Is Nebraska football too far gone, even for Scott Frost?


There's still a pulse, but unless they show up this week against Wisconsin, that pulse is fading fast. They need to win 2 of their final 3 to make it to a bowl game.
 

Well the could just beat Wisconsin though? Why not? Game is in Lincoln and you never know - that would be so sweet
 

I still think he'll do a great job there. It just might not happen as fast as many Nebraska fans want.
 

Nebraska needs someone to bring their own 'brand' to the players. Not hammer them for not being what Nebraska should be, build them up into their own version of a successful Nebraska team.

"New Nebraska"
 


Amazing. I felt the Gophers had a little momentum heading into last year's offseason, but Nebraska had even more mojo at the end of last year. I thought it would be one of our toughest games this year at the beginning of the year as the fan base was just electrified down there. Scott Frost had the whole state behind him, they had great recruiting and it really looked like they had the right guy.

As a Gopher fan I have seen how fast it can fall apart - it is a lot tougher to move UP the standings then it is going down. My advice to them is never take winning for granted. Their empire has crumbled as more and more teams have updated their facilities and improved their program. It's tough to find an easy win anymore, especially on the road. (Except Rutgers) Changing coaches every few years does not help! They should just get behind Frost and give him a few years to turn it around. It won't be as easy as it used to be.
 

Frost is less effective as he moves North. Should have stayed in the South where he had more affect on crops.
 

On the one hand, I'm kind of glad to see how Nebraska turned out since some people were thinking they could get to Indianapolis just because they're the Huskers and have Frost. At the same time, though, I feel like some columnists and Husker fans need to remember this is just year two.

In a way it kind of reminds me of the post Brewster era for us. Nebraska fired coach Pelini who was consistent but couldn't get over the hump like Mason, then they hired Riley who was able to get some wins but ultimately turned out to be a bad hire like Brewster, and now they have someone with a track record trying to build up the program again. It's not a complete apples to apples comparison, the history and the coaches are of course rather different, but the point is the program has to rebuild the foundation first, and then it can go on to have better success.

I don't think the sky is really falling there, they just need some more patience, go with the four year route to see if Frost can get something good established. That's not to say I think they can get back to the 90s where they win three titles in a few years, but competing for the West, earning a trip to Indianapolis, maybe getting on the level of a Ferentz or Dantonio (at his peak)? Certainly possible.
 

I still think he'll do a great job there. It just might not happen as fast as many Nebraska fans want.

I agree. However, I think the biggest question is how Nebraska fans define "great job". I think he could get Nebraska to Pelini/Solich levels where they consistently go to bowl games and are still in the Big 10 West title chase in late October each year. Essentially Wisonsin/Iowa (and hopefully Minnesota going forward) level of success. Unfortunately for Frost, I think there is still a large portion of the Nebraska fan base that define "great job" as being in the national title conversation almost every season. I don't see that as a practical expectation.

That being said, I get mad when non-Minnesota fans say that Minnesota should be happy averaging 6-8 wins per season because that's our ceiling. So I can understand if Nebraska fans get mad with us trying to define their ceiling.
 



They'll probably predict the same thing next year. Haha.

Last year was a bad year and they predicted that they'd be great this year because they have Hype.

Northwestern looks like they have a better chance of bouncing back then Nebraska, but you never know.

Some coaches style is to bad mouth the team they inherit if they are perform well get rid of the players that don't like your style.

He does look uncomfortable in press conferences now, where he looked quite comfortable at the last school he was at.

Right now Nebraska and Northwestern are both in the "Fail to Grow" stage, if they were in the Row The Boat culture [emoji6]

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
 

There have always been whispers that much of Nebraska's success was built around three factors:

1. The admission of non-qualifiers and partial qualifiers, which was standard at Nebraska until they were forced to end it in the mid-1990s.

2. The incredible walk-on program, of which it was alleged said walk-ons received scholarships in other forms. Crack-downs by the NCAA has seen those players start accepting scholarships to smaller D-1 schools like NDSU and SDSU.

3. The persistent whispers of system-wide steroid use to go along with their groundbreaking weight lifting program.

How much is true and how much is myth? Hard to say. But none of it would surprise me in the least.
 

Nebraska will be interesting next year, but the main thing to watch for is do they show any serious signs of life at the end of this season.

As for next year, their schedule is interesting to say the least:

vs Purdue
vs Central Michigan
vs South Dakota State (always plays tough)
vs Cincinnati (currently #17 in the CFBP)
@ Northwestern
vs Illinois
bye
@Rutgers

And then they finish with just about the nastiest schedule possible
@Ohio State
vs Penn State
@Iowa
@Wisconsin
vs Minnesota

They could start off 5-2/6-1 and finish with 5 straight losses next year.
 

OP is unnecessarily dramatic. Nebraska is far better off than the Gophers of the last 50+ years. They’ll be fine in time, just as we are now.
/thread
 



Frost's motto is "Don't be afraid to fail". well if you ask me they have failed quite a bit under him, so I'd assume they don't fear it, so job well done?
 
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Nebraska became a football power in 1962, Bob Devaney's first season in charge, and despite not having been truly among the elite since 2001, they had generally been good until things went to the dogs just a few years ago. As recently as 2016, they were ranked #7 at midseason and were an OT loss to Wisconsin away from playing in the Big Ten Championship Game. In that period since 1962, we've been much, much worse and now we're having a dream season that very many fans never believed possible, even the biggest homers and never say die types. If the Gophers are fixable, then Nebraska certainly is. Hope of a turnaround is not lost at all.

The key to rebuilding are getting the right coach, which has too often not been the case post Tom Osborne. Recruit well, which might mean scaling back failed efforts to get the 5 stars who inevitably go elsewhere to instead focus on the 3 star and 4 star guys who project to overachieve while also concentrating on certain markets where there is talent but not a strong local school. Improve the facilities, because just like Minnesota, Nebraska can't change its location or climate and therefore must work on what it can change by making locker rooms, practice facilities, training rooms, athlete dorms, and so on as amazingly good as possible. Schedule wins. I'll admit to being utterly outraged when we lost the Texas series and then cancelled the North Carolina series back in 2010 and 2011. However, the idea of scheduling to win isn't the worst thing a struggling program can do. However, Nebraska fans want and expect nonconference games against Power 5 non Big Ten teams annually. Colorado, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Arizona are all on future Nebraska slates. I wouldn't expect the Huskers to drop any of those games, but going for MAC and C-USA teams is the better bet until things get stabilized.
 

There have always been whispers that much of Nebraska's success was built around three factors:

1. The admission of non-qualifiers and partial qualifiers, which was standard at Nebraska until they were forced to end it in the mid-1990s.

2. The incredible walk-on program, of which it was alleged said walk-ons received scholarships in other forms. Crack-downs by the NCAA has seen those players start accepting scholarships to smaller D-1 schools like NDSU and SDSU.

3. The persistent whispers of system-wide steroid use to go along with their groundbreaking weight lifting program.

How much is true and how much is myth? Hard to say. But none of it would surprise me in the least.


Nebraska is the lowest rated academic school in B1G, and they definitely took academic challenged kids under osborne where Nebraska "tutored" them
 

As much as some people hate the concept, there simply is a truth embedded here: there exists a statistical bias against you in recruiting as the physical distance between your school and the recruits home increases. Not universally true, of course, but on average, it exists. Strongly for some recruits.

On average, Nebraska is about as far away from the recruiting hotbeds as a school can get, in all directions. Texas is their closest.


You look at all the great programs you normally think of — USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio St etc. They’re physically close to lots of great players.
 

I think they have lost their recruiting base to other schools.
 

Nebraska will be back - it's just a matter of recruiting, which will take a couple of years to get the system they want. They have everything else - huge new facilities are on the way, a stadium that sells out at 90,000+, a great tradition, and good coaches who have succeeded elsewhere. Frost may have to re-think whether the Oregon/CFU offense will work in the B14 as well as at his previous stops - probably it won't. But he'll have some variation of it. Personally, he's not Mr. Excitement, but he can recruit (W'Andale Robinson, Martinez, etc.) and will be a winner eventually. Wouldn't it be interesting if the Big Two in the West each year were Nebraska and Minnesota, rather than Wisconsin and Iowa? But Purdue is coming up, as is Illinois. I remember that in one decade - I think the 60s - at least nine different teams won or shared the title. maybe we'll have that kind of competition again.
 

As much as some people hate the concept, there simply is a truth embedded here: there exists a statistical bias against you in recruiting as the physical distance between your school and the recruits home increases. Not universally true, of course, but on average, it exists. Strongly for some recruits.

On average, Nebraska is about as far away from the recruiting hotbeds as a school can get, in all directions. Texas is their closest.


You look at all the great programs you normally think of — USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio St etc. They’re physically close to lots of great players.

Nebraska recruits just fine.
 

I think they have lost their recruiting base to other schools.

Nebraska, generally, is #4 in recruiting in the Big Ten behind Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan.

They did lost some of their recruits to other schools, but they recruit really well for a school that has struggled as much on the field. Their problem is not recruiting.
 

Nebraska recruits just fine.

This statement isn’t wrong, at all.

And yet, it doesn’t refute the premise of my post or the premise of he OP.


Think just a little bit harder than “just fine”, Bob.
 

This statement isn’t wrong, at all.

And yet, it doesn’t refute the premise of my post or the premise of he OP.


Think just a little bit harder than “just fine”, Bob.

The recruit like a premier program in the Big 10 but they are not a premier program in the Big 10.

I understand their limitations in recruiting due to location. You're not saying anything ground breaking with that tidbit of analysis you repeat. Everyone knows it is easier to get people to stay home and everyone knows Nebraska does not have great football.

They certainly recruit good enough to be at Wisconsin's level, Michigan State's level, Iowa's level. If Nebraska was back in the category right behind Ohio State with Michigan/Penn State/Wisconsin in terms of a football program, they would be considered "back". This article would never have been written.
 

The recruit like a premier program in the Big 10 but they are not a premier program in the Big 10.

I understand their limitations in recruiting due to location. You're not saying anything ground breaking with that tidbit of analysis you repeat. Everyone knows it is easier to get people to stay home and everyone knows Nebraska does not have great football.

They certainly recruit good enough to be at Wisconsin's level, Michigan State's level, Iowa's level. If Nebraska was back in the category right behind Ohio State with Michigan/Penn State/Wisconsin in terms of a football program, they would be considered "back". This article would never have been written.

The premise of the article is that Nebraska football can’t get “back”, and it is clearly understood that “back” means where Ohio State is now, since that is where they were in the glory days. Not back to where Iowa and Wisconsin are now.

Your response is then, “if they were as good as Ohio State, the article proposing that they can never be as good as Ohio State anymore, would have never been written”?? Isn’t that a tautology?
 

The recruit ratings ,if they are dead certain accurate which they are not, mean Frost and his staff are not up to he job.
At 4 in the recruit ratings yet finish near the bottom of the BIG. Franklin is another example as was Hoke at MI.
The NFL which has the opportunity to watch college player over a number of years and have a staff just for evaluating players still make many mistakes in the draft.
Untrained people who rarely actually see the kids they are rating are prone to even more mistakes.
It is obvious when they express their evaluations in four significant figures that they do not even know simple math rules let alone make judgements about 16 and 17 year old kids.
Frost is in over his head. NE has expectations that will never be met. The school has nothing going for it in academic reputation so it is football relevance or nothing.
 

Frost is less effective as he moves North. Should have stayed in the South where he had more affect on crops.

I didn't know Frost was also a farmer.

I believe he is the right farmer for the job though. I think Nebraska will start to see some improvements in the next year or 2.
 
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There have always been whispers that much of Nebraska's success was built around three factors:

1. The admission of non-qualifiers and partial qualifiers, which was standard at Nebraska until they were forced to end it in the mid-1990s.

2. The incredible walk-on program, of which it was alleged said walk-ons received scholarships in other forms. Crack-downs by the NCAA has seen those players start accepting scholarships to smaller D-1 schools like NDSU and SDSU.

3. The persistent whispers of system-wide steroid use to go along with their groundbreaking weight lifting program.

How much is true and how much is myth? Hard to say. But none of it would surprise me in the least.

#1 and #2 are true and pretty kind as described. Without #1 and #2, they are at huge disadvantage in the recruiting world of today. They are in trouble going forward. Unlike USC, one of the greatest dirty and still dirty programs in history, Nebraska cannot hide from the NCAA.
 

I actually like Frost/Nebraska a lot more than most posters (I’m too young to remember when they were dominate) but what struck me from the article is that Frost is trying to make it ‘97 again. It seems like football generally, but especially the kids playing would not respond to that kind of attitude. I found it really archaic for them to be celebrating a brawl in practice.
 

The recruit ratings ,if they are dead certain accurate which they are not, mean Frost and his staff are not up to he job.
At 4 in the recruit ratings yet finish near the bottom of the BIG.

That was just last year which means those players are just freshmen. Most freshmen, even highly rated ones, don't make a huge impact right away.
 

Scott Frost has already proven himself by winning a national championship*` as a head coach. Nebraska has the resources, administrative support, and a large enough fan base to never be considered, "too far gone." What a silly proposition by ESPN.

*claim recognized by the NCAA
`claim unrecognized by highwayman
 
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