Frost: Look out for Nebraska in 2019
CHICAGO – It’s back-to-the-future time for Nebraska, where the return of the prodigal son, Scott Frost, has led to a similar return to many of the themes that once defined the program’s run as one of the sport’s dominant figures.
But football has changed. Case in point: Nebraska true freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez enters fall camp weighing 218 pounds, up from the 200 he weighed on arrival this winter. The 218 pounds was Frost’s playing weight as a senior for the Cornhuskers.
“He’s got a chance to be really good,” Frost said of Martinez, who is entrenched in a battle for the starting job with redshirt freshman Tristan Gebbia. “Really good.”
Other things haven’t changed. With Frost’s return comes an uptick in internal and external expectations; Nebraska has confidence bordering on cockiness, and it all stems from the head coach.
“We’ll be competing for our side” – meaning the West Division of the Big Ten Conference – “in Year 2,” Frost said. “I don’t know if we’ll win it. Then it just goes up from there.”
The 2018 season will have its share of hiccups. Whether the Cornhuskers can land consistent quarterback play is a concern.
The defensive backfield lacks depth and proven contributors. On paper, the pass rush is nearly nonexistent. “If we play well I think we’ll be dangerous,” Frost said. “If we don’t play well we can get thumped again.”
Nebraska was thumped last year, broken down to a level not seen for Nebraska in half a century – partly due to a mistaken hire, Mike Riley, but also as a result of years of general mismanagement of the entire program.
Frost has preached some patience since the winter, preaching the need to give the staff time to flip a roster that desperately needs to be broken down and rebuilt. Confidence still reigns at Nebraska.
“I have some optimism because they had an awful culture,” he said. “They weren’t strong. They weren’t in shape. The schemes were bad last year and they still went into the fourth quarter tied with Wisconsin. They should’ve won two or three more games.”
Frost on playoff
The four-team College Football Playoff was a start, but “it's hard to look at last year's college football season and not feel like an eight-team playoff isn't where we should go,” said Frost, who last season led Central Florida to an unbeaten season and an asterisk-laden national championship.
Frost’s blueprint for an improved postseason format brings together the champions of each Power Five conference and then three at-large teams. Doing so might “give a team like we had at UCF last year a shot,” he said.
“That would give a surprise conference champion that plays well at the end of the season a shot. It might give a team like we had at UCF last year a shot. I think you could start the playoff earlier in December, not have to make the semifinal like a bowl experience.
“That would allow the season to end about the same time that it does with the national championship game.”
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh also supported playoff expansion in his Monday press conference, saying he hoped that the field could be expanded to 16 teams.
Their perspective isn’t necessarily shared by the powers that run the system. At last week’s Southeastern Conference media days, College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock again pushed back at the idea of expanding beyond the current four-team model.
“There is no talk about expansion among the university presidents and the commissioners,”’ Hancock said. “They are quite happy with the four-team playoff.”
But Frost’s viewpoint is clearly impacted by his past and present: Oregon made the Playoff when he was an assistant, while UCF fell short of inclusion – and was largely dismissed by the Playoff selection committee along the way. Meanwhile, Nebraska stands at least several seasons away from being in the mix for a Big Ten Conference title and resulting Playoff berth.
“I've been pretty outspoken about the playoff,” said Frost. “I've been on all sorts of sides of it. I think it's evolved and the evolution has been great.
“And as great as the evolution of that playoff has been, I'm always going to be an advocate for eight teams.”