Pelini’s staff targeted a few players each year for leadership roles, hoping those guys would “take it and run with it,” Broekemeier said. But in the game-day crucible, the blueprint often failed.

“If you got three guys that are kinda the head of the team and one or two of those guys isn’t doing so hot, that maybe rubs off on the rest of the team,” Broekemeier said. “People see that and they’re like, ‘Well, here we go again.’ ”

Meanwhile, Nebraska’s emotional leader — the head coach himself — watched helplessly as the mistakes piled up, waiting for someone to stop the bleeding. His stress was easy to see.

A culture change doesn’t necessarily mean that Nebraska will win at Wisconsin or Ohio State. It doesn’t mean that Riley will win more games than Pelini. (What happens, for instance, when he has a poor crop of leaders?) But the Huskers have come a long way since Halloween 2015, primarily because they believe in the Riley Way.

Utter sees a clique-free locker room. When he was younger, he noticed a divide between those who played and those who didn’t. Now, “you want to play for the guy next to you, even the guy who’s not even on the field.”