College football fans and analysts brought the hammer down on Nebraska after their disappointing loss against Illinois this past weekend. Despite some hope that this year’s squad would be able to turn things around, the Cornhuskers fell 30-22 in an ugly season opener.
There’ve been plenty of excuses made for the struggling Nebraska football program over the past few seasons — one of which is that young athletes don’t want to play their college ball in Lincoln.
During Monday’s episode of ESPN’s College Football Podcast, longtime analyst Kirk Herbstreit shot down this excuse.
He compared the Huskers’ struggles to the success of similarly situated programs across the country.
“People keep saying, ‘Players today in 2021 don’t want to go to Lincoln, Nebraska.’ But do players want to go to (Iowa City)?” Herbstreit said. “Iowa, they’ll win eight, 10 or 11 and then back to eight. Don’t give me Lincoln, Nebraska. There are other coaches that are winning, there are other programs that don’t have the pedigree, don’t have the facilities, don’t have the history that Nebraska has.”
The hiring of Scott Frost back in back in 2018 was supposed to provide the spark to revive Nebraska’s once-great program. But, through his tenure as head coach so far, he’s led the team to a disappointing 12-21 record.
Frost has done far more with far less. In 2017, the once up-and-coming coach led the UCF Knights to a 13-0 record and a Peach Bowl victory. Now with top notch facilities and a rich program history, he’s been overwhelmingly unable to get the job done.
“I’m literally dumbfounded, because I keep thinking, like their fans — when Scott Frost got hired out of UCF, I was thinking ‘Oh ho ho, here we go.’ And nothing yet,” Herbstreit added. “I have no answers for you. Their facilities are second to none. Their tradition is second to none. If Iowa can do it, I know Nebraska can.”
Fortunately for Frost and his squad, the next two games on the schedule against Fordham and Buffalo should be winnable ones.
After that, they’ll gear up for a huge matchup against preseason No. 2 Oklahoma.
[ 247Sports ]
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