Good start for Illinois and UCLA, bad one for Scott Frost

Week Zero was a success for Bret Bielema and Chip Kelly. But it increased the heat on Scott Frost.

Bielema’s first game as Illinois’ coach went well, as the Fighting Illini upset Frost and Nebraska 30-22. It was the first game of Frost’s fourth season with the Huskers, and a loss to the team expected to finish last in the Big Ten West is sure to ramp up the questions about Frost’s viability in Lincoln. He now is 12-21 in his tenure. His buyout? It’s $20 million.

Kelly, meanwhile, got his fourth season with UCLA off to a rousing start with a 44-10 rout of Hawaii. The Bruins got three touchdowns from Michigan transfer running back Zach Charbonnet in hammering the Rainbow Warriors. Charbonnet’s three scores came in the first half, which ended with the Bruins on top 31-3.

UCLA led 17-0 midway through the first period and throttled back the offense from there, but still managed 392 total yards and the 44 points. The Bruins scored more than 40 points twice last season, but lost both times.

A fairer assessment of the Bruins will come next week, when they welcome in LSU.

As for Nebraska, Frost told reporters afterward that “it looked like the same movie.” Nebraska lost a fumble that the Illini turned into a scoop-and-score TD, handed Illinois a safety on a punt return and missed two extra points; Huskers kicker Connor Culp was 20-of-20 on extra points in 2020, when he was the first-team All-Big Ten kicker. And while fourth-year starting quarterback Adrian Martinez accounted for 343 yards of total offense, he completed just 50 percent of his passes, missed some open receivers and made a handful of ill-advised throws.

Nebraska was 5-of-14 on third down and allowed five sacks. In addition, the Huskers’ running backs had 39 yards on 19 carries.

While there were moderate hopes for the Huskers going into the season, the loss makes you wonder if they can get to the needed six wins to get to a bowl for the first time in Frost’s tenure. The Huskers have games against ranked teams Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Oklahoma, as well as contests against Michigan, Minnesota and Northwestern.

Illinois scored more than 24 points just once last season — in a rout of Nebraska in Lincoln. The offensive output was impressive considering starting quarterback Brandon Peters was lost late in the first quarter to a shoulder injury; backup Artur Sitkowski played well in relief, throwing two TD passes.

The Illini rushed for 167 yards and controlled the ball for 34:55.

No other game in Week Zero involved a Power 5 team.