re: Who are the greatest option quarterbacks in CFB history?

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1. Berringer got Nebraska to the Orange Bowl (beating 1994 Colorado, which was the best regular season opponent of the Frazier era) and threw a TD pass against Miami in a close game decided by 7 pts. Frazier had a couple of nice runs but accounted for 0 touchdowns.

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Berringer was a very good QB for Nebraska and I don't think you will find a Nebraska fan who disputes this. They have nothing but love for the guy. However, it was Frazier who led the Cornhuskers back from being down 17-9 against the Hurricanes in the 1995 Orange Bowl. That might be among the most physical, most dramatic games I have ever watched.

While it's true that Frazier didn't account for a single touchdown in that game, his orchestration of Nebraska's power option offense in the fourth quarter of that game was nothing short of masterful.

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2. Frazier didn’t play 2001 Miami in his championship game.

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He did not. However, a QB is remembered for the championships they won. Crouch put up numbers but got blown out by Colorado and Miami in his Heisman season. If anything, Rex Grossman should have been your Heisman Trophy winner in 2001, not Eric Crouch.

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Crouch’s stats measure up well against Frazier’s in spite of stronger conference competition and a weaker supporting cast.

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They do. But not in the stat that matters. If you ask a Nebraska fan who they remember more fondly, I think you'll be hard pressed to find a fan who regards Crouch in a superior light.

There's a reason why Frazier was the MVP of all three national championship games he played in.

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Nebraska's power option offense in the fourth quarter of that game was nothing short of masterful.

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Wrong.

Corey Schlesinger scored on a trap play that was such a good call by Osborne that a good high school Wing-T team literally might have blocked it well enough to score. The target took himself out of the play. Schlesinger also scored on a belly.

Frazier being “masterful” is really stretching it. Berringer even accounted for more yards than Frazier.

Schlesinger, Osborne’s playcalling, and the veteran OL were the heroes of that game.

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However, a QB is remembered for the championships they won.

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Then I guess Trent Dilfer was a better QB than Dan Marino.

It’s entirely possible that Nebraska would have won the 1994-1995 championships without Frazier.

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There's a reason why Frazier was the MVP of all three national championship games he played in.

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There’s a reason Eric Crouch won the Heisman. He was a great football player.

My list

Frazier
Jamal Holloway
Dee Dowis. If Dee had played at Oklahoma or Nebraska instead of Air Force he would have won at least 1 Heisman. Probably the best option decision QB decision maker in history. Solid runner/passer too.



Dee

He set an NCAA single-season rushing mark for quarterbacks with 1,315 yards that stood for 12 years. He finished the season with 194 carries for 1,315 yards (6.8 yard avg.), 10 rushing touchdowns, 45 of 112 attempts for 600 yards, 4 passing touchdowns and 8 interceptions.

As a junior in 1988, he had 153 carries for 972 yards (6.4 yard avg.), 12 rushing touchdowns, 41 of 96 attempts for 870 yards and 7 passing touchdowns. He also tied an NCAA record after completing 11 consecutive passes against Northwestern University.

As a senior in 1989, he became the fifth player in NCAA history to run and pass for more than 1,000 yards in a single-season. He ran for 1,286 yards with 18 touchdowns and passed for 1,285 yards with 7 scores. He also set the NCAA Division I career record for rushing yards by a quarterback with 3,612 (broken by Antwaan Randle El in 2001).

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Wrong.

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Right.

I watched the whole game recently and can tell you that Nebraska's offense was dead to rights until the fourth quarter when Frazier came into the game.

While Frazier did start the game, he obviously had a lot of rust considering it had been over two months since he had last played a down of football. Berringer did not look good at all and Miami was dominating for much of the game. When Osborne put Frazier back into the game in the fourth quarter, the offense started humming.

It's one thing to look at the stats on CFB Reference like you tend to do, and another to actually watch the game. Berringer might have accounted for more yardage, but that's because he played MOST of the game. There's a reason why the media voted Frazier the MVP of the Orange Bowl. It's because they don't win without him at QB.

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Then I guess Trent Dilfer was a better QB than Dan Marino.

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Did Trent Dilfer finish runner-up for NFL MVP in 2000 or win three straight Super Bowl MVPs?

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It’s entirely possible that Nebraska would have won the 1994-1995 championships without Frazier.

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Sure it is. But they didn't.

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There’s a reason Eric Crouch won the Heisman. He was a great football player.

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No one ever said otherwise. There's a reason why I included him on my list.

DeAndre Smith is the greatest Option QB in my mind, I am biased though
Tracy Hamm
Thomas Lott
JC Watts
Jamelle Holloway
Danny Davis
Roger Staubach
Keenan Reynolds


The interesting one was Sal Aunese. If he had not gotten cancer, how good he really would have become, as he was allegedly better than Hagan.


Cam, Marshall, Tebow, etc are all Single Wing QBs, so they absolutely deserve to be called option guys.

But the guys that nobody mentions, Ware, Chang, and Brennan, they were option guys, as they all had to read option routes in their Run N Shoots.

Tommy Frazier


The End

Perhaps the best I ever saw was Terry Davis of Alabama.

Thompson, to me, was more of a speed guy; he wasn't a true read-and-angle guy. He was very good, and when Holloway hurt his knee, he was a great replacement. Great Option QBs are not always the fastest; they see it before anyone else does, which is why I consider DeAndre Smth the GOAT option QB.

Joe Burrow ran a lot of RPO's at LSU, so the fact that he didn't make your list of 20 QB's shows how little ball you know.

Heath Shuler