{Photo Credit}

 

Every offseason brings its own trials and tribulations for a college football program. Some programs may see players depart for the NFL. Some programs may have to go through coaching changes. A few programs may even have to deal with legal issues. At the University of Nebraska, it seems that we have been able to check all of those boxes recently. Although numbers have been down, we have seen players take their talents to the next level. Unfortunately, we have also had to witness players and coaches go through off-the-field troubles. When it comes to the Nebraska football coaching staff, well, consistency isn’t exactly a word that comes to mind. However, these types of issues have existed forever and every program has had to take it on the chin, adapt, adjust, and move on. In recent years, we have seen another major issue starting to grow and significantly change the entire landscape of college football. This “phenomenon” is known as the Transfer Portal.

 

According to the NCAA, the Transfer Portal was created as a compliance tool to systematically manage the transfer process from start to finish, add more transparency to the process among schools, and empower student-athletes to make known their desire to consider other programs. Seems reasonable enough right? At first glance, yes. It seems like a great idea to allow the student-athletes to have full control of their future and ultimately decide where they will attend school at the next level. A student-athlete may choose his/her school of choice, arrive at that school, and then experience some sort of adversity, prompting them to make other arrangements for the future. The adversity could include a coaching change, lack of playing time, or simply becoming homesick. When this type of situation occurs, the student-athlete can go to their compliance department and inform them of their intentions to enter their name into the portal and essentially become a “free agent”. At this point, coaches from around the country are able to recruit these athletes to their respective schools. The student-athlete then has the option to make a change and move on or they can choose to remain at their current school and remove their name from the portal. Many coaches have voiced their opinions on this process with some having embraced it and some being very strongly opposed to it. With anything new, that is expected.

 

So what exactly is the problem? Why is there so much debate on this topic?

 

It can be difficult to pinpoint one specific problem as it pertains to this new process. At a high level, the new transfer process can be somewhat flawed at times. The student-athlete should absolutely have the right to continue their academic and athletic career at the institution of their choice but at what point does it become too much? Some may argue that if the coaches of these universities are able to pack up and head for greener pastures at any time, why can’t the athletes do the same? Fair point. Some may also create the argument that some athletes don’t wish to compete and they are just looking for the easy path to a roster spot, immediate playing time, or even a starting role on that team. Also a fair point. So why do we restrict the athlete to stay put when the coaches don’t show the same loyalty in return? Why do we allow the athletes to jump ship when things don’t go as planned? It’s an extremely slippery slope and the Nebraska football program has had to endure these complicated times as much as any football program in the country. They have also landed a few incoming transfers that have made a huge impact in their time here.

 

As most programs have, Nebraska football has had transfers coming and going for decades. Scott Frost is an early example. When his days at Wood River High School were finished, he packed up and headed out west to Stanford University where he spent two seasons playing for the Cardinal before transferring to Nebraska and finishing his college career. Good move Mr. Frost.

 

Fast forward a few years and we arrive at another favorable transfer in Quarterback Zac Taylor. Taylor began his career at Wake Forest where he redshirted his first year and then saw very minimal playing time in his second year with the Demon Deacons. He made the decision to transfer to Butler Community College where he broke out for nearly 3,000 passing yards and earned second-team NJCAA All-American honors. After a successful stint in the Junior College ranks, Taylor landed at Nebraska where he led the Cornhuskers to a Big 12 Conference Championship game and was named the 2006 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

 

Obviously, these are two examples of Nebraska being extremely fortunate with welcoming incoming transfers to Lincoln but at this point in time, the Transfer Portal had not been introduced and transferring rules were much more strict.

 

Now let’s jump ahead to where things started changing.

 

Bo Pelini had just been relieved of his duties in Lincoln and Mike Riley was now in charge of the Nebraska football program. Coach Riley was not a flashy hire by national standards. It is also well documented that he wasn’t necessarily a popular hire from the perspective of most Nebraska fans but what most people don’t realize is that he started doing something in Lincoln that we had maybe seen one other time in Nebraska coaching history. When it came to a recruiting strategy, Coach Riley was going after the big fish in the sea. He was recruiting 4- and 5-star talent to Lincoln and getting Nebraska’s brand out to the recruiting hotbeds in America with a specialized interest in the state of California. The “Calibraska Movement” was born with this new approach. Nebraska had created a pipeline at Calabasas High School that was sure to be a match made in heaven. Marquel Dismuke, Tristan Gebbia, and Keyshawn Johnson Jr. all made their way from Calabasas to Lincoln to transform the then stagnant Huskers into a sexy, new west coast-style Nebraska team. Darnay Holmes and Brendan “Bookie” Radley-Hiles were two others that nearly landed in Lincoln before de-committing or committing elsewhere prior to signing day. After plenty of attrition with this group, only Dismuke remains in Lincoln today. Tristan Gebbia transferred following the announcement of true freshman Adrian Martinez being named starting quarterback and Keyshawn Johnson Jr. left the program following the Spring Game, having never taken the field in the fall. Even before the Transfer Portal really took off, we were starting to see this new era of roster management making its way to the surface of college football and it was becoming more and more controversial by the day. The short-lived “Calibraska Movement” had come and gone just like that.

 

By the time 2019 rolled around, the Transfer Portal had really gained an identity and Nebraska felt the impact immediately. In addition to Tristan Gebbia, Nebraska saw 12 more departures including highly-touted players like Tyjon Lindsay, Avery Roberts, and Cam’ron Jones.

 

Take it on the chin, adjust, adapt, and move on right?

 

Well, the 2020 transfer cycle has not been kind to Nebraska either. The Cornhuskers currently have 14 players listed in this cycle with plenty of time to add more. Several of the 2020 players named on this list are the result of off-the-field issues that plagued their careers here but to say these numbers aren’t a bit troubling would be a huge understatement. What is even more troubling is that this new Transfer Portal doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon. Every program is being affected by this epidemic and it seems that this is just the beginning.

 

In April, the NCAA will vote to make transferring even easier. If the vote passes, the student-athlete would be able to transfer one time without penalty and would have immediate eligibility no matter the destination.

 

Interesting times ahead.

 

GBR

{Photo Credit}

 

To quote Al Pacino from his role as Coach Tony D’Amato in the film ‘Any Given Sunday’: “You’re a quarterback! You know what that means? It’s the top spot, kid. It’s the guy who takes the fall. It’s the guy everybody’s looking at first. The leader of a team who will support you when they understand you. Who will break their ribs and their noses and their necks for you, because they believe. ‘Cause you make them believe.’ That’s a quarterback.”

 

To me, this movie was not just about a football franchise, or a coach stuck in the old days, or even a team on the brink of self-destruction, but instead, it was about the evolution of the quarterback position. It was about the “out with the old” and “in with the new”. This movie shined a light on how the game of football was changing before our very eyes and we either needed to adapt to it or it will leave us behind.

 

At the University of Nebraska, we have seen this evolution taking place in Lincoln dating back to when Coach Tom Osborne stepped down and a new era began. Frank Solich was tasked to replace the coaching legend and take over the program by attempting to replicate what Osborne had done better than anyone else had done over the course of the past 20 years. However, after a handful of seasons, he couldn’t quite match that undeniable success and the University decided it was time to move on. When his time was cut short, we saw Bill Callahan step on to the scene with his West Coast Offense and bring a change that Nebraska had never quite seen before. As we know, that didn’t work out as planned and that era was gone just as quickly as it arrived. Next, we saw Bo Pelini try his luck as head man by bringing a balanced offensive attack along with a very stout defensive scheme. Although Pelini experienced some success in Lincoln, it was proving to be less and less sustainable as each year passed and he too was let go after a seven-year stint. The next Nebraska football head coaching chapter was extremely short-lived as Mike Riley was hired away from Oregon State and then fired after three years, two losing seasons, and very minimal success. Finally, we arrive at the current head coach, Scott Frost. Coach Frost brings arguably the most prolific and modern offensive attack that exists in college football today and typically, with that, comes extremely high levels of quarterback play.

 

As we already know, Scott Frost was a quarterback for Nebraska. A pretty damn good quarterback at that. He led the Cornhuskers to a National Championship in 1997 before heading to the NFL where he was able to make a very respectable career for himself as a defensive back for the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When his playing days finally ended in 2003, he wasn’t finished with football and football wasn’t finished with him.

 

In 2006, Scott Frost officially began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Kansas State Wildcats. From there, he didn’t waste any time climbing the coaching ranks by moving on from Kansas State to take over as linebackers coach at Northern Iowa. A year later, he was promoted to co-defensive coordinator where his defense led the Panthers to the top rushing defense and top scoring defense in the Missouri Valley Conference. Frost’s next stop would land him in Eugene, Oregon where he would serve as the wide receivers coach for the Oregon Ducks under Head Coach Chip Kelly. In 2013, Kelly would announce he was leaving for the NFL, which catapulted Frost up to the ranks of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Oregon. Coach Frost served as Heisman Trophy Winner, Marcus Mariota’s, mentor and his offense ranked among the nation’s top six teams in scoring offense and total offense in his three years as the Ducks’ offensive coordinator.

 

Scott Frost had now inked his name as one of the top coaching candidates in all of college football and after an extremely successful stay in Oregon, he was on the move again. His next stop was in Orlando, Florida, where he would take his very first head coaching job at the University of Central Florida. To say that his time in Orlando went well would be the understatement of the century. He took the Knights from a winless season prior to his arrival to an undefeated season in just two years. After this dream season, he was back to where it all began.

 

At this point, you may be asking yourself, why does all of this even matter?

 

Leading up to him taking the Nebraska job, Scott Frost has experienced success on both sides of the ball from a player and coach’s perspective, and that matters. His parents were both athletes and they both coached Frost as he exploded onto the high school football scene by becoming a highly-touted recruit entering his time in college, and that matters. In addition, Scott Frost has played under or coached with some of the biggest names in football coaching history, and that really matters. What I’m getting at is that Scott Frost was being molded into the coach he is today before he even stepped foot onto a high school football field. Up to this point, he has been handed all of the tools to be a successful coach and lead a successful football program.

 

So what can we expect in the future?

 

Recent history will tell us that we can expect to see Nebraska football continue to evolve. It will also tell us that we can expect quarterback play to really start to take off in his third year as head coach for the Cornhuskers. Why? Because he has a proven track record of being a quarterback guru and has been able to maximize the output of almost every quarterback he has coached in the past. At Oregon, he was able to breed Marcus Mariota into the force he was for the Ducks. At UCF, he was able to teach McKenzie Milton how to be one of the most exciting players in all of college football. Now, at Nebraska, he has a very promising young quarterback in Adrian Martinez that has shown flashes of Scott Frost’s tutelage but still appears to be a bit raw at times. He has also started to build a quarterback room in Lincoln that Nebraska has never seen before. He has instilled an expectation of what the quarterback position is, what it should be, and most importantly, what it can be.

 

The quarterback position is the top spot, the guy who takes the fall, the guy that everyone looks at first. The quarterback is the leader of the team and the quarterback is the guy that is going to make us all believe.

 

Make us believe.

 

GBR

 

It’s February in Nebraska. The days are short and the nights are long. Those crisp fall Saturdays seem about as distant as Nebraska competing for National Titles, but those that have been around know that this time of year provides a few certainties. The air is frigid, the trees are bare, snowstorms are a guessing game, and Runza sandwiches are consumed at an alarming rate. However, there is another certainty that is often viewed as a little more controversial in the Cornhusker state. We call this the “Husker Hype Train” and it seems that with each passing season, whether it’s warranted or not, this train will chug along like a semi heading west on I-80.

 

Some refer to this time of year as “list season”. Various media outlets, sports writers, and keyboard warriors will release their lists of potential breakout players, bounce back teams, and programs likely to take a step back, amongst others. Like clockwork, Nebraska is starting to pop up within these lists once again. Some may embrace this journey with high hopes and excitement and others will scoff at the idea of a team that has struggled so mightily in recent history to, again, be included in these meaningless accolades but, at some point, you’d think we could live up to some of the hype, right?

 

Time will tell.

 

When Scott Frost announced he was coming home to coach Nebraska, a statewide celebration took place. He was the trendiest name in all of college football coaching. He is a homegrown hero. He is the savior. For good reason, there was a healthy amount of buzz surrounding the future of Nebraska football because it appeared that the pieces were finally starting to fall in to place. He was bringing his high-flying, fast-paced offensive scheme that we had seen at Oregon and UCF to Nebraska and even stated in his first press conference that the Big 10 Conference would have to adapt to our style of play. He also immediately landed his top primary recruit in Quarterback Adrian Martinez. What was not to be excited about? At that point in time, the hype was real and very hard to ignore.

 

Then the season started.

 

As year two of the Frost era loomed, there was a completely new level of hype. The first season hadn’t gone as planned but when you looked closely at that team, you could see glimpses of what this could be. It was exciting. Along with that excitement, came a good amount of speculation. Rightfully so. Was the rebuild of this once-dominant program a bigger task than what Frost had anticipated? Did the dark times of “hip hip hoorays” and ice cream with sprinkles really set Nebraska back this much? The national media didn’t seem to think so. As the preseason polls and conference projections started rolling out, Nebraska found themselves as a popular pick to win the Big 10 West, compete for the Big 10 Championship, and ultimately make some serious noise on the national level. In addition to all of the hype that the team was receiving, the young quarterback, Adrian Martinez, was on nearly every preseason Heisman list entering the season, so it was hard not to think that things were trending in the right direction.

 

Then the season started.

 

We are now looking ahead to year three under Scott Frost’s leadership and it has started yet again. After another disappointing year, Nebraska found themselves home for the holidays as they failed to reach bowl eligibility for the third straight season. Somehow, none of that seems to matter because, as it usually does, the “Husker Hype Train” is back on the tracks and is slowly, but surely, chugging along. A certain sports media juggernaut has already released a few different preseason rankings and as you scroll past the usual suspects of Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, and everyone else, you come to the Nebraska Cornhuskers sitting just inside the Top 25. How can this be? How is a team that has won just nine games over the course of the past two seasons still considered a top-tier team?

 

Let’s take a look.

 

The first poll that Nebraska has been featured in is the ESPN SP+ Rankings where they were able to sneak into the #25 spot. ESPN Staff Writer, Bill Connelly, creates these rankings and they are based on three primary factors. Those factors include returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history. The SP+ Rankings are designed to be predictive and forward-facing and despite The Big Red being ranked 24th and 26th in the 2019 Preseason AP Top 25 and Preseason Coaches’ Poll, respectively, the SP+ Rankings saw through that Nebraska hype by ranking them outside of the top 30 (well-played Mr. Connelly). These SP+ Rankings seem to be very high on the Huskers offense going into the 2020 campaign as they have them slated as the #10 overall offense in the country while they have the Blackshirt Defense ranked as the #55 defense in the land. If the saying “numbers don’t lie” holds true, then we can expect some exciting things for the upcoming season.

 

Chugging that Kool-Aid yet?

 

The second poll in which Nebraska makes its debut is the ESPN Football Power Index, or FPI. The FPI is a predictive rating system that measures a team’s strengths and uses them to forecast game or season results. Each team’s FPI rating is composed of predictive offensive, defensive, and special teams’ value and is based on the average number of points by which a team would beat an average team on a neutral field. According to the full FPI rankings, Nebraska made the second-largest jump of any other team in the nation from 2019 to 2020, only behind Florida State, where they come in at Preseason #22 by jumping 25 spots this offseason. That is a very staggering jump for a team that hasn’t lived up to expectations for a long time, but then again, who are we to argue with cold, hard data?

 

So why should we buy into any of this? How is this any different from the hype of the past?

 

I don’t have a good answer for that other than we will find out soon enough.

 

My only advice is if you see that Big Red Husker Hype Train chugging down the tracks take a minute to stop, wave, and enjoy it because once those crisp Fall Saturdays return, we’ll all know whether it’s gaining speed or slowly coming off the rails.

 

GBR

 

The beginning of the year is always a time for reflection. You reflect on what took place last year. You remember the highs. You remember the lows. You anticipate what this year will bring. Generally, reflection can take you in many different directions but with a new year, comes new possibilities. These possibilities are what get us out of bed in the morning. They keep us engaged. They keep us motivated. They can also keep us up at night because, ultimately, the possibilities of the unknown give us hope for the future.

 

In the dog days of summer, this possibility swirls around college campuses across the country. Football season is approaching and every team is working with a clean slate. A revived mindset that “this is the year.” Never mind the losing season a team may have had last year or the heartbreaking loss that cost them a championship, this is a new season with (you guessed it) new possibilities. Teams may be bringing in the next game-changing recruit or a new coaching staff that is going to revamp a struggling program. Whatever the case may be, there is excitement for the upcoming season and at this point, everyone is a contender.

 

In Nebraska, the excitement of new possibilities is often elevated beyond measure. Nebraska football is special, but special in a way that can’t often be described in a simple manner. The expectations that surround this program on an annual basis may be viewed as “unrealistic” or even “ignorant” but as I have already mentioned, Nebraska football is special.

 

The roots of these expectations are not born from gimmicks. They don’t come from smooth-talking coaches that come off as used car salesmen. They don’t come from flashy, new uniforms. They don’t come from those ridiculous, over-the-top promotional initiatives that you’ll see, but instead, these expectations are born from an era of dominance that can’t often be replicated. An era where National Championships were expected and victory was imminent. Unfortunately, these times have come and they have gone.

 

So where did it all go wrong? How did it get here? (I know what you are thinking. This is depressing. Trust me, we’re getting there.)

 

Some may point to that November day in Boulder where Colorado took us to the woodshed and some may look past that but then land on that next game when Miami gave us a similar beat down. A popular pick in this debate is the firing of Frank Solich after a solid 6-year stint as Head Coach. This is a debate that will undoubtedly go on between Husker fans until the end of time because what else are we supposed to talk about in the winter? As Husker fans, we know all too well that everyone has their opinion on when exactly the decline began but it’s hard to pinpoint one specific moment so you know what? We’re not even going to try. Instead, there is another moment to talk about. A moment that is carving out the future of this once-dominant program as we speak.

 

It’s December 2nd, 2017 and the University of Central Florida is in a battle with the University of Memphis in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game on National Television. All eyes are on the young UCF coach as he leads his undefeated team to an improbable season after the same school had gone winless just 2 seasons prior. Meanwhile, Nebraska fans watch on because, well, you know.

 

Rumors had started swirling but the voices were getting louder and louder. Was this young coach going to come home? Can he save this once-proud program? He is the hottest coaching name in the game right now. Can we even land him? (Back to the game).

 

The game was close. It ended up going in to double overtime with UCF coming away as Conference Champions but it wasn’t the outcome of the game that made this moment significant. It happened in the 4th quarter. The whole country watched as these teams battled back and forth and then it happened…

 

Did you see that? Did you see that at the bottom of the screen? Did I read that wrong? I didn’t read it wrong.

 

As Scott Frost was coaching his team to its 12th win and conference championship, breaking news started running along the bottom of the screen that “Scott Frost is going home and will be named the next Head Football Coach at the University of Nebraska.” (Excitement ensued) The fact that this news broke while he was still coaching a game was in poor taste, in my opinion, but you have to think the TV producers assumed it would have been over by then. The next day it became real. Newly appointed Athletic Director Bill Moos took the podium and won over the hearts of every Nebraskan as he spoke to the media, informing us that Scott Frost was coming HOME. This was our guy. Our dream hire. Homegrown Nebraska native. Former National Championship Quarterback. The list goes on. I don’t know that the Nebraska fan base had ever collectively agreed on any one thing but this was an exception. Scott Frost was the hottest name in college coaching and we got him!

 

So everything is going to be OK now right?

 

Well… Two seasons have now passed under Frost and, to put it lightly, things haven’t exactly gone as planned but then again, that is spoken from someone from the outside looking in. You have to think and believe that there are much bigger plans behind the doors at One Memorial Drive.

 

So let’s take some time to look back and reflect. We have taken our bumps and bruises. We have been through the highs and the lows. We continue to imagine the possibilities of what’s to come because that gives us hope for the future but most importantly, we are still here and, in my opinion, our expectations are perfect. We are building. We are adapting. We are getting bigger, stronger, and faster. Our slogan this past season was “Our Red Burns Brighter” and although one might argue that other schools red may be a little brighter than ours is today, one thing is certain.

 

It’s hard not to see that flicker of red getting brighter and brighter by the day.

 

GBR

 

Welcome to the B1G Red Revival, a Podcast and Blog devoted to our very own Nebraska Cornhusker football program. This idea was born from many long days and nights of discussion, arguments, and heated conversations around what happened, what went wrong, what went right, and what is ahead for the Nebraska football team.

 

Like most middle-aged men in the Cornhusker state, we have very strong opinions about our Huskers. Some are realistic and some simply pipe dreams, but regardless, we enjoy talking about them.

 

Our opinions can definitely be unique but that’s what sets us apart. Each of us sees things from different perspectives, and as a die-hard fan, current coach, and former quarterback, we all do our best to make sense of what takes place on Saturdays and beyond. We will always welcome our followers to join along in the journey.

 

So buckle up, wear your red, drink your drink, and follow along with us as we take on another chapter of Nebraska football.