After Winning a Big One, Nebraska Gets <i> the </i> Big One : College football: Victory over Oklahoma seemingly sets up national championship game in Orange Bowl.

Tommie Frazier made a bold statement after Nebraska lost to Florida State in the Orange Bowl a year ago.

The freshman quarterback predicted Nebraska would not only return for another try to break its six-game bowl losing streak, but it would head to Miami with an unbeaten record and a shot at a national title.

Friday, Frazier and his teammates made that vision reality.

Frazier’s 11-yard pass to Abdul Muhammad with 13:20 left lifted the No. 2 Cornhuskers to a 21-7 victory over No. 16 Oklahoma.

“We always found a way to win,” Frazier said of the 11-0 season. “We’ve had to go through a lot of adversity, and people said a lot of negative things. It does not matter what anybody said, this team found a way to win.”

Frazier, who also scored on a two-yard run in the second quarter, bulled his way 10 yards and four more in the drive for the go-ahead touchdown that gives Nebraska the chance it wanted to play for a national title.

“The only way you can respond is to go down and win,” Frazier said of the new bowl test. “There is going to be no bad-mouthing from us and we can’t get anyone to shut up because all that people say is out of control. We will respond by winning.”

Said Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne:”It’s great to be undefeated at this point. Unfortunately in athletics, you’re always remembered for your last game, and there will be one more. It looks like, with today’s performance, we should have a chance to play for the whole ball of wax. At this point, that’s all you can ask for.”

Nebraska, No. 2 in the AP poll and No. 1 in the coaches’ poll, probably will play Florida State if the Seminoles win at Florida today. Florida State leads the AP poll and is second in the coaches’ poll.

The coalition poll that will determine bowl matchups has Nebraska No. 1 and Florida State No. 2.

If Florida State loses today, the Cornhuskers probably would play undefeated No. 5 West Virginia, which defeated No. 11 Boston College, 17-14, to remain the only other team with a perfect record that will play in a bowl game. No. 3 Auburn (11-0) is on probation and is ineligible for postseason play.

Running back Calvin Jones said the regular-season finale probably won’t do much to improve Nebraska’s national image. Jones, who rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown against Oklahoma, said national poll voters will have to draw their own conclusions.

“If they were watching and turned the TV off at halftime, I’m sure they’d say Nebraska does not deserve a shot (at the national title),” Jones said. “But if they looked at the second half, we turned it on and the defense dominated. They say defense wins championships and they proved that today.”

For Osborne, it will be his 21st bowl game in 21 years at Nebraska. He never has lost more than three games in a season, but he has never gone undefeated and he has never won a national championship.

His team fell behind, 7-0, when Oklahoma (8-3) scored on the first possession of the game, and was tied at the half.

“I wouldn’t have given you a plugged nickel in the middle of the second quarter for our chances of winning the game,” Osborne said. “The first half, it didn’t look like we were even in it.”

But the Cornhuskers took the game over in the second half with bone-crushing defense on a day with a wind-chill factor of minus 15 degrees, scoring twice in 13 seconds of the final quarter.

“Today, I thought the defense played great football after the first quarter or so,” Osborne said. “The defense in the third quarter and fourth quarter was dominant.”

After Frazier’s touchdown pass to Muhammad, David Seizys recovered a fumble by Oklahoma’s Darrius Johnson on the ensuing kickoff, setting up a 20-yard touchdown run by Jones on the next play.

“Nebraska made the key plays it needed to and got the turnover there that led to an easy score to wrap it up,” Oklahoma Coach Gary Gibbs said. “You can’t turn it over and expect to win against a team like Nebraska.”