After seven consecutive bowl losses, Osborne broke through in 1994 and won his first national title from a major selector; Nebraska repeated as champion in 1995, a team that is considered among the best ever.

In addition to the I formation and option, his Nebraska teams are remembered for strong line play, the product of groundbreaking strength and conditioning programs developed under Devaney and Osborne.

"[4] Osborne's later teams were famous for their prolific use of the run-heavy I-form option, but his first offenses relied on a more balanced attack with similarities to modern spread formations.

[5][2] Osborne's I-form design included a wingback, a position made famous at Nebraska by versatile offensive and special teams weapon Johnny Rodgers.

[6] Devaney and Osborne hired Boyd Epley, who founded one of the country's first football-focused weightlifting programs and is sometimes considered the "father of modern strength and conditioning.

Nebraska started 2–2 in Osborne's first year leading the offense but won its final seven games and went undefeated in 1970, winning its first national championship after a chaotic bowl season.

[10] He named Osborne his successor prior to the season and players later suggested the "murky" chain of command may have hindered the team, which saw its thirty-two-game unbeaten streak end in week one.

[11] Once the job was his, Osborne promoted Monte Kiffin to defensive coordinator (a position he had unofficially held for several years) and hired Jerry Moore from SMU as his wide receivers coach and primary offensive assistant.

Humm recovered to lead the team through the remainder of the season, including a sixth consecutive bowl victory, and finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting.

Despite upset losses to Missouri and Iowa State, Nebraska had a chance to win the Big Eight championship against Oklahoma – instead, OU used a pair of fourth-quarter trick plays to complete a ten-point comeback, prompting Switzer to coin the term "Sooner Magic.

The following week, Nebraska gave fourth-ranked Alabama its only loss of the season behind 128 rushing yards from I-back Rick Berns and two interceptions from future state governor Jim Pillen.

Nebraska lost a season-opening rematch with Alabama in 1978 but won nine straight games before hosting top-ranked Oklahoma, a team Osborne had yet to defeat as head coach.

[20] The early years of Osborne's tenure were defined by struggles against Oklahoma and its run-heavy wishbone offense – from 1973 through 1979 OU went 7–1 in the series despite averaging less than five pass attempts per game.

Osborne's offensive transformation was complete in 1981 when he turned to dual-threat sophomore Turner Gill after a 1–2 start dropped NU out of the national top twenty-five.

It was Nebraska's only loss – though the Cornhuskers were named national champion by mathematical selector Berryman QPRS, 11–1 Penn State was awarded the title by the AP and coaches.

[27] NU fell behind Miami in the Orange Bowl; trailing 17–0 early in the second quarter, the Cornhuskers converted a fumblerooski, a trick play which had Gill set the ball on the ground to be picked up by All-American guard Dean Steinkuhler, who ran nineteen yards for a touchdown.

Instead of kicking an extra point to tie the game (likely resulting in Nebraska being voted national champion), Osborne elected to go for two and the outright win; Gill's conversion pass fell incomplete.

[31] Nebraska beat LSU in the Sugar Bowl to finish 10–2 and was named national champion by the Litkenhous ranking, the last of five consecutive seasons NU was awarded a title it does not claim.

After three consecutive victories over Oklahoma early in the 1980s, Nebraska again struggled against the Sooners as the decade progressed – season-finale losses to OU in 1985 and 1986 cost the Cornhuskers any shot at a Big Eight championship.

[34] When he was hired in 1982, Buffaloes head coach Bill McCartney had loudly declared Nebraska to be Colorado's primary rival to much ridicule, as CU was among the country's worst programs under his predecessor Chuck Fairbanks.

[35] McCartney slowly revived Colorado with the flexbone, a wishbone variant which used a pair of "slotbacks" instead of running backs, and defeated NU in 1989 and 1990 to become the first program since World War II to wrest control of the Big Eight from Nebraska and Oklahoma in consecutive seasons.

[37] Nebraska began the 1990s much the same way it finished the previous decade – Colorado won the Big Eight and was named the AP poll's national champion in 1990, while NU ended the season with double-digit losses to unranked Oklahoma and No.

[31] Like Devaney decades earlier, Osborne began to copy the blueprint of the programs he was chasing and prioritized the recruitment of fast, athletic players on both sides of the ball, dipping into California and the Deep South to do so.

[31] This defensive transformation took hold in 1992 with star ends Travis Hill and Trev Alberts – McBride fully committed to the 4–3 the same week Nebraska blasted Colorado 52–7 with the teams tied at No.

Center Aaron Graham recalled Nebraska ran the same isolation play over forty times as NU leaned on its experienced offensive line in a 17–6 victory.

Frazier reentered after Berringer was intercepted in the end zone and led a pair of scoring drives, both capped by Cory Schlesinger touchdowns against a worn-down Miami defensive front.

[50] Osborne often took a personal interest in these investigations; Lancaster County attorney Gary Lacey criticized the coach's involvement, which included witness interviews and public declarations of his players' innocence.

[50] Osborne defended his tactics, noting the need to determine internal discipline and his belief that football's structured regiment made it an ideal support system.

Trailing by seven with seconds remaining, top-ranked Nebraska tied the game when a Frost pass into the end zone bounced off the foot of intended receiver Shevin Wiggins and into the hands of Matt Davison.

Osborne quickly fired Bill Callahan and conducted a brief coaching search that ended in the hiring of Bo Pelini, who led the program for seven years.