Like a viral infection, Scott Frost’s impact on Nebraska football cannot simply be willed away. It’ll take more than a few trips to the doctor to eliminate it.

Matt Rhule learned this in his Nebraska debut the same way Husker fans have endured for the past 3 seasons in particular: the hardest way possible.

If we hadn’t seen the same story play out so many times since 2021, Nebraska’s 13-10 loss at Minnesota would have been impossible to believe. The Cornhuskers are now a near-impossible 2-14 in games decided by a touchdown or less in that timeframe. Fittingly, interim coach Mickey Joseph was responsible for both wins.

For the better part of 55 minutes, Rhule’s debut looked like it would produce a different outcome than the many follies of his predecessor. Even when things were going the way they always have for Nebraska in recent years, the Cornhuskers responded to the adversity differently.

The sequence at the end of the first half might have left the Huskers broken beyond repair in recent seasons.

Quarterback Jeff Sims seemed to inch the ball over the goal line for Nebraska’s first touchdown of the season, but the angle of the replay review made it impossible to overturn what was called on the field. He was down inches short of the goal line.

Nebraska, being Nebraska, then committed a false start that necessitated a pass on the final play of the half. Sims, being a Nebraska quarterback, threw an interception.

Here we go again.

Despite averaging 5.8 yards per play to Minnesota’s 3.8 ypp in the first half, Nebraska trailed 3-0 at the break.

Here we don’t go again.

Rahmir Johnson returned the opening kickoff of the second half 63 yards into Minnesota territory. A Frost team surely would have fumbled that kickoff return, right? Or at least blocked someone in the back. A Rhule team doesn’t.

To get the stagnant offense moving after the momentum boost, the Huskers attempt a trick play. Disaster. A quarterback throwback falls in front of Sims, seemingly blowing the play up.

But instead, the Gophers seem to think the lateral was a forward pass. Alex Bullock is in the end zone without another soul in the same ZIP code. Sims finds him.

In the past couple seasons, this would be a drop, right?

Instead, Bullock hauls in the first touchdown of the Rhule Era, weird as it may be.

The play was called “Osborne,” and though the execution was more Ozzy than Tom, it finally feels like the moment where Nebraska has conducted its exorcism. It’s not quite the Flea Kicker against Missouri, but damned if it doesn’t feel like the football gods are finally smiling upon the good people of Lincoln again.

But that other shoe isn’t ready to stop dropping just yet. A Shakespearean level of tragedy awaited Nebraska to finish this game.

Running back Anthony Grant had finally worked his way back into the coaching staff’s good graces after concerns over his fumbling in preseason practices. But Grant, who led Nebraska and finished 10th in the B1G with 21 carries of at least 10 yards a year ago, is too dangerous to keep under wraps forever. He got the ball with 5 minutes to go, looking to further advance what should have been the game-clinching drive.

And then he fumbled.

It was a beautiful strip from Minnesota cornerback Justin Walley. But it was still the very issue that the Huskers were hopeful Grant had conquered. He had not, and now the Pavlovian alarm bells were going off for Nebraska.

Here we go again, again.

Nebraska’s defense, playing its collective rear off all game, didn’t flinch. The game would come down to a fourth-and-10 play for the Gophers. Come up short, and the Huskers would head back home with a win.

Instead, Minnesota receiver Daniel Jackson went and did this:

At that point, there’s nothing left to do but sigh.

Yet there was also an inkling of hope. There was time left on the clock. What better opportunity to prove this is the New Nebraska than this?

Sims needed but 4 plays to get the Huskers into Gopher territory with a minute remaining. Worst-case scenario? End up short of field goal range and the game goes to overtime.

Well, for a normal team that would have been the worst-case scenario. Nebraska, however, is still decidedly abnormal.

As announcer Gus Johson literally uttered, “Sims — remember, he’s a prolific runner,” Sims dropped back to throw a pass into double coverage. And Minnesota’s best player, Tyler Nubin, happened to be 1 of the 2 Gophers in that coverage.

The predictably avoidable tragedy ensued.

Naturally, a kicker who spent 3 years riding the bench without a field goal attempt was the one to finish off Nebraska as time expired.

Defeats don’t come any more bitter than this. Well, other than the 13 other 1-score losses in the previous 2 years.

And although Nebraska fans are likely in no mood to hear it, in many ways this game felt different than the disappointments that preceded it.

Nebraska’s run defense, 13th in the B1G a year ago, was unrecognizable. In a good way.

The Huskers limited the normally prolific Minnesota running game to 2.2 yards per carry. The Gophers only averaged a meager 3.6 yards per play. That’s the best performance by a Nebraska defense since a 9-6 win over Michigan State in 2018.

Unfortunately for Nebraska, the cultural issue runs so deep that not even the best defensive performance in 5 years is enough to solve the problem. Come hell or high water, this program will find a way to lose the close ones.

But in a weird way, maybe it’s better Rhule saw that lesson first-hand from the outset. Let there be no illusions about the gravity of the job ahead of him.

A tire fire can’t be put out with a single bucket of water.