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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Welcome to the Carriker Chronicles,
00:10 the people show.
00:12 Check the pulse of Husker Nation,
00:13 brought to you by DPS Concrete Construction.
00:16 Check them out at dpsconstruction.net.
00:19 I got a very special guest with me today,
00:21 but before we get in to my special guest, do me a favor.
00:26 All right, Nebraska, unfortunately,
00:27 four and 16 in their last 20 ball games,
00:30 but if you are with me,
00:32 Nebraska is an 11 and a half point favorite
00:33 on Saturday versus Illinois.
00:35 So if you're with me and you believe Nebraska
00:37 is gonna win their first game of the year on Saturday,
00:39 hit that like button for me.
00:41 But I wanna get into our guest.
00:43 He's a college football hall of famer.
00:45 He had his Nebraska Cornhusker jersey number 15 retired,
00:48 two-time national champion, consensus all American,
00:51 Fiesta Bowl MVP, two-time Orange Bowl MVP,
00:54 in 1995 alone, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner,
00:58 quarterback of the year,
00:59 Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year, Tommy Frazier.
01:02 How you doing, my friend?
01:04 - I'm doing great, and yourself?
01:05 Thanks for having me on.
01:06 - Oh man, I'm doing good.
01:08 I'll be a lot better if Nebraska gets the win this Saturday,
01:11 but when I sat down to write a list of questions for you,
01:15 I mean, there was like three
01:16 that popped into my head immediately.
01:18 So we're gonna dive into it.
01:20 All right, man, talk to me about, in your mind,
01:23 your thoughts, what's going on
01:25 with the quarterback position right now with Jeff Sims.
01:28 He's got one touchdown pass, four INTs.
01:31 He had six turnovers, unfortunately,
01:32 in the first six quarters of the season.
01:35 Nebraska, as we know, has eight on the year.
01:37 Okay, now Matt Rule has said, and I quote,
01:39 "Jeff's our starting quarterback.
01:41 "If this hadn't happened," talking about the injury,
01:44 "he'd be out there," end quote.
01:46 So what are your thoughts on Jeff Sims
01:48 starting if he's healthy versus Heinrich Harburg,
01:51 Chubba Purdy, or someone else
01:53 getting the chance at quarterback?
01:55 - Well, I agree with that, that he's the starter.
01:59 He was the best guy coming into the season.
02:01 They went out and transferred for him,
02:03 got him transferred for him,
02:04 and got him to come to Nebraska,
02:06 so they have all confidence and faith in him.
02:09 With that being said, that's what a coach is supposed to say.
02:12 But when you look at the first two games
02:14 and look at the first eight quarters,
02:17 I think he hasn't been in the right spot
02:19 that Nebraska thought he should be in.
02:22 With his play, it hasn't given Nebraska
02:25 the best opportunity to win.
02:27 - So, eight turnovers, okay.
02:30 I feel like some of these turnovers
02:32 are due to just kinda simple little things.
02:34 Okay, so in your opinion, what can they do?
02:37 Like, how do we see an improvement
02:38 in these turnovers sooner rather than later?
02:41 - Well, to me, it's more of a mental thing for him.
02:44 You know, it's nothing physical,
02:46 'cause he has the attributes and the ability to do it.
02:49 But he just has to pay attention,
02:50 focus more on why he's on the field,
02:53 and make sure, the number one thing
02:54 is to make sure you secure the snap,
02:56 and number two, check the football,
02:57 and two of the things that he hasn't done
02:59 in the first two games.
03:00 - Now, obviously, Nebraska's had
03:02 some obvious ups and downs so far.
03:05 And rule said, you know, he's sticking to his guns,
03:08 he knows who he is, okay, and I quote,
03:10 "This is what you get when you hire me.
03:12 "It's not gonna be fast,
03:13 "it's not gonna be fixed overnight.
03:15 "I understand there's frustration.
03:17 "We're trying to learn how to win," end quote.
03:19 Okay, what are your thoughts on Matt Rule's approach,
03:21 and not changing anything so far?
03:23 - Well, you can't hit the panic button right now,
03:26 and I think that's what a lot of fans are doing right now,
03:29 'cause it's year two, and we're in the first few games,
03:31 though people wanna be successful,
03:34 they want winners right now.
03:35 But when you're hired to do a job,
03:37 and you have a philosophy, and you know
03:39 that your philosophy works,
03:40 'cause it worked at two of the other universities,
03:42 then you gotta stick to what you know.
03:44 You can't panic right now, 'cause when you,
03:46 if the leader starts panicking,
03:47 then everybody else starts panicking.
03:48 So I think he's doing the right thing,
03:50 just sticking to what he knows,
03:51 and how he knows how to build a program,
03:53 and not listen to the outside people,
03:56 such as fans, myself, or the media,
03:58 because of course the media right now
03:59 is gonna say, "Well, he's not getting it done."
04:01 Well, there's more to winning than losing
04:03 when you're trying to build a foundation.
04:05 And I just want people to understand,
04:07 to where Nebraska has had probably
04:08 about five different head coaches over the last 20 years,
04:11 three or four different ADs over the last 20 years.
04:13 You can't build a solid foundation
04:15 without making a change in the leadership role.
04:17 So hopefully Trev is here for a while,
04:20 and Coach Rule, he's building a foundation
04:23 that's gonna be sustainable for a long time.
04:25 - So I agree with what you're saying.
04:27 I think the one pushback that I get
04:30 when I say something similar to Fenton,
04:32 it's a fair observation, okay?
04:34 Because college football's a little bit different
04:36 than the last time it was,
04:37 when Coach Rule was coaching at Baylor, okay?
04:39 You got NIL, transfer portal, okay?
04:42 And then you look at this guy named Deion Sanders,
04:45 and the immediate success, okay, that he's having
04:49 in what was probably a tougher situation,
04:52 do you think that kind of changes
04:53 how people might view the Nebraska program
04:56 and Matt Rule's tenure so far?
04:58 - I don't, because every time there's something like,
05:02 you're gonna have an outlier, and Deion's the outlier.
05:05 But I just wanna caution people,
05:08 you're building a program,
05:09 is Deion building the program to last,
05:13 be sustainable for a long time,
05:14 or does it have immediate success right now?
05:16 And I think that's the difference between the two universities
05:19 where Colorado's probably looking for immediate success,
05:21 and Nebraska is more patient
05:24 with building a stable foundation,
05:25 'cause Nebraska still is one of the 20th programs
05:27 in college football history.
05:30 And so there's still some legacy there,
05:31 there's still some opportunity there
05:33 for Nebraska to be that program again,
05:35 but it just, how fast do you want it done?
05:38 And I think the leadership of Nebraska
05:40 understands what it's going through,
05:41 because if the program's in good shape,
05:44 Coach Rule wouldn't be here.
05:46 And so obviously, if they saw something that needed to be
05:49 changed, the coach would need to change to fix it,
05:51 and I think that's what Coach Rule is doing.
05:54 - There's two things when it comes to Deion
05:56 that I'll just chime in real quick about.
05:58 Not every coach is going to bring their son
06:00 who is a Heisman candidate
06:02 and a potential top 10 NFL draft pick at quarterback.
06:05 So that's something that not everybody's gonna have.
06:07 Also, I do wonder how long Deion's gonna stay there.
06:10 You know, as soon as Shadur is gone,
06:12 is Deion gonna go somewhere else as well?
06:13 But that's a topic for another day.
06:15 All right, so here's something
06:16 that's kind of been on my mind.
06:17 I watch our offense, I watch us run the ball
06:19 for a return in yards a game,
06:20 I watch what Jeff Sims can do physically,
06:22 and even Harburg, who's athletic enough
06:24 to go to wide receiver if it's him that plays, or whoever.
06:27 Here's something I'd like to personally see,
06:29 but I wanna get your thoughts on this, okay,
06:31 with what our offense does well.
06:32 Would you like to see more option ran by our offense?
06:36 - You know, that's the old blue blood of Nebraska.
06:40 We're on the power game, fullback, option offense.
06:42 You know, that's what people, you know,
06:43 I think it doesn't hurt to have it part of your system,
06:46 but I don't think you need to have a steady dose of it,
06:48 because that was the case when you see a lot more schools
06:51 from the old, from the past, who ran option football,
06:53 continue to run it now.
06:55 You know, I think it just gives the defense
06:58 another play to have a defend.
07:00 But I'm a firm believer that you have to do
07:03 what your system wants you to do.
07:07 You have to implement your system
07:08 and become good at the base stuff of your system.
07:11 Whether offense is different, where's your base?
07:13 You gotta become really good at the base stuff
07:14 before you start adding and throwing other things
07:16 into the equation.
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07:43 All right, so ultimately this year, coming into the season,
07:47 Husker fans were like, if we just go six and six
07:50 and go to a bowl game, Husker fans would be happy with that.
07:53 I still feel that's how most Nebraska folks feel.
07:57 Do you think, oh, and two obviously right now,
07:59 gonna be a favorite our next two games,
08:01 hopefully two and two going into that eight game
08:03 meet of the big 10 stretch of our schedule.
08:06 Do you believe Nebraska will go at least six and six
08:10 and go to a bowl game?
08:11 - Yeah, I still see six victories on this schedule.
08:14 I'm a firm believer when I came in
08:16 before this season started, I said Nebraska should be 66.
08:20 I never once thought that Nebraska would be four and oh
08:22 or three and one or two and two or one and two
08:25 going into Michigan.
08:26 I never thought it'd be four and oh, let's put it that way.
08:28 So I truly believe that the ultimate goal
08:30 for Nebraska is still there,
08:32 to go win six games and go to a bowl game.
08:34 So what they have to do now is just focus on
08:37 each game at hand and go and perform the best they can
08:40 each of those games and solidify our victory.
08:42 So I think the season still is not a loss.
08:44 I just think that it's a little bit tougher now
08:47 'cause they can't have too many more pickups in the schedule
08:51 but six wins is still attainable.
08:53 - All right, man, I wanna look back to your playing days
08:56 just a little bit.
08:57 You had a legendary career here at Nebraska.
09:00 And so I'm sure you've been asked about this
09:02 a million times, but I don't believe ever on this program.
09:05 So I'm gonna go ahead and just ask.
09:06 In 1994, we all know you had the blood clot,
09:09 Brooke Barron comes in and plays well.
09:12 All right, now you knew you guys were gonna rotate
09:14 going into that Orange Bowl versus Miami
09:17 and really battling for play time, okay?
09:19 What was that like for you when you were coming back
09:23 from that injury and going into that Orange Bowl?
09:25 - It was tough.
09:27 It was tough because I hadn't played in a while
09:32 and just trying to get back into game shape,
09:35 which that was impossible,
09:36 but I knew that if I go out there and perform
09:38 the best that I can, you'll see part of me,
09:41 but not all of me.
09:42 - I gotcha.
09:44 Here's a question I wanted to ask you for a long time.
09:46 All right, what was it like,
09:47 'cause you guys obviously won the game,
09:49 beat Miami, helped coach Osborne
09:51 win his first national title.
09:52 What was it like helping coach Osborne get over the hump?
09:55 Now you gotta keep in mind, folks,
09:57 back then Nebraska had just lost seven straight bowl games
10:00 and there'd been many nights where the national championship
10:03 was right there at their fingertips
10:05 and it just hadn't quite happened up to that point, okay?
10:08 And even some people were even kinda pushing the narrative
10:10 that coach Osborne couldn't win the big one, right?
10:13 So what was it like proving everyone wrong,
10:16 beating Miami, Warren Sapp, Ray Lewis, The Rock
10:18 on their home field and helping coach Tom Osborne
10:21 win his first national title?
10:24 - Well, I think it was special for our own too,
10:25 I think it's special for us,
10:27 coach Osborne getting his first championship
10:28 because he's come close a couple times before then
10:32 for us finally winning that game,
10:34 but also it was special for our team.
10:37 With everything that we went through that year
10:39 and we're still able to come out on top,
10:40 it showed us that no matter what adversity,
10:43 we just come together and play together,
10:45 good things will happen.
10:46 It can also show the country that teams from the Midwest
10:51 can win championships.
10:52 And so it's not a predominantly West Coast
10:54 or South or Southeast conference type championship,
10:58 the best team you're gonna win
11:00 at a time Nebraska was the best team.
11:02 - All right, in 1995, you guys beat four top 10 teams
11:08 by an average, this stat is almost staggering to me,
11:11 by an average of 31 points per game, four top 10 teams.
11:14 All right, now you didn't allow a single sack all year,
11:17 nobody came within two scores of you guys
11:19 and you only punted five times all year,
11:21 you only trailed all year by 12 minutes combined.
11:25 Okay, you won each game by an average of four touchdowns
11:28 and you beat number two Florida 62 to 24 in the Fiesta Bowl.
11:31 So I've asked other guys who played on this team,
11:34 but I want your thoughts.
11:35 Are you guys the 95 Huskers?
11:37 Is that the greatest team of all time?
11:40 And just out of curiosity in your mind,
11:41 who else would be in that conversation?
11:43 What other teams?
11:44 - Well, of course, I'm impartial
11:46 to being the greatest team of all time,
11:48 but what we did when we did it,
11:52 I don't think there was any other team or any other dynasty
11:54 that did what we did.
11:57 Of course, you had the Alabama's who recently,
11:59 last 10 years ago, now you have LSU.
12:02 I mean, there's been a USC when they had their run,
12:05 but I just feel that that 95 team
12:09 could be dominant in today's football
12:12 because we just had everything, all the pieces in place.
12:15 So our first strikers, second strikers, third strikers,
12:18 all could have went on
12:18 and started other universities at that time.
12:20 So I felt when Coach Osborne did it,
12:23 his staff did, by accumulating the players,
12:26 they did the talent he did, they did those years.
12:28 I don't think you'll see it again,
12:31 especially now with the transfer portal.
12:33 - Yeah, to your point,
12:34 there was 27 future NFL players on that 1995 football team.
12:39 All right, so I just did an event with you up in Estes Park
12:43 leading into the Colorado game,
12:44 and we're signing autographs at the end.
12:47 And there is one picture that came,
12:49 that was presented to you to be signed
12:51 probably more often than any other,
12:53 and it was your run against Florida,
12:55 where I think you broke about 99 tackles, okay?
12:59 And I remember watching that as a kid,
13:01 and my dad recorded that game.
13:02 I remember trying to count how many tackles there were,
13:05 and I could never figure out if it was nine or 10,
13:07 'cause one guy was really close.
13:08 But my question is this, all right,
13:11 how does a run like that happen?
13:12 Also, as it's happening, what's going through your mind
13:15 as you're still running,
13:18 and guys are almost bouncing off of you?
13:20 - Well, things like that you don't plan for,
13:24 and you played the game just as long as I have,
13:28 and as many games as I have,
13:29 so when you're out there,
13:30 you're really not thinking about what's happening,
13:32 you're just reacting to the play.
13:34 And one thing I do know that goes back to
13:38 when we were on the Little League football,
13:40 my youth football coach always told me,
13:43 you run the football until you hear the whistle.
13:45 And that's what I was doing,
13:46 was running the football until the whistle was blown,
13:48 and it never blew, so I just kept running.
13:51 So it wasn't anything special that I did,
13:53 it wasn't anything special that I tried to do,
13:56 it just me, I was just reacting,
13:58 and being a football player.
14:00 - All right, Matt, I appreciate it,
14:02 and you fine folks at home,
14:03 I got a couple of questions for you, as always.
14:05 Hit me up in the comments below, okay?
14:08 I'm curious, do you guys at home think
14:11 that Deion's quick success impacts
14:13 how people view Coach Rule?
14:15 I thought Tommy made some good points on that earlier.
14:18 And would you like to see the Huskers
14:20 running more option in the offense?
14:22 And what is your favorite memory from your time,
14:26 if you were fortunate enough to watch Tommy Frazier,
14:28 your favorite memory of watching touchdown Tommy Frazier?
14:31 And last, but certainly not least,
14:34 check out characterchronicles.com.
14:36 Dr. Rob Zadiska actually broke down pass protection
14:39 and some of the things that the Huskers
14:40 could do a little bit better.
14:42 We've got some new folks on the website,
14:44 Don Collins, okay, and this individual,
14:47 Big Red Country with Jeff,
14:48 and I checked out his YouTube page.
14:50 This guy hit me up many, many times.
14:52 He does a good job, and I'm glad he's on the show.
14:56 And until next time, Husker Nation,
14:57 thank you for joining me, Tommy.
14:59 Go Big Red, and always remember.
15:01 - Go Big Red.
15:03 - To throw the bones.