Greatest Husker to wear 27: Irving Fryar, Wingback, 1981-1983
The 1983 Nebraska offense - better known as the "Scoring Explosion" - was one of the most prolific offenses in college football history.
It didn't matter what defenses did, the 1983 team went around, over or through their opponents and into every end zone they could find. The 1983 team averaged a ridiculous 52 points per game and set dozens of individual and team records.
The 1983 Cornhuskers made a dramatic statement in the original "Week 0" game: the inaugural Kickoff Classic at the New Jersey Meadowlands. It would be Nebraska's first game played in August and in the state of New Jersey. No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 4 Penn State would be another epic chapter in the Tom Osborne-Joe Paterno rivalry. Each team had won two of the previous four games. Nebraska's controversial loss in the 1982 game cost the Huskers a shot at the national championship.
The Huskers would exact their revenge. NU led 14-0 after one quarter and never looked back. A Penn State touchdown with 20 seconds left in the game saved Paterno from a shutout. Final score: 44-6.
A 56-20 blowout of Wyoming opened the home schedule before a memorable trip to Minnesota. The Huskers scored 21 points in every quarter on their way to an 84-13 annihilation of the Gophers. It remains the most points Nebraska has scored in the last century (NU beat Nebraska Wesleyan by a tidy 100-0 score in 1917).
Despite having 116 names on the roster, Big Eight rules allowed teams to take only 60 players on the road. Every Husker played before the fourth quarter started. Mike Rozier had to come back into the game late in the third quarter because his backups were getting gassed. He promptly ran for a 71-yard touchdown. Irving Fryar had 138 receiving yards… on two receptions… both in the first quarter.
It was that kind of night, and Nebraska had that kind of offense.
In the fourth game of the season (UCLA), Nebraska trailed for the first time all year, falling behind 10-0 early in the second quarter. The Huskers then scored 42 unanswered points to put the game away. The nonconference schedule ended with a 63-7 beatdown of Syracuse.*
*The Orange would remember the humiliating loss and get their revenge the following season in the Carrier Dome, 17-9. It is one of the biggest upset losses in school history.
The Big Eight schedule started with a 14-10 win at Oklahoma State. NU's 14-point total was the definition of a statistical outlier. Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys were not ranked at the time, but they finished the 1983 ranked No. 18 with an 8-4 record. The Huskers had five turnovers (four fumbles and an interception). The defense - not known as a strength of the 1983 team - saved the day by recording three interceptions, including one by safety Bret Clark in the end zone on the game's final play.
Nebraska's struggles continued the following week at Missouri, as NU led 20-13 going into the fourth quarter. But the Huskers scored twice in the fourth - including Fryar's second touchdown of the day* - to win by 21.
*Irving Fryar, who was battling the flu, sat out much of the second half. He still had seven receptions for 95 yards and two touchdowns. ABC named him the player of the game.
After that, the offense started running wide open. 69-19 over Colorado, including an NCAA-record 48 points in the third quarter. 51-25 at Kansas State. 72-29 over Iowa State and 67-13 over Kansas.
Oklahoma was not ranked for their annual showdown against Nebraska, but Switzer's teams always gave Osborne fits. With 32 seconds left in the game, cornerback Neil Harris made a leaping play in the end zone to break up a pass intended for Buster Rhymes. Nebraska 28, Oklahoma 21. The win gave Osborne his third straight Big Eight title and a trip to the Orange Bowl to face Miami.
The heart and soul of the Scoring Explosion offense were quarterback Turner Gill, I-back Mike Rozier and wingback Irving Fryar. They were the rock stars - "Earth, Wind and Fryar" - forever immortalized on a famous poster* where they are exploding through the Memorial Stadium scoreboard. Switzer simply referred to them as "the triplets."
*Fun fact: The Scoring Explosion poster was originally created as a recruiting piece. When Nebraska realized they had a hit on their hands, they added the 1983 schedule to it and made it available to the public.
The credit for the poster's design has been given to NU's recruiting coordinator at the time, a Nebraska grad by the name of Steve Pederson.
Irving Fryar, by some accounts, may have been the most talented of the Scoring Explosion triplets, and yet I think he is the least heralded. While understandable (Rozier won the Heisman. Turner Gill finished fourth and is one of the greatest quarterbacks in school history as well as a longtime assistant coach), I think that is a shame. Consider: On the magical 1983 squad, Fryar touched the ball 83 times (catches, runs and kick returns). He averaged a staggering 14.6 yards per touch. He averaged 19.5 yards per reception.
Fryar easily earned All-Big 8 and All-America honors in 1983. Do you understand how rare it is – and how good you need to be – to earn consensus All-America honors as a receiver on a team that leads the nation in rushing? Think about it, if your offense is rolling up 400 yards rushing every game, how many opportunities will you get to catch passes?
That’s probably why Fryar was only the second player in college football history to ever do it, Another Husker legend – Freeman White – was the first.
Fryar went on to become Nebraska’s second-ever No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. He enjoyed a lengthy and productive pro career. Fryar scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XX, but his New England Patriots did not win. Unfortunately, it was not the first time Fryar's team came up short in a championship game.
In the 1984 Orange Bowl, No. 1 Nebraska had to play No. 5 Miami in the Hurricanes' home stadium. The Huskers fell behind 17-0 but fought back to make it a one-point game with 48 seconds to go. If Osborne kicks the PAT, the game likely ends in a tie and Nebraska wins the championship. Osborne elected to go for two and the outright win. Gill's attempt was incomplete and the Scoring Explosion came up short.
Ironically, Nebraska's most famous offensive trio never won a national championship. An Orange Bowl loss to Clemson in 1981, a controversial loss at Penn State in 1982 and a missed two-point conversion in 1983.
