Frost being let go was somewhat surprising, but not completely

The restart of the Husker football season found an old rival waiting. In days long ago, the Huskers and the Sooners were games that you looked forward to watching. Then the Huskers dropped out of the Big 12 and we didn’t see OU around much and never at Memorial Field. 

Mickey Joseph, now the Husker’s  interim coach, was in charge and seemed like a renewed atmosphere in the program. Joseph made some changes right away and got ready for the next game. 

Coach Joseph may be the answer and his enthusiasm was welcome, but under the circumstances, having to start with some changes, and OU being the first game, it was an uphill battle and that is a classic understatement. 

It was refreshing to see the Huskers’ defense force a punt the first time OU had the ball and then take the ball and go down and score and the 7-0 look on the scoreboard was exciting, but then reality hit and the Sooners scored the next 49 straight points. 

The Huskers seemed to fall back into their problems of not knowing how to tackle on defense and how to block on offense and the offense looked terrible and the defense had difficulty stopping a running play or a pass play. Put all those things together and it is not hard to see how the Sooners ran up the next 49 points The scoreboard at 49-7 didn’t look all that good. 

I will admit, I didn’t think Nebraska would win the game or even be close, but after the first possession, the Huskers had my hopes up that at least it would be close.

Last week when the decision was announced that Coach Frost had been let go, I was and I wasn’t surprised. My thoughts were that if we had another losing season, then AD Trev Alberts might make that decision, but making that decision after three games surprised me. 

I knew that the money involved was pretty high, and for Nebraska to let him go early was going to cost. 

I did hear, however, and I didn’t fact-check it, but it was rumored that a couple of Husker backers were taking care of the 15 million that the University would have to pay if they fired Frost before October. 

I will also admit that when Frost was hired, I thought he was a great pick. Nebraska boy, Nebraska QB on a National Championship team, and having been coached by Coach Osborne, he would know how to run a successful program. The only thing that I wondered about was after he was hired he was asked by a reporter how he was going to adapt his game to the Big 10 and his answer was “How is the Big 10 going to adapt to our game.” I think I would have had a different answer. 

Now there have been some stories about some other things that were going on in the program, and combining those with not winning and a change, wasn’t all that hard to grasp. 

The hunt for a coach will be interesting and I am sure that whoever is hired will look for better-talented players, and work on blocking and tackling, and all the other skills needed. At least I hope so!