If Nebraska is patient with him (I would suspect they will be with his history and all) I think he'll get them to where they are a tough out. How fast I'm not sure. Their D needs overhauled to say the least and that takes time. (Ask Illinois)Offensively he'll have weapons to play with and he'll be aggressive. So recruiting offensive lineman will be his tougher task. He's already getting skill guys tripping over themselves to go play for him and his style/scheme has proven to be effective. What kind of growing pains will he have with being in the BIG and rebuilding a team like that is anyones guess but I won't be surprised if within a few years he's making legitimate waves.
Is Scott Frost the next PJ Fleck?
- Thread starter WinOneThisCentury
- Start date
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
Yep. Admittedly I only saw a couple of UCF games last year, but they seemed to live on tempo and big plays. The problem with that is even mediocre teams can shut you down with a weather assist, which you will have to deal with at least 3 times a year in the B1G. So even if he gets everything running just like he wants, he's probably still going to have that same 9-3 ceiling that Pelini kept running into. Maybe he can improve on it by a game, but he ain't gonna straight up beat most of the better teams from the East nor will he straight up beat Wisconsin and when the weather sucks he's gonna drop one to a team like Iowa, Purdue, Minnesota or Northwestern. Nebraska probably should have just hired Jim Leonhard and hoped to take steps to get back to the top of the West. Then, they have to be content with getting a soft crossover schedule and getting in the playoff picture like Iowa did back in 2015 and hoping for 2 or 3 teams like that per decade. I honestly think that is the absolute high point that a B1G West team can hit in the current climate. Being in the playoff hunt the first week of December is really the best you can hope for.
WinOneThisCentury
Well-Known Member
I love how everyone talks about UCF and how great they were. I have to tell you...they were a very good football team offensively...but average defensively. Unless Frost can figure out at the last minute how to get UConn, Austin Peay, East Carolina, Temple, Maine, and South Florida on his schedule this year like they were last year...I think it's going to be alot tougher for him.
It's one thing to go to Temple and win...it's another thing to go to Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Iowa. The talent level at Nebraska right now doesn't put them above those five teams and his team is learning a new offense and a new defense. He has to address one thing and I'm just not sure one fall camp is enough to change it...physicality. You can't play finesse up front defensively with the way teams play in the B10. I think Nebraska will be better offensively...but I just don't see it on defense.
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ModebaSan
Well-Known Member
Frost will be able to make an impact in the West, but it wont be this year and probably not next year either. His UCF team ran a spread offense but the defense he had was average to below average. He will try to win by just outscoring the other team. That might work in the BIG 12, but this is the B1G. You gotta be able to play tough defense to even hope to win the divisional and/or conference title.
I’m not as worried about Campbell, he’ll be gone in 2-3 years. Frost will pose a problem, however he has a way to go to even be Paul Christ.
I live in Florida, so I saw a lot of UCF. They were an excellent team, but they had a lot of very close wins. They weren’t blowing out teams. Scoring a last second win at Memphis isn’t the same as beating
Wisconsin or Michigan
I'm in the 'prove it' mode when it comes to spread offenses in the BTen. I think back to the 2010 Rose Bowl, I believe, when Frost's Oregon Ducks and his "unstoppable offense" put up all of 17 pts vs Ohio St. Iowa put up more points vs the Buckeyes late in the same season -- in Columbus! In the BTen, Frost will be seeing a completely different quality and discipline in defenses than he's seen in the PAC 10 and whatever conference he coached in last year. I think he's a good guy, I like his creativity, and I think he's a great fit @ LIncoln. And I think he'll easily out-recruit Fleck and Ferentz. I even like his scheme -- I just don't know how it will play in 15 degree weather with a 30 mph wind. And I think it's going to take longer than "next year" to put it all together, as he is predicting.
okeefe4prez
Well-Known Member
Yep. The spread works okay for Northwestern because they are using it to mask a talent deficit and the way they run that dink and dunk it generally keeps them in games with slightly more talented teams like Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska (they've had a lot of success against those teams). But they've never beaten the top teams from the East when those teams are good. Fitz has had over 10 years to work on his system and his fans are far more understanding than Nebraska fans as well.
The hurry up spread simply doesn't work at the top level of the B1G in late October or November. RichRod tried and failed miserably. OSU mixed it in a bit, but they could line up and beat you straight up as well and they routinely have insane recruiting classes. If you go spread and have a few consecutive three and outs, the other team will start to wear down your d-line and as those 2:30 games move into darkness, if you have left your defense out for too many plays, they just won't be there in the 4th quarter. Not to mention when you catch a good Big Ten team with a good o-line, there's a darn good chance that you could take the ball to start a game, have a few short drives and be down 10 or 14 points by the end of the first quarter and that is a nearly insurmountable deficit when it's cold and windy. In short, if you want to be an elite B10 team and think the spread is your ticket to glory, you've got another thing coming.
