*Barry Alvarez – who was a linebacker on the 1967 team before becoming the longtime head coach and athletic director at Wisconsin – has claimed that Nebraska was invited to a bowl game. According to Alvarez, the Huskers would have faced Georgia, but the Board of Regents rejected the offer. In 1967, Georgia (7-3) lost to North Carolina State (8-2). To my knowledge, this claim has never been verified.
Nebraska’s offense was a big culprit in the back-to-back 6-4 seasons. In 1967, the Huskers averaged just 13 points per game. In 1968, the average jumped up to 16 points per game, but the Huskers were outscored on the season 161-155. Two of NU’s final three games in 1968 were shutout losses – a 12-0 dud to Kansas State* and the blowout at Oklahoma. *The last time Nebraska was shut out at home was the Nov. 9, 1968, game against Kansas State.
In the offseason, Devaney turned the offensive over to a young guy who had started out on his staff as a graduate assistant, with his only “pay” coming in the form of free room and board. This assistant then spent a few years splitting time between football and being a university instructor teaching a course in Educational Psychology. His name was Tom Osborne.* *After the blowout loss to OU in 1968, Osborne wondered if he was cut out for coaching, saying “I seriously considered resigning as a Devaney assistant after that game.” I’m not sure who – or what – changed his mind.
Osborne scrapped Devaney’s run-heavy T formation and installed a more balanced offense out of the I formation. The results were immediate…