Think of Paul McCartney playing in a bar band or finding Alan Greenspan as your bank teller at the local drive-up.

That's a bit like Tommie Frazier coaching running backs at Baylor. The job might seem beneath the player considered the greatest quarterback in Nebraska history. But Frazier is 26, has done the pro football thing and, let's face it, needs the job.

It's different this week, though. Frazier will be returning to his alma mater as the enemy for the first time. No. 1 Nebraska vs. hapless Baylor is the game but the Frazier coming home is the story.

"I think of it as a business trip," said Frazier who is in his second year with the Bears. "I work for Baylor University and we're coming to play Nebraska. We have to approach it that way. When I come there on vacation, it's different."

Frazier still is young enough to look the part of the superstar. Nebraskans will forever remember that he was the quarterback for the 1994 and 1995 national championship teams. In 1995, he was voted first-team All-American. As a starter, Frazier was 33-3.

He brought that resume to a fallen program that is 2-4 (beating only South Florida and North Texas) and has suffered through four consecutive losing seasons. Progress has been hard to measure. Coach Kevin Steele is only 3-14 since arriving from the Carolina Panthers in 1999.

Frazier doesn't flash his championship rings to recruits but perhaps he should. Frazier's running backs have produced the rushing offense that is 95th in the country averaging 2.95 yards per carry.

"A lot of the guys that I recruit say they are big fans of mine," Frazier said. "I can't let my fans down."

After winning championships, Frazier must get used to Baylor being a work in progress. Steele spent six years coaching linebackers at Nebraska, including recruiting Frazier out of Bradenton, Fla., before moving to the NFL with Carolina. Steele went to Baylor and promptly went 1-10 in his first season.

"When I went to Florida to recruit Tommie Frazier there were certain things that you saw instantly," Steele said, "his character, his leadership abilities. Tommie was a grown man when he was a junior in high school. He has a great passion for excellence.

"We had a need for diversity on the staff, particularly someone very young. When I started sorting out that issue, it was automatic."

Frazier was adrift after playing 1 1/2 seasons with Montreal of the Canadian Football League. He was a radio analyst for Nebraska football in 1996 and worked one year in the Nebraska governor's office before becoming the director of market development for an Omaha telecommunications firm.

"When I left Canada, I didn't want to have anything else to do with football," Frazier said. "I wanted to get out and enjoy the other parts of life -- business world, politics, radio broadcasting. I talked to (Nebraska assistant coaches) Ron Brown and Turner Gill and they kind of put the bug in my ear. 'You need to get back into coaching because you have so much to give.' "

Both Steele and Frazier say there is little they can tell the Bears about the trip to Lincoln. Knowing Nebraska's offense is one thing, playing against it is another. The same goes for sold-out Memorial Stadium, one of the most intimidating places in college football.

"I can explain to them but explaining it to them and them being a witness to it are two different things," Frazier said.

Maybe Frazier should reconsider cashing in on his Nebraska roots. He downplays his Nebraska legacy and tries to sell Baylor now during his recruiting visits. His championship rings are locked away in a safe deposit box in Florida.

"I haven't seen them in about four years myself," Frazier said. "To tell you the truth, I never put one on. I've never been big on wearing rings ... I want to be part of something that builds a program to national elite."

Once around the Midwest via SportsLine.com's team reports:

Texas Tech falls flat

It was a fist-pumping, high-fiving night on the South Plains last Saturday for Texas Tech. Until the game started.

After kickoff, the fired-up Red Raiders fizzled like flat soda, as No. 1 Nebraska pummeled Tech 56-3. It was the worst loss in school history for the Raiders, who were much more impressive in pregame warm-ups than the real game.

"A lot of our young guys, when you're playing the top-ranked team, they're not used to that atmosphere," Tech senior defensive tackle Kris Kocurek told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

"They were really fired up before the game. Everyone was in the locker room jumping and hollering. I think we probably need to concentrate on executing plays and things of that nature more than going into the locker room and hollering."

Hyping Heupel

Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel took a huge step toward getting a ticket to the Heisman Trophy presentation in last Saturday's 41-31 victory over Kansas State.

Against the defense top-ranked defense in the country, Heupel completed 29-of-37 passes for 374 yards and two touchdowns. One of his passes was a 74-yard touchdown to Antwone Savage, the longest of Heupel's career.

The victory gave OU back-to-back victories against Top 10 teams for the first time since beating fifth-ranked Nebraska (20-17) and No. 9 Arkansas (42-8) in 1987. The Sooners knocked off Texas, which was ranked 10th in the coaches' poll, 63-14, the week before KSU.

Roses or road kill?

Halfway through the Big Ten season, Minnesota (5-2, 3-1 Big 10) is in position to go to the Rose Bowl. Just don't tell Glen Mason.

When the Minnesota coach woke up Sunday morning he saw a headline that read "U Smells Roses." He wasn't thrilled.

"The phone rang Sunday morning and the first thing someone said to me was, 'Did you see the headline in the paper -- the Gophers are smelling roses.' And I said, 'Yeah, well if we believe that, the Gophers will be smelling like road kill."

Noteworthy

• Iowa State's five wins are the most by an ISU team since the 1989 team went 6-5. A win over Texas A&M on Saturday would make the Cyclones 6-1 for the first time in 52 years.
• Colorado, off to its worst start since 1984, managed just 133 yards of offense in last week's 28-14 home loss to Texas. Coach Gary Barnett, on the Buffs' 15-year low offensive output: "We're impotent on offense.''
• Well, at least Kansas State will get another chance this season against a Top 10 team, facing Nebraska on Nov. 11. The Wildcats' 41-31 loss to Oklahoma made them 1-18 against Top 10 teams under coach Bill Snyder. No, that "one" wasn't against Nebraska in 1998, since the Cornhuskers were ranked No. 11 at the time -- it was over No. 6 Kansas in 1995.