had paid for damage to another man’s jewelry following a confrontation and had been cited by police for disturbing the peace following a party. He had been investigated and cleared by the NCAA for having lunch with a sports agent’s employee and for receiving spending money and other items from the owners of a group home where he lived as a teenager.

National media blasted Osborne and his program as one full of outlaws, a “Miami of the North.” The placid Osborne said he didn’t think it was true and noted there was little he could do about others’ opinions of his team.

As for Phillips, he said: “The one thing that you do in a situation where there has been some abuse is you don’t want to take away the one thing that has been of strength and has given the person some self-worth and self-esteem. Our goal all along has been to help Lawrence become a better person.”

All the same, Osborne said after the Fiesta victory that he had told Phillips to enter this spring’s NFL draft and forgo his senior season. In Lincoln, said the coach, Phillips always will be a “marked man.”

On the field, no team was better.

There was no drama in Nebraska’s first four games, routs of Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Arizona State and lowly Pacific, which scrapped football after the season because it was a financial loser.

Then came Washington State, a 35-21 victory in which the Huskers piled up 428 rushing yards on a team that had allowed just 70. Freshman Ahman Green had a career-high 176 yards in his first start, and while Phillips clearly made Nebraska better, he was not needed to win.

Over the next six games, it was Frazier’s run at the Heisman and the defense that got the attention. Frazier was nearly flawless in a 44-21 victory at then-No. 7 Colorado, throwing for a career-high 241 yards.

Nebraska beat its 11 regular-season opponents by an average of 38 points. Five home games and a week off in one six-week span didn’t hurt, but Nebraska clearly was much, much better than its competition.

“I like the chemistry of this team,” said Osborne, who tabbed it the best he’s coached in his 23 years. “They seem to rise to the challenge every week.”

The biggest challenge by far seemed to be Florida, with its “Fun ‘N Gun” offense dreamed up, sometimes on the spot, by coach Steve Spurrier and run like a machine by quarterback Danny Wuerffel.

While Nebraska’s defense had allowed 21, 14, 3 and zero points in its last four games, few expected the Huskers to dominate Florida as they did. Wuerffel was sacked seven times, once for a safety, and intercepted three times. The game between the nation’s top two teams was wrapped up by halftime, and Osborne seemed more annoyed by the ceremonial dousing than happy.

“Everybody wasn’t quite as emotional tonight as we were last year,” a soaking wet Osborne said after the game. “I think the players expected they were going to win it. . . . It wasn’t ‘ho hum,’ certainly, but it was more matter-of-fact.”

Spurrier called it the best team he had seen in his six years at Florida. No one disagreed.

“We were here to win,” linebacker Phil Ellis said. “Whatever comes with that, comes with it. We’re not going to jump on the bandwagon and say we’re the best. We know that.”