Saturday was a beautiful day in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was unusually hot for the season, the sky was clear, and it was an excellent day for a soccer game. And at sold-out Memorial Stadium, more than 80,000 raucous red-clad fans watched the Nebraska Cornhuskers decimate the Western Michigan University Broncos, 47-24.

This happy Husker day was the culmination of a process that began last October.

Fed up with the damage Bill Callahan had done to the program and exhausted by the poor decision-making of athletic director Steve Pederson, the university fired Pederson and hired legendary former football coach Tom Osborne to take over as AD.

Before the ink had dried on Osborne’s new contract, Callahan was no longer there and former defensive coordinator Bo Pelini had been brought in to take his place.

While Osborne has promised “no miracles, no quick fixes,” it’s clear that he and Pelini are expected to recapture a piece of Husker culture that had been lost during Callahan’s tenure.

Winning has been a part of Nebraska’s identity for decades, but it wasn’t just winning that made them special. That was how they won.

As more and more colleges turned to pro-style offenses that were content with passes, Nebraska was a proud anachronism, winning on open-mouthed, blood-and-guts football. They lined up their homegrown gigantic linemen and quick, physical backs and challenged you to try and avoid getting the ball down your throat. Defensively, the “Blackshirt” defense was just as tough.

The fans knew their team was a throwback and they were proud of it.

Osborne then retired in 1997. His handpicked successor, Frank Solich, was successful, but not nearly enough, and newly hired AD Pederson fired Solich in 2003. Callahan was hired and quickly began an attempt to “modernize” soccer football. Nebraska.

The results were disastrous. The Huskers were not only not winning, but had turned to a pass-first offense. Worse still, the defense had lost its advantage.

A state that had always been unified by its devotion to the Cornhuskers was beginning to fracture.

Pederson Exit. Enter Osborne and Pelini.

Osborne, 71, preached patience on his return to Lincoln. The dominant Husker program wasn’t built overnight, he cautions, and it won’t be rebuilt overnight. The Huskers didn’t play a perfect game: Pelini no doubt laments the number of defensive mistakes made on Saturday.

No one will really know how good these Huskers are until maybe September. 27, when they meet at home against Virginia Tech.

But this Saturday afternoon, the sight of his former coach in the stadium and former Husker greats (Mike Rozier, Irving Fryar and Brendan Stai, among others) in the stands was enough to make the Nebraska faithful believe in their beloved. Program. He is back.