One Final Dance On Scott Frost's Grave
Plus BYU and Kentucky stonks, also Charlotte is still terrible
The college football, it’s been fun.
Last weekend featured some truly unbelievable games, so many of which were tons of fun for a variety of reasons. Whether it be Appalachian State’s incredible upset of Texas A&M, Fresno State and Oregon State exchanging haymakers or Texas so nearly beating Alabama, it was an absolute banger of a Saturday.
One of those bangers included our good pal Scott Frost, who found his Nebraska Cornhuskers in a close game.
We all know what happened next.
Nebraska, for the 11th time in the past two seasons, finished a game with a scoring margin of less than 10. For the 11th time in the past two seasons, Nebraska lost that game, this time to Georgia Southern. This was Georgia Southern’s first win over a Power Five opponent since 2013.
To go 0-11 in single-digit games is unthinkable. It makes it even funnier than Nebraska is 4-0 in games decided by 10+ in that same time frame. If the Cornhuskers won, it had to be a blowout, or else Scott Frost would find a way to ruin it.
Frost is a Nebraska alum, a national champion quarterback for the university who was massively successful at UCF. He has stunk up the join in every facet since coming to Lincoln in 2018.
The Cornhuskers were in a bowl game for nine consecutive seasons from 2008-16, then missed in 2017, fired that guy (Mike Riley), and replaced him with a guy who has extended the bowl-less streak to five. Let’s expand the scope for fun:
Nebraska made a bowl game every single season from 1969-2003 (35 seasons), then missed three times over the next 14 years pre-Frost. Frost missed out on a bowl game all four seasons he was head coach.
I’m painting this same picture a million ways for one reason: I think it is very funny.
People decided to believe in Frost again this year, despite his consistent diminishing returns, which had led to a 15-29 record at Nebraska to that point. Surely, this would be the year.
Losing to Northwestern in Ireland cemented what everyone should have known by now: Scott Frost no longer knows how to win a football game. The football gods gave his team momentum, and Frost returned the favor by attempting an asinine onside kick. Northwestern obviously recovered it, Northwestern obviously immediately scored a touchdown and Northwestern obviously won the game.
I would like to share a lovely passage from beng about the Northwestern win on his LoveForty newsletter:
It’s hard to explain just how bad a loss this is for Nebraska, a team that simply cannot get out of its own way. Every single year under Frost, people point to the Metrics that say the team is good, and every year Nebraska finds a way to lose every single game of consequence they play. At some point, if the math can’t quantify the Loser Effect, the math is not worth listening to.
The bright side for Frost is he was such a loser that he earned himself a payday. To be so bad at your job that the university fires you three weeks before your $15 million buyout gets cut in half is truly something special.
All Nebraska had to do was wait until October 1. The Cornhuskers play exactly one game before then: a home game against No. 6 Oklahoma. Frost was such an abomination of a coach that he was kicked to the curb the week before a game Nebraska is probably losing anyway, incredible.
Of course, Nebraska now has a shot. Maybe it’ll even be a close game, something the program no longer has to fear. Enjoy the $15 million, Scott. Alabama will need an offensive analyst soon enough.
Top 25
With a fun weekend comes some chaos. Here’s my current top 25, with the moves in my poll from last week shown in parentheses.
1.) Georgia (-)
2.) Ohio State (+1)
3.) Alabama (-1)
4.) Michigan (-)
5.) BYU (+6)
6.) Oklahoma (+1)
7.) Arkansas (+2)
8.) Clemson (-)
9.) NC State (+1)
10.) Kentucky (NEW)
11.) Oklahoma State (+1)
12.) USC (+1)
13.) Baylor (-7)
14.) Miami (Fla.) (+2)
15.) Michigan State (+4)
16.) Tennessee (NEW)
17.) Kansas State (+5)
18.) Oregon State (+5)
19.) Florida (-5)
20.) Utah (-)
21.) Wake Forest (+3)
22.) Air Force (+3)
23.) North Carolina (NEW)
24.) Marshall (NEW)
25.) Appalachian State (NEW)
Some thoughts:
Georgia is the clear No. 1 for me at the moment, and Ohio State moves up by default. Alabama looked really bad against Texas, and will need to prove something on offense to move up.
BYU deserves a top five ranking. The Cougars were without their top two receivers against a terrific opponent in Baylor, and survived some special team issues on the way to a huge overtime victory. There’s another big one against Oregon this weekend, but I love everything I’ve seen from BYU thus far.
Kentucky not being in last week’s top 25 was an oversight on my end, and I have adjusted that here in a big way. I’m not sure how good Florida is yet, but the Wildcats run a tremendous offensive scheme and play to their strengths about as good as anyone. This team is going to be an issue in the SEC.
Nos. 16-18 excite me. Tennessee’s offense looked legit against Pitt, and that win debuts them relatively high. Kansas State and Oregon State both look terrific and should be ranked in the AP Poll. The Wildcats thumped Missouri and the Beavers won a battle with Fresno State, both of which are some big, big wins for the respective programs.
Welcome back Sam Hartman. Wake Forest is good and will likely move up here soon.
Air Force rocks people. Get with it. The Falcons ran for 435 yards in a demolition of Colorado, and look to be the favorites in the Mountain West.
North Carolina moves up based on old results with new information. That App State win — and putting up 63 points against that defense — looks even better in hindsight. The Georgia State win was nothing exciting, but hell, the Tar Heels are 3-0, so let’s have them here.
Marshall and App State were the major victors of the weekend, and they deserve this spot. The Thundering Herd absolutely took it to Notre Dame, while the Mountaineers controlled the ball for 40+ minutes against Texas A&M. Those performances are worthy of top 25 placements.
Charlotte Football Is Still Bad
Real quick update for the people who are wondering How It’s Going Over Here.
It’s bad. Charlotte’s defense is completely incapable of making stops, and the 49ers lost to Maryland 56-21. Here’s how bad the Charlotte defense is: The Terrapins did not face a single third down until the middle of the second quarter. Maryland had 28 points before having to attempt a third down. Good.
I actually don’t mind what Charlotte is doing offensively, all things considered. Xavier Williams started this game while Chris Reynolds continues to recover, and he looked good once again (19/35, 191 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT). The star trio of receivers were great, combining for 228 receiving yards and three scores between them.
The run game is still not ideal, but the offense is not the problem through three games. So far, the defense has not shown the ability to do literally anything well. Now, Charlotte travels to the same Georgia State team that nearly took down North Carolina. Optimism is low.
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