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Take Two: What are the Huskers' expectations for Scott Frost?

Scott Frost
Scott Frost (AP Images)

Take Two returns with a daily offering tackling a handful of issues in the college football landscape. Rivals.com National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney lays out the situation and then receives takes from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and a local expert from the Rivals.com network of team sites.

MORE TAKE TWO: Will Ole Miss QB Shea Patterson transfer to Michigan?

THE STORYLINE

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Scott Frost has been hired at Nebraska, he’s assembling his staff, firing off offers and starting the process of rebuilding the Huskers’ program.

After Mike Riley’s third season ended at 4-8, the Huskers moved on and found their man - a former player, a state native, someone who quickly turned around the UCF program in two years.

Frost at Nebraska makes sense. But what expectations make sense?

The Big Ten West has been dominated by Wisconsin recently and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon but the division is wide open for a team to emerge. Could that be Nebraska? Northwestern, Purdue, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois hardly strike fear in the rest of the Big Ten.

The Huskers last won 10 games in 2012. Under former coach Bo Pelini, Nebraska was 67-27, all seasons with nine or 10 wins. Victory in Lincoln is definitely possible but what exactly are the expectations?

Regular Big Ten titles? Shots at the College Football Playoff? Or is Frost’s charge to bring back the Huskers to legitimacy in the conference? That could be the first step - and if recruiting takes shape, brighter days could be coming to a starved fan base aching for a return to national prominence.

FIRST TAKE: SEAN CALLAHAN, HUSKERONLINE.COM

“The biggest expectation is getting Nebraska back to a more consistent brand and level of football. It's been such a roller-coaster of emotions the last 15 years, and he should be able to add much needed stability and unity.

“As far as what the fan expectations are, Nebraska needs to be in a spot where they are more competitive in the Big Ten West first and foremost. That's where it starts. Mike Riley was 0-6 against Wisconsin and Iowa. Nebraska has everything in place where they should never be 0-6 against those two programs in a three-year period. If you can win the West, as we saw Saturday with Wisconsin, you get a shot on a neutral field against the East and anything can happen.”

SECOND TAKE: MIKE FARRELL, RIVALS.COM

“You start with the West. I don’t know if he has a 'lifetime contract' but you have to think it’s similar to Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. He’s a well-respected and loved alum who will get every opportunity to win there.

“You look more at Northwestern when you’re talking about expectations. Try to win the West, try to win eight, nine, 10 games a year and take it from there. I don’t think expectations for Nebraska should be the playoff and national championships, at least not at this point.”

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