Around the Big Ten: Desmond Howard says that Scott Frost is the head coach most in need of a season opening win
No head coach in the country needs a win this weekend than Scott Frost. So says ESPN analyst and former Heisman winner Desmond Howard when talking about Frost, the embattled Nebraska head coach.
The difficulties faced by Nebraska last season in closing out games are well-established and don’t need rehashing…but we will anyway…each of the Cornhuskers nine losses last year came by nine or fewer points. Three came by fewer than five points. Frustrating to say the least, especially given the talent on that roster.
In five seasons at Nebraska, Frost is 15-29 and has failed to make a bowl game. The hot seat is certainly turned up ahead of the Week 0 opener against Northwestern in Ireland.
“No coach in college football needs to win their first game more than Scott Frost because if they drop this game to Northwestern, things could spiral out of control very quickly,” Howard said on ESPN’s College Football Live.
“You could see Cornhuskers nation all over social media calling for his head.”
That’s certainly one way to say that Frost is on the hot seat without actually saying it.
Related
Brady Quinn: Big Ten media rights deal is huge, hints at Big Ten & Notre Dame partnership
Howard said that with Nebraska’s heavy investment this offseason in the transfer portal adding that “Hopefully they can get eight or nine wins this season.” Frost’s best record at Nebraska came in 2019 when the program went 5-7.
Related
With new media deal for the Big Ten, ESPN's Paul Finebaum declares 'a two-conference race between the Big Ten and the SEC'
Nebraska is hoping to turn their season around that starts this weekend against Northwestern. They also have some huge games on their schedule that include hosting Indiana on Oct. 1 and a game at Rutgers the following weekend.
Related
Kansas City Chiefs seeing Isiah Pacheco's impact on special teams: 'he's a talented guy'
This is, however, the deepest and most-talented Nebraska team that Frost has built in quite some time. One that, very easily, could flip their record from a season ago.
In leading off the segment on ESPN, former Georgia linebacker David Pollack set the stage for Howard’s comments. He feels that Nebraska could and should take a step forward this season under Frost and be bowl eligible.
“I think they can double what they did a year ago and that’s only winning six games but they found every way possible to lose via special, via turnovers, via whatever you could possibly do,” Pollack said.
“They brought in 22 transfers this offseason. The big one to me is Casey Thompson, coming from leading the Big 12 in passing touchdowns. Now I think you’ve got a quarterback that coach Frost can build around and be dependable. I think Nebraska goes bowling this year because of it.”
