Ohio State Football: 3 takeaways from victory over Nebraska
2. The Huskers Need A New Direction
The Nebraska Cornhuskers need a new direction. Mike Riley was a strange fit and never made a lot of sense. His last two years in Corvallis he posted just a 12-13 overall record but gets a vertical move up the college football coaching food chain. Riley was born in Idaho but played college ball at Alabama before spending most of his recent coaching career out west between USC, Oregon State and the San Diego Chargers.
What made Nebraska tick for more than three decades was their dedication to a system. When you’re the only Division 1 FBS football program in your state, and add to that one with a huge stadium and fanbase you can monopolize recruiting in the area. From there, with the I-Wing option offense that Tom Osborne ran (and then Frank Solich), the Husker coaching staff was teaching every high school football program in the state their offense.
This got the local recruiting pool adjusted to the Huskers game plan. They utilized hulking fullbacks, blocking tight ends, and wide receivers that needed to block. From there, Nebraska just needed to bring in an option quarterback and they could run up the score on the Big 8.
Nebraska made the mistake of dumping Frank Solich and Bo Pelini. Each preceding head coach has been a mess. Bill Callahan and Mike Riley haven’t been able to keep the success going of their predecessors. The offense is now throwing a touchdown for every interception while the blackshirts just gave up 56 points to JT Barrett and the Buckeyes. Where will this new direction come from?
Frost has UCF up to 24th in the S&P+ up from a team that was unvictorious in 2015, and under .500 in 2016. The Knights are now 5-0 after destroying Eastern Carolina scoring 63 points and running up 600 total yards of offense. The former national champion starting quarterback for the Huskers is the logical choice to take over. His salary would nearly double if he makes the same annually as Riley. Not just that, but he’ll be the top program in-state, and his assistants will be paid much more. That’s usually an easy selling point for a head coach.