Scott Frost addresses Casey Thompson’s performance versus Northwestern

Casey Thompson jumped to an incredible start to his Nebraska career in the first half on Saturday’s game against Northwestern. He led two touchdown drives to start and put his team in front, 14-3.

But Northwestern was able to crawl back in it. Once the second half arrived, Thompson started to struggle. He threw two interceptions, including one on the final drive of the game. That, mixed with a few poor coaching decisions late, ultimately sealed Nebraska’s fate.

Head coach Scott Frost did not blame his quarterback postgame. He knows there’s more to it than that.

“There’s a learning curve in this league and I’ve gone through it,” Frost said, via On3 Sports. “You just can’t be negative one in turnovers and make a bad decision as a head coach on an onside kick and give up a cheap one. These games are all decided by two or three plays and there’s gonna be nine more of them this year like that. We have to make sure we’re on the right side of those plays.”

Frost noted the absence of starting tight end Travis Vokolek as playing a part in the collapse, too. Vokolek had snagged 5 receptions for 63 yards before exiting early with a leg injury at the end of the first half.

“I don’t know if there was a difference with the quarterback,” Frost said about the second half collapse. “We lost Travis Vokolek for the game and that hurt us a little bit on a couple of them. We got to make sure we get them in the right stuff. This is type of game we’re gonna be in where we only get so many drives. You got to take advantage of them.”

Ethan Stone

Ethan Stone was an editor for his student newspaper at the University of Tennessee and is now a News Manager for Saturday Tradition.