Dealing with history was no normal task for future BYU teacher
The trainees in his classes wouldn’t understand it, however back when BYU English teacher Frank Christiansen was discovering his own way, as a wide-eyed, college kid in Provo, he ran right into history, or at least a football player destined to make some– and paid an unpleasant price.
“Him coming through the line, and the line parting like the Red Sea with me sitting there eight yards deep,” is what Christiansen told the “Y’s Guys” podcast about his encounter with San Diego State running back Marshall Faulk. “Offered how fast he was, the important things you would anticipate was that he would have tried to side-step me, but I hit him head on.”
Frank Christiansen from his playing days as a trainee at BYU|BYU Image Faulk was just 5-foot-10 and 211 pounds and he kept up the electrical charge of a lightning bolt and for a moment, Christiansen, a 6-2, 205-pound weakside safety at BYU, wasn’t rather sure what hit him.
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“It was the very first and only stinger I ever had– just fire down my entire left side and it type of shocked me,” he stated. “I never saw any person with that type of speed, in-pads speed.
“All they required to do was provide him a bit of momentum. If they could offer him four yards, he was currently at full speed. As soon as he had any type of open field, it was extremely tough to track him down.”
The future NFL Hall of Famer blistered BYU’s defense on that night in 1992 for a LaVell Edwards Stadium record 299 backyards hurrying on 35 brings. Faulk likewise scored 3 goals in the Aztecs’ 45-38 victory. The following year in San Diego, he got where he ended and ran for 252 lawns and 3 goals versus Christiansen and the Cougars, however in a 45-44 defeat.
“For what a running back can do, like as a deadly weapon, he’s the one who had the very best tools, “Christiansen stated
.”He was incredible.”Faulk completed his college profession with 4,589 hurrying lawns and 57 goals. As a professional with the Colts and Rams, he ran for 12,279 lawns and 100 touchdowns. But, as fate would have it, Faulk wasn’t the only future Hall of Famer to hit Christiansen.When the Cougars rolled into South Bend in 1992, Notre Dame’s star runner Jerome Bettis, performed at the BYU defense like a human battering ram.”I almost made a singular contribution to the outcome of that game,” Christiansen stated.” He tried to run through the line, and I struck him as he was being slowed up and kind of kinked his neck. He needed to come out of the game, and I believed,’I had actually put Jerome Bettis out!’ The problem for BYU was that Bettis returned.” He returned with a vengeance, “Christiansen stated.
“He was making up for lost time(in the second half). “Bettis ended up the game with 113 yards hurrying and scored a
pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to turn a tight 21-16 Notre Dame lead into a 42-16 success. Notre Dame running back Jerome Bettis rushes for a goal versus Northwestern in Chicago, Sept. 5, 1992. Others are unknown.|AP Christiansen matured seeing his father, James, teach at BYU and after making his under-graduate and master’s degrees in Provo and a doctorate at Brown, he chose to do the exact same. Christiansen has actually been teaching American Literature considering that 2002 and from his seat in the English Department, has enjoyed the football program transition to the Big 12.
“It’s difficult to think of,” he stated. “We are talking the WAC (when) I was playing. It was a far cry (from today). This is leading tier. It’s motivating to see how the program has actually progressed.”
Last season’s 11-2 record satisfied Christiansen and has made him carefully optimistic for more success this fall.
“There is factor to (think) they can repeat and do well. So many of those games could have gone the other way last year. It’s tough to know,” he stated, before returning to his roots. “I’m delighted for the defense.”
For a kid who was schooled by a set of legends, Faulk and Bettis, Christiansen is proof you can take a player out of the defense and turn him into a professor, but you can’t take the protective state of mind out of either of them.
“Every defensive back will tell you, if you have a defensive line that can permeate and include it makes all the distinction in the world,” he said. “It’s everything.”
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and writer for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and program host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com