A Different Era Off and Running
I thought about writing this earlier in the week but decided to let the dust settle a bit. I think I was more emotional about Scott Frost being let go on Monday, for some reason that has all kind of faded away as we get ready for Oklahoma to come to Lincoln. Mickey Joseph has taken over the interim coaching job, and I guess I feel like we are just moving forward.
What a strange feeling it was to read Sean Callahan’s report that Frost was likely going to be let go on Sunday morning. I knew the aftermath of losing to Georgia Southern was bad, but I didn’t think it would be 7 million dollars of buy out money bad. I was like a lot of people, if Frost was going to get fired it would be after the Indiana game and we would have 7 weeks to figure out who was going to be on the hot list of new coaches.
After the news broke, and Mickey Joseph was named the interim coach, I also had a sense of relief. I thought at the beginning of the season, if they made an in season coaching change that it might be Erik Chinander the defensive coordinator, who would be given the title. While I think Chinander is a good coach, Joseph has the energy and the temperament to light a fire under what has so far been a listless team.
Nebraska is in a bad place right now. I feel like the pressure to perform had killed whatever joy there was in the team and coaching at Nebraska for Coach Frost. He brought a lot of that on himself. He never seemed to embrace the job, all the work that it entails and the actual fun of coaching college kids. It was more as if he wanted to be home, be around friends and old college teammates, but really wasn’t interested in putting in the time that is required to be a topflight Big Ten coach. Nebraska never really seemed to bring him the joy that he had at the University of Central Florida.
These jobs are intense. You need to have a one-track mind all the time, trying to make your team better, no matter what. Frost didn’t act like he wanted to do that. He made massive changes to the offensive staff, but it was probably two years too late. He failed to upgrade certain position coaches with better coaches when some chose to go elsewhere. Frost never seemed like he wanted to go after the really big fish in recruiting and the losing certainly brought down the cache that Frost had earned at Central Florida. Not everyone can be successful being a big-time college football coach. There are multiple reasons why it didn’t work for Frost, but to be honest, the next person will probably have to grind twice as hard to help this program get back to the level it was before Bo Pelini was fired.
Whatever is going to happen in December, when the new coach is hired, there will be optimism in place once again in Lincoln. How much optimism will be short lived unless that new coach can make a huge splash in recruiting or come out and win multiple games out of the gate next season. Nebraska is in a major slump right now. The next coach certainly will have his work cut out for him. Hopefully it will provide some excitement for the beat down fans that are simply losing faith that anyone will turn it around.
(Predictions are at the end if you don’t want to read the rest!)
ON WITH THE REWIND…
Last game prediction was Nebraska 38, Georgia Southern 28. The actual score was Georgia Southern 45 Nebraska 42. It felt like going into the game that the defense might give up a lot of points, but this was astonishing. I would say that this was the most devastating loss in Husker football history, but honestly, losing to Troy State and Northern Illinois had softened me up for this one. I sat in disbelief watching the “Blackshirts” give up big play after big play. You can’t imagine how bad you need to play to lose a game to a Sun Belt conference team, while your offense puts up 42 points and basically has there way with them. Nebraska still found a way. Like I said, astonishing.
Quick Notes:
Casey Thompson…I tweeted it out after the game on Saturday, but Nebraska is wasting a star on offense. Thompson may be the best quarterback at Nebraska since Eric Crouch. Thompson has had a couple of rough drives, but he is a college player, and you expect some of that. Thompson continues to make the passing game look simple and is remarkably accurate. I just shudder to think what Thompson would have been like with a defense like last years Husker team. The offense is almost single handedly winning games for Nebraska. He just needs some help from defense and special teams. Will he ever get it?
Blackshirts…I don’t know what to say. Smarter football people than I can explain the scheme problems that plague the Huskers so far. The one thing I do know, you will never win games if you allow the opposing teams’ quarterbacks to sit in the pocket as long as they like. Nebraska should be getting a pass rush and they need to figure it out now. The personnel are supposed to be adept at that, but they have failed immensely. Right now, nothing is working, so it’s possible we need to see different players out there because the current group simply isn’t good enough.
Next Coach…I will go on record today, if I’m Trev Alberts, my first call would be to Urban Meyer. I understand the background on Meyer, and I get why people would have trepidation. If Nebraska wants to be a big time program, Meyer would make it that the day he put on the “N”. My second call would be Lane Kiffin. Kiffin would be a home run hire. He recruits at a high level, is a phenomenal offensive mind and he would surround himself with great coaches and staff. After that, I’d look at Dave Aranda at Baylor. He has turned that program around and is very familiar with the Big Ten and all that it entails.
I think all three of those choices would have Nebraska competing for the Big Ten west division title in 3 years or less. Nebraska is not an easy place to recruit at, and all three of those coaches have proven their abilities to coach and recruit at a high level. They all have some type of tie to Nebraska as well, be it through current staff, or former staff that they have worked with in the past.
I get that people are going to say that you might want a dependable program builder like Lance Leipold at Kansas or Matt Campbell at Iowa State, but if you don’t try and hit a home run this go around, you may not get another opportunity if you are Trev Alberts. And for good measure, I’d steal Kendal Briles from Arkansas as my offensive coordinator while I’m at it.
Score Prediction: Oklahoma 41, Nebraska 31
I would love to see Mickey Joseph come out and waste the Sooners in his debut as Husker head coach. Nebraska should see an increase in juice in Memorial Stadium this weekend. I just don’t think that will be enough. Oklahoma has a strong defense and great pass rush. Nebraska’s offensive line is playing better, but they still are about average at best. If Nebraska puts up more than 35 points, they have a great shot to win, but I think we may just come up short. I’m all aboard the Mickey Joseph train, either way! GBR!!
