LINCOLN, Neb.—First-year Nebraska coach Bo Pelini is in a joking mood early this week. No doubt he’ll be turning serious by Saturday, when the Cornhuskers play at fourth-ranked Oklahoma.
Someone asked Pelini on Tuesday whether athletic director Tom Osborne had given him any advice about what to do against the Sooners. Osborne, as coach from 1973 through 1997, was a central figure in one of the great college football rivalries of all time.
Pelini joked that Osborne told him to win the game—or he would be fired.
The kicker is that Osborne lost the first five games he coached against Oklahoma, finally winning in 1978.
Pelini deadpanned that Osborne has been away from coaching for so long that in his mind he didn’t lose any games.
