Theres so much to unpack from Northwesterns startling 31-28 takedown of Nebraska in Irelandfree Guinne s for all!that its difficult to know where to start. The big national story, of course, is the Cornhuskers failure to winand what that means for Scott Frost. At least the conce sionaires at Aviva Stadium landed on their feet by Kyle Long Jersey handing out their food and beverages for free when the stadium internet failed, making it impo sible to operate cash registers. And you thought it was because a team coached by a Fitzgerald was winning in Dublin. But lets look at what this might mean for the Wildcats and the Big Ten Westwhich Northwestern now sits atop in its bid for a third division title in five years. For all the attention given to Nebraskas retooling on offense, it was the Cornhuskers' defense, which gave up 528 yards, that looked awfully shaky. Kudos to Cats QB Ryan Hilinski, who looked very poised. Dittos to an offensive line led by left tackle Peter Skoronskigrandson of legendary Packer Bob Skoronski! And a running game that piled up 214 yards while Hilinski, a South Carolina transfer, completed 27 of 38 for 314 yards. The Northwestern defense also looked stout. Nebraska did a lot of things well when it had the ball. Unlike Frost, we wont point the finger at new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple. More on that in a moment. Lets do the Big Ten West math first. Perennial powers Wisconsin and Iowa are going to keep plodding to a fair number of wins. Best gue s here is that Minnesota, which has a slew of skill players back, will win its share. There is also reason to believe that Purdue, which figures to have a potent pa sing game with Aidan OConnell throwing, will be competitive. Well know more about that when the Boilermakers open against Penn State on Thursday. If youre keeping score at home, by Thursday night, the Big Ten will have played two conference games that ``just mean more than any league in the nation. Including the SEC and the NFL. And Illinois, which throttled Wyoming 38-6 in another Week Zero opener, also seems to be much improved. Kudos to Bret Bielema Richard Dent Jersey for giving himself a chance to become a Downstate Pat Fitzgeralda sharp coach who knows what his program can and cant do. The Illini will reveal more at Indiana on Friday night. But Syracuse transfer QB Tommy DeVito added to a promising running game and defense is an interesting combination. So. . . Wisconsin. Iowa. Northwestern. Illinois. Minnesota. Purdue. Where does that leave Nebraska? Bringing up the rear in the much-maligned ``other division of the Big Ten? Of course, its only the dawn of the new college football season. But when a two-touchdown favorite stubs it toe in the opener. . . not a good sign. @@@ What is the deal with Nebraska? Obviously, it all lands at Scott Frosts feet at this point. The Cornhuskers have not been a well-coached team on his watch. And that continued against Northwestern. Frost brought in new coaches and a Joel Iyiegbuniwe Jersey slew of players via the transfer portal for this fall. Which is, by all accounts, make or break for him. Especially after Nebraska kept him but downsized his contract, Jim-Harbaugh-style. So what happened? Nebraska was absolutely flummoxed on defense. To be kind, the offense was a little better fundamentallywhich is not a high bar.Scroll to Continue The problem Saturday was what you see in the NCAA basketball tournament when a high seed finds itself in a tight game with a low seed. Nebraska panicked. You could see it on pa ses that bounced off the nervous hands of receivers, which made the job of new QB Casey Thompson, the Texas transfer who tightened up as the game went on, that much harder. But most of all, you could see it when Frost called an onside kick after taking a 28-17 lead. As he said, if it works, it likely salts the game away. Afterward, Frost admitted it was a mistake, saying, ``If I had it over, I wouldn't make the call. Why do that? The risk-reward only adds up if you dont have confidence in your team to win the old-fashioned way. He didnt want to go toe-to-toe with Northwestern? That not only opened the door for the Wildcats. It sent a me sage to his players. And it wasnt a good me sage. It was a panicky vote of no-confidence. I want to try not to pile on here. Frost has gotten plenty of thatand will continue to feel the heat. Its richly deserved. I know Cornhusker fans. They are generally very reasonable and patient people. In Frosts fifth year, they have earned the right to become impatient and unreasonable. But I am more interested in how Frost, who looked like the perfect hire, could Adam Shaheen Jersey turn out to be such a dud. The guy painted a 13-0 masterpiece in 2017 at UCF, a school that had gone 0-12 in 2015 before he arrived. Hiring him seemed to be a no-brainer destined for greatne s. The quarterback on Nebraskas last national championship team comes home after a perfect season with a Group of 5. Who better to restore the Cornhuskers? Especially in a division best known for playing the Washington Generals to the Big Ten Easts Harlem Globetrotters. Now it looks like Frost caught lightning in a bottle at UCF. Skeptics say he found an over-achieving quarterback who took a gimmicky offense and lifted an entire team to greatne s against a schedule designed for succe s. At Nebraska, Frost has had no such luck. Actually, hes had no luck. Welcome to the Big Ten. Its no SEC, except at the pay window. But if theres one thing the Big Ten does well, it finds your weakne s and brings you to your knees. August is way too Roquan Smith Jersey early to be talking about a coach already walking the plank. But thats the college football world Scott Frost lives in. His best-case scenario: If the Cornhuskers beat Oklahomaam I really writing that?and hitch up their pants, they could still have a good season. Because, as far as we know, nobody in the Big Ten West is a runaway train. If Nebraska could dig in and be the team some experts expected, they could be 7-1 heading into November, when they play Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa. And if you believe that, you wear an ear of corn made of foam on your head. A more likely scenario: Based on what we saw Saturday, another 3-9 season is not only po sible. Its far more likely than 7-5, let alone 7-1. The pre sure on Frost, his coaches and players is immense. We saw it in the Cornhuskers panicky performance on Saturday. If the over/under is 4.5 wins for Nebraska, take the under.