Tom Osborne: Reaching the Mountaintop

The Common Fans look at Tom Osborne's first national championship team as head coach at Nebraska, as well as the players and teams that led up to that moment in the early 1990s.

Nov 1992; Norman, OK, USA; FILE PHOTO; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Tom Osborne prior to the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Owen Field. | RVR Photos-Imagn Images

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.

Plus, insights from Abdul and Mitch about those early ‘90s teams:

Tommie Frazier = the x-factor.
The 1991 no-nonsense recruiting class–Abdul Muhammad, Dwayne Harris, Barron Miles, Christian Peter, and others.
“The war was in practice.”
The “refuse to lose” bunch in 1993.
The 1994 season–Frazier’s blood clot, Brook Berringer, the Matt Turman game, the Colorado game, the Orange Bowl against Miami.
Finally, TO reaches the mountaintop.
This and much more!

Thanks to Abdul Muhammad and Mitch Sherman for joining us for this conversation. GBR for LIFE!

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