Now what for Scott Frost at Nebraska after another embarrassing one-score Week 0 loss?
There’s a scene in Parts Unknown where Anthony Bourdain is drinking a beer on a beach in Scotland when he remarks, “Everything changes. Nothing changes at all.” The deceased culinary critic and cultural documentarian sadly isn’t around for commentary anymore, but if Bourdain were in Ireland on Saturday having a pint watching Northwestern vs. Nebraska, he probably would say the same about the state of Cornhuskers football under much-maligned head coach Scott Frost.
After a 3-9 season a year ago, Nebraska overhauled everything outside of firing its Prodigal Son.
Frost, the former Cornhuskers star quarterback, remained the head coach, albeit with a reduced contract and a buyout that drops to $7.5 million on Oct. 1, but he fired five offensive assistants and brought in 15 players via the transfer portal including starting quarterback Casey Thompson from Texas.
The result in Week 0 against the Wildcats?
Another mystifying, how-is-this-even-possible upset defeat to open Week 0. The Cornhuskers led by double-digits twice on Saturday, yet continued self-inflicted miscues paved the way toward a seventh-straight loss in Big Ten play.
Also: Another one-score defeat.
Another loss when trailing at halftime.
Another Big Ten opener loss.
Another year of misery?
Everything changes. Nothing changed.
Scott Frost: You’ve got to win in this business to keep your job
Some 4,000 miles away from Lincoln, Nebraska leaves Ireland 0-1 with a head coach whose corn looks cooked at this point. What can Scott Frost reasonably do to instill clarity or confidence in his long-term position as his alma mater’s head coach? The Cornhuskers were nearly two-touchdown favorites vs. the Wildcats, yet they were out-muscled by Northwestern. Do we really think they can rally and beat Oklahoma in three weeks?
“You’ve got to win in this business to keep your job,” Frost said after the game.
“That’s the way it is.”
Well, then that just might settle it for AD Trev Alberts.
Scott Frost needed to get off to a hot start in 2022, especially with his October buyout date looming and Big Red’s backloaded conference schedule.
Instead, his career coaching record with the Cornhuskers only got worse.
Like so many other games during Frost’s tenure, it didn’t have to be this way, either.
The day started so promising in Ireland.
Aviva Stadium lost its wifi, so the largely-Big Red contingent received free beer and food all game. The Cornhuskers opened the afternoon with a beautifully scripted eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive, where Thompson connected with three different transfer receivers including New Mexico State’s Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda for a perfectly-placed 32-yard touchdown.
With new OC Mark Whipple calling plays, Nebraska played with some pace and took shots. Later in the game, Thompson did his best Johnny Manziel impression and ran around for 15 seconds before uncorking a 57-yard bomb down the field. Another touchdown drive.
It all looked too easy. Mostly it was too good to be true.
In the last five years with Frost at the helm, the only thing actually easy for Nebraska is getting in its own way.
The Cornhuskers blew a 14-3 lead in the second quarter and trailed at halftime after a turnover inside the red zone. They quickly railed in the third quarter though, scoring two touchdowns in less than a minute before Frost bizarrely decided his team was having too much of a good time.
Up 28-17 with all the momentum, Frost opted for a surprise onside kick.
It never had a chance.
Northwestern easily recovered the football, and five plays later, it scored a touchdown, breathing life into the Wildcats’ entire sidelines.
“If I had it over again, I wouldn’t make the call,” Frost said.
While the ridiculous onside kick certainly was the play that flipped the game Saturday, it was hardly the lone miscue by the Cornhuskers all afternoon.
Notable lapses included…
- Garcia-Castaneda’s first-half fumble inside the 11-yard line.
- At least half a dozen missed tackles.
- Jumping offsides on 3rd-and-10.
- Palmer running short of the sticks on 3rd-down.
- Continued iffy special teams, leading poor starting field position.
- Thompson with multiple hot passes, including the game-sealing INT off his tight end’s hands.
Overall, it’s become all too common for Nebraska fans in recent years. Lamenting the what-if. Pondering alternate outcomes.
Even after an offseason chalked with change, nothing changed. At this point, the only thing left is the head coach.