Mickey Joseph: Nebraska players are handling this like champs

Nebraska football finds itself in an awkward and unique situation as Saturday’s game against Oklahoma approaches. The players and coaches still in the building watched their leader walk out the door after Scott Frost was fired in the aftermath of an upset loss to Georgia Southern.

While it brought plenty though emotions to the locker room, interim head coach Mickey Joseph expressed great pride in how the players have rallied at Nebraska and started to look forward to the rest of the season.

“Like champs,” Joseph said when asked about how the players handled the news. “The guy that recruited them and stood in their living room is no longer there. I’m sure we’ve all been in that situation before, so understand how you would feel. But they understand that they play for the University of Nebraska and it’s time to move on. And it’s time to get ready for (Oklahoma) on Saturday. They understand, but they’ve handled it like champs. They bounced back today.”

Nebraska does not have any time to feel sorry for itself as Oklahoma comes to Lincoln on Saturday for a marquee rivalry game which brings back memories of the past when both programs competed at the top of college football.

Mickey Joseph on Nebraska interim tag

It’s surely been a chaotic week for Nebraska after the firing of head coach Scott Frost just two weeks into the season. The Huskers have named former wide receivers coach, associate head coach, and passing game coordinator Mickey Joseph the interim head coach for the time being, and he shared what his last 48 hours have been like and his love for his former colleague in Frost.

“It’s a little weird, you didn’t wake up Sunday morning knowing this was gonna happen. But it did, had to accept it and my message to the team was I know you’re hurting, Frost is like a brother to me, he gave me the opportunity to come here and coach at my alma mater, coach at the University of Nebraska. I will always love him and always appreciate him, I always respect him and the kids would always love him, but I know they were hurting,” Joseph said. “But at the end of the day, that ball’s gonna kick off on Saturday, so mentally we had to get them back and get them ready.”

Joseph was a dual-threat quarterback for Nebraska from 1988 to 1991, recording a combined 20 touchdowns on the air and ground for the Cornhuskers in his career.