Pump the brakes on the Nebraska football hype train

Nebraska football was picked by many to win the Big Ten West but after their opener vs. South Alabama, it’s time to pump the brakes on the hype train.

It took seven games for Nebraska to get their first win under Scott Frost as head coach. The Huskers got a 35-21 win in the season opener vs. South Alabama but it was ugly and should dampen expectations for Year 2.

A win is a win, yes, but it was a nightmare for Nebraska fans watching their team struggled mightily on offense. The Memorial Stadium crowd was as loud as a library during Finals Week entering the fourth quarter. If not for a pair of defensive touchdowns and a special teams touchdown, Nebraska would have suffered an embarrassing loss.

This was a season that was met with high expectations that a Big Ten West championship could in store. The Big Ten West is relatively wide-open so there was a chance for Nebraska to make some noise, and there still is, but they have a lot of work to do before that is a reality and not an aspirational goal.

Much of the faith behind Nebraska this season, despite a 4-8 record a year ago, was rooted in how Frost transformed UCF in Year 2. He took a UCF team that went 6-7 in his first year and went 13-0 with a Peach Bowl win and a No. 6 ranking in the final AP Poll.

Further, the assumed development of sophomore quarterback, Adrian Martinez, who was mentioned behind Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields on the shortlist of Heisman candidates who can beat Tua Tagovailoa and Trevor Lawrence.

https://twitter.com/LeftyShamus/status/1167873247754342402

That never felt right and it looks incredibly generous after the opener when the offense couldn’t move the ball. If Nebraska can’t move the ball vs. South Alabama, how are they going to do so against Iowa, Wisconsin and Northwestern?

Martinez completed 13-of-22 passes for 178 yards and an interception. He didn’t throw a touchdown. He ran for six yards on 13 carries.

“It’s no secret as an offense we played horrible, Martinez said after the game.”

His struggles hurt the running game that was so inconsequential Frost had to turn to Maurice Washington. He is the running back facing child pornography charges in California.

If Nebraska is going to be a contender and not a preseason media darling, they have to get improved play by Martinez. He looked nothing like a Heisman contender.

The Blackshirts defense is a welcome sight for a Nebraska fanbase that remembers the dominant days of the Huskers defense instilling fear in the opposing offense.

Multiple defensive scores aren’t sustainable. Special teams scores aren’t sustainable.

As bad as the opener was, it can serve as a wake-up call for Nebraska and there is plenty of room for improvement.

The preseason hype that followed Nebraska was there for a reason. There is plenty of reason to believe in Martinez being a difference-maker in Frost’s system. However, I’d caution Nebraska fans that it’ll take some time. This was a significant rebuild Frost inherited and it isn’t going to be a quick-fix where you slap some duck tape on it and it’s good to go.

This will require multiple Top-20 recruiting classes to stock the roster with talent, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. They need more speed on the perimeter at receiver and cornerback. They will get there in time. Frost is the man to get Nebraska back to competing for conference titles and eventual a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Before you can run with Usain Bolt, however, you need to make sure you don’t trip over yourselves in the starting blocks.

The hype was a little bit too soon for Nebraska. Chalk it up to exuberance with a blueblood program in the infancy stages of turning it around. We’ve seen it at Texas. There are often some false starts when it comes to determining when a program is back.

Nebraska isn’t back yet, but they’re on the right track.

It’s not a runaway train operating at full speed. But I’d recommend pumping the brakes when calling Nebraska a Big Ten West challenger.

Certainly not until Martinez and the running game start to get on track.