The Greatest Tournament of All Time - CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

2,046 teams have been eliminated, leaving only 2001 Miami and 1995 Nebraska to duke it out in the Championship Game. Who is the best team of all time? Read on and find out.

It's been nearly 7 months since the tournament began back in February, but this is the game everybody has been waiting for. These two teams are always at the top of the list when discussing the greatest college football teams of all time, so it's only fitting they meet here to settle the debate once and for all.

First Half:

It was clear right away that this was a battle featuring two heavyweights. If the 33 NFL draft picks in the starting lineups doesn't give you enough of an indication, the size and speed all over the field should convince you.

The interior of the Miami defensive line established themselves right away with Matt Walters and William Joseph making the first two tackles of the game right at the line of scrimmage. The Nebraska defense answered with a Grant Wistrom sack of Ken Dorsey. In fact, after three series of action there were just 19 yards of total offense and exactly 3 punts.

With the good field position, Miami scored first on a Ken Dorsey touchdown pass to Ethenic Sands. The drive only went 54 yards, but it gave the Hurricanes a 7-0 lead. The first quarter would end with Miami nursing a 7-3 lead.

Nebraska finally put together their first truly successful drive of the game, though, to bridge the first and second quarters. Tommie Frazier's quickness and passing accuracy led to an impressive 83 yard touchdown drive that ended in a Lawrence Phillips two yard touchdown plunge. Frazier completed two big passes on the drive, including one on third down in which the senior quarterback fired to receiver Clester Johnson while nearly horizontal to the ground and in the grasp of sack-master Jerome McDougle.


Miami answered quickly by finally gaining significant yardage on the ground. Clinton Portis carried for 12 yards on the first play of the drive, and Frank Gore capped a hard nosed drive with a nifty 19 yard touchdown run.

Looking to add to a 14-10 lead late in the second quarter, Ken Dorsey made his lone mistake of the ball game. Looking for Jeremy Shockey over the middle, Dorsey underestimated linebacker Terrell Farley's athleticism and Farley leapt in the air to make the interception at his own 24 yard line.

Nebraska capitalized with a hard nosed drive of their own that saw I-Backs Lawrence Phillips and Ahman Green grind out yard after yard. The running game perfectly set up a Frazier play action pass to Jon Vedral for a 28 yard touchdown. Nebraska would take a 17-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.


Scoring Summary:

FIRST QUARTER
8:47 MIA TD - Ethenic Sands 17 yard pass from Ken Dorsey
5:32 NEB FG - Kris Brown 37 yard Field Goal
SECOND QUARTER
13:41 NEB TD - Lawrence Phillips 2 yard run
9:02 MIA TD - Frank Gore 19 yard run
2:11 NEB TD - Jon Vedral 28 yard pass from Tommie Frazier

Second Half:

After picking up some much needed momentum just before halftime, Nebraska came out of the locker room and gave it all back. Ken Dorsey started putting some things together through the air, finding Shockey and Andre Johnson multiple times on the first two series of the second half. But the Blackshirts kept finding ways to make stops.

It wasn't until a costly interception thrown by Tommie Frazier that the floodgates opened. Dorsey went 5-for-6 on the ensuing possession, including a 17 yard touchdown pass to Shockey. Not only did the touchdown give Miami a 21-17 lead, it also showed that Dorsey was able to find holes in the Nebraska secondary and capitalize on them.


Tommie Frazier is one of the greatest college football players of all time, though, so you know Nebraska wasn't finished yet.

Frazier took things into his own hands early in the fourth quarter, calling his own number and keeping on the option and on quarterback draws while marching the Huskers down the field. He put Nebraska back on top with a 25 yard quarterback draw for a touchdown. Frazier finished with 57 rushing yards on the drive.

Ken Dorsey came up big again in answering Frazier's touchdown. Leading a brilliant, balanced drive, Clinton Portis and Dorsey traded off picking up first downs. On a play action pass on second and short, Dorsey pumped and fired a 33 yard touchdown pass to Andre Johnson streaking down the right sideline.

The Hurricane drive chewed up 86 yards and over 5 minutes of game time, and clearly took a lot out of the Nebraska defense.

Tommie Frazier took the field again with 7 minutes left and needing just a field goal to regain the lead. He once again kept on the option and picked up 15 yards on first down. But linebackers Jonathan Vilma and Chris Campbell stepped up their game and forced a punt with three straight tackles in the backfield.

Nebraska was forced to punt and Miami answered with the controversial move to play it close to the vest. Larry Coker and offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski abandoned the big play passing game that had worked so well in the second half in favor of the running game in hopes of running out the clock. Clinton Portis and Willis McGahee were stuffed on three straight plays.

That gave Tom Osborne's Huskers one final chance to put points on the board and take home the title. But with time winding down the Miami defense was able to pin their ears back and rush the passer, knowing that Nebraska was going to have to cut back significantly on their strength (the running game) in order to move the ball down the field.

Facing fourth and long and just seconds remaining on the clock, Frazier was left with no other options than a hail mary from his own 43 yard line. His pass was picked off by none other than Ed Reed, who returned it 88 yards for a meaningless touchdown that put the exclamation point on a great game and a great tournament.

Scoring Summary:

THIRD QUARTER
7:47 MIA TD - Jeremy Shockey 17 yard pass from Dorsey
4:30 NEB FG - Brown 40 yard Field Goal
FOURTH QUARTER
12:24 NEB TD - Frazier 25 yard run
7:07 MIA TD - Andre Johnson 33 yard pass from Dorsey
0:00 MIA TD - Ed Reed 88 yard interception return (no PAT)

FINAL SCORE

2001 Miami 34
1995 Nebraska 27




GAME STATS

TEAM STATS                95 NEB           01 MIA
Rushes - Yards            55-253           37-112
Comp-Att-Int              8-17-2           21-34-1
Passing Yards             121              301
Sacks                     3                0
Fumbles-Lost              1-0              1-1
Time of Poss.             29:13            30:47

BRACKET OF CHAMPIONS - Final Four

Game 2:How They Got Here:

Texas won the BCS National Champion for the 2005 college football season by defeating USC, a team that was widely regarded one of the best ever prior to the Rose Bowl. That got the Longhorns the #2 overall seed in The Greatest Tournament of All Time. Texas won five games in Bracket #2 and earned a spot in the Bo Region of the Bracket of Champions. The Longhorns won four more games in order to take part in this Final Four match.

Nebraska was the AP National Champion for the 1995 college football season. They picked up the #11 overall seed in The Greatest Tournament of all Time. The Cornhuskers cruised through five wins in Bracket #11 to earn the top spot in the Woody Region of the Bracket of Champions. Four wins later and the Huskers find themselves right where they expected to be all along - in the Final Four.

First Half:

You can't ask for a better quarterback matchup than this one. Tommie Frazier vs Vince Young, two players that went out on top with super-human performances in championship games. Strangely, and somewhat telling of the status of the award, neither quarterback owns a Heisman Trophy.

On the opening drive of the game, Nebraska's Frazier showed why he is regarded as one of the greatest college football players of all time. After Lawrence Phillips carried for a 22 yard gain on the first play of the game, Frazier took an option keeper 21 yards. And on the third play of the drive Frazier popped back in the pocket after giving an option look and threw a 37 yard touchdown bomb to Reggie Baul to give Nebraska a 7-0 lead.

The Texas defense tightened up quickly, though. All American defensive tackle Rod Wright and defensive end Brian Robison got good penetration and kept Frazier from being able to get to the corner. Linebacker Aaron Harris and safety Michael Huff teamed up to slow down I-Backs Phillips and Ahman Green. Over the next 22 minutes they held one of the greatest offenses of all time to exactly zero points.


The Nebraska defense had Vince Young to contend with. Thanks to athletic linebacker Terrell Farley, used as a spy on Young for much of the first half, Texas didn't get on the score board until David Pino kicked a 46-yard field goal five minutes into the second quarter.

After finally putting the first quarter struggles behind them, Vince Young and the Longhorns went on a scoring binge. Young avoided the rush and hit Billy Pittman with a 27-yard touchdown pass, but Pino missed the extra point attempt. Young followed up another strong series by the defense with a 42 yard touchdown run. Just like that Texas was up on the favored Huskers 16-7.

Tommie Frazier answered (as he always did) by leading a methodical 13-play touchdown drive that nearly shaved the final four-and-a-half minutes entirely off the second quarter clock. He capped the drive with a 2-yard option keeper for the score. But Nebraska trailed 16-14 at the half.

Second Half:

Tommie Frazier was the story in the third quarter. The senior bookended a Ramonce Taylor touchdown and two point conversion with a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Gilman and a remarkable tackle-shredding 75-yard touchdown run as the clock expired on the third quarter.


The run not only gave Frazier over 100 yards rushing in the QUARTER, it also gave Nebraska the lead again, 28-24, and got the Nebraska fans in the crowd rocking.

But Vince Young answered with a remarkable drive of his own. Young was 3-for-3 using his favorite target, tight end David Thomas, for 47 yards on the drive. He also had two zone-read keepers for 27 yards to put the Longhorns in scoring position. The Blackshirts tightened up in the red zone and held Texas to 4th and 5 from the 9 yard line where Mack Brown made the gutsy call to go for it. Young came through by avoiding a Grant Wistrom sack and running it in for a touchdown and the lead.


The Nebraska offensive line, clearly starting to finally exert their dominance over a very good Texas defensive line, took over on the ensuing possession. Another 13-play drive saw Nebraska run the ball 12 times for 78 yards. Fullback Jeff Makovicka capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run as the Huskers wrestled the lead back again, 35-31.

From there Terrell Farley and the Nebraska defense took over. Everywhere Vince Young went, there was Farley. Farley batted down two passes and picked up two sacks on Texas' final three drives of the ball game as they only netted a long field goal by David Pino.

In a see-saw affair, that saw the two teams combine for nearly 1,000 yards of offense, it was Nebraska's defense in the final 7 minutes that won them the game. Vince Young finished with almost 100 yards rushing to go along with 277 yards passing, but Tommie Frazier out-shined VY with 201 rushing yards and 164 passing yards.

FINAL SCORE:
1995 Nebraska 35
2005 Texas 34

BRACKET OF CHAMPIONS - Final Four

Game 1

How They Got Here:

Florida State was the AP National Champion for the 1993 college football season. That got them the #32 overall seed in The Greatest Tournament of All Time, which was the top spot in Bracket #32. The Seminoles won five games in Bracket #32 and earned a spot in the Bear Region of the Bracket of Champions. FSU won four more games in order to take part in this Final Four match.

Miami won the BCS National Championship for the 2001 college football season. They picked up the #4 overall seed in The Greatest Tournament of all Time, which was the top spot in Bracket #4. The Hurricanes cruised through five wins in Bracket #4 to earn the top spot in the JoePa Region of the Bracket of Champions. Four wins later and Miami finds themselves against an old rival in the Final Four.

First Half:

After a first quarter that saw the two rivals feeling each other out while the defenses dictated tempo, Miami jumped on the Seminoles. The running game kicked in for the Hurricanes as Clinton Portis ran for 56 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter en route to building a 17-3 lead.

Watching Miami pile up over 200 yards of offense while maintaining a decisive edge in the momentum department, Florida State found themselves in dire need of a score prior to halftime. Charlie Ward rose to the occasion, directing the 2 minute offense to perfection. He was 5-for-5 on the drive until it stalled out in the red zone. Mike Rumph knocked away a pass and Jamaal Green picked up a sack as the Hurricanes held FSU out of the end zone and forced a field goal attempt.


Scott Bentley nailed the 30-yard field goal attempt to give the Seminoles at least a little something to take into the locker room, despite trailing 17-6.

Second Half:

The third quarter was controlled entirely by the defenses. Defensive coordinators Mickey Andrews and Randy Shannon traded brilliant series after brilliant series until Warrick Dunn finally broke loose with 2:11 left in the quarter. The freshman took a screen pass from Charlie Ward, broke a D.J. Williams tackle and raced 36 yards down the sideline, providing easily the biggest play of the second half.

Miami's defense bowed up once again and held Florida State to just a field goal attempt. Bentley calmly booted a 42 yarder through the uprights and suddenly the Seminoles trailed by just a touchdown and a two point conversion, 17-9.

In the fourth quarter the momentum finally started to swing Florida State's way. Derrick Brooks and the defense had held Miami scoreless for a solid 25+ minutes and looked to be in control, so they seemingly only needed their Heisman Trophy winning quarterback to step up and make some plays to potentially steal a victory from one of the most talented teams in the tournament.

That's exactly what the senior quarterback did. With FSU trailing 17-9 and just 6:14 left on the clock, Ward began to work his magic. He marched the Seminoles quickly down the field, mixing in a 24 yard run to get his teammates on the bench excited for the first time all game. He followed that play up with a 29 yard touchdown pass to Kez McCorvey.

Trailing by two with just over 5 minutes on the clock, Bobby Bowden elected to go for two. Ward's pass attempt was knocked away by Chris Campbell in the end zone, preserving Miami's 17-15 lead.

But on the second play of the ensuing drive, Ken Dorsey threw a pass over the middle to Daryl Jones who was hammered by safety Devin Bush. The ball came loose and the Seminoles came out with the ball and yet another jolt of energy.

Charlie Ward took the field with even more swagger and completed two straight passes to Matt Frier. Then lightning struck when he found Tamarick Vanover streaking down the sideline all alone in an apparent blown coverage. Ward tossed the ball out to Vanover who took it into the end zone to complete the 34-yard scoring strike and the comeback. Bentley kicked the extra point to make it a 22-17 lead with just 3:56 left.

Four minutes is a lont time, though, especially with Ken Dorsey and an immensely talented offense ready to take over. Sure enough, Dorsey kept his head and got the sputtering Hurricane offense moving for the first time in the second half. Using his favorite targets Andre Johnson and Jeremy Shockey, as well as a pair of perfectly timed draw plays to Clinton Portis, Dorsey led a touchdown drive that put Miami back on top 24-22.

That left Charlie Ward just 1:42 to perhaps perform one more miracle. For the third consecutive time, Ward drove FSU down the field with the help of his talented receiving corps. After three straight completions, a 27-yard pass to Kevin Knox put the Seminoles in field goal range. A short completion to Frier and a Sean Jackson run set up FSU at the 27-yard line with 2 seconds on the clock, leaving Scott Bentley to try a 44-yard field goal attempt for the win.

If you know anything about this rivalry you can probably guess what happened next.


Bentley missed it wide right.

FINAL SCORE:
2001 Miami 24
1993 Florida State 22