Nebraska Lost, Nebraska Found

Osborne says there was no particular significance to the timing of the offer to Kreikemeier, that it was just about getting a recruit locked up before some other school stole him away, but just because the symbolism wasn't intended doesn't mean it isn't there. Kreikemeier is the kind of player Nebraska used to get, the kind of homegrown young man the staff would take and develop. The job of Osborne and Pelini isn't just to make sure that Nebraska doesn't go 5--7 again, as it did last year. It's to make sure that the Huskers will never be short of Micah Kreikemeiers.

IT IS a gray, wintry March afternoon in Lincoln, yet it's a beautiful day in the Huskers ' neighborhood. Spring practice has begun, the players are back in pads, and confidence in the new regime is running high. Pelini 's credentials as a top-notch defensive mind—his Nebraska unit was second in scoring defense and 11th overall; in his one year as co--defensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2004, the Sooners ranked sixth against the rush and 11th in scoring defense; and LSU ranked in the top five in total defense in each of his three seasons there—have made Nebraska fans hopeful that their defense will be nothing like it was last season. The 2007 Cornhuskers allowed more points (37.9) and yards (476.8) per game than any other team in school history and surrendered 40 or more points six times, including a school-record 76 to Kansas and 65 to Colorado in a pair of humiliating losses. That was hardly what the newly hired Pederson envisioned in 2003 when he announced that he would not "let Nebraska gravitate into mediocrity" and fired Solich , a fullback and assistant under Osborne , after a 9--3 regular season and a 58--19 record in six years.

Pelini and his brother Carl, the new defensive coordinator, are still acquainting themselves with their personnel, but it seems clear that they will try to re-create the attacking, swarming brand of defense for which Bo's units have become known. The Huskers forced only 11 turnovers last year, and the Pelinis have already targeted that number for improvement. "The goal for the defense is not just to get off the field but to go get the football," says Carl. The brothers realize the transformation won't be immediate, and they hope the fans who are clamoring for a return to the days of the famed Blackshirts will be patient. "There are people who think that because I walked in the door, nobody's going to get a first down anymore," Bo says. "It doesn't quite work that way."

It doesn't help that in the midst of their turmoil last fall, the Huskers lost more than a dozen recruits who had committed to them, most notably quarterback Blaine Gabbert ( Missouri ), running back Jonas Gray (Notre Dame) and tackle Bryce Givens ( Colorado ). But the state will be patient with Pelini , largely because he bears the ultimate Nebraska stamp of approval. As he sits in his second-floor office, he points a finger skyward. "I could not have a better resource, a better source of support than the man up there," he says. Pelini 's not talking about The Man Up There, but the gentleman in the athletic director's office on the floor above him. Although Osborne , a deeply devout and humble man, would surely disapprove of the comparison, there is a statewide reverence for him bordering on the religious. In Tom they trust. "He's about two steps below God in this state," says wide receiver Todd Peterson .

If only heaven could have helped Nebraska last season, when the program appeared to be falling apart. "You could see a division occurring," says Osborne . "A lot of people had fallen away from the program. The reason the chancellor felt the need for a change was not the won-lost record but the level of unrest in the program."

CALLAHAN , MEANWHILE, had been hitting mostly wrong notes with Nebraska fans almost from the day he arrived in Lincoln. After a 30--3 loss at Oklahoma during his first season, he was so angered by the heckling and firing of pop guns by some of the Sooners fans that he yelled "f------ hillbillies" as he and his team headed to the locker room. Even though the comment was aimed at their rivals, some members of Husker Nation were offended by the backwoods slur.

In his second season, against Oklahoma , Callahan was caught on camera making a throat-slash gesture to an official who had failed to call holding on a Sooners touchdown, for which Callahan was publicly reprimanded by the Big 12 . For a fan base used to Osborne 's calmness and rectitude, it was embarrassing to see a Nebraska coach so prone to losing his cool.

But in the eyes of Nebraska fans, Callahan 's unforgivable sin was his failure to show what they considered the proper respect to Osborne . In The Nebraska Way, a book by Nebraska student Jonathan Crowl published near the end of what turned out to be Callahan 's final season, he was quoted by a former trainer referring to Osborne as a "crusty old f—" who was interfering with the program. Though Callahan and Osborne made statements downplaying the comment, Callahan had irretrievably lost the fan base.

The obvious choice to right the Huskers ' ship was Osborne , a native son who was so well respected in the state that he had been elected to three terms in Congress after he retired as coach, in early 1998. Following a failed run for governor in 2006 he had returned to the university to teach in the business school, among other things. It was a comfortable routine, but when chancellor Harvey Perlman approached him last October about replacing Pederson as athletic director, Osborne couldn't say no. His presence at the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex, where he walks past a statue of himself at the entrance every day, brought an immediate sense of calm to the program. "There's something about him that's so serene, so tranquil," says tight ends coach Ron Brown . "He makes you believe that everything is going to be all right."

Though he's well-known for his stoicism, Osborne also has a sly, self-deprecating sense of humor. When he introduced Pelini to a gathering of fans in Omaha , he told them that all the familiar faces reminded him of his first date years ago with his wife, Nancy, during which, he said, she slapped him three times. "It's not what you think," he told the briefly stunned crowd. "She just wanted to make sure I wasn't dead."