After the ‘72 Orange Bowl win over Alabama, Bob Devaney called the staff together and announced he was going to retire at the end of the season. He also announced, to some people’s surprise that he wanted his youngest assistant coach, Tom Osborne, to take over.

Osborne had never aspired to be head coach at Nebraska. He’d dreamed of going to another college where he could develop his own staff and his own ideas. He also knew Bob Devaney would be a tough act to follow.

In Devaney’s nine years at Nebraska, he had secured back-to-back National Championships, seen Rich Glover win the Outland Trophy, produced the first Cornhusker Heisman Trophy winner in Johnny Rodgers and was the nation’s winningest coach.

Besides all that, rabid Devaney fans saw Osborne as a bland, straight arrow type guy, much different than the charismatic Devaney. Tom would have to go a long way to convince fans that he was the best man to follow their popular coach, but the opportunity was too good to pass up.

Osborne got off to a great start.

His first game as head coach was against top-ranked UCLA. Nebraska won 40-13 and jumped to #2 in the national polls.

But the success didn’t seem to matter. Ultimately, Nebraska fans would judge Osborne by how well his teams did against their old nemesis, Oklahoma. In his first effort against the Sooners, Nebraska lost 27-0 and didn’t even get across the 50-yard line.

Despite the loss to Oklahoma, Nebraska got the nod to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl and Osborne was determined his team would outwork the opposition. But some players disagreed with the idea of extra practice in December and one of the captains led a revolt against the plan.

When Osborne booted that captain off the team, the players understood that Tom Osborne was the head coach -- they were the players. So, they practiced extra hard and produced a 19-3 Nebraska Cotton Bowl win.

Still, some people weren’t happy. They complained about Osborne’s lack of imagination in the offense and without Rodgers on the field, plays that looked exciting and innovative the year before now looked lack-luster.

But the stats painted a rosier picture.

In Osborne’s first season, Nebraska averaged over 30 points a game and held opponents to less than ten. Tom Osborne finished his first season as head coach with nine wins, one tie and two losses, the same record as Coach Bob Devaney in his last season.

Most colleges would have considered it a great season, but for some Nebraska fans it still wasn’t enough. They wanted Osborne to quit being such a nice guy and they wanted him to start beating Oklahoma.