Questions
Over the past 60 years, there have been seven head football coaches at Nebraska: Bob Devaney, Tom Osborne, Frank Solich, Bill Callahan, Bo Pelini, Mike Riley and Scott Frost. Only three had losing records their first year: Callahan (5-6), Riley (6-7) and Frost (4-8). Besides their losing records, what else do these coaches have in common?
The answer is below.
Gopher The Gold?
First year coach Matt Rhule will begin his first season as the Husker head football coach next month when Nebraska travels to Minnesota.
If Nebraska wins that game, Matt Rhule's coaching career could be off to a 4-0 start. That's assuming the Huskers also beat Colorado, Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech before hosting Big Ten and national powerhouse Michigan on September 30th.
All Nebraska would need to have a winning record would is to win three more games the rest of the season. That would seem to be doable even in Matt Rhule's first year. But what if the Huskers lose to Minnesota and then to Michigan? The Huskers would be 0-2 in conference play and 3-2 overall going into October
Would an 0-2 conference record give Husker fans pause to believe Matt Rhule is the savior of Husker football?
Maybe.
With a 3-2 record, The Huskers would have to eke out four more wins over the next seven games just to have a winning record.
It's possible. The remaining games after Michigan are @Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, @Michigan State, Maryland, @Wisconsin and Iowa. Last year, Nebraska faced 5 of those same teams (Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin and Iowa) losing to all but Iowa.
Yes, I know that was last year. There's a new sheriff in town this year. For now, the Minnesota game may prove to be much bigger than just another game.
The answer
So what else do Bill Callahan, Mike Riley and Scott Frost have in common?
All three were eventually fired.
How Bout Them Huskers
This week's podcast episode, Will and I review the new Husker football commits, including 4-star TE Carter Nelson (Nebraska), 4-star Athlete Jacory Barney (Florida), 4-star DL Carlon Jones (Texas), 3-star RB Kewan Lacy (Texas) and 3-star WR Quinn Clark (Montana). We also talk about Amy William's latest '24 commit, 6-2 forward Amiah Hargrove from Christopher, Illinois.
