And here’s Lee Barfknecht, from December 1995:
The Nebraska football program, which raced into national championship contention eight times in the 1980s, couldn’t keep up the pace as a new decade began.
In 1990, the Huskers lost three of their final four games — a first in the Bob Devaney-Tom Osborne coaching era that began in 1962. Those setbacks dropped NU to 24th in the Associated Press poll, the lowest end-of-the-season ranking in Osborne’s 23-year career.
Several staff members interviewed last week said the sting of those losses was intensified by the manner in which Nebraska fell to Colorado, Oklahoma and Citrus Bowl opponent Georgia Tech.
Offensively, NU’s normally powerhouse rushing attack averaged 136 yards in those games. Defensively, the Huskers allowed 27 points in the fourth quarter to Colorado and 45 points each to Oklahoma and Georgia Tech. No team had scored 45 points against Nebraska since 1968.
“The end of that season was our low point in about a 30-year period,” said Director of Athletic Performance Boyd Epley, in his 26th year at NU. “There was internal stuff happening that the general public never realized was going on.
“So Coach Osborne asked that we re-evaluate every phase of the program — from recruiting to the strength program to anything and anybody involved.”
Former Husker Assistant Kevin Steele remembers those meetings.
“Some guys were a little embarrassed that Nebraska had lost two or three games it hadn’t been losing in previous years,” said Steele, now the linebackers coach for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. “It was a pretty big challenge to the guys who run the program.”
Steele said major philosophical changes weren’t discussed. Nebraska was still winning nine games a season.
“It was more a refocusing on some things,” he said. “It was the head coach stepping in and saying, ‘Hey, this thing doesn’t look quite like I want it to look. So we need to do this, this and this.’ “
With some retooling, Nebraska began its climb back into the Top 10. The Huskers were 15th in 1991, 14th in 1992, third in 1993 and national champions in 1994.
Now, at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the top-ranked Huskers will play in a national championship-deciding game for the third straight season, which is believed to be a college football first.
A victory Jan. 2 over No. 2 Florida would make NU the first repeat champion since Alabama in 1978 and 1979, and the first consensus back-to-back titlist since Oklahoma in 1955 and 1956.
“There has been a little luck involved,” Osborne said. “On the other hand, I really feel we’ve played well enough to win 36 straight times.
“The one we did lose, we were a little unfortunate. So we’ve played at a very high level in this stretch.”
A dozen interviews with people in the program yielded nearly a dozen factors that have contributed to the current Husker success story. Among them:
A general increase in overall talent. A new attitude on strength and conditioning. More attention to recruiting speed. The arrival of quarterback Tommie Frazier. The change to a 4-3 defense. Creation of the Unity Council. Simplification of some offensive and defensive assignments. Better confidence among players in big games.
“And then there are some things that you can’t logically write down in a newspaper article,” NU Receivers Coach Ron Brown said. “It has something to do with a sovereignty that says, ‘It’s just time for Nebraska.’
“Whatever the exact reasons are, a lot of the right buttons have been pushed.”
When did the current surge of button-pushing begin?
“January 17, 1991,” Epley said. “That was the first day players gathered for winter conditioning after we lost so bad in the Citrus Bowl.”
During the 1990 season, Epley said, Husker players averaged 30 absences a day from strength and conditioning sessions.
“It was the low point in my involvement with Nebraska,” Epley said. “I wasn’t doing the best job because that was the time we were opening our new facility and I was spending so much time with that.”
Upon closer review, Epley said he found “a problem with attitude and discipline.”
“And unity wasn’t just a problem among players,” he said. “There was a lack of unity among support staffs.”
Epley said Osborne mediated a dispute between some trainers who were telling linemen to avoid squat lifts in the weight room for fear of irritating previous injuries and strength coaches who said squats were the key to those players getting stronger.
The squat lifts were approved, which Epley called a crucial decision because a national study at the time comparing strength levels by position showed NU’s offensive line had slipped compared to that of other perennially ranked teams.
“The strength level had gotten away to the point where it was costing us on the field,” Epley said. “But we got our problems corrected to the point that four years later, with the coaches’ help, those guys became not only the best offensive line in Nebraska history but in the nation.”
Other players got stronger in the winter of 1991, too, because they showed up to work out more often. Epley said a rule was passed that more than one absence from a workout meant dismissal from the team.
“We had over 6,500 workouts by 200 players before our first absence,” he said. “Our athletes applied themselves so well that at the end of winter conditioning, when they normally would break 15 to 18 school records, they broke 78. That turned things around.”
At the end of spring football in May 1991, Epley said, Husker coaches said they had seen “some back sliding” and wanted a way to apply the discipline created in winter conditioning year round.
By coincidence at the time, Epley said, he was in the process of renewing his driver’s license. So he suggested that a point system for discipline similar to that for driving violations be created.
“The coaches really liked the idea because it didn’t matter who recruited the kid or what state he was from or what race he was,” Epley said. “It was fair for everyone. And it included academics and football, not just strength and conditioning.”
In August 1991, Epley said, the disciplinary point system was formalized and the Unity Council — a group of two players from each position — was formed with the help of team psychologist Jack Stark. The Unity Council acts as a sounding board between the players and coaches.
Brown said the Unity Council allows the players to feel some ownership in the team.
“The coaches still make the final decisions,” he said. “But it’s not all just orders from the top down. So when adversity strikes, we’re going to be together. And handling adversity is crucial.
“We had some adversity in the 1990 season and we didn’t handle it very well. But in 1991, we started the Unity Council and that’s when we started our string of Big Eight championships. Are you going to say that’s the reason we’ve won five straight? Not totally. But that’s an important cog.”
Nebraska tied for the Big Eight title in 1991, but two games that season provided a further wakeup call to the program. Washington gained 618 yards — the most against NU in 35 years — in a 36-21 victory in Lincoln. And Miami handed the Huskers their first shutout in 19 seasons, 22-0 in the Orange Bowl.
“In watching Washington and Miami sting us, you could see a speed deficit,” Steele said. “At that point, some recruiting philosophies took a swing – not just at Nebraska but around the country. It was a reaction to those two teams.”
Were the speedier players Nebraska began to recruit also better overall players?
“I guess I haven’t seen any huge leap in talent,” Osborne said. “But we are talented.”
Brown said he thinks NU’s recruiting has been upgraded in recent years.
“Not every player on our team is a great player,” he said. “But we have several great players — guys who are difference-makers at their position.
“The supporting cast is good, too. When you combine great character with great players, a lot of great things happen.”
In 1992, a defensive turnaround began. Nebraska found enough overall success with its 4-3 “dime” package designed to stop the pass that in the spring of 1993 it junked the 5-2 defense used the previous 31 years.
“The kids love to play the 4-3,” Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride said. “I don’t want to say it’s a less disciplined defense, but it’s freer and less complicated. And when we found cornerbacks who could cover man to man, it gave us a chance to attack instead of read and react.”
From 49th nationally in total defense in 1991, Nebraska went to 24th in 1992, 12th in 1993, fourth in 1994 and 13th in 1995.
“There were some great teams at Nebraska where the defense wasn’t always considered that good,” Steele said. “But Charlie and the rest of the defensive staff don’t feel that way anymore.
“The past three or four years, they have felt they can play defense with anybody.”
About the time the defense was simplified, some changes were made on the other side of the ball, too.
Dan Young, assistant offensive line coach, said the focus became zone blocking — having a lineman responsible for an area instead of a specific defender.
“We don’t have as many schemes now,” he said. “But what we do, we do pretty well.
”On about five plays, we use the same blocking. That simplifies the amount of learning and allows you to do more adjusting.”
As on defense, Young said, simplifying things on offense created good results.
“It turned loose the kids’ physical ability,” he said. “Instead of thinking about a hundred things, they began to react more to what came up. Our guys on offense have become a lot more aggressive.”
The 1992 season also marked the arrival of the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Nebraska since World War II — Tommie Frazier.
Since entering the lineup in the sixth game of 1992, Frazier has gone 32-3 as a starter, earned consensus All-America honors and placed second in this year’s Heisman Trophy voting.
Osborne cautioned against naming Frazier as the lone key to the current run of success.
“We won some big games last year when he was hurt,” Osborne said. “But he has been a big factor.
“I would say if I were to choose one player who has had the most impact on the outcome of the greatest number of games over the longest period of time since I’ve been at Nebraska, it would be Tommie Frazier.”
As 1993 began, coaches said, another minor change had a major impact.
Instead of having the top units practice almost exclusively against scout teams, the No. 1 offense and No. 1 defense began facing off against each other in full contact two to three times a week.
“When you work against ‘the betters,’ you get better,” Steele said. “And it showed. Again, that was one of the things the head coach had us refocus on — what we were getting out of our time in practice. No details were left unchecked.”
During the 1993 season, some of the luck Osborne referred to appeared.
The Huskers survived a minus-four turnover margin at UCLA to win 14-13. And Kansas missed a two-point conversion try in the final minute, allowing NU to escape with a 21-20 victory and stay undefeated in the regular season.
In the Orange Bowl, Nebraska was a 17-point underdog to Florida State and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Charlie Ward. But the Huskers, who saw a punt return touchdown nullified by penalty, had a chance to win on the game’s final play. Byron Bennett’s field goal try was wide, allowing FSU to win 18-16 and claim the national title.
Though it was a loss, coaches and players say that game was a mental victory after having lost the five previous bowls by an average of 21 points.
“That to me was the turning point of what’s been happening the past two years,” Young said. “We used to go into those games hoping we could do something.
“Now, the guys go in with the attitude that they will do something.”
Senior wingback Clester Johnson agreed.
“Since that game, I’ve felt we would never lose again,” he said. “No matter what the situation, we feel we have seen it, we’ve been in it and we know what to do about it.”
Johnson’s feeling has held true. Nebraska has won a school record-tying 24 straight games since that loss to FSU.
“It’s a pretty exciting era we’re in right now,” Epley said. “Now I think we’re probably the best we’ve ever been.”
All-America center Aaron Graham said the final credit has to go to Osborne, the assistant coaches and the program.
“It was just a matter of time before this program hit the top again,” said the senior from Denton, Texas. “We’ve been in or near the Top 10 forever, but something finally clicked to produce that first national championship in 23 years.
“I feel fortunate to have been here during that time. And not to take anything away from the guys here now, but if this hadn’t happened while we were here, it was going to again at some point. That’s how good this place is.”
The Nebraska football program, which raced into national championship contention eight times in the 1980s, couldn’t keep up the pace as a new decade began.
In 1990, the Huskers lost three of their final four games — a first in the Bob Devaney-Tom Osborne coaching era that began in 1962. Those setbacks dropped NU to 24th in the Associated Press poll, the lowest end-of-the-season ranking in Osborne’s 23-year career.
Several staff members interviewed last week said the sting of those losses was intensified by the manner in which Nebraska fell to Colorado, Oklahoma and Citrus Bowl opponent Georgia Tech.
Offensively, NU’s normally powerhouse rushing attack averaged 136 yards in those games. Defensively, the Huskers allowed 27 points in the fourth quarter to Colorado and 45 points each to Oklahoma and Georgia Tech. No team had scored 45 points against Nebraska since 1968.
“The end of that season was our low point in about a 30-year period,” said Director of Athletic Performance Boyd Epley, in his 26th year at NU. “There was internal stuff happening that the general public never realized was going on.
“So Coach Osborne asked that we re-evaluate every phase of the program — from recruiting to the strength program to anything and anybody involved.”
Former Husker Assistant Kevin Steele remembers those meetings.
“Some guys were a little embarrassed that Nebraska had lost two or three games it hadn’t been losing in previous years,” said Steele, now the linebackers coach for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. “It was a pretty big challenge to the guys who run the program.”
Steele said major philosophical changes weren’t discussed. Nebraska was still winning nine games a season.
“It was more a refocusing on some things,” he said. “It was the head coach stepping in and saying, ‘Hey, this thing doesn’t look quite like I want it to look. So we need to do this, this and this.’ “
With some retooling, Nebraska began its climb back into the Top 10. The Huskers were 15th in 1991, 14th in 1992, third in 1993 and national champions in 1994.
Now, at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the top-ranked Huskers will play in a national championship-deciding game for the third straight season, which is believed to be a college football first.
A victory Jan. 2 over No. 2 Florida would make NU the first repeat champion since Alabama in 1978 and 1979, and the first consensus back-to-back titlist since Oklahoma in 1955 and 1956.
“There has been a little luck involved,” Osborne said. “On the other hand, I really feel we’ve played well enough to win 36 straight times.
“The one we did lose, we were a little unfortunate. So we’ve played at a very high level in this stretch.”
A dozen interviews with people in the program yielded nearly a dozen factors that have contributed to the current Husker success story. Among them:
A general increase in overall talent. A new attitude on strength and conditioning. More attention to recruiting speed. The arrival of quarterback Tommie Frazier. The change to a 4-3 defense. Creation of the Unity Council. Simplification of some offensive and defensive assignments. Better confidence among players in big games.
“And then there are some things that you can’t logically write down in a newspaper article,” NU Receivers Coach Ron Brown said. “It has something to do with a sovereignty that says, ‘It’s just time for Nebraska.’
“Whatever the exact reasons are, a lot of the right buttons have been pushed.”
When did the current surge of button-pushing begin?
“January 17, 1991,” Epley said. “That was the first day players gathered for winter conditioning after we lost so bad in the Citrus Bowl.”
During the 1990 season, Epley said, Husker players averaged 30 absences a day from strength and conditioning sessions.
“It was the low point in my involvement with Nebraska,” Epley said. “I wasn’t doing the best job because that was the time we were opening our new facility and I was spending so much time with that.”
Upon closer review, Epley said he found “a problem with attitude and discipline.”
“And unity wasn’t just a problem among players,” he said. “There was a lack of unity among support staffs.”
Epley said Osborne mediated a dispute between some trainers who were telling linemen to avoid squat lifts in the weight room for fear of irritating previous injuries and strength coaches who said squats were the key to those players getting stronger.
The squat lifts were approved, which Epley called a crucial decision because a national study at the time comparing strength levels by position showed NU’s offensive line had slipped compared to that of other perennially ranked teams.
“The strength level had gotten away to the point where it was costing us on the field,” Epley said. “But we got our problems corrected to the point that four years later, with the coaches’ help, those guys became not only the best offensive line in Nebraska history but in the nation.”
Other players got stronger in the winter of 1991, too, because they showed up to work out more often. Epley said a rule was passed that more than one absence from a workout meant dismissal from the team.
“We had over 6,500 workouts by 200 players before our first absence,” he said. “Our athletes applied themselves so well that at the end of winter conditioning, when they normally would break 15 to 18 school records, they broke 78. That turned things around.”
At the end of spring football in May 1991, Epley said, Husker coaches said they had seen “some back sliding” and wanted a way to apply the discipline created in winter conditioning year round.
By coincidence at the time, Epley said, he was in the process of renewing his driver’s license. So he suggested that a point system for discipline similar to that for driving violations be created.
“The coaches really liked the idea because it didn’t matter who recruited the kid or what state he was from or what race he was,” Epley said. “It was fair for everyone. And it included academics and football, not just strength and conditioning.”
In August 1991, Epley said, the disciplinary point system was formalized and the Unity Council — a group of two players from each position — was formed with the help of team psychologist Jack Stark. The Unity Council acts as a sounding board between the players and coaches.
Brown said the Unity Council allows the players to feel some ownership in the team.
“The coaches still make the final decisions,” he said. “But it’s not all just orders from the top down. So when adversity strikes, we’re going to be together. And handling adversity is crucial.
“We had some adversity in the 1990 season and we didn’t handle it very well. But in 1991, we started the Unity Council and that’s when we started our string of Big Eight championships. Are you going to say that’s the reason we’ve won five straight? Not totally. But that’s an important cog.”
Nebraska tied for the Big Eight title in 1991, but two games that season provided a further wakeup call to the program. Washington gained 618 yards — the most against NU in 35 years — in a 36-21 victory in Lincoln. And Miami handed the Huskers their first shutout in 19 seasons, 22-0 in the Orange Bowl.
“In watching Washington and Miami sting us, you could see a speed deficit,” Steele said. “At that point, some recruiting philosophies took a swing – not just at Nebraska but around the country. It was a reaction to those two teams.”
Were the speedier players Nebraska began to recruit also better overall players?
“I guess I haven’t seen any huge leap in talent,” Osborne said. “But we are talented.”
Brown said he thinks NU’s recruiting has been upgraded in recent years.
“Not every player on our team is a great player,” he said. “But we have several great players — guys who are difference-makers at their position.
“The supporting cast is good, too. When you combine great character with great players, a lot of great things happen.”
In 1992, a defensive turnaround began. Nebraska found enough overall success with its 4-3 “dime” package designed to stop the pass that in the spring of 1993 it junked the 5-2 defense used the previous 31 years.
“The kids love to play the 4-3,” Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride said. “I don’t want to say it’s a less disciplined defense, but it’s freer and less complicated. And when we found cornerbacks who could cover man to man, it gave us a chance to attack instead of read and react.”
From 49th nationally in total defense in 1991, Nebraska went to 24th in 1992, 12th in 1993, fourth in 1994 and 13th in 1995.
“There were some great teams at Nebraska where the defense wasn’t always considered that good,” Steele said. “But Charlie and the rest of the defensive staff don’t feel that way anymore.
“The past three or four years, they have felt they can play defense with anybody.”
About the time the defense was simplified, some changes were made on the other side of the ball, too.
Dan Young, assistant offensive line coach, said the focus became zone blocking — having a lineman responsible for an area instead of a specific defender.
“We don’t have as many schemes now,” he said. “But what we do, we do pretty well.
”On about five plays, we use the same blocking. That simplifies the amount of learning and allows you to do more adjusting.”
As on defense, Young said, simplifying things on offense created good results.
“It turned loose the kids’ physical ability,” he said. “Instead of thinking about a hundred things, they began to react more to what came up. Our guys on offense have become a lot more aggressive.”
The 1992 season also marked the arrival of the first true freshman to start at quarterback for Nebraska since World War II — Tommie Frazier.
Since entering the lineup in the sixth game of 1992, Frazier has gone 32-3 as a starter, earned consensus All-America honors and placed second in this year’s Heisman Trophy voting.
Osborne cautioned against naming Frazier as the lone key to the current run of success.
“We won some big games last year when he was hurt,” Osborne said. “But he has been a big factor.
“I would say if I were to choose one player who has had the most impact on the outcome of the greatest number of games over the longest period of time since I’ve been at Nebraska, it would be Tommie Frazier.”
As 1993 began, coaches said, another minor change had a major impact.
Instead of having the top units practice almost exclusively against scout teams, the No. 1 offense and No. 1 defense began facing off against each other in full contact two to three times a week.
“When you work against ‘the betters,’ you get better,” Steele said. “And it showed. Again, that was one of the things the head coach had us refocus on — what we were getting out of our time in practice. No details were left unchecked.”
During the 1993 season, some of the luck Osborne referred to appeared.
The Huskers survived a minus-four turnover margin at UCLA to win 14-13. And Kansas missed a two-point conversion try in the final minute, allowing NU to escape with a 21-20 victory and stay undefeated in the regular season.
In the Orange Bowl, Nebraska was a 17-point underdog to Florida State and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Charlie Ward. But the Huskers, who saw a punt return touchdown nullified by penalty, had a chance to win on the game’s final play. Byron Bennett’s field goal try was wide, allowing FSU to win 18-16 and claim the national title.
Though it was a loss, coaches and players say that game was a mental victory after having lost the five previous bowls by an average of 21 points.
“That to me was the turning point of what’s been happening the past two years,” Young said. “We used to go into those games hoping we could do something.
“Now, the guys go in with the attitude that they will do something.”
Senior wingback Clester Johnson agreed.
“Since that game, I’ve felt we would never lose again,” he said. “No matter what the situation, we feel we have seen it, we’ve been in it and we know what to do about it.”
Johnson’s feeling has held true. Nebraska has won a school record-tying 24 straight games since that loss to FSU.
“It’s a pretty exciting era we’re in right now,” Epley said. “Now I think we’re probably the best we’ve ever been.”
All-America center Aaron Graham said the final credit has to go to Osborne, the assistant coaches and the program.
“It was just a matter of time before this program hit the top again,” said the senior from Denton, Texas. “We’ve been in or near the Top 10 forever, but something finally clicked to produce that first national championship in 23 years.
“I feel fortunate to have been here during that time. And not to take anything away from the guys here now, but if this hadn’t happened while we were here, it was going to again at some point. That’s how good this place is.”
