Nebraska football: Scott Frost has one saving grace after Northwestern loss

Although the season feels on the brink after the Northwestern loss, Nebraska football and head coach Scott Frost still have plenty left to play for in 2022.

Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost has had a number of chances to make things right with the Huskers in his five years in charge. While donning the headset in Lincoln for five years, Frost has yet to see a team record a winning record.

His Huskers teams are 5-21 in one-possession games, including a remarkable stretch last year in which the Huskers became the first team in FBS history to lose nine games by a single-digit margin en route to a perplexing 3-9 finish.

The Huskers squandered several opportunities in their 31-28 loss to Northwestern last Saturday. The second-quarter fumble by Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda hurt Nebraska mentally and allowed the Wildcats to take a 17-14 halftime lead, for instance. The fourth-quarter interception by quarterback Casey Thompson didn’t help matters, either.

Although the season feels on the brink after the Northwestern loss, Nebraska and head coach Scott Frost still have plenty left to play for in 2022.

It was an excruciating loss in Dublin, Ireland, for a Nebraska team that’s desperate to return to some level of competitiveness under its native son and former star as head coach.

The sky might not be falling in Lincoln in 2022, however. What if Northwestern is actually good?

Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald has been in charge of the Wildcats for 17 years, a tenure that’s as long as almost anyone in college football right now with just one team. He’s an experienced coach that has done well in coaxing more out of his team than what is represented by its individual parts.

The Wildcats appeared in the Big Ten championship game in both 2018 and 2020 as winners of the Big Ten West. Who’s to say, despite last year’s disappointing 3-9 mark, that Northwestern can’t pull it off again? Iowa and Wisconsin, the normal favorites to win the West, have significant holes to fill in 2022.

The Wildcats have reached 10 wins in three separate seasons under Fitzgerald within the last decade despite starting the preseason unranked each time. They could easily pull off the same feat in 2022 if they build on their season-opening win against the Huskers.

Against a Northwestern team that tends to outperform expectations and had the nation’s No. 5 scoring defense (surrendering only 15.9 points per game) in 2020, Nebraska might have run into a buzzsaw to start 2022.

It’s no consolation for a Huskers team that’s desperate for wins, but Nebraska can still build on a lot this year after five straight losing seasons.

The Huskers still have upset opportunities throughout their 2022 schedule. Oklahoma comes to town to return the visit from last year, when Nebraska came within a late-game interception of potentially knocking off the Sooners in Norman, Okla. It’s also Brent Venables’ first season in charge with a team that lost serious talent and confidence in the departure of former head coach Lincoln Riley — let’s not assume that the Sooners will suddenly return to their CFP-qualifying, Big 12-winning ways without any hiccups.

Wisconsin and Minnesota, which figure to be two of the Huskers’ toughest Big Ten West opponents, also travel to Memorial Stadium later this fall.

Teams like North Dakota, Georgia Southern, Rutgers, and Indiana still dot the Huskers’ 2022 schedule. A 7-5 record in 2022 would be a huge achievement — no sarcasm alert here — for a program that’s psychologically down right now. And that’s still in front of Frost and Huskers after the Week 0 Northwestern loss to start this season.