Sometimes you make allies in places you least expect because of circumstances beyond your control. In the case of Ohio State and Nebraska, both programs were in lockstep when it came to fighting for the Big Ten season in 2020. It looked bleak for quite some time, but things turned around largely because of the efforts of coaches, players, and parent groups in both Columbus and Lincoln.
That wasn’t lost on Nebraska head coach Scott Frost either. As instrumental as Nebraska was, he believes there wouldn’t be a Big Ten fall season without the hard work of many from Ohio State, and he wasn’t afraid to express his gratitude for those at the university help turn the sentiment in the Big Ten.
“We’re grateful to Ohio State,” Frost said during a Zoom conference call Monday. “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. Borchers there, without Ryan Day continuing to push it, Gene Smith continuing to push it.”
When asked again about how he felt about Nebraska’s efforts including a player lawsuit and Frost’s outspoken desire to play a season, even if elsewhere, the Nebraska head man agreed, but then continued to shine the light on Ohio State’s efforts.
“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.”
"It's been a battle, I think Ohio State are the ones that lead the battle. We've definitely been in lockstep with them to get football back. So I'm going to root for them in every single game except this first one." – Coach Scott Frost.https://t.co/zvCd1miLu4 pic.twitter.com/C0d48dNNVI
— 1011 NOW (@1011_News) October 19, 2020
With all of that in mind, Frost even went as far as to lay claim to being a Buckeye fan the rest of the season after Saturday.
“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 (the season) 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.”
So there you have it. Scott Frost’s second team is now one wearing Scarlet and Gray. We’re just happy that the football was able to safely return. However, there’s sure to be plenty of Ohio State fans that will also be rooting for corn and farm equipment the rest of the year.