Viewing Nebraska Football Through Long- and Short-Term Lenses

Program-building should always be a priority, but it must take a back seat in 2022 to simply winning now

Nebraska Athletics photo

Since the disastrous end to the Mike Riley era, I've had two consistent objectives for the Nebraska football program. One long-term, one short-term.

Long-term goal: Make the program a consistent, sustainable winner that recruits well, develops better, and is never out-worked. Be the program - both on the field and off - that the "greatest fans in college football" deserve. Be the perennial favorite to win the division. Win a couple of conference titles per decade. Beyond that? Let the chips fall where they may.

I'm not asking for a return to the mid-'90s glory days that I experienced as a UNL student*. While it would be great, it is not realistic.

*In my four and a half years on campus, the Huskers went 60-3 overall with zero home losses. They won the Big 8 three times, the Big XII North twice, and the Big XII championship once. The Huskers won three national championships, and were a missed field goal and a round of flu shots away from five titles in five seasons. That was an absolutely ridiculous run.

So much has changed in the last 25+ years. Many of the advantages Nebraska once enjoyed and exploited have been eroded, equalized, or eclipsed.

But I firmly believe my current expectations for the program are achievable - and sustainable - in the long term.

Short-term goal: Find a way to win - at an absolute, bare minimum - six dadgum games. Make a bowl game, thus unlocking the extra practices vital to developing the roster for future growth. That's it*.

*While not a stated goal, avoiding blown out losses is always strongly recommended.

Over Frost's first four seasons, they've failed to meet the short-term, micro goal every year - which is why it has not been changed since 2018. Ideally, NU wins six (or more) games this year, and we reassess the goal for the 2023 season based on a variety of factors (previous season, returning talent, incoming players, schedule, etc.). Until then, it stays at six dadgum wins. I don’t care if they’re by 1 point or by 49.

For most of my life, nine wins and contending for the division and/or conference championship was the short-term standard measure of success. But that is not a realistic goal for 2022. Is it possible? Absolutely. Is it a fair expectation? No, it is not.

***

Over Frost's first four seasons, I have been critical of Frost and/or the program when they do things that do not move Nebraska toward that long-term, macro goal. Husker fans know what Nebraska football can be. I believe Scott Frost and his staff know it too - especially those who played or coached here previously. So, it is baffling to me to see them do things* that detract - or are downright detrimental - from that program building mission.

*I thought about giving some examples, but a) there are too many folks looking for something to be unhappy about. I don't need to hand them something to relitigate or get defensive about. And b) that defeats where I'm about to go.

If we take an honest look at the last four years, I'm guessing you can think of a long-term action or two where you'd love to give Frost a second chance.

But as we move into the 2022 season, I find myself willing to give Scott Frost and his program a lot more leeway than in previous years. A ridiculous amount.

I say this even as I see a lot of things that - in the big picture lens of the program - aren't ideal.

Will the Mark Whipple offense throw the ball too much? In the past, I might have listened to criticism about the dangers of throwing on windy days (or with a quarterback recovering from a nasty thumb injury). Now? Who cares? As Frost said in July, "if we scored as many points as (Pittsburgh) did last year, I don't care if we run it, pass it or kick it."

Will there be conflict between Frost and Whipple on what play to call in critical moments? Maybe. But as long as the play comes in on time and gets the job done, I don't care who called it. Move the chains and score points.

I can't remember a time where I would have felt confident about the idea of 15 transfers coming in to compete for starting jobs - many of them being coached by newly hired assistants. Ideally, the majority of Nebraska's starters would be talent recruited and developed in-house. But in 2022, I'm willing to roll the dice. Is the end result really going to be worse than what it has been in the last few years?

Overall, I'm finding myself approaching Scott Frost's program with the same black-and-white philosophy:

Either it works, or it doesn't.

While I very much want to see progress toward the long term, program-building goal, 2022 is all about the short term. Just win, baby.

You can see that "win now" mentality in pretty much every decision and action Scott Frost has taken since November 2021. Of course, that has been his focus. How could it not be?

Has the long-term vision suffered as a result? I think a compelling argument could be made. But do we care? What if Frost can pull off a season with, say, eight wins, a bowl berth, and some votes in the final polls? Could that serve as a springboard to bigger and better things? Or would it be a mirage? Those are questions for another day. Frost needs to live the March Madness mantra: survive and advance.

If we're passengers in a car that is skidding out of control, I'm not sure what good comes from telling the driver to put his hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel. Let's address the immediate crisis and avoid crashing into the ditch. Once we're out of danger, then we talk about what happened and figure out a way to avoid finding ourselves in same situation again.

The big picture, program-building is extremely important and should always be a priority. But if Frost can't win an acceptable number of games* this fall, it becomes somebody else's priority.

*A number of wins that is mutually agreed upon, or otherwise.

If/when Frost meets - or exceeds - the short-3 goal for 2022, I'll be the first one to suggest that we refocus the conversation on making the long-term vision a reality. Next summer, we can figure out a reasonable short-term goal for the 2023 season.

Until then?

Construction will continue on the new $155 million football facility throughout the 2022 season - a shiny monument to Nebraska football’s historical successes and long-term ambitions. But if I'm Trev Alberts, I don't divert Frost's attention to look at carpet samples for the offices. Frost has more pressing priorities in the short term.

---