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The downfall of Nebraska football: 10 games that explain the Cornhuskers' tailspin
ESPN PLUS $ MATERIALFor the second straight season, Scott Frost and Nebraska ended up as one of the major stories from Week 0 for the wrong reasons.
A year ago, the Cornhuskers opened as 6.5-point favorites on the road to Illinois but lost 30-22 thanks to some dreadful special teams mistakes (a safety on a punt return and two missed PATs) and a costly fumble-return score. This year, as an even bigger favorite on an even longer road trip -- they were 12.5-point favorites against Northwestern in Dublin, Ireland -- they fell again, 31-28.
It was the seventh straight loss for the Huskers, dating back to a 56-7 blowout of this very Northwestern team last October. The Wildcats gained 528 yards -- only their second time over 500 yards in the past 55 games -- and while new Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson began the game 19-for-26 for 298 yards and a touchdown, he completed only 6 of 16 passes with two interceptions down the stretch. Nebraska took a 28-17 lead in the third quarter and attempted a surprise onside kick to put the game away. It could have worked with slightly better placement, but Northwestern running back Andrew Clair snared it, setting up an easy Northwestern scoring drive.
The onside kick became the story, as the Huskers were outscored 14-0 from that point forward. It will go down as yet another special teams miscue, but it would have been lauded as a risk worth taking had it succeeded. We're piling on because that's what we do, but the bigger issue was plain old execution. The Nebraska defense got gashed by an offense that gashes no one, and the offense vanished after a positive start. And when the stretch run came, Pat Fitzgerald's Wildcats knew they were going to win, and Frost's Huskers knew they would lose. In 26 one-score finishes under Frost, Nebraska has won just five.
We might soon find out that losing to Northwestern isn't a particularly shameful thing -- the Wildcats won the Big Ten West in 2020 and 2018, after all, and have rebounded from quite a few dismal offensive collapses through the years. Nebraska could still rebound this season; the Huskers handily won their next two games after last year's loss to Illinois, after all, and Frost could still save his job.
But 2022 began with a 2021 rerun. It was everything Frost and Nebraska didn't need.
Nebraska has attempted many resets and fresh starts since the retirement of the legendary Tom Osborne. But it has lacked a cogent plan, it has been torn between the distinct style of its past winners and the modern style of the day, and it has lots of former players hovering around and pointing out everything it is doing wrong at all times.
When one coach doesn't work out, the Huskers attempt the exact opposite. When that doesn't work, they careen to something else. They are case studies for how to lose your way. And as such, it might be useful to step back and work through how they got here, even if it doesn't help to prescribe how to solve their problems moving forward.
How did Nebraska fall so far? Here are 10 games that help to tell the story.
Nov. 23, 2001: Colorado 62, Nebraska 36
Nebraska won three national titles in four seasons, and after Osborne rode off into the sunset in 1997, longtime assistant Frank Solich mostly maintained a high level. The Huskers briefly ceded the Big 12 North to Kansas State in 1998, losing to the Wildcats and dropping three other games by a total of 14 points. But they stormed back, winning 34 of their next 37 games. Quarterback Eric Crouch danced his way to a Heisman run in 2001, and the Huskers began that season 11-0. They were second in the AP poll behind only an incredible Miami team that they would eventually lose to in the BCS Championship. They were no longer the most dominant team in the sport, but there are worse things in the world than three straight top-10 finishes.Before the Huskers could get bopped around by Miami, however, they suffered a genuine paradigm shift of a loss in Boulder. The 14th-ranked Buffaloes bolted to a 28-3 lead in the first quarter, and while Crouch would drag the Huskers back to within 42-30 in the third, the NU defense couldn't help but get shoved around. Colorado's Chris Brown and Bobby Purify combined for 352 rushing yards and seven touchdowns (six from Brown) -- something that was supposed to be done by Nebraska, not to Nebraska. Colorado upset Texas the next week, too, and nearly leaped all the way into the BCS top two despite two losses. Instead, Nebraska sneaked back into the top two and got manhandled by Miami, just as Colorado would have.
If one game can destroy an aura, this game did it. Without Crouch, the Huskers went just 7-7 in 2002, losing three games by at least 22 points (including a 36-14 decision at once-lowly Iowa State), forcing changes within the program and putting Solich on the hot seat.
Oct. 11, 2003: Missouri 41, Nebraska 24
Early in 2003, it looked like Solich had stemmed the bleeding. Nebraska began the season unranked but took down No. 24 Oklahoma State in the season opener, then charged into the top 10 with a 5-0 start. New coordinator Bo Pelini's defense allowed only 38 points in those five games. The Huskers went to Columbia to play a charged-up Missouri team they hadn't lost to in 25 years, and they methodically built a 24-14 lead heading into the fourth quarter.The lead vanished quickly. Missouri quarterback Brad Smith scored on the first play of the fourth quarter, and the Tigers quickly forced a Jammal Lord fumble and took the lead on a fake field goal. Smith scored twice more -- he finished the game with three rushing touchdowns, a receiving touchdown and 180 passing yards -- and the Tigers pulled away with a 27-point fourth quarter.
Mizzou would win four of six in the series, but this was the Tigers' only win against Solich. The Huskers went on to lose by 24 at Texas and by 29 at home to Kansas State, and the school decided to send a message: 10-3 is not good enough for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. It not only fired Solich but also lurched as far as possible in the opposite direction, replacing him with former Oakland Raiders head coach Bill Callahan, whose calling card was a fancy West Coast offense that would replace the storied Nebraska option attack.
Nov. 3, 2007: Kansas 76, Nebraska 39
Callahan found some early recruiting success, and after a mediocre 10-10 start -- which included a home defeat to Southern Miss and jarring losses to Texas Tech (70-10) and Kansas (40-15) -- his Huskers showed some life. They won their last three games of 2005, blowing out Colorado and taking down No. 20 Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. They won their first Big 12 North title in five years in 2006, losing tight games to top-10 Texas, Oklahoma and Auburn teams, then moved back into the AP top 15 early in 2007.Then they lost by 18 to top-ranked USC.
And by 35 to No. 17 Missouri.
And by a combined 53 at home against unranked Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.
After a tight loss at Texas came the ultimate ignominy. It wasn't just that they lost by 39 points to Kansas -- the Jayhawks were awesome that year, and Nebraska was getting used to getting blown out. But they gave up 76 points. The defense couldn't make any stops, and the offense couldn't stop turning the ball over. Even more humiliating: It could have been worse. KU's last touchdown came with 11 minutes left, and head coach Mark Mangino called off the dogs.
Colorado scored 65 points on the Huskers three weeks later. Callahan was done in Lincoln, and it was again time to hire his opposite: the defense-minded Pelini.
Oct. 24, 2009: Iowa State 9, Nebraska 7
Of the four hires (and counting) that Nebraska has made since dumping Solich, only one has cleared the 10-win bar deemed unacceptable 20 years ago. During Pelini's seven seasons in charge, the Huskers won 10 games three times (and nine games in the other four) and reached three conference title games -- two in the Big 12 and one in the Big Ten. They finished ranked four times and came within one second of beating unbeaten Texas for the Big 12 title in 2009. But Pelini's tenure is basically remembered for two things: his temper (we'll get to that) and the fact that, when his defense was at its absolute best, he just couldn't get enough from his offense.In 2009 and '10, Nebraska went unbeaten when it scored more than 20 points in a game but failed to clear that low bar 12 times and went just 4-8 in those games. With Ndamukong Suh playing at the highest level we've seen from a college defender in this century, NU lost games by scores of 16-15 and 13-12 in 2009, but the masterpiece, if you want to call it that, came when Iowa State visited Lincoln. For Paul Rhoads to be able to deliver his famous "I am SO PROUD to be your football coach!" speech in the locker room afterward, the Huskers had to turn the ball over eight times and score just once in four red zone trips. The Cyclones gained just 239 yards and went 5-for-18 on third downs but won with a 52-yard field goal and their one good offensive play, a 47-yard touchdown pass late in the first half.
Oct. 1, 2011: Wisconsin 48, Nebraska 17
OK, there's one more thing the Pelini era was known for: The Huskers didn't usually just lose, they lost big. Especially after they joined the Big Ten. They lost 16 games from 2011 to '14 -- exactly four each year, never more, never less -- and only five were by single digits. They lost games by 20, 21, 25, 28, 31, 35 and 39 points; that's more losses of 20-plus than in Osborne's last 20 years in charge.Even worse, three of those blowout losses came at the hands of the Wisconsin Badgers. Their 70-31 loss in the 2012 Big Ten championship was the most famous, but their October 2011 setback was the first of the bunch and nearly as bad. Nebraska held a 14-7 lead in the second quarter, but the Badgers knocked them out with a 34-0 run. Russell Wilson threw for 255 yards, Montee Ball rushed for 151, and Nebraska's Taylor Martinez threw three picks. Nebraska was the biggest, baddest, most physical team in the country during Osborne's heyday, and now they couldn't hang with the most physical team in what would become the Big Ten West.
Nov. 29, 2013: Iowa 38, Nebraska 17
"If they want to fire me, go ahead." Maybe Pelini's most famous moment of irascibility -- basically daring his employer to dismiss him -- came after this error-plagued mess that clinched yet another four-loss season.Nebraska allowed only 281 yards but lost three turnovers and went just 3-for-14 on third down. Iowa scored five times on drives that started in NU territory; up 14-10 midway through the third quarter, the Hawkeyes ended the game on a 24-7 run.
In the 35 years before this game, Nebraska had won seven of eight meetings with the Hawkeyes. Iowa has now won eight of the past nine. The dare wouldn't work -- Pelini remained employed in Lincoln for another year -- but if it hadn't yet become clear how this relationship was going to eventually end, it was crystal clear now.
Sept. 5, 2015: BYU 33, Nebraska 28
Two very predictable things happened in 2014: Nebraska lost exactly four games, and Pelini was fired. The Huskers had begun the season 8-1 with only a tight loss to No. 10 Michigan State marring a perfect record. But they got blown out at Wisconsin and lost at home to Minnesota, and that was that. And once again, Nebraska hired the opposite of its ex: Mike Riley, a coach with one of the sunnier dispositions in the profession ... and a coach who had gone just 29-33 in his previous five seasons at Oregon State. There was no long-term vision at play and no philosophy to follow -- just "Zigging didn't work, so let's try zagging."Riley didn't have Pelini's all-or-nothing, "wins or blowout losses" issues. Instead, the Huskers constantly faltered in close games early on, losing seven games by 10 or fewer points in his very first season. In Riley's debut, BYU backup quarterback Tanner Mangum filled in for injured starter Taysom Hill and lofted a 42-yard Hail Mary that sent Cougars head coach Bronco Mendenhall running merrily around Memorial Stadium.
Not the greatest omen. Riley briefly got something going in his second season -- the Huskers started the season 7-0 -- but he lost 12 of his last 18 games, and by increasingly large margins, and he was gone after just three years.
Sept. 15, 2018: Troy 24, Nebraska 19
With his almost impossible 5-21 record in one-score games, and his equally unfathomable 15-30 record overall, it's easy to forget that just four years ago, Frost was seen as just about the most slam-dunk hire imaginable. He was the quarterback for Nebraska's last national title winner. He played for Bill Walsh, Tom Osborne and Bill Parcells. He coached with Chip Kelly. He inherited an 0-12 team at UCF and improved it to 6-7 in his first year and 13-0 in his second. It was like he was custom-made in a laboratory to return Nebraska to glory. This wasn't a reactionary hire; it was the perfect hire at the perfect time. And it hasn't even slightly worked out.It was forgivable that Frost didn't have all of the arrows pointed in the right direction immediately, but an 0-6 start, which included this loss to Troy, rang alarm bells. Troy gained only 253 yards but jumped out to a 17-0 lead with help from a punt return score -- the first of many costly special teams miscues during Frost's time -- and held on for dear life. It was 24-19 with about two minutes left when Will Sunderland picked off Andrew Bunch to clinch the Huskers loss. (This also wasn't the last late-game quarterback error that would cost Frost.)
The Huskers would win four of their last six in 2018 and four of their first six in 2019. This loss wasn't the end of the world, but it was more of a harbinger than Frost would have wanted.
Sept. 25, 2021: Michigan State 23, Nebraska 20
Things happened in waves for Frost early on: 0-6, then 8-4, then 1-7, then 5-4. But after a 2-1 start in 2021, they lost eight of nine to end the season, always suffering the exact miscue they couldn't afford to suffer. They played five teams that finished with double-digit wins and managed an average scoring margin of just minus-5.8 but went 0-5. When special teams errors didn't doom them, turnovers did.Against Michigan State, it took both. Nebraska had charged ahead 20-13 late in East Lansing, but MSU's Jayden Reed returned a punt 62 yards for the tying touchdown with 3:47 left. The Huskers got two chances to win the game in regulation but gained just 31 yards on seven plays. The game went to OT, where Adrian Martinez was picked off on a short third-and-3 pass; MSU won the game with a short field goal.
It's eye-of-the-beholder stuff whether this was the most painful loss of the bunch, but it was probably the most indicative.
Aug. 27, 2022: Northwestern 31, Nebraska 28
Again, I'll defend the onside kick. I never think it's fair to pile on the scorn for something we would have praised had it worked, and I actually judge Frost more for saying he regretted the call in the postgame news conference.Frost delivered another postgame quote, however, that describes Nebraska's current issues to a T: "We've just lost too many close games. These guys need something to believe in."
When the subject of Nebraska's collapse comes up, we often gravitate toward the topic of recruiting. The Huskers' poor form and unfortunate geography, combined with the fact that they almost never play in Texas anymore thanks to their move to the Big Ten, has certainly created some obstacles that didn't previously exist. But their issues go far beyond that -- recruiting can't be the problem until you actually live up to the recruiting rankings you have.
Nebraska still has plenty of talent; that was made evident by how well it competed against good teams last year. But the weight of history has intimidated athletic directors into making scared and reactionary hires, and it engulfs the players and coaches attempting to turn things around. When the Huskers tried to make a clean break from their history with the Callahan hire, it didn't work; when they tried to work back toward their history, it didn't work either. After so many swerves through the years, there is no one around to say, "This is how Nebraska wins football games" and build around that vision.
When you cannot escape the past, it's impossible to effectively plan for the future. It's pretty easy to describe how Nebraska got here, but if your former star quarterback, with his nearly perfectly crafted résumé, can't get all the arrows pointed in the right direction and win big, it's hard to know which direction to turn next.
