College Football Elites, Part 2: Can classic blue bloods return to glory?
By Dante Pryor
- Conference titles: 46 (last in 1999)
- 10-plus win seasons:28
- Consensus All-Americans: 54
- Heisman Trophy winners: 3
- NFL players: 375
One of the defining moments of my teenage years of college football was Tommie Frazier’s 75-yard touchdown run against Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl. It is funny that there is an entire generation of kids who do not know how dominant Nebraska was in the 1990s.
The Huskers’ problems started when they fired Frank Solich in 2003 after winning nine games. The Cornhuskers were coming off of a mediocre 7-7 season in 2002 — their fewest wins since 1968 and Solich had the Cornhuskers back on track and at nine wins, but athletic director Steve Pederson argued the program was “slipping into mediocrity” and thought they could do better than Solich. Even Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi thought firing Solich was a mistake.
Consider this, the Cornhuskers have not won a conference title, a national title or even played in a New Year’s Six or BCS bowl game since Solich left. As misplaced as it might be, I understand the sentiment of Pederson.
Most critics of Solich felt he won with Tom Osborne’s players. When Nebraska went 7-7 in 2002, they lost three games by more than 15 points including a 49-13 road loss to Kansas State. The next season, the Cornhuskers’ three losses were all blowouts including another embarrassment to Kansas State — their worst home loss since 1958.
Hiring Bill Calahan the next season seemed to have a clear intention: the style that a played under Solich, and Osborne, for that matter, is antiquated. There was a feeling that Nebraska needed to modernize their offensive approach, so they hired a pro coach in Calahan. The intention might have been right, but Calahan was not the right choice. He had no coaching experience at the collegiate level and little taste for recruiting as evidence by three less than stellar classes in four years in Lincoln.
After firing Calahan, the Cornhuskers hired former defensive coordinator Bo Pelini. Hiring him can be summed up in one phrase, “If you want the bull, you get the horns.” Pelini is animated on the sidelines and some over-animated moments cost him his job. Pelini was in your face, loud and very old school. However, he won either nine or 10 games during his seven years at Nebraska. He also coached them to their only Big Ten division title since joining the conference in 2011.
After they fired Pelini, the Huskers decided to go the other way and hired Mike Riley away from his second stint at Oregon State. After a forgettable 19-19 tenure, they hired Nebraska’s favorite son Scott Frost to take over the program in 2017.
Frost has a lot of work to do. He has to figure out how to recruit to a school without the old ties and rivalries it used to have. They need to fix the defense and figure out their offensive identity.
We know Nebraska invests in the football program, but being so removed from its legacy as a football power, can the Cornhuskers return to national prominence? Time will tell.