Before the 2019 season kicked off, many believed Nebraska might be in the conversation to win the B1G West. With Scott Frost entering his second year, Adrian Martinez under center and a solid recruiting class coming into Lincoln, the Huskers appeared to have the right pieces to be in the discussion.

Heading into Week 12, however, Nebraska is just hoping it can get to the postseason. The Huskers are 4-5 this year with games against Wisconsin, Maryland and Iowa remaining. They’ll need to steal a game against the Badgers or Hawkeyes to hit that six-win mark.

During College GameDay on Saturday morning, Nebraska was a topic of conversation, and Kirk Herbstreit was pretty straightforward when talking about the program. He believes this team still needs a few years to grow before it becomes a serious B1G and national contender.

“A lot of people were talking in July about — I didn’t see it — but thought this was their year to get to Indianapolis,” Herbstreit said. “This is a team that needs two more years of recruiting, just continuing to build the foundation. They have Wan’Dale Robinson and JD Spielman, but they just don’t have the playmakers to compete week in and week out on either side of the ball.”

Nebraska got off to a good start, opening the year 3-1 and were even 4-2 at the midway point of the season. But the Huskers dropped three straight games to Minnesota, Indiana and Purdue to fall below the .500 line. Now, they’ll need victories in two of their final three games to get to a bowl.

The preseason expectations may have been a little premature, but getting to the postseason this year appeared to be a realistic goal for Huskers. If they can finish the year as strong as they did a season ago, they could be in really good shape heading into the 2020 campaign.

And, on Saturday morning, Nebraska announced a two-year contract extension for Frost.