JD PicKell: How Nebraska's locker room can band together following season-opening loss

With the Week 0 games behind us, Nebraska was the very obvious pick for biggest loser of the weekend. The Cornhuskers not only traveled the globe to take a hard-to-swallow loss to Big Ten opponent Northwestern. They also put themselves in position with that loss to have all the criticism and pressure once again fall on Scott Frost. Even so, On3’s JD PicKell says this is no time to panic. In fact, it’s time for nothing but a refocus on the season at hand.

PicKell discussed the impact of Nebraska’s loss on a recent episode of ‘The Hard Count’. He says this loss could become a positive for the Cornhuskers. Losing your opener isn’t ideal with as much pressure that’s on the team. However, PicKell says this will show the program who’s best prepared to take these struggles head on.

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“For Nebraska, you have to find a way to band together right now. You have to find out what you’re made of at Nebraska,” said PicKell. “It’s a shame you gotta find out in Week One in this fashion, but now you find out who are your foxhole guys? Who’s gonna lock arms, run through the smoke, and get through this adversity?”

The loss was frustrating from several standpoints. It first let the air out of the balloon of what was a season fans in Lincoln were highly anticipating. It also caused come concern considering Nebraska blew a pair of double-digit leads against the Wildcats. Finally, the third quarter onside kick from Frost and yet another close loss to add to his resume was the icing on the cake.

Even with all that said, PicKell was optimistic about what this could do for Nebraska. If they handle their business now that they’re back state side, they can hit the ground running and prepare to get in the win column when they open at home next weekend.

“This adversity can either break you apart early in the year. Cause you to be soft, lose your psyche, lose your confidence, and you can just get beat up there rest of your schedule and mail it in,” PicKell said. “Or, you can say no, forget all that noise, and band together. Let’s watch the tape, get better, bury this and regroup. Let’s not lose our confidence, let’s not flinch, and we’ll go back to work.”

This was a major blow to Nebraska to start the season. JD PicKell isn’t the only one, though, who remained optimistic about what this could do for the Cornhuskers. No one wants to lose Week 0. It might be a big punch in the mouth, but the loss and national criticism they received may have been exactly what the doctor ordered for Frost’s program.