The Two “Sure Things” for Nebraska Football Failed Which Likely Adds to Current Fan Frustration

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Remember when the Omaha World-Herald tasked six of their sports writers to write a book titled “Frost: A Husker’s Journey Home” about Scott Frost’s journey to come back and save Nebraska football? It was a book about his days in high school to Stanford then Nebraska and his ascendance at Central Florida to finally make it back to Nebraska as head coach.

Understandably, the Omaha World-Herald didn’t seem it needed to write such a book for Matt Rhule.

Scott Frost was the hottest coach in college football in 2017 after going undefeated. His team beat a 7th ranked Auburn squad in their bowl game. They were even claiming relative National Championship status after the season.

Scott Frost even wrote in a blog that if he combined the power run game of Nebraska with the tempo of Oregon that it would be impossible to stop. He was going to bring that to Lincoln.

We know what happened. Frost compiled a record of 16-31. And probably the most success he had at Nebraska was actually in a 3-9 season in which Husker fans sarcastically claimed that they were the greatest 3-9 team in the history of college football. That claim is probably true but illustrates where Nebraska was at that time.

Just for a quick reminder: In 2021, the Frost led Huskers lost six games to ranked opponents by one score (except Ohio State) which includes losses to #3 Oklahoma (23-16), #20 Michigan State (23-20), #9 Michigan (32-29), #5 Ohio State (26-17), #15 Wisconsin (35-28) and #16 Iowa (28-21).

Part of me wants to go back and watch those games at least one more time.

We all know what happened next, he was fired the following season after losing to Georgia Southern.

Looking back there were probably some reasons that Nebraska should have pumped the brakes a bit on Frost. But you cannot blame Nebraska for hiring the hottest name in college football who also a National Championship winning quarterback for the Huskers in 1997.

Regardless, it was a failure and there is no way around it. I’m not saying he didn’t do some good things. Or that there weren’t improvements in the football program. But it was clearly a failure and the frustrating part is that at the time he was hired it felt like the surest thing in sports. He was going to be successful. No doubt.

I remember sitting in the press box for his opener against Akron as it was cancelled due to weather. It was a storm with a ton of lightning. Maybe we should have taken it as an omen.

Now on to the second “sure thing” failure. To start I want to be clear that I am not calling Dylan Raiola a failure. He isn’t. That is not what I am saying.

What was a failure was that the son of a former Nebraska legend who happens to be a once in a generation five star quarterback recruit, while having some success at Nebraska, ends up transferring to Oregon after two seasons.

Nebraska football was coming out of the doldrums of the Scott Frost era and this five star legacy quarterback recruit is sitting there for the taking. He wants to bring Nebraska back and there is a starting spot waiting for him.

Dylan Raiola was not bad. At the same time he wasn’t great either and he left the program.

To his credit, he is now at a better football program. He went to Oregon knowing they already had a starting quarterback. Now reports are coming out of Oregon that he might not even be the back-up quarterback coming out of spring football for the Ducks. He could be third string. Apparently he has had some “ups and downs” during spring football.

This might end up being the best thing for him. I would not be surprised if he makes a big jump and excels if he is given the opportunity at Oregon. He could end up getting drafted by the NFL and have a long successful career.

That still would not change that it was a failure at Nebraska. IT was a failure at Nebraska.

It might not have been his fault. The coaching staff could have failed him. Maybe they didn’t. Maybe it was a mix of everybody around Dylan, including himself. Maybe making Dylan Raiola the face of the football program and having him lead the team out as a true freshman was not a great idea.

Hindsight is definitely 20/20.

This is an odd off-season for Nebraska. The fan base is currently fighting among themselves about seemingly everything regarding the football program. The current fight is about 1620 the Zone’s Unsportsmanlike Conduct and their odd comments on the radio this week regarding Trae Taylor and a positive tweet he made.

The upcoming brutal schedule in 2026, where a seven win season SHOULD be considered a major sign of the football program improving, is looming around the corner.

The chatter around Matt Rhule and this program has been quiet but the fans are still letting their frustration known this offseason.

There are numerous sources of frustration (both legitimate and not) for the fanbase. It doesn’t help that the last two “sure things” to bring Nebraska football back failed. One is back coaching at UCF and the other is wearing an Oregon uniform as Nebraska football is still working to dig itself out of the hole.

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