Nick Saban rode a tremendous high in Tuscaloosa, but he wasn't always the dominant force. Nebraska football head coach Tom Osborne shared a subtle remark with Saban in 1995 after the Cornhuskers beat the Michigan State Spartans. At the time Saban was the head coach of the Spartans, suffering a 50-10 loss to Osborne and Nebraska football.
Osborne spoke with Saban following the blowout win, telling the young head coach “You're not as bad as you think.” This may have been a pick-up for Saban, but it was really surrounded by the fact that Nebraska football was elite, per Mitch Sherman at The Athletic. During the 1995 season, the Cornhuskers went 12-0, winning the back end of their back-to-back National Titles. Osborne led Nebraska football to an undefeated record and a National Championship in three of his last four seasons.
There was a lesson to be learned for Saban from one of the best college football coaches of all time. Saban took that message and became the greatest himself, the No. 1 coach to ever do it. He did this with dominant fashion at Alabama, leading the Crimson Tide to six National Titles. Alabama has been known as a CFB juggernaut for the past few decades, so Saban has probably passed the same message to other teams.
There have been competing programs with the Tide in the past few years, but no one has touched the dynasty Saban laid out in Tuscaloosa. Osborne and Saban sharing the moment was just one of the few stories of Saban's extensive career, and a remembrance of how good Nebraska football used to be.
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