Nebraska’s wild, two-month ride saw the end of Scott Frost and rise of Mickey Joseph

“I need rest,” Thompson said to a tent full of reporters. “You know, we all need it.”

He was talking about his body and those of his teammates.

He could have been talking the whole existential enterprise that is Husker football.

NU had endured a whirlwind, unprecedented two months that included a trip to Ireland, the firing of a head coach, the subsequent firing of a defensive coordinator, and the eventual progress that led to a 2-1 record in its last three contests.

Eight weeks, seven games, three wins, four losses, roughly 20,000 round trip miles in road travel, two different ‘90s Husker quarterbacks as head coach, two different ‘90s Husker offensive players behind the radio mic as analyst, 20 sacks allowed and three blocked punts, at least $16 million paid in buyout money, 15-to-20 vomits per practice and thousands of free beers in Ireland’s Aviva Stadium.

One fake sellout in New Jersey, one sellout streak still alive in Memorial Stadium, one glorious pep rally on a grassy knoll in Dublin, one ill-timed onside kick up 11 on Northwestern that started the quick demise of Scott Frost, and one Sun Belt team, Georgia Southern, that triggered a “Fire Frost” chant. One athletic director, Trev Alberts, who did just that to Frost during their final Sunday chat. Whose search for a new coach continues.

Yeah, everybody might need some rest.

Here’s a short, two-narrative stroll through a long two months.

To his final press conference as Nebraska’s coach, Frost wore a gray hoodie with Herbie Husker on it.

“I certainly didn’t expect that tonight,” Frost said after the 45-42 Georgia Southern loss. He, along with soon-to-be-fired defensive coordinator Erik Chinander, expected a far better Nebraska defense than the one that’s taken the field this season.

Although reporters get roughly one hour of practice viewing each training camp, observers who saw scrimmages said NU’s defense, while perhaps lacking an elite defender and a great defensive line, still got the upper hand on a transfer-laden offense that had a single captain, tight end Travis Vokolek.

But Nebraska’s D, having lost super-seniors at all three levels, collapsed in Ireland, where NU loved how it had prepared for the Northwestern game. It looked small and overmatched in a 31-28 loss to the Wildcats, who haven’t a won game since. Inexperience reserves would enter the game, be responsible for huge busts against Northwestern’s formational wrinkles, and exit. Numerous Huskers — including inside linebackers Nick Henrich and Luke Reimer — got hurt, too, starting a trend that has lingered all season.

The defense then looked timid against Georgia Southern, which played pitch and catch like it was a Wednesday practice drill. NU’s pass rushers couldn’t reach quarterback Kyle Vantrease, who completed basic slants against cornerbacks too tepid to break on the ball.

And, as safety Myles Farmer said in September the Huskers simply hadn’t tackled that much in practice.

One separate source confirmed that NU didn’t tackle as much as it could, in part because offensive position coaches, over Frost’s tenure, didn’t like their players getting too roughed up during the week. This is a common dance of egos, interests and wills that plays out on a college football staff, and if Frost — who brought his assistants wholecloth from Central Florida five years ago — had to balance loyalties, his immediate successor, Mickey Joseph, minced no words on the subject.

“You can’t attack the tackling issue without tackling,” Joseph said two days after Frost was fired. So, Nebraska started tackling more.

Four days after that, Nebraska got rolled 49-14 by Oklahoma. A pressure-heavy plan installed by Chinander was hit-and-miss, and a plan to limit OU’s possessions to six in each half backfired when NU’s offense, coordinated by Mark Whipple, registered four drives fewer than two minutes in its first five possessions of the game.

The Sooners’ six possessions became eight in the first half. OU overwhelmed a defense trying to shift on the fly.

“I should have slowed the ball down and huddled and took some possessions away from Oklahoma,” Joseph said.

By then, he had fired Chinander and installed special teams coordinator Bill Busch as the defensive guru. Busch removed some of Chinander’s more detailed calls and focused on making sure that, at the snap, NU players were looking at the offense rather than scrambling to get aligned. Defensive linemen were tasked with holding up blockers and not getting shoved out of gaps. The Huskers installed, too, a true freshman corner, Malcolm Hartzog, to play more aggressively than Tommi Hill and Braxton Clark previously had.

The result, at least for two games, was second-half shutouts in wins over Indiana (35-21) and Rutgers (14-13) who fired their own position coaches in the weeks and days following their losses to NU.

“They played their ass off,” Busch said to a reporter as he walked off the RU field. He’d already hugged many defenders and he’d find several more.

Joseph, finding his way into a small room that practically buzzed yelps and hollers outside, tried to put into words what he’d seen from the team since Frost’s firing.

“You’re happy for them,” Joseph said. “They’ve been beat up for a long time. But now they’re feeling the pressure that they know how to win.”

Alberts can pack a lot into a few sentences. On the November 2021 day he retained Frost, the Husker A.D. — just months into his relationship with the coach — was blunt about the odds of Frost working.

“There’s not a lot of empirical data out there to suggest this will work, let’s be honest,” Alberts said. “But I also think, if there’s a decision point — whether it’s football or anything else, you know, Scott’s a brother, he’s a Husker, and he’s a Nebraskan.”

Frost got the extra year — at a reduced salary, with a metric page that restored his original salary if he won six games — because of the last three qualities.

By the time Alberts delivered those words in his office, Frost had already fired most of his offensive staff. A few weeks later, in a meeting, he basically parted ways with quarterback Adrian Martinez, who transferred to Kansas State. Frost had to rebuild his bread-and-butter — offense.

His first hire? Not offensive coordinator Mark Whipple. It was Joseph.

His next quarterback? Not a guy who came here solely because of Whipple. First, Thompson reached out to Joseph.

Casey’s dad, Charles, knew Joseph from their days as Oklahoma and Nebraska option quarterbacks in the 1980s. In leaving Texas, Charles and Casey kicked the tires on NU by talking to Joseph, Charles said at the Big Red Breakfast, before they even talked to Frost.

The family picked the Huskers for a variety of reasons, including a NIL package more competitive than many schools. But Joseph was a linchpin.

“He’s a big part of the reason why we’re here,” Thompson said.

Joseph was the reason LSU receiver Trey Palmer — who led the nation last week in receiving yards — transferred to Nebraska, as well.

“My son trusts Coach Mickey,” said Raymonda Callahan, Palmer’s mother.

Frost, according to a source, was unsure that Thompson, who required surgery to his hand this summer, would hold onto the starting quarterback job throughout the season. Thompson had looked far better in training camp than he had in spring, but Frost was intrigued by backup Chubba Purdy’s dual-threat skillset, which mirrored that of Martinez.

In the season-opening drive against Northwestern, Thompson answered skeptics. He led a scoring drive capped off by a perfectly-placed, 32-yard touchdown throw. In part due to poor protection, he’d throw costly interceptions in the second half, but Thompson had cemented his hold on the starting job. That didn’t change in the Georgia Southern loss — when he completed 24 of 34 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown.

Thompson threw the game-winning 71-yard touchdown to Palmer against Indiana. He threw the game-winning 27-yard touchdown pass to Palmer at Rutgers. He peeled himself repeatedly off the turf after getting smacked by defenders.

“Two games this year, I took a couple hits to the jaw,” Thompson said. And to the ribs, the legs, the shoulder — you name it.

“Casey’s tough,” Joseph said. “Casey’s going to play. If Casey can get that ball out of his hand, he’s going to play.”

To the tune of 354 yards at Purdue, Thompson got the ball out of his hand — mostly to Palmer, who set a school record with 237 receiving yards. The offense that broke down last season flew high in a shootout with Purdue, which dragged NU’s defense for 101 plays, 608 yards and 43 points. The Huskers’ D ranks last in the Big Ten in yards allowed, and 13th in points allowed. Eleventh in time of possession, too — Whipple’s still burning through plays at a breakneck pace. Joseph has boldly shelved the Blackshirts for the rest of the season. They’re not coming back, he said, until 2023 at the earliest.

The defense that partially cost Frost his job, and the offense patched together by the first hire he made in his staff rebuild, defined the first part of the 2022 season. The larger failure of the Frost era — set against the backdrop of four previous seasons, including the defining 2019 campaign, is a deeper lesson from the next permanent head coach — whether it’s Joseph or someone else — can learn.

The second half slate of teams — No. 18 Illinois, Minnesota, No. 4 Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa — feature far stingier defenses and, in a few cases, feckless offenses. The Huskers haven’t beaten any of them in more than three years. They may not still.

But Joseph, in the month he’s had the team, appears to given NU a puncher’s chance in each game. Nebraska embraced a mantra in its win at Rutgers.

“Let’s keep swingin, and, at the end, come out on top,” Joseph said.

Eighth round, ‘comin up.