Review: Well-done Tom Osborne documentary premieres in Lincoln theaters

“Day By Day: The Rise” is a very well-done documentary that follows the head coaching career of Tom Osborne and, especially, focuses on the 1993 and 1994 seasons that saw the Nebraska football team lose to Florida State on a missed last-second field goal, then return to the Orange Bowl the next year to defeat home team Miami and take the first of Osborne’s three national championships.

Directed by Justin LePera, the documentary, which will have its theatrical debut this week in Marcus Theatres in Lincoln and Omaha, tells that story through contemporary interviews with Osborne, assistant coaches, dozens of players from the 1990s, coaching rivals Barry Switzer and the late Bobby Bowden, reflections of fans like Larry The Cable Guy, and vintage television footage from network broadcasts and Omaha’s WOWT.

It essentially opens with a 10-minute prologue that focuses on the 10 years after Osborne took over the head coaching duties from Bob Devaney but couldn't beat Oklahoma and lost a half-dozen consecutive bowl games, setting up the 1993 drama in which Osborne, who had turned down the Colorado coaching job, felt like he had to win and win big.

It then takes a deep dive into the 1993 season with reflections from, among others, athletic director Trev Alberts, a Butkus Award-winning outside linebacker who talks about his regret of not making a play on the final Florida State drive, and Troy Dumas, who says that the last-second devastation pushed the Huskers to finish the “unfinished business” the next season.

The 1994 season gets the most extensive treatment in the 1-hour, 52-minute movie, with much of its scene-setting provided by longtime assistant Ron Brown. Much of that season centers around the blood clot in quarterback Tommie Frazier’s calf that sidelined him for most of the season, Brook Berringer’s leadership of the team to an undefeated season, the “quarterback controversy” of who would start in the Orange Bowl, and, at length, the game itself.

Hardcore Husker fans already know well the outline of the story and many of the specifics covered in the film. But “Day By Day” delivers its insight through the honest conversations between the players — that, for example, finds Frazier talking about coming into Lincoln as a self-described jerk and discussing whether he should have started the Orange Bowl over Berringer.

There are too many interviewees to list them all, but it’s notable that Gov. Jim Pillen makes an appearance, along with Damon Benning, now part of the NU radio broadcast team, and Vershan Jackson, now a local sports radio host, all who provide the anecdotes that flesh out the story and make the film a must-see for Husker fans, even those who think they know it all.

It needs to be noted that “Day By Day” follows the season on the field, but includes only an early passing mention of the off-the-field troubles that plagued the Huskers, particularly in the 1995 season.

Given the subtitle “The Rise,” the cast list that includes a number of people who do not appear in the documentary, including Peyton and Archie Manning, the hint of the off-the-field coverage and the documentary’s final segment that finds the Huskers training for the 1995 season just days after they won the championship, it’s apparent that there will be another installment of “Day By Day.”

Here’s hoping that it will be of the same high quality as “Day By Day: The Rise,” giving one of the greatest teams in college football history and its legendary coach the treatment it has long deserved.