Tom Osborne: Reaching the Mountaintop

For Episode 4 of the Tom Osborne series, the Common Fans are joined by All Big 8 wingback Abdul Muhammad and longtime Nebraska sports writer Mitch Sherman. This episode focuses on the period from 1990-1994. 

• Toward the end of the 1990 season, the Huskers were #2 in the country.
• Then they blew a 12-0 lead against Colorado, and suffered back-to-back blowouts against Oklahoma and vs. Georgia Tech in the bowl game. 
• They would finish the season ranked 24th, the team’s lowest final ranking since 1968. They finished outside the top 10 for the fourth consecutive season.
• TO gathers his staff for a meeting in South Stadium. Ultimately, there were several things that resulted from this meeting. But perhaps none was more important than a decision to get faster on defense. 
• Defensive backs would be turned into linebackers. Linebackers would become defensive ends. Eventually, the 5-2 would give way to the 4-3. Nebraska had to catch up to the speedier Southern schools they were losing to in bowl games.