It’s not just at kicker. Nebraska has had punting issues for two years, unable to settle on one guy because when one starts showing a glimpse of consistency a rogue 13-yard shank pops up. “You’ll never get me to run down any one kid—these are my guys, I love them—but it isn’t special teams right now, it’s specialists,”
Frost said Saturday.
And that’s been the case for four years. It makes very little sense why that can’t get corrected. As a play-caller, Frost can’t rely on his kicker and he doesn’t know whether his punter will be a weapon or a weakness, and that seriously changes what he can and can’t do in various spots on the field. Those guys have to step up and do their jobs on Saturdays. That Frost hasn’t been able to fully and truly rely on
anyone for four years is on him.
That third-down miss/fourth-down miss sequence with 10 to play in the fourth quarter Saturday against the Buckeyes is sort of the story of this tenure, isn’t it?
Quarterback Adrian Martinez floated a pass to wideout Levi Falck that needed to be driven on third-and-4. Ohio State defensive linemen Zach Harrison was coming up the middle, and perhaps Martinez anticipated a swat attempt. There have been few instances over the course of his career where he’s had the touch to be able to float a ball and still drop it where it needs to go. In this instance, he missed a receiver he should have hit.