ORANGE: Frazier triggers victory From Page 1C "You had people hugging, you had people crying," Frazier said of the jubilant Nebraska dressing room. "It's just one of those moments you have to savor for a lifetime." Frazier played after being medically cleared a couple weeks ago following blood clot surgery that kept him out of eight games. He was named MVP of the Orange Bowl. Until the fourth quarter, the Cornhuskers had flirted with a replay of the frustrations of their recent past. Nebraska came into the night with a seven-bowl losing streak. Their ( cause appeared to truly dim early in the third period when Frank Costa's 44-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Harris gave the Hurricanes a 17-7 lead. The play said a lot about Nebraska's problem much of the night -the speed of the Miami receivers. Harris took a short pass and turned it into a touchdown when he ran past four Nebraska defenders as if they were ⅛-mile posts on a race track. The lead was 10 - again. Nebraska needed a lift. Time for a Miami yellow flag. Or two. On the Hurricanes' next possession, they had two penalties on one play - illegal block and a personal foul which pushed them back to their own 2. Then Dwayne Harris sacked Costa for a safety, cutting the score to 17-9. Nebraska appeared on the verge of a tie early in fourth period when a snap over the head of Miami punter Dane Prewitt gave the Cornhuskers the ball at the Miami 4. It was the Hurricanes' eighth bad snap of the season. Nebraska had first down, good running backs and a prized offensive line to block for them. Running play, right? Wrong. Osborne called a play action, Berringer overthrew and Earl Little intercepted in the end zone. It was the sort of decision that could haunt a man for a lifetime - had the night turned out differently. Frazier took K over the next series. "Just a gut decision," Osborne said. "I feel good," Berringer said. "Both quarterbacks made some mistakes, but the whole team did a good job of keeping us in it." The game began as an ominous reminder of the past for Nebraska, with Miami ahead 10-0 by the end of the first period. The Hurricanes' first possession ended in a field goal. Their second went 97 yards and ended with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Costa to Trent Jones. The Cornhuskers were quickly in retreat, where they have been before so many times on this dangerous turf. Miami took advantage of Nebraska's strategy to open in man-to-man coverage, and Costa hit six of his first eight passes, including a 43-yarder to A.C. Tellison. Frazier, meanwhile, was ineffective and a victim of poor field position. Starting at his 16 and 10, his first two possessions did little to worry the Miami defense. He threw only three passes, completed one, and was intercepted. But slowly, steadily, the game began to change. Osborne went to Berringer on Nebraska's third possession of the game. On the fourth he took the Cornhuskers to a touchdown, throwing 19 yards to tight end Mark Gilman for the score to make it 10-7. Meanwhile, trouble mounted for the Miami offense. Tellison dislocated his shoulder in the second period and was out for the game. The Nebraska pass rush intensified, with Costa getting hit on nearly every attempt. And the Hurricanes strangled themselves with penalties, with 11 for the game totalling 92 yards. After the first two scoring drives, Miami did not get the ball past its 38 the rest of the half. Erickson left the field at halftime a frustrated coach, snapping to an NBC interviewer about the mistakes, "If I knew why, we wouldn't do it." They never solved them. Not all of them. And Nebraska took over down the stretch ending one of sport's most curious runs of futility. "To be a great coach, you shouldn't have to win a national championship," Erickson had said of Osborne the previous day. That's not an issue anymore. And the voters the USA Today/CNN coaches poll late tonight, and The Associated Press media survey Tuesday -will follow up with the official word shortly.
