Nebraska found an ally in Ohio State.
Of all the programs calling for the return of Big Ten football following the conference's initial decision to postpone the season, Ohio State and Nebraska were undoubtedly the loudest voices.
Now, with the season officially restored, the allies in the fight to save the season now find themselves as adversaries on the field with a week one matchup. Nebraska head coach Scott Frost doesn't believe that's a coincidence but expressed excitement and relief to just be at this point – playing football.
And Frost earnestly believes he has his season-opening opponent to thank for that.
"We're grateful to Ohio State," Frost said during his Monday Zoom conference. "It's strange where you find allies in certain things, and I think we had an ally in Ohio State to try to get the season played. I don't think it would have got done without Dr. (Jim) Borchers there, without Ryan Day continuing to push it, Gene Smith continuing to push it."
“I'm going to root for them in every single game except this first one, because I'm grateful to them for going shoulder and shoulder and fighting to get (Big Ten football) back.”– Scott Frost
Frost acknowledged that Nebraska did its part to push for the season to be restored – eight Nebraska football players filed a lawsuit against the conference and Forst even went as far as to suggest Nebraska could try to play outside of the conference – but he credits Ohio State for leading the way and ultimately for making it happen.
"I gotta give most of the credit for this to Ohio State," Frost said. "We might have been one of the sounding gongs in this, we're saying we want to play, but I don't think it would have got done without their doctor taking the lead, figuring out a way to present it to the presidents to get football back. Dr. Borchers deserves a lot of credit for this. I think they did a good job at Ohio State kind of bringing it all together and presenting a plan that allowed us to get back to doing what we probably should have been doing all the time."
And because of that, Frost vows to be an honorary Buckeye fan after this weekend.
"I'm going to root for them in every single game except this first one," Frost said. "Because I'm grateful to them for going shoulder and shoulder and fighting to get (Big Ten football) back. Our kids are excited to play, we're excited to play, and there's been a lot of moments where I didn't think we'd get here."
But first, he's got to face the Buckeyes on the field, and he knows from experience how challenging that can be, falling 48-7 last year to what he calls one of the best teams he's ever seen.
"It's two teams that I think that have wanted to play all along playing each other in the first game," Frost said. "I've got a ton of respect for them. I said after last season that was one of the best college football teams that I've ever been on a field with. I think they were one of the best teams in the country and could have easily won everything last year.
"That being said, I think we did a really good job of keeping the game close, last year ... for about five minutes," Frost joked.
