Frost Hopes to Revitalize Husker Football

This week, Nebraska head football coach Scott Frost has his first enormous game as the new man in charge. This Saturday, the Huskers travel to Camp Randall Stadium to take on Wisconsin. The Badgers should be highly ranked and were the heavy favorites to win the West Division when the season began. A win in Madison, could do wonders for the Huskers, and certainly make the West race closer than it was otherwise expected to be. A loss, and the Huskers, and their coach, should leave with their heads held high regardless, knowing the program is in much better shape than the last time the Huskers faced the Badgers. 

A year ago this week, the Badgers came to Lincoln as the 9th ranked team in country and looking to keep their West Division hopes alive. That night, the program was honoring their 1997 national championship winning team, Grant Wristrom lead the tunnel walk, and the sold-out crowd at Memorial Stadium was going wild. The national championship winning quarterback was not at the ceremony, he was busy coaching UCF in an early American Athletic Conference Test, against Cincinnati. Back in Lincoln, the 3-2 Huskers were kicking things off against Wisconsin. In league play Wisconsin was 1-0, Nebraska 2-0. It was a wild first half, but ended the Nebraska being down 17-10.  

In the 2nd half, a team in red and white, put together a familiar beat down, running the ball down the opponent’s throat, and the defense never let the opponent back in the game. When it was over the team in red & white won 38-17. Frost’s UCF squad won 51-23, just like his red & white team used to beat down opponents. The only difference on that night in Lincoln, was the red & white team was Wisconsin. The Badgers simply “Out-Nebraskaed” Nebraska. 

The Huskers went on to finish 4-8, their worst season since 1962. Head coach Mike Riley got fired to end a tumultuous 3-year tenure. UCF went on to finish 13-0, capped with a #6 ranking in the final AP poll, and beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl. As the coaching carousel got its wheels spinning, Frost was the hot commodity on the coaching market. UCLA, Florida, Tennessee and 5 other SEC schools were among the other programs looking for new coaches. New Athletic Director Bill Moos was able to lure Frost away from UCF, and other potential suitors, and hire the Wood River, Neb native as Nebraska’s new head coach.  

Within the first two months on the job, Frost put together a decent recruiting class, highlighted by swaying highly-sought-after dual-threat QB Adrian Martinez, away from Tennessee and bringing him to Nebraska. Martinez wound up being named the starting QB prior to the Husker’s season opener against Akron. In April, the spring game got sold out in less than 26 hours. The Nebraska Football hype train rolled on through the summer, into fall camp, and into the season.  

Nebraska has failed to win big games for the last 17 years, and failed to win a conference title this millennium. The guy who led the Huskers to their last national title as a player, is now the coach. All the pieces are set, for what is being called the “Big Red Revival”, and Nebraska’s return to national prominence. It’s a divisional game, against a highly ranked opponent, on the road. By nights end, we will see if another red & white team, is asserting itself as a Big Ten Power for years to come.