Ohio State football: OSU/Nebraska offers a tale of two coaches

Ohio State. Nebraska. There was a time not that long ago when Ohio State/Nebraska meant Woody Hayes and Tom Osborne, or John Cooper and Osborne, or Frank Solich and Jim Tressel. It meant pageantry, tradition, and a lot of run-heavy football. It meant conference titles and national title possibilities. And now, it means Ryan Day versus whoever the Cornhuskers run through their program as fodder for the coaching grist mill.

It wasn’t that long ago that Nebraska ran off Bo Pellini because he went 9-4 every year. Seriously, Pelini’s seasons at Nebraska went: 9-4, 10-4, 10-4, 9-4, 10-4, 9-4, 9-3. Not good enough. Since 2014, when Pelini was forced out, Nebraska has a single winning season. Mike Riley reached Pelini’s 9-4 mark in 2016, but since he sandwiched it between 5-7 and 4-8 seasons, he didn’t last. Enter Scott Frost. He’d proven his offensive bona fides as a successful head coach at Central Florida. He was a Nebraska alum, a guy who could embrace the program’s tradition (unlike Riley), but also update it with a new-age offense that might not bring to mind Tommy Frazier’s Huskers.

To say that it’s been rough going for Frost at Nebraska is a colossal understatement. In Year 4, Frost’s record is 15-26. Another loss will clinch a 4th straight losing season for him at Nebraska. It’s a long way from Pelini’s .713 winning percentage in Lincoln.

But worse than the numbers, worse than the tumbling recruiting profile (Nebraska is 77th in the current 247sports class rankings), is the fact that Nebraska has been completely irrelevant in the Big Ten. It’s a long way since the Huskers picked up a division title back in 2012, their second year in the conference. Nebraska hasn’t beaten a ranked team since 2016, and Frost’s best conference win is probably a 30-23 home victory over unranked Penn State in the midst of last year’s COVID chaos.

Meanwhile, Ryan Day has been, to steal a Jimmy Buffett catch phrase, quietly making noise in Columbus.

Day has yet to lose a conference game well into his 3rd season. Despite being a relative newcomer to the program and a man who lacked any head coaching experience before his time in Columbus, he has done good work resettling the OSU power base that sometimes drifted under Urban Meyer. And he’s not just winning, he’s doing it in a way that makes OSU attractive to the next round of great players (see CJ Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, Tyleik Williams, etc). OSU is 4th in those 2022 recruiting rankings from 247sports. Day is emerging as Meyer without the baggage — no wandering eyes for another job, no penchant for inexplicable extra-curriculars or bizarre semi-retirements.

Admittedly, there’s plenty more in play with the status of Nebraska and Ohio State than the head coaches and their respective performances. Day followed a college football legend, even if he was a legend who could sometimes be more than a little difficult to rationalize. Frost followed Mike Riley, who was last seen working for the Seattle Dragons of the XFL.

Day has built his recruiting base largely off of reconnecting with Ohio’s in-state talent — 5 of OSU’s 16 current commits are from the state. Frost has little recruiting base with which to connect. The state of Ohio has 13 4-star or 5-star recruits in the upcoming class (per 247sports), while the state of Nebraska has just 2. Ohio State has stayed within the Big Ten, while Nebraska has had to try to connect with a new conference culture.

But at the end of the day, perhaps the best metaphor for a meeting of what was once two proud titans of college football lies with the two head coaches. One is striving for his 3rd consecutive spot in the College Football Playoff. The other is probably coaching his 4th to final game in his current job. Whatever the next chapter of the Ohio State/Nebraska rivalry will be, it’s safe to say that Huskers fans won’t be looking back fondly on Scott Frost versus Ryan Day.

But meet they will, perhaps for the final time, at noon ET Saturday (Fox) in Lincoln.

Joe Cox

Veteran college writer Joe Cox covers Ohio State and college basketball for Saturday Tradition.