ESPN makes bold prediction on Scott Frost, Nebraska

Though a fair few people expected Nebraska make a change at head coach at the end of last season when the Cornhuskers went 3-9, Scott Frost is back for another year. But with four-straight losing seasons to open his Nebraska head coaching tenure, 2022 is a make-or-break year for Frost in Lincoln.

Frost took a salary reduction ahead of this season, and by keeping the coach around for at least the beginning of this season — his buyout shrinks by half on Oct. 1 to $7.5 million — Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts has kept his choices open should things go awry. And ESPN, in predicting how each Power 5 conference will play out this season, made a bold prediction about the crossroads Nebraska, Frost and Alberts soon arrive at.

From ESPN: “One of Nebraska’s favorite sons, Frost’s tenure at his alma mater has been a disaster. The Cornhuskers have gone 15-29 in his four seasons and haven’t made a bowl game under his watch. He took a $1 million salary reduction, and his buyout gets cut in half to $7.5 million after Oct. 1. The Cornhuskers will start 3-0, but penalties and turnovers will continue to doom them during a 1-3 stretch after that. Athletic director Trev Alberts will cut him loose after a loss at Purdue on Oct. 15.”

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A hot start for Nebraska this season could quickly be undone, as the ESPN predication intimates. After playing Northwestern in Dublin, Ireland, to open the season, Frost and the Huskers have two relatively easy home games scheduled before Oklahoma visits Lincoln on the return game of a home-and-home — Oklahoma won the front end last year.

Should the Sooners hand Nebraska another loss and then the first bit of conference play prior to the Oct. 22 off week — games against Indiana, at Rutgers and at Purdue — is not up to snuff, Alberts might find it opportune to trapdoor Frost mid-season.

Despite the struggles Nebraska has had under Frost, it’s also not hard to imagine the Cornhuskers could turn in a respectable season in 2022. In four years in Lincoln, Frost has lost 29 games. Of those losses, 20 have been by one score.

But, on the flip side, Nebraska has won just four games by one score since Frost arrived. Nebraska has been right there for most of Frost’s tenure, competitive but unable to get over the hump — though that could as much be the result of the penalties, sloppy special teams and poorly-timed errors that have plagued Nebraska in key moments under Frost.

It’s been a familiar story for four years, and one ESPN thinks could come to an early end if Nebraska is tired of hearing it again.