The 3-2-1: Big Ten Friday night football appears here to stay

We discuss the Big Ten's Friday night football agreement, Scott Frost's staff overhaul, and more in today's 3-2-1 column.

1 - Big Ten Friday Night football appears here to stay

When the Big Ten first introduced Friday night league games in September and October, they were met with enormous pushback in 2017.

That season Nebraska played at Illinois under great controversy from local high schools who stage their games on Fridays and count on that gate money. Competing against a Husker game on Friday is not ideal for anyone in the state. Former Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst also seemed unbothered by the Friday night TV package, which upset Husker faithful.

In 2020 we saw the Big Ten play five league games on Friday nights, but that was during the shortened pandemic season. The norm appears to be two per year.

In 2021 Iowa played at Maryland, and the Terps also played at Illinois on a Friday night. In 2019, we saw Penn State at Maryland and Ohio State at Northwestern.

The Big Ten's perfect storm appears to be getting a team that can draw ratings in a lesser venue.

We've seen Penn State, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Ohio State play Friday night road games. Michigan appears to be the only top brand in the league that has not played on a Friday night.

When I saw the 2022 schedule with the Huskers at Purdue and Rutgers back-to-back weeks, I knew a Friday night could be a possibility at one of those two venues.

It is what it is at this point. I think as long as we know Nebraska will never host a game in Lincoln on a Friday, people can live with a long weekend in New York or Chicago if the Huskers are playing on the road.

I'm more interested in the kickoff time, as last year, one game was a 9 pm EST kick and the other at 8 pm EST. Hopefully, with a long trip to New Jersey, the Huskers can get an 8 pm EST kickoff at SHI Stadium. Selfishly, I'd take 7 pm EST.

2 - Frost's staff overhaul has gone much deeper than on-field coaching

Nebraska head coach Scott Frost has added five new full-time assistant coaches to his staff this off-season.

However, the staff makeover does not stop with on-the-field coaches. Frost added former NU staffer Vince Guinta, who most recently was at Baylor, to run his personnel department.

Guinta will carry the title Senior Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting and be the highest-paid employee in that department. Matt Davison, NU's Senior Associate AD, is the only off-the-field staff member who currently carries the "senior" title next to his name besides Guinta.

I think that tells you where Guinta fits in now to the big picture, as he's going to run and operate Frost's player personnel and recruiting department.

This was a job that Bob Welton had back in 2018, but he was only at NU for a few months before taking the same job at Alabama under Nick Saban. Frost never replaced Welton and instead went with a committee approach of how that department split up the different duties.

3 - Husker fans come out in full force for a winner

This should surprise no one. Nebraska fans come out, and they come out big to support a winning program.

Earlier this week, the Husker baseball team announced they have sold out of all season tickets for reserved seating at Haymarket Park. My guess is this is the first time that's happened since the Big 12 days.

That really says something about Will Bolt and the excitement he's built for this season. It also says something that the fans are invested, and many are optimistic the Big Red can be in a position again to host a regional, which gives those season ticket holders a lock on those seats.

For many Big Red baseball fans, having reserved seating for the baseball regionals and super regionals was a big reason why many bought season tickets. It's been a long time since Nebraska baseball has been in this position.

On the flip side, Nebraska basketball is at its ugliest right now. There are over 15,000 season ticket holders, and we see 8,000 to 9,000 no-shows per content, according to scanned ticket data released by the Associated Press. Ouch!

1 - Who takes the first snap at center this spring?

Many things can change in August, but who takes the first snap at center on Feb. 28? Today, my money is on sophomore Ethan Piper.

After a rough season in 2021, Piper should get a chance to prove himself this spring with plenty of reps under new line coach Donovan Raiola.

2 - What's one position battle to watch in spring football?

There should be a lot of position battles to watch closely this spring, but which one jumps out today?

I'm going to say the secondary. The position battle that has a chance to be very good is at cornerback, as Tommi Hill, Marques Buford, and Omar Brown should all battle hard for a starting job. I'm really intrigued to see how that plays out.

We are going to be talking about newcomers quite a bit this spring. It's easy to say Casey Thompson or Trey Palmer will emerge during spring practice.

I'll throw another name out there. I predict New Mexico State transfer Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda will be someone we are talking about coming out of the spring that could be in line to win a starting job.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET's Big Red Wrap-Tuesday's at 7 pm.