Celebrating History: The 1994 Husker National Title

By Nate Rohr

One minute, sixteen seconds flashed on the scoreboard clock. Byron Bennett had just kicked a 27-yard field goal and Nebraska, which came into the game a sizable underdog to No. 1 Florida State, held a 16-15 lead in the 1994 Orange Bowl.

But behind Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, Florida State quickly drove into field-goal range. With 25 seconds left, Seminole kicker Scott Bentley nailed a 22-yard field goal to give FSU an 18-16 lead.

"That’s the one thing in sports: You can’t let your guard down," said Brenden Stai, a right guard on the 1993 and 1994 Nebraska squads.

The Huskers put together a frantic final drive, and got into position to give Bennett one more chance to win the game. But when his 45-yard field goal attempt drifted wide left, FSU clinched the national championship.

The disappointment of the loss was quickly replaced by a resolve to turn the 1993 "near-miss" into 1994’s national title.

On the scoreboard clocks during off-season conditioning, 1:16 flashed to remind the team how close it came to winning the title, and that there was still unfinished business from the previous season.

"That 1:16 was living in our heads from the last second in the 1994 Orange Bowl until we got back there a year later," Stai said.

A good portion of the 1993 team returned. At the core of the team coming into the 1994 season was ?The Pipeline,’ Nebraska’s offensive line considered by many to be among the best ever assembled.

"We knew that if we were going to win, it was going to come down to us," said Stai, whose efforts in 1994 earned him All-America honors. "It was up to us to get the job done, and we took a lot of pride in that."

Stai, along with 1994 Outland Trophy winner Zach Wiegert and center Aaron Graham, led the way for Nebraska’s offensive attack, which was headlined by junior quarterback Tommie Frazier.

Defensively, the Huskers’ change to a more speed-oriented 4-3 defense was beginning to bear fruit, thanks to a former high school safety manning the middle linebacker spot.

Ed Stewart was brought to Nebraska from Chicago to become a defensive back in NU’s 5-2 scheme. But in practice, the Husker coaching staff found that Stewart was struggling in the secondary.

"I couldn’t cover guys like Jon Bostick on the out route, so the coaches told me I was moving to linebacker," Stewart said recently.

With plenty of returning starters, the Huskers entered the 1994 season as the preseason No. 4 team in the nation. Early in the year, Nebraska lived up to the hype.

It started with a 31-0 win over No. 24 West Virginia in the Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, N.J. Then, carrying the No. 1 ranking, the Huskers blasted Texas Tech, 42-16, in Lubbock. Nebraska fell in the polls to No. 2, but then beat No. 13 UCLA, 49-21.

The season was going as scripted. The hard work in the off-season had paid off, and Nebraska was sitting, as planned, with an undefeated record and a high national ranking. Then disaster seemingly struck.

Frazier suffered a blood clot and would be out for the remainder of the season. Into the spotlight stepped Brook Berringer, a little-used backup from Goodland, Kan. Before he could get his feet settled in the driver’s seat of Nebraska’s offense, he too would get knocked out with collapsed lungs after hits in successive weeks against Wyoming and Oklahoma State. Berringer would be forced to sit out Nebraska’s first real conference test, an away game at No. 16 Kansas State.

Some teams would view the loss of two starting quarterbacks as catastrophic to their chance at a national championship. The 1994 Huskers were not such a team.

"Losing Frazier and Berringer didn’t change our approach at all," Stai said. "It just fueled our fire that much more."

With third-string walk-on Matt Turman under center, Nebraska scrapped most of its playbook.

"We knew, and Kansas State knew that we weren’t going to throw a 50-yard bomb in that game," Graham said. "They put eight guys in the box, and it was just a man-on-man deal."

Giving the ball to Lawrence Phillips on simple dive plays for the vast majority of the game, the Huskers slugged out a 17-6 victory in Manhattan to keep the undefeated season alive. Following a 42-7 road win over Missouri, the No. 3 Huskers faced another turning-point game against No. 2 Colorado in Lincoln. The 200th consecutive sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium would see an extremely talented Colorado team, including 1994 Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam.

"It was always exciting to play against Colorado," Stewart said. "They had identified us as their arch rival, and it was a very competitive environment."

Nebraska’s defense stymied CU’s star-studded offense, and the Huskers won 24-7. The next week, Nebraska was No. 1 and would not give up its place atop college football the rest of the season.

Wins over Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma clinched NU’s fourth straight Big Eight title and fourth straight trip to Miami to take on the Hurricanes in the 1995 Orange Bowl. Nebraska would have to beat the Hurricanes on their own field at night to win the national title.

"We knew we had to buckle up, get after them and wear them down," Stai said.

As the game drew closer, NU’s strategy drew into clearer focus.

"Coach Osborne was prophetic," Stewart said. "He said that if we stuck to our game plan, we would be the better, stronger team in the fourth quarter."

Miami took a 10-0 lead to start the game, and had a margin as wide as 17-7 early in the third quarter. But, with 11:35 left in the third quarter, Dwayne Harris sacked Miami quarterback Frank Costa in the end zone to pull Nebraska within eight. As the Pipeline tired Miami’s defensive line, fullback Cory Schlesinger found the end zone twice in the fourth quarter to give Nebraska a 24-17 lead and the title.

"It was a feeling of relief after putting forth that effort," Graham said. "It was the ultimate sense of achievement to go back and win in the Orange Bowl a year later."

"We came back that next year and proved to everybody, including ourselves, that we deserved that national championship," Stai said .

The win gave Osborne his first national championship.

"We were honored and elated to be on his first championship team," Stewart said.