Nati Harnik / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Coach Bo Pelini is building for the future by emphasizing elements of Nebraska’s past.

Pelini simplified his schemes, ratcheted up the blitzing, and the Huskers ended up second in defense in the high-scoring Big 12.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, Pelini’s former boss, said he’s not surprised by Nebraska’s rapid improvement.

“It’s just great fundamentals — being physical, being great on defense,” he said. “That’s what he stands for.”

The chain of events that started Nebraska’s fall to irrelevance can be traced to the end of the Osborne’s Hall-of-Fame coaching career. The Huskers were on an all-time high, going 60-3 from 1993-97 and winning three national titles.

Osborne retired at 60 on the condition that Solich be named his successor. The winning continued — Solich went 31-7 with one Big 12 title his first three seasons — until the last of the players recruited under Osborne were gone.

After going 9-3 in 2003, Solich was ousted.

Pelini, the defensive coordinator, was named interim coach and he led the Huskers to an Alamo Bowl win over Michigan State before being sent packing by Steve Pederson, who replaced Bill Byrne as athletic director in 2003.

A protracted coaching search ended with the hiring of Callahan, who had just been fired as Oakland Raiders coach.

Under Callahan and Pederson, a Nebraska native and former Huskers recruiting coordinator, the program lost touch with its storied past and continued to fall from the ranks of the elite.

Trying to go back to the future, Osborne was hired as athletic director two years ago. He fired Callahan and hired Pelini as head coach.

Pelini has embraced the culture that grew out of the Devaney-Osborne eras, one that emphasizes physical play and strives for domination.

“It’s about putting on the pads and representing that ’N’ the right way,” he said.

Some old-timers say Pelini is the second coming of Devaney, who took over a downtrodden program in 1962 and within 10 years won back-to-back national titles.

“In terms of being very straightforward, expecting a lot, demanding a lot of physical, tough football, there are a lot of similarities,” Osborne said.

Now, the hope of the Husker faithful is that Pelini can deliver the same kind of results.

“I think they’re starting to feel the momentum that we had at the end of last year,” Pelini said of his players. “I think they’re starting to understand what they can become as a football team and where this football program needs to be headed. They also know there’s a lot of work in front of us to get where we want to be.”

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