Tonight's kick-off of the 2005 bowl season brings more than just the last chance for college football junkies to gorge on the smorgasboard of games, it also represents the 10th Anniversary of perhaps the greatest college football team of all time, the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers. 

This year's Fiesta Bowl will also mark a decade since Tommy Frazier's other-worldly performance in the game, 3 TD's and "The Run," possibly the crowning achievement to one of the best college careers of any player in history. Nebraska destroyed Florida in that 1996 Fiesta Bowl 62-24, but sadly that's when the music stopped for Frazier.

It's tough to say whether or not Frazier would've gotten a longer look from NFL teams had it not been for the blood clot problems he had in 1994. As Byron Leftwich, Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick have achieved success in the league lately, you also have to ask if Frazier was just a few years ahead of his time.

Tommy just completed his first season as Head Football Coach at Doane College, an NAIA school in Crete, Neb. I'd like to say that Frazier was as deft under the headset as he was on the field, but the Tigers struggled to a 2-8 mark in his first season. (That's more than double the amount of games he lost during his entire career at Nebraska, where he was 33-3 as a starter.

Admittedly, it's a bit strange to think that the best player not to win a Heisman is currently coaching small-college football and living in a town of 6,000 people. (That's a mid-major city by Nebraska standards. If Lincoln and Omaha are the Big 10, Crete is probably the Sun Belt.) But have no doubt, Frazier's still the fortunate son within the borders of "The Good Life."

I was best man in a wedding a little over a year ago in Grand Island, Neb. where Tommy Frazier was in attendance. I'll never forget after the ceremony was over, we went straight to the men's clubhouse (the reception was at a country club) to watch the 2004 Preakness with Frazier. Frazier liked Rock Hard Ten, who ran to place, so maybe he's not a punter either. But second's not bad, not as good as his Nebraska performance, but loads better than his first season helming the Tigers.

After most of us had gone about 16 rounds with the open bar, a buddy of mine came up to me and slurred the immortal words, "I just peed next to Tommie Frazier!" It was the most intimate athlete encounter I had witnessed until Broadway Joe put the moves on Suzy Kolber on Monday Night Football.

Although you're coaching my alma mater's most bitter rival, I still love you Tommie.

GOAT?: Over on the dark side, they're running a poll that pits the 2005 USC Trojans against the best college football teams of the past 50 years. Ten teams were ranked by the pollsters, then a schedule was devised with the Trojans "playing" each in descending order. I must say I'm delighted to see that the '95 Cornhuskers are the last team USC will face. The voting public got it right, but problem lies with the 10 teams fans were given to rank.

Of course, '01 Miami was there, as well as '99 FSU and '79 Alabama, but '94 Penn State and '97 Michigan? The Nittanies went undefeated in 1994 and didn't even get a share of the National Title. Nebraska took it all, despite losing the aforementioned Tommie Frazier for most of the season. Penn State was certainly talented that year with 3 of the top 9 picks in the NFL Draft, but how can you rank them as one of the best ever when there was another team that beat them out for the National Title? Best ever, they weren't even Best of '94.

And then there's the famously split National Title of '97. Again, I'm not arguing the Wolverines talent. With Charles Woodson and Brian Griese they had legitimate superstars on both sides of the ball, but I will always maintain that Nebraska proved their worth by crushing #3 Tennessee, helmed by Peyton Manning, 42-17 in the Orange Bowl. Michigan, on the other hand, faced Ryan Leaf and #8 Wazzu, eeking out a 21-16 Rose Bowl victory with the game-winning drive for the Cougars ending with some questionable time keeping.

So I guess Nebraska could have legitimately had three teams on the list, and that doesn't even include the '71 Huskers, who Jeff Sagarin ranked as the 2nd best team of all time, behind '95 Nebraska. Just like the real college football season, it seems like the best rarely play the best even in fantasy match-ups.

I'm interested to see how this plays out. USC has been playing against history all year long, and it will be fun to see what the analysts come up with. As you can probably tell, I'm still making hay with the Huskers.

If not for a questionable spot in the 1994 Orange Bowl which resulted in a missed field goal, Nebraska could've beaten Florida State and Charlie Ward, starting a string of three straight Sears Trophies. That was their lone loss in 41 games, remove that and you have a streak that's a full half season ahead of the current 34 game streak currently brewing in LA.