How does Nebraska football get back on track?

College football teams are turning the page to the 2020 season. For several of the sport's historic programs, the urgency to improve is greater than ever. We are examining four teams that have fallen on hard times and diagnosing what each needs to do to get back on track this fall.

After breaking down USC, we turn toward the heartland and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Nebraska's transition to the Big Ten (no league titles, only one division title) and to coach Scott Frost (9-12) has been turbulent. The Huskers have missed a bowl game for three consecutive seasons, marking their coldest stretch since a seven-year spell between 1955 and 1961. Frost, universally labeled as the coach to restore his alma mater to national glory, started his tenure 0-6 in 2018, and then dropped five of the final six contests this past season.

Nebraska doesn't resemble the team of the 1990s. It hasn't won a conference title since 1999. And it hasn't resembled the program the Big Ten anticipated adding, the one that reached the Big 12 title game in its final two years in the league.

How does Nebraska regain its footing, perhaps not as an annual national contender but one that has relevance in the Midwest? We spoke with coaches and analyzed past and current recruiting rankings to examine Nebraska's path forward.

Recruiting

Frost had an interesting re-entry to Nebraska from a recruiting perspective. He had just finished an undefeated season at UCF, and the thought of a young coach trending upward was appealing to Nebraska and its fans, which in turn brought a lot of hype.

It might have created some unreal expectations of what he could deliver in a short amount of time at Nebraska, though, given what he was able to do at UCF. After all, he was now recruiting against a completely different talent pool in a completely different situation, and while he was able to turn UCF into an exciting program, he wouldn't necessarily be able to go the same way at Nebraska with the same blueprint.

For example, in Frost's 2017 class at UCF, 16 of the 22 total commitments were from the state of Florida. While Frost was able to sign six high school prospects from Florida in his first class at Nebraska, there were none in 2019 and seven in 2020. He will only be able to supplement his classes with Florida prospects at Nebraska, rather than building the foundation around them as he did at UCF.

That isn't a negative if the coaches can go across the country into fertile recruiting grounds to land recruits, because that's what Nebraska needs. The problem is, they need to make sure they're evaluating the right prospects and bringing in the right recruits to help build the roster.

Coaches will say that the further away from home they recruit, the harder it is to gather recruiting intel and information on prospects. That makes it harder for teams to evaluate the right type of prospect because they aren't in their backyard with information readily at their fingertips on how that recruit might develop in their program.

In Frost's first recruiting class at Nebraska, he and his staff immediately targeted quarterback Adrian Martinez, who is from California. On paper, it seemed like a good start to build up the roster given he landed the quarterback he wanted. Frost and his staff also landed ESPN 300 recruits Maurice Washington, Cameron Jurgens and CJ Smith, and sprinkled in five junior college prospects to try to get immediate help.

That class finished ranked 21st overall, and the ranking went up to 18th in 2019 after Frost landed five ESPN 300 recruits, including quarterback Luke McCaffrey and athlete Wan'Dale Robinson. In 2020, Nebraska finished with six ESPN 300 recruits and the No. 24-ranked class.

However, a big part of the problem for Frost and his rebuild has been along the offensive and defensive lines, as well as finding playmakers on offense.

It's easy to see the staff has put an emphasis up front, as they brought in 28 offensive and defensive line recruits, junior college prospects and transfers from the three classes in 2017 to 2019. Those groups often take more time to turn around than most, so there hasn't been a lot of help on the field just yet.

They have also tried to add difference-makers on offense with 21 wide receivers and running backs in the three recruiting classes. The effort and strategy haven't been bad; it's now waiting and seeing whether Frost's evaluations are correct and whether his staff can develop the recruits they landed into a better team.

What coaches are saying

Big Ten coaches voiced skepticism about Nebraska last summer after the Huskers appeared in the preseason Top 25 and were a popular pick to win the West Division despite a 4-8 record in 2018. Coaches liked Martinez and the quick-strike ability of Frost's offense, but the adulation seemed premature.

"Everybody crowned Nebraska," one Big Ten defensive coordinator said. "They were what I thought."

It's not a one-time thing, either.

"Every year, they get hyped up as one of the better teams," a Big Ten assistant said. "They're very average."

Nebraska's personnel hasn't wowed Big Ten coaches for some time, especially on defense. When the Huskers entered the conference in 2011, they had all-conference defenders like cornerback Alfonzo Dennard and linebacker Lavonte David, along with other key contributors like Will Compton, Daimion Stafford, Cam Meredith and Baker Steinkuhler. Nebraska had several holdovers -- Compton, Meredith, Steinkuhler, defensive tackle Jared Crick -- from a historically elite 2009 defense, led by AP Player of the Year Ndamukong Suh.

Coach Bo Pelini's defenses eventually dropped off a bit in talent and never dominated the Big Ten, but they didn't bottom out, either. Since 2017, Nebraska ranks 89th nationally in both yards allowed and touchdowns allowed (tie), and 106th in third-down defense. The venerated Blackshirt defense seems like a distant memory, and some coaches wonder how much the D can improve when paired with Frost's offense.

"They've been bad for a long time," a Big Ten offensive coordinator said. "If you look defensively where he's been, they were bad. If you look at those tempo [offenses], they usually don't play very good defense because it's hard to get better in practice."

After only one defender received first- or second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2019 -- cornerback Lamar Jackson, who is graduating -- Nebraska must identify and develop better on defense to challenge Wisconsin and others in the Big Ten West. Since the Big Ten split into East and West divisions, only one West winner (Northwestern, 2018) had a defense that ranked outside the top 20 nationally in points allowed.

Coaches are more bullish on Nebraska's offense, especially players like Robinson, whom a Big Ten defensive coordinator called "phenomenal -- one of the best players in this league." The Huskers need a bounce-back year from Martinez, who put up incredible numbers as a true freshman (2,617 pass yards, 64.6% completion percentage, 17-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio, 626 rush yards), but dropped off just about everywhere last season (1,956 pass yards, 59.4% completion percentage, 10-9 touchdown-to-interception ratio).

"He can create some plays, but then all of a sudden, when the game's on the line, is he consistent enough to do it?" a Big Ten coach said. "So far, in two years, he's not shown that. There is some talent there. It's just not consistent enough. Part of it is they crowned him a little bit too early. He may come out and blow it away [in 2020]. But at some point, they've got to pull him aside and go, 'Hey man, you've got to quit doing your own thing.'"

Coaches say Nebraska is just average on the offensive line, traditionally one of its stronger groups, and has some good complementary skill players with Robinson. But Frost's best offenses always have had a plus player at quarterback, whether it was Marcus Mariota at Oregon or McKenzie Milton at UCF. The Big Ten West isn't loaded with elite-level quarterbacks, and Martinez has the skills to keep Nebraska in every game. As a Big Ten coach told me before last season, "He stirs the drink there."

But Nebraska also must refine its identity on offense -- "like the flavor of the week," a Big Ten assistant said, noting Robinson's use as a running back last season. Although the option days are gone, the Huskers can still be one of the more effective units in the Big Ten.