Why There's an Early Frost Warning at Nebraska

Disheartening loss at Illinois quickly turns up intense heat on Frost, Huskers

What’s up with Nebraska? After just one game, its season is on the brink. Considering the schedule the Cornhuskers face, Scott Frost took a giant step closer to the Point of No Return on the little road trip to Illinois.

On the bright side, at least the Big Red didn’t have to endure a flight home from Dublin, Ireland, where the game was going to played until Covid came along.

``It looked like the same movie,’’ Frost said after the Cornhuskers blundered to a 30-22 loss to the Illini. ``I don't know what we're doing, trying to field the punt inside the 1 [yard line] and then trying to throw it out of the end zone. Missing a couple extra points certainly didn't help. I felt like every time we got something started on offense, we got a holding or offensive pass interference or bad snap. Haven't seen any of those all camp. So it looked like the same movie today. We can't let it be that way.’’

The movie? ``Nightmare on Gridiron Street.’’

Why does Nebraska keep making the same mistakes?

``If I had that answer,’’ quarterback Adrian Martinez said with a shrug, ``it wouldn't have happened today.’’

I’ll venture a guess. Actually, two guesses.

One, the Cornhuskers aren’t that talented. They make mistakes because they don’t trust their ability and are trying too hard, or because they are lackadaisical. For starters.

Two, the Cornhuskers are feeling the heat that is emanating from their embattled coach. Which is making Guess No. 1 even worse.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Scott Frost, the quarterback when the school won the 1997 national championship, was the perfect coach to make the Cornhuskers great again. He had been a miracle worker at UCF. Restoring Nebraska as a Big Ten contender would happen quickly, right?

Wrong. In three years at his alma mater, Frost has gone 4-8, 5-7 and 3-5. That’s 12-20. And that adds up to a coach on thin ice.

If Nebraska doesn’t get something done this fall—at least .500 at the lowest bar—the school will either have to make a change or come up with a really slick reason why it still believes Nebraska is a football school.

That’s pressure.

That’s not good for a football coach at this point. And it trickles down to his players.

Add in a schedule fraught with peril—and it’s no wonder Frost and his players were a frazzled mess right out of the gate at Illinois.

Oh, and by the way, all the factors that gave Nebraska that sinking feeling were buoying the Illini. There were no expectations on an Illinois team generally expected to bring up the rear in the Big Ten West. New coach Bret Bielema and his staff not only had the advantage of mystery in their schemes. Bielema, who had a bumpy departure from Arkansas, knows all about the misery of under-achieving at a proud school.

Unlike Frost, who was used to basking in sunny days, Bielema has confidence under a thick hide. And more super-seniors than the U.S. Senate.

The Nebraska schedule can’t be good for Frost when he lays down to sleep at night. Except for this week’s game against Fordham, the games that looked the most winnable were the trip to Illinois and an Oct. 30 home date with Purdue.

A meeting with Mid-American power Buffalo on Sept. 11, followed by a trip to Oklahoma the next week, will complete an ambitious (for this team) non conference slate.

If I saw the world through Big Red sunglasses—which I don’t—I would say, ``OK. We can beat Fordham, Buffalo, Michigan State, Northwestern and Purdue.’’

The problem is, the Nebraska that showed up at Illinois only wins one or two of those games. And then there’s the rest of the schedule: Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

No wonder Frost and his Huskers are playing nervous.

The larger question, of course is: If Scott Frost can’t restore Nebraska to glory, who can?

The answer is not easy. The same question is being asked at Michigan, where perfect-fit Jim Harbaugh also has been floundering.

If Frost is gone, a mega-spotlight is likely to be focused on Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, who’s winning games by the bushel just a cornfield or two away.

Even if the Cornhuskers back up the feed truck with untold riches, that’s not a given. For one thing, Campbell has a really good thing going in Ames.

For another, if he grabs one of the fortunes that could be dangled in front of him, Nebraska might not be the one he finds irresistible.

Because when you get right down to it, Nebraska is not the no-brainer powerhouse job it once was. When the Cornhuskers moved from the Big 12 to the Big Ten, they made a good move for the overall stability of the school’s athletics and academics.

But the move was not good for Nebraska’s football recruiting. Its Texas and California connections became frayed. And the school has not repaired that or built new recruiting ties that were opened up by its Big Ten affiliation.

The answer to the question, ``If not Frost, who?’’ is. . . a coach with the vision to re-establish Nebraska as a place that attracts top recruits.

If the Cornhuskers want to change the Saturday-matineee Nightmare movies, they need to start by changing the actors. The script will follow.