JD PicKell: Why Nebraska's failed onside kick represents Scott Frost's 'killer instinct'

It was groundhog day for Nebraska in week zero. After building a lead they ultimately lost big time in last year’s opener vs. Illinois, the Cornhuskers nearly played out that exact same script vs. Northwestern this past Saturday in Ireland. Scott Frost’s group surged at the end of the half to take a lead they held for a while in the second half. However, blunders and bad luck ensued. With the titular moment coming when Frost called an impromptu onside kick out of the blue with the Huskers leading 28-17.

It failed. Northwestern scored directly afetrward. Nebraska didn’t again for the rest of the game. And the Wildcats did so several times to wind up taking a W back across the pond. So that onside call really flipped the game on its head. A terrible move, right?

Well, there’s at least one person in the On3 offices in support of Frost’s Sean Payton imitation. Over on the On3 YouTube channel, JD PicKell explained why he liked the message that onside kick call sent. You can watch his explanation right here at the 3:00-mark or read his comments in full below.

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JD PicKell in support of Nebraska’s onside kick

“Here’s what what I’m thinking when I watch that play again. Execution: horrific. However, what have we said about Nebraska all offseason? What has everybody said about Nebraska all off-season, including Scott Frost? We got to have a killer instinct. Got to have a way to put these teams away. We have to do that to take the next step as this program. For me to take the next step as a leader we got to be able to finish teams off.

“So when I’m watching this and him giving his explanation after the game — as a player, I love it. Heck yeah. You bet on your team when you say…okay, this is a risky play. I think we can do it. Onside kick: go recover it. Because if they recover that onside kick that game is virtually the beginning of the end. They start to just continue to pour it on, score again. They go up 18 points.

“Northwestern’s notable to just run the ball down there on their down their throat like they did the rest of the game. It changed the entire complexion of the game. You still have to be able to stop teams on defense. Like you’re gonna look at this onside kick as the turning point momentum-wise. It’s probably fair. It’s probably true. But you still have to do a lot more up front if you’re Nebraska. You still have to be able to execute offensively. And some of that is momentum and some of that, you’re saying well, if they don’t give up a touchdown on that drive and have such a short field maybe the game looks different.

“The thesis I want to make sure I drive home is: I appreciate Scott Frost saying this is a chance for us to do what we’ve talked about all off season doing finishing teams off when we got them on the ropes. Now ultimately it ended up being too aggressive because you didn’t execute and you didn’t get it done and you opened the door and you lost the game. So by nature of the media by nature of the world, we’re going to talk about this.

“But I think that we need to also address the fact that if they do recover, that we’re talking about Scott Frost as…wow, good for Nebraska! See, that’s what we’ve been saying all off season. You got to find a way to finish teams. Good Nebraska going for the throat when they had them on the ropes. Hindsight’s 20/20 but I don’t hate that as much as i think a lot of people do.”