Paul Finebaum weighs in on where things went wrong at Nebraska

Nebraska opened up the season about as rough as you can with their 31-28 loss to Northwestern in Dublin. This latest defeat had everyone talking about the future of the Cornhuskers. It even led all the way back to the hiring of head coach Scott Frost and had some wondering where it all went wrong? For ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, it isn’t necessarily about being wrong to him.

Finebaum joined ‘McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning’ to discuss Nebraska’ current predicament. He said the worst thing about Nebraska isn’t that they’re losing or losing in certain ways. It’s that, as a former big brand in the sport, they’ve grown to become a program whose results are inconsequential.

“I think this has been going on for some time, but I think you could make the argument that Nebraska hasn’t gone so wrong. They’ve simply just become irrelevant,” said Finebaum. “The Big Ten move did not help them. I thought it was an interesting move when it happened. We were all excited about those first couple of games, but their national brand has shrunk as others have increased and it’s just no big deal anymore. ‘So and so is buying Nebraska!’ Well? Big deal?”

The Cornhuskers have fallen far over the last few seasons. The transition from the Bo Pelini era to that of Mike Riley and Frost has been a free fall. Moving from the Big 12 to the Big Ten has become a lateral shift rather than an upward one too.

Paul Finebaum sees all of these choices adding up to the result that Nebraska is now. At this point, they’re a former great program who is now nothing more than one on the periphery.

“Ultimately, you keep making bad decisions and you just simply shrink into oblivion. I think that’s where Nebraska is,” Finebaum said. “It doesn’t have a real geographical base and I think it’s been victimized by the Big Ten move not going very well.”

Not all is lost for Frost and the Cornhuskers as one loss does not a season make. However, it was not the right foot to start on in a year that has so much riding on it for the head coach and program. They could very still put together a season that gives the fanbase and school a feeling of anticipation for what Frost could accomplish in Lincoln. If Saturday’s loss was just the start, though, irrelevancy will become the least of Nebraska’s concerns.