B1G Monday Morning: Nearing the end of Year 3 under Scott Frost, patience is wearing thin at Nebraska as the excuses mount
Saturday was supposed to be a showcase of just how far Scott Frost’s Nebraska program has come. Instead, it illustrated just how far it has to go.
It’s hard to imagine a more uninspiring result as Frost nears the end of his third season in Lincoln. Minnesota, a team that hadn’t played in over 3 weeks and reportedly was missing 33 players, took down Nebraska 24-17. At this point, you can’t help but feel for the people who continue to emotionally invest in this program that is incapable of allowing its fans to feel good about their team for more than a week at a time. The Huskers’ last 2-game winning streak in conference play was over 2 years ago. They are guaranteed a fourth straight losing season.
Ironically enough, Frost (11-20) now has more losses than …
- Mike Riley (the man he replaced) — in 8 fewer games.
- Frank Solich, who coached the Huskers for 6 seasons.
- Tom Osborne had in his final 12 seasons at Nebraska.
Is there a B1G program that is in a worse spot right now than Nebraska (2-5)? At least Illinois (2-5) can start over after firing Lovie Smith, and Michigan (2-4) can too if that’s what it wants, with a much more affordable buyout. Penn State (3-5) has won 3 straight, Rutgers (3-5) is surprisingly OK under Greg Schiano and Mike Locksley’s Maryland squad (2-4) has overcome COVID issues. The only plausible answer is the team Nebraska beat the previous week, Purdue (2-4).
Frost’s buyout of $25.4 million is the sixth-highest in the country, behind only Jimbo Fisher ($53.1 million), Dabo Swinney ($50 million), Ryan Day ($45.5 million), Nick Saban ($36.8 million) and Lincoln Riley ($30.9 million). In other words, you can make a case that Nebraska holds the worst contract in America, because none of those coaches are getting fired anytime soon. Last year, Nebraska needlessly extended Frost through 2026. The Huskers are stuck.
In 2017, Frost oversaw a UCF offense that averaged 7.5 yards per play (second in the country) and put up 530.5 yards per game. Nebraska was 25th in total offense during Frost’s first year in 2018, but the Huskers slipped to 55th last year and 88th this year. It would be fine if Frost at least appeared to be building something, like when Nebraska won 4 of its last 6 in 2018 with a true freshman QB. Now 2 years later, with the same QB, where can Nebraska fans be encouraged? On Saturday, Nebraska’s 29 pass attempts resulted in 113 yards.
And it isn’t clear whether help is on the way. Zavier Betts is a promising young player, and it’s clear that Wan’Dale Robinson can be an important part of a good offense. Look at the way Wisconsin, Iowa and even Minnesota construct their rosters; their top recruits are always offensive linemen. Right tackle Bryce Benhart has struggled so far (he allowed 2 sacks to Boye Mafe on Saturday), but he has potential. Freshman Turner Corcoran, the left tackle of the future, is the highest-rated recruit on the roster. But the Huskers need more of those guys up front on both sides of the ball. Neither Martinez nor Luke McCaffrey projects to be the type of QB who is going to be winning shootouts anytime soon.
Frost has brought in some talent, but these days, it’s leaving the program just as fast. Nebraska’s 2020 recruiting class that ranked fourth in the Big Ten and was stocked with nearly as much blue-chip talent as Michigan and Penn State is basically wiped out already. Less than a year later, 4 of those top 6 recruits have left the program. All of them were 4-star recruits from Florida, with the latest being Marcus Fleming, who plays a position (wide receiver) where Nebraska desperately needs players to emerge. It begs the question: What is going on inside this program? Yes, it’s a pandemic, and yes, kids seem more likely to transfer than 20 years ago. But everyone is dealing with the same difficult circumstances.
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Frost’s buyout of $25.4 million is the sixth-highest in the country
Just sayin': Probably the main reason Frost will get (at least) another year or two.