• NU coach Bo Pelini after Wednesday's practice:



In the recent frenzy to credit Tom Osborne for helping the Nebraska football team, assistant coach Ron Brown said people might be overlooking his most valuable input.

“The reality of it is, his influence on our football team has a lot to do with character,'' Brown said.

Brown said forget about the X's and O's and tapes that found their way into the hands of NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. As athletic director, Brown said, Osborne has done way more.

“We have a lot of athletic staff meetings where Tom gets the entire athletic department together — coaches and everybody,'' Brown said. “And he talks a lot about treatment of people. How you treat people. And how do you respond to rules and regulations. And he talks a lot about attitude and resiliency.

“That's his influence.''

Brown worked under Osborne from 1987 through 1997 while Osborne was the Husker head coach. Since Brown returned after the 2007 season, he has developed a new appreciation of Osborne as he runs the NU athletic department.

“There are some people in high positions that you get enough pressure, and they're starting to feel the heat, so now they're going to respond because somebody's pulling their chain,'' Brown said. “He's not like that.

“He says, ‘You know what, nah, let me get away from that. Let me see this thing for what it is.' He's never once came in and said, ‘Hey, you guys got to get it together. You need to do this. You need to do that.' During that little losing phase we had there, none of that. And I've never seen him like that.''

Brown told a Big Red Breakfast crowd that Nebraska is doing some tweaking and intensifying under Bo Pelini that remind him of what Osborne did to spark the Huskers' run to three national championships in the 1990s. Brown said the key was that Osborne, while making the adjustments, consistently stayed on track with his core beliefs.

Pelini can notch his second straight nine-win season to start his NU coaching career if the Huskers beat Colorado on Friday. It would keep pace with the accomplishments previously of Bob Devaney (9-2, 10-1), Osborne (9-2-1, 9-3) and Frank Solich (9-4, 12-1).

Brown said it's not just about wins and losses.

“We have come so far in two years, and I don't think it's really visible to the public at large,'' Brown said. “I think people tend to get caught up in numbers. You want to better last season's records, and you want to keep climbing notches. But it takes a lot in the process.''

Brown followed Pelini's lead from Monday and turned away any conversation about playing Texas in the Big 12 championship game. He said Colorado “gives us another great challenge'' even though NU already has clinched the North Division title.

“Somebody asked me today, ‘What day do you leave for Texas?'” Brown said. “I said, ‘I haven't even thought of that. I'm trying to figure out tomorrow. When we leave tomorrow for the Colorado game.'

“This is a huge game for us because we're not after just a championship. We're after a paragon. We're after a way of life. No matter what the situation, you're going to get everything out of me. That is the opponent.''

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444-1042, rich.kaipust@owh.com