Nebraska football coach Scott Frost accepts responsibility for failed onside kick after stunning upset loss to Northwestern

Nebraska coach Scott Frost accepted responsibility for a controversial onside kick decision in Saturday's season-opening loss to Northwestern, while acknowledging he needs to do more to retain his job.

Frost made the call to attempt an onside kick with Nebraska leading 28-17 midway through the third quarter at a game being played in Dublin, Ireland. Northwestern easily recovered the kick at the Nebraska 44-yard line and scored five plays later. The Wildcats outscored Nebraska 14-0 in the final 24:37 to win 31-28 at Aviva Stadium.

Nebraska became the first major-conference team in the AP Poll Era, which goes back to 1936, to lose seven straight games by single digits, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

«I made that call, so it's on me,» Frost said. «At that point in the game, I felt all the momentum was on our side. I thought if we [recovered] it, we could win the game.… I felt like maybe we were the better team. You can't really foresee them scoring 14 straight and us sputtering after we played well to start the second half on offense.

»Those are excuses. If I had it over, I wouldn't have made the call."

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald noted that the onside kick recovery swung momentum toward his team. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, only two FBS teams leading by 10 or more points in the second half attempted an onside kick last season. Special teams have contributed to Nebraska's long-term struggles under Frost, who fell to 15-30 at his alma mater and 5-21 in one-score games.

«We've just lost too many close games,» Frost said Saturday. «These guys need something to believe in. We need to believe in ourselves in a team. I think they do.»

In November, Nebraska announced Frost would return