FIESTA BAWL

THE FACTS ARE THESE: ON SEPT. 10 NEbraska running back Lawrence Phillips was arrested for trespass and assault after he burst into a former girlfriend's apartment at 4:30 a.m., knocked her to the floor, dragged her down three flights of stairs and slammed her head into a mailbox.

The stats are these: Phillips rushed for 1,722 yds. (143.50 yds. a game) as a sophomore in 1994, the third highest total in the nation, while Nebraska marched to a national championship.

The relationship between those facts and those stats was all too apparent last week in Tempe, Arizona, where the Cornhuskers were preparing to defend their national title against Florida in the Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl. Having served no jail time and only a six-game suspension after pleading no contest to the assault charges, Phillips was again playing in the national championship game as the starting back--and as a self-anointed victim. At a crowded news conference on Thursday, Phillips said, "I don't think people will ever look at me the same." And Nebraska center Aaron Graham defended his teammate, saying, "It cost the guy a million bucks [in future endorsements] ... it cost him the kids coming up and asking for his autograph."

Nebraska coach Tom Osborne has told reporters he reinstated Phillips "after examining all the factors, many of which you will never be privy to, and shouldn't be." One of the factors, according to Osborne, was Phillips' need for "the structure" of the Nebraska football program.

One more statistic: in the past three years alone, the structure of Nebraska football has housed six players who have faced charges for crimes ranging from sexual assault to attempted second-degree murder. None of them has served time in jail.