Nebraska is off to an 0-3 start to the Scott Frost era. The Huskers’ 56-10 loss at Michigan was their ugliest moment yet.
Nebraska has trailed a combined 77-0 to start Scott Frost’s first 3 games
The Huskers aren’t even giving themselves a chance.
Detroit Free Press-USA TODAY Sports
There are lots of reasons Nebraska has struggled to start 2018. But they’ve been concentrated at the beginnings of games, most notably on Saturday in Ann Arbor.
To say the Huskers have started games “slowly” doesn’t do it justice.
- In Week 1 against Akron, the whole game started slowly, in that it was delayed for hours following the opening kickoff and then canceled. The definition of a slow start.
- In Week 2 against Colorado, the Huskers were down 14-0 after 8:13 of clock time. They fumbled deep in CU territory on their opening drive, then gave up an immediate 86-yard touchdown drive. Two snaps after that, Adrian Martinez fumbled, and the Buffaloes had the ball at the Nebraska 24. They were in the end zone again four plays later. The Huskers outscored the Buffs 28-19 for the remaining 51:47, but that meant a 33-28 loss.
- In Week 3 against Troy, the Huskers went down 17-0 with 5:12 left in the second quarter. The outcomes of Nebraska’s first-half drives, in order, were: punt, fumble, interception, punt, missed field goal, touchdown, punt. Nebraska had a 19-7 advantage after that, but they still lost 24-19 because they took too long to get their act together.
- In Week 4 against Michigan, things got worse than ever. Nebraska was down 39-0 at halftime. While the Wolverines had 39 points, the Huskers had 17 yards of offense. The Huskers also got called for the most astonishing safety I’ve ever seen in my life, with officials ruling that Martinez caught a pass that had been batted back to him, controlled it while the ball was inside his own end zone, and then threw it forward again — making for an illegal forward pass in the Nebraska end zone and two points for Michigan. Just incredible:
It became 46-0 before a third-quarter Huskers field goal. It finished 56-10.
Nebraska probably isn’t as bad as it’s looked in first halves, but their starts have drawn into focus what a huge rebuild Scott Frost has ahead.
The program Mike Riley left him was not in good shape. Without directly blaming Riley, Frost has made it plain how much work Nebraska still has in front of it.
“This could get worse before it gets better,” Frost told Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples before the Michigan debacle. “We’re going up to play a really good team.”
Two things can be true at the same time: 1) Nebraska’s even worse than a lot of us thought, and 2) it’s still not time to panic.
Frost is a proven turnaround artist. He took an 0-12 UCF team and brought it to an undefeated season (and arguable national championship) in two years.
That’s not to say things are fine. Nebraska is aggressively terrible. Even Riley’s teams didn’t often embarrass themselves as badly as Frost’s did in the first 30 minutes in Ann Arbor.
But Frost needs time. 2018 was never going to be the Huskers’ year, and things might not feel so dire if the opener against Akron hadn’t gotten washed out. (You’d think Nebraska would’ve won that game, though Akron just beat Northwestern, so perhaps not.)
The first step toward a Husker comeback is not being out of games before the team has a chance to be in them.
The program hasn’t gotten that far yet.
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