When I wrote my Nebraska preview last week, I thought I was mostly kidding about the fact that Scott Frost may not be employed by the time the Hoosiers head to Lincoln on Oct. 1. In firing four offensive assistant coaches and taking a million dollar pay cut to keep his job, I thought Frost had job security at least through this season.

Unfortunately for Scott Frost, Nebraska’s first game featured a matchup with Scott Frost’s greatest nemesis: Scott Frost.

Up 28-17 versus a Northwestern team that was projected to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten, Frost elected to kick an onside kick that Nebraska, predictably, failed to recover, setting up Northwestern to score just five plays later. According to ESPN, Nebraska became the first team to lose seven straight games by single digits.

Frost is now openly being asked whether he would consider resigning in his postgame press conferences, so the possibility of him being let go before the season ends now seems like less of a joke.

Perhaps fortunately for the Hoosiers, it’s unlikely to be before the two teams meet on October 1st, since Frost’s buyout drops by $7.5 million after that date. This gives Indiana the unique opportunity to be the nail in the coffin for Frost’s tenure at Nebraska.

Why this matters

While the natural goal for any college football program is to reach a bowl game, it’s frankly difficult to project whether a first year offensive coordinator will make the necessary improvements to an offense that failed to win a game in the conference last year. Assessing the odds of bowl eligibility becomes even more difficult when you don’t know who will be under center for the Hoosiers.

Indiana also has a history with Scott Frost as the team he allegedly specifically requested to appear on the Cornhusker’s schedule more often before the Hoosiers beat Frost in Lincoln in 2019, the only matchup between the teams during his tenure.

Nebraska fans also booed Indiana players who were down with legitimate injuries, as their own fans admit in the safety of their Husker message boards. Disclaiming Scott Frost and his losing ways does not compensate for being awful to college athletes.

Going into this matchup, I think most Indiana fans understood this matchup to be important, even if only for bragging rights. It sucks to lose to Losers, and Scott Frost is a Professional Loser.

The spiteful part of me wants Nebraska fans to be stuck with him forever, though it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Frost will not be employed through the remainder of his contract that extends through 2026. In a season where bowl eligibility and a shot at the Old Oaken Bucket may be in jeopardy, getting Scott Frost fired suddenly becomes one of the most achievable goals for the Hoosiers.

Realistically, the loss to Northwestern in Dublin may have sealed the deal on Frost’s fate barring a turnaround of wild proportions regardless of what the Hoosiers manage to do against him in Lincoln (again, assuming they don’t just bite the bullet and fire him before then).

Still, the opportunity to get Frost ousted after his (alleged) comments about the Hoosiers is great bulletin board material and may end up being one of the great hoosier moral victories of all time.