Nebraska entered today 0-5, not the start they’d hoped for after bringing UCF coach (and former Cornhusker) Scott Frost back to Lincoln in one of the more-praised hires of last year’s coaching carousel.
But it’s clearly a rebuilding year at this point, and as long as the season doesn’t get too ridiculous, it’s hard to see a world in which Frost is questioned after just one year on the job. When Nebraska dropped to 0-5 after a loss to Wisconsin, it meant they had equaled the worst start in the history of the program. That’s obviously bad. But they had a chance to day in Evanston to avoid 0-6 and the absolute worst start team history, and it was easy to see how the narrative could be spun if the Huskers left Ryan Field with a win; they were coming together as a team, embracing the new philosophies, building for the future, etc.
To get to that redemptive arc, though, requires at least one win.
And that one win is going to require at least one more week, because Nebraska blew a 31-21 lead with under six minutes to play to end up in overtime, where they failed to score on their only possession, setting up Northwestern for this game-winning field goal attempt:
That means Frost and Nebraska are still in search of their first win and that sweet, sweet narrative shift. They host a mediocre Minnesota team next weekend, which could be a good opportunity, but if they fall to 0-7 they get Bethune-Cookman the week after in game that was scheduled after the season started to make up for Nebraska’s weather-cancelled game against Akron.
Imagine telling a Nebraska fan (or just Scott Frost) before the season that they might not win a game until late October against a team that wasn’t even on the schedule yet.
