You're right about Osborne not talking about winning. But there was a little more to it.
Osborne placed his highest values on education and character, but placed nearly equal value on individual performance. Individual performance resulted in team performance, which led to victories.
I recall a few post-game interviews, following losses, which usually contained one of two points:
1. We played well. The other team played better. The better team won, and we did our best, played to potential and simply weren't good enough. I don't recall Tom getting much heat over this, because it was usually apparent that he was right, and the fans and media appreciated the honesty.
2. We just didn't play as well today as we are capable of. We did not earn a win. In this case, there would be rumblings, and discussions about what went wrong. Usually, it was one phase of the game that faltered, O Line, D Backs, Special Teams, whatever. We rarely saw a breakdown in every phase of the game on both sides of the ball, like we did with Wisconsin last night.
That is troubling, but I am still on Bo's side for a couple years. It took Tom a long, long time, to match Bob, and I am certain a big chunk of fans were ready to move on. I am glad we didn't, and think Bo will get it done.
In the 90's I recall the OWH running special columns after losses. Columns that talked about helping fans recover mentally from the letdown. They would consult psychiatric experts on grieving from the university, the med center, and so on. Seriously, enough fans cared so deeply that the paper was really doing a community service. Having lived through those times, I truly believe a lot of us, me included, were in way too deep. The obsession was rampant, and it was just like an addiction. Winning cures all, they say, but it brings its own problems, too.
Hopefully we give UGA a fight and don't get behind too far too soon.
