Oddsmakers believe Scott Frost brings Nebraska (almost) back in 2020

The Big Ten odds are out and the oddsmakers are putting a lot of faith in Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Scott Frost entering his third season.

When Nebraska lured Scott Frost away from UCF and back to his alma mater, it was a reason to celebrate and expect the Cornhuskers would quickly be back to winning conference titles.

It hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. In his first season, Frost and Nebraska went 4-8 in his first season there. That’s okay, some of the best coaches in the country have a rough first season. Nick Saban’s first year at Alabama, he went 7-6. Dabo Swinney lost three of his first four games after taking over the Clemson Tigers. Obviously, they turned out to be dominant coaches.

The latest Big Ten odds are out and the Huskers have faith behind them.

Nebraska has the sixth-best odds to win the conference at 30/1. They still trail Wisconsin and Minnesota in their own division but being ahead of Iowa is a nice show of faith that Frost has the Huskers trending in the right direction for his third year back in Lincoln.

Whether Frost can get Nebraska to make a big leap or if it’ll be a small step hinges on the play of quarterback Adrian Martinez.

He came to Nebraska with a great deal of hype as the first quarterback Frost pegged as his guy but he’s had an inconsistent first two years. Nebraska has an interesting prospect in Luke McCaffrey, who very well might be the starting quarterback that would take them to a good record. He’s extremely athletic, and even if Martinez remains the starting quarterback, McCaffrey will have a role in this offense.

Nebraska has an extremely athletic defense and an offense with a lot of upside. The running backs Dedrick Mills and Sevion Morrison are a really good one-two punch. Mills is going to be a horse in that backfield. He built some momentum at the end of last season and is making the most of his shot with the Cornhuskers. He was a star in the making at Georgia Tech, but he didn’t make the most of his shot and now has to make it work in the Big Ten.

No matter what, any success from Nebraska will come at the hands of Frost. There is a lot of talent on this team, but going up against Big Ten competition is no joke. Nebraska will for sure be the underdog against Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State and Wisconsin. They also have Cincinnati on the schedule. To be bowl eligible in the Frost era, they either have to upset a team within their division like Wisconsin or Minnesota, or they have to avoid upsets against Iowa, Illinois, or any other team they will be favorites against.

It’s clear that Frost is on thin ice. Going three-straight seasons without a winning record, and the fact that UCF has been just as good with Josh Heupel as head coach makes Frost look worse.

However, the oddsmakers believe in Frost and think Nebraska is on its way up. It’s definitely not out of the question that Nebraska could end up as a team that may end up being ranked if everything goes right, but it’s surprising oddsmakers believe it will go right.

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