Nebraska Football: Playoff expansion could hasten Scott Frost decision

With the College Football Playoff officially expanding to 12 teams by 2026 at the absolute latest, it’s natural for Nebraska football fans to wonder how this move might affect them.

The obvious joke here is that Husker fans don’t need to worry about it since they’re not going to be sniffing the playoffs for the foreseeable future. But there is a real and worthwhile question in there, especially when you consider that six of the playoff spots are going to be “at-large bids.” As long as you realize that no, the Nebraska football team is not going to the playoffs this year and that yes, lots of things can happen between now and 2026, it’s not all that strange to start thinking about a playoff game in Memorial Stadium in the future.

Once dreams of a playoff game in Lincoln start dancing through Huskers fans’ minds another question should be popping up. Is Scott Frost the guy to get the Nebraska football team to the playoffs? This article is less about whether or not he is the guy. This particular article is about how that question might affect what happens next.

Following a disappointing loss to open the 2022 season to the Northwestern Wildcats, it’s not going out on a limb to say that Husker Nation is more than a little nervous about what the rest of the season holds.

However, while many people would say that 2022 is a make-it or break-it season for Frost, there is some debate on what constitutes “make it.” There are plenty of Nebraska football fans out there that are willing to give Frost another season to prove himself if he goes 7-5 this year. Some are okay with “just making a bowl,” so 6-6 is acceptable. There are even some out there that have argued that 5-7 is acceptable as long as there are no bad losses (feels like we’ve already seen one of those) and he gets a few good wins.

The majority of Cornhusker fans at the moment seem to think patience is key. He did after all just hire a new offensive coaching staff and is breaking in a plethora of new starting players including at running back, quarterback and wide receiver. There’s quite a few newbies on defense as well.

However, I can’t help but think the math changed on Friday afternoon. Suddenly, Nebraska football went from knowing it had to be right at the top of the college football world in order to have a shot at the playoffs, to having an outside shot at a National Championship by pulling off some upsets.

The reality is that the Huskers are still no where near good enough to make a 12 team play-off field. But they’re closer to that 12th spot than they are the 4th. And it’s possible a Trev Alberts who was willing to wait and see for a few more years if Scott Frost can pull it all together will feel a sense of urgency to get this thing turned around faster.

Nebraska football has a shot at the playoffs, if it can right the ship

Certainly, you would hope that if AD Trev Alberts decides to keep Frost after this season, it’s because he really sees something that’s convinced him that the former Huskers QB is truly the Nebraska football coach of the future. But all his comments last year don’t point to an AD that’s sure things are going to work out.

Before anyone thinks its outrageous to even be talking about the playoffs at this point, it’s important to note that when ESPN went and looked at what the playoffs field would have been from 2014 to now, there were a handful of 9-3 or 10-3 squads that made the cut. Considering more than a few people predicted the Nebraska football team would be 8-4 this year, they don’t appear that far off.

While it seems like a given that Scott Frost is going to get another year if he gets this team to a bowl, it’s possible that the lure of an expedited path to the playoffs might have Alberts taking a much harder look at just how much progress is made by the Nebraska football team when the smoke clears on the 2022 season.