Pete Thamel cites Nebraska-Oklahoma outcome as measuring stick for Mickey Joseph, Trev Alberts

ESPN college football analysts Pete Thamel is one of many who believes that the Nebraska–Oklahoma outcome will be looked at as a measuring stick for both programs. And during a recent appearance on the College Gameday podcast, Thamel explained how significant this game will be for interim head coach Mickey Joseph and the Cornhuskers Athletic Director Trev Alberts.

“The interim dynamic is always interesting. Especially as this trend of early firings has come upon us. So we’ve had a little bit more experience with interims and what they could do and how they could do it. Mickey Joseph is an impressive guy,” said Thamel. “I mean, who is brought together and developed better wide receivers in the last handful of years than him? When you think of that ‘19 LSU team and the real dudes that they had at receiver. Those guys are the best guys in the NFL right now, when you look at Jefferson and Chase.

Arguably Joseph’s most impressive feat in the college ranks is developing the wide receiver room for the LSU Tigers in 2019. Two of the top three receivers from that receiver room are among the best wide receivers in the NFL right now, Ja’marr Chase and Justin Jefferson.

“So he’s got a great reputation, and he’s gonna give that program an energy jolt and the new voice that Trev Alberts wants. The danger of interim is that you change too much, and then everything really spirals. So, can he bring a new energy and enough wrinkles to sort of flummox Oklahoma as opposed to trying to change too much? I will be very curious to see how they respond,”said Thamel. “And I think a lot of the $7.5 million decision that Trev Alberts made will be judged on how they respond to this game.

Nebraska AD Trev Alberts discusses Scott Frost era

Alberts went back to the coaching cycle in which Frost was hired, saying he was one of the top names at that time. He thought Frost would have had more success, but now Alberts is looking to move forward.

“You know, I haven’t put a lot of thought into that,” Alberts said when asked about what went wrong. “But I thought it would work. Listen, we all have short memories but Scott Frost was among the absolute leaders in that cycle of coaching. Scott’s a good football coach, Scott’s going to go on and be a successful coach. I told him that this morning and he agreed. Scott’s a good football coach. The right situation for him will emerge and I think he’ll be very successful.

“I was very determined to work with him and try to balance that very delicate balance of not meddling – because I think it’s the last thing an administration should do is start dictating the coaches and how they operate their deal – but be supportive. But it is what it is. It didn’t work and that’s why we’re here today.”