Nebraska Football: Scott Frost’s seat should be piping-hot after Illinois loss

After another disappointing loss, dropping his 21st game as head coach of Nebraska football, Scott Frost should be feeling the pressure if he hadn’t already heading into the season.

The fourth-year head coach lost to Illinois on the road to start the season and it has to rank up there with one of his more disappointing defeats. Illinois was coming off a forgettable Lovie Smith era and hired Bret Bielema who hadn’t been a Power Five head coach in years while playing its backup quarterback for most of the game.

Everything was favoring Nebraska in this game, except for the play on the field.

Nebraska came out and looked a little flat. The offense was struggling while the defense was impressive in the first quarter.

And then the mental mistakes began to happen. Penalties, a missed extra point, a self-inflicted safety after fielding a punt inside their own 5-yard-line, and a complete meltdown in the third quarter led to a 30-9 deficit before Adrian Martinez scampered 75 yards for a touchdown.

Martinez added a passing touchdown early in the fourth quarter to pull the Cornhuskers within a touchdown, but Nebraska missed its second extra point of the game to keep it 30-22.

Nebraska got the ball back with a two-minute drill looming and Martinez was unable to move the ball down the field as his accuracy remained an issue, finishing 16-for-32 passing. He made some good throws, but was a mixed bag all afternoon long. Was he the right choice at quarterback? That remains to be seen, but watching Luke McCaffrey transfer had to hurt.

How hot should Frost’s seat be with Nebraska football?

This loss was inexcusable, there’s no doubt about that, and Frost needs to be held accountable.

Frost’s team looked lost in the second and third quarters as Illinois went on a 28-0 run which essentially put the game out of reach. All offseason and the team looks unprepared like this in a critical season for the head coach? Not a good look.

Bo Pelini was fired for winning 9-10 games too much and not getting past that 10-win threshold. And here’s Frost, going 12-21 through his first 33 games of his coaching career and he’s not given the same energy because he’s the “native son” of Nebraska football.

Sometimes a former player who was a hero as a player isn’t always the answer and Frost is a good example of that.

If he can’t turn it around and win 7-8 games this year, his time at Nebraska should be up.