Not a lot today, but here’s what we have:
Nebraska’s Keeping Scott Frost
And it’s a good decision.
Part of this is, indeed, the “Nebraska probably can’t get anyone better” piece. It’s going to be hard to find a great coach for Nebraska. In a similar vein: The price of restarting a rebuild is high, and it’s not like there’s urgency to get it going again. If you’re LSU, there’s urgency, in part because there’s recent success you don’t want to lose grasp of. For Nebraska, there isn’t recent success. Ten years in the wilderness isn’t that different from nine. 20 isn’t that different from 21.
But part of it, too, is that Frost does seem to be making progress. By SP+’s postgame win expectancy, Nebraska should be 6-4, already bowl eligible. By that metric, they’ve been the unluckiest team in the FBS, and their three unluckiest losses came at home against Purdue, at home against Michigan, and on the road against Michigan State. Take those away and Nebraska’s season script says that they bounced back from an opening loss to Illinois to go on a 6-3 run, with losses to two playoff contenders and a Minnesota team that’s flawed but not outright bad. Entering last week, the Huskers were ranked 24th in SP+ overall. That’s only fourth in the Big Ten West, but it’s also just one spot behind Oregon.
Next year, the Huskers open in Dublin against Northwestern before playing a slate featuring seven home games. Their only road trips are to Rutgers, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. At home, the toughest opponent is Oklahoma, followed by either Minnesota, Indiana, or Purdue. If they win all their clear “take care of business” games (North Dakota, Georgia Southern, Northwestern, Rutgers, Illinois), they can make a bowl just by beating Indiana. If Oklahoma’s as disappointing as they’ve been this year, Nebraska could go to Ann Arbor 6-0, coming off a bye week. Is it likely? No. But the path is there. Another shot on Frost is worth it, even if it means acknowledging that success right now might be just being in the mix behind Wisconsin in the West.
A Quiet Two Days of College Hoops
Nothing big last night, nothing big on paper tonight. We had a rough night with the bets, losing two picks by one possession and one pick by two possessions, but we’re back at it with these two this evening. The first tips off here soon. Sorry, UNI friends.
How Much Attrition?
In the football world, UNC goes to Pitt tonight in a game with Power Five title implications, meaning we’re really kicking off Week 11. There are no huge clashes on the week, but of the thirteen teams we can loosely call playoff-relevant, the most likely outcome is that four will lose. Here’s what’s going down.
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In terms of viewing tonight, I’d recommend UNC/Pitt, partially because there isn’t much else on in our realms, and partially because the Vegas implied score is something like 38-31 or 40-34. Could be higher. Shootout time.
