To me the Nebraska way was about not caring what the outside said (like when people tried to say NU's system was too old fashioned to beat Florida teams and that TO would never get over the hump). It was also about loyalty and integrity even when the decision was unpopular on its face. It was about really living up to the adage "in the deed, the glory." Pretty much, it was the application of stoicism to running a program and cheering for a program.
Personally, I think the "Nebraska Way" died in 2003 and I don't think the program or its fan base will really ever be the same after that.
Well the "Nebraska Way" was born when Bob Devaney came to Lincoln, turned the program around, and launched an unprecedented 40 year run of winning as both coach and Athletic Director.
Back in that simpler, more stoic time, Lincoln Police would look the other way when Bob was too drunk to drive. Which was often. The word DUI hadn't been invented yet.
Of course we cared what the outside world said. The outside world said Nebraska was a football dynasty. Husker football made the state famous. They marveled at our ability to recruit to the windswept plains, turn our stadium into the state's third largest city, and regularly cited our fans as among the best and most knowledgable in college football. They put us on Sports Illustrated and Time magazine. They jumped us over Michigan in 1997. They regularly put us on TV, despite our small population base. We really, really cared what the outside world said.
We didn't like it so much when "they" said less flattering things about the program. But they weren't making them up. We lapped that sh#t up when it happened to rival programs.
So I guess it's the Nebraska Way when we are winning championships. Not so much when we're not.
And the tricky thing about "loyalty" is that you have to be loyal.
You don't just declare that all the integrity died when a previous alcoholic coach got fired, and that the program will never be the same.
That's not the Husker Way.