By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Much to the dismay of some Iowa fans, it is now happening from across our state's border to the west.

Scott Frost is rebuilding the Nebraska football program and one of the most rabid, devoted, and sometimes delusional fan bases in the history of civilization is getting ready to say I told you so like only Nebraska fans can say it.

They can’t say it yet because Nebraska is just 4-7 heading into Friday’s regular season finale against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium.

But there is no denying that Nebraska is moving in the right direction under Frost with four victories in the last five games.

Nebraska's offense, led by dual-threat quarterback Adrian Martinez, is explosive, deceptive and balanced, while the defense had been woeful until this past Saturday’s 9-6 victory over Michigan State.

The Spartans are hardly an offensive juggernaut, even before suffering significant injuries, but for Nebraska to contain any offense seemed beyond reach before this past Saturday.

Illinois was the only Big Ten team ranked below Nebraska in total defense heading into this past Saturday’s games, and the extent of Illinois’ misery on defense was in full display during a 63-0 loss to Iowa.

So it wasn’t just that Nebraska defeated Michigan State that made a strong impression, it was how the victory unfolded with defense playing a key role instead of an offense that had produced at least 450 yards in the seven previous games before facing Michigan State.

So yes, the home-state hero is showing signs that he could be the answer and the solution to Nebraska’s extended fall from grace in football.

“Nebraska’s hot right now,” said Iowa junior tight end Noah Fant, who is from Omaha, Neb. “Coach Frost is doing some great things up there. He’s done a great job of turning that program around towards the end of the season.”

Fant has the upper-hand on his home-state school with Iowa having won the last two games with him on the team by scores of 56-14 and 40-10, respectively.

Fant now covets a chance for a three-peat.

“It would mean a lot,” said Fant, who had three catches for 116 yards and two touchdowns against Nebraska last season. “Definitely, it’s not going to be an easy game. They’re going to come out and play and we’re going to have to settle that on the field.”

The Nebraska players also look forward to Friday's matchup, and at last one of them feels very confident about the outcome.

"I can't wait to beat Iowa. I really can't," senior offensive lineman Gerald Foster was quoted as saying after the Michigan State game.

Bold talk like that rarely comes from an Iowa player, and never comes from Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz.

But Frost is different.

He warned opposing teams at Big Ten media day in late July that they had better get Nebraska now while they still can because things will change in a hurry with him now in charge.

He also said he was reluctant to schedule a make-up game after Nebraska's Sept. 1 season opener againt Akron was cancelled due to severe weather in Lincoln because there was a chance that Nebraska could play in the Big Ten championship game. Frost still hadn't won a game as the Nebraska coach when he made that statement, so it came across as arrogant.  

Bethune-Cookman eventually was picked to fill the void in a game that was played on Oct. 27 and that Nebraska won easily.

Frost is like a knight in shining armor to Cornhusker fans because he stands for everything that is good about the Nebraska program, and he connects the program’s storied past with the present as the last quarterback to lead Nebraska to a national title in 1997.

Frost represents hope and optimism and it’s hard to find a fan base that is more hopeful and more optimistic than Nebraska football fans.

And despite nearly two decades of having its football team be mostly irrelevant on a national stage that it used to rule, Nebraska fans are still incredibly hopeful and optimistic.

Some on the outside would call it arrogance or being delusional, but in fairness to Nebraska fans, they’ve been clinging to a past that few other fan bases could even imagine having from a success standpoint.

We joke about Nebraska fans still acting like it’s the 1990s, but Nebraska’s success in football stretches back way further than that.

Nebraska has had 27 double-digit win seasons, and over a 50-season period from 1961-2010, no program that was an active Division I participant for that entire five-decade stretch had a better winning percentage than the Cornhuskers. Nebraska won over 77% of its games during that span.

You’d probably have an easier time finding Bigfoot than a Nebraska fan who doesn’t firmly believe that Frost will restore that same level of prolonged dominance.

Bo Pelini made winning nine games a year look easy at Nebraska, but he was also a foul-mouthed, confrontational hot head who didn’t win enough games by Nebraska’s standards to compensate for his personality flaws.

It is hard to know how Frost would react to being questioned or ridiculed because it hasn’t happened yet. Even when Nebraska started the season 0-6, it still was mostly a lovefest where Frost was concerned.

Previous head coach Mike Riley was mostly blamed for the early-season woes, but now that seems like ancient history because of how well Nebraska has responded in the second half of the season.

A victory against Iowa on Friday would serve as an encouraging springboard into the offseason, and would give more notice that the Cornhuskers are on the rise under Frost.

That would be hard for some Iowa fans to take because it’s no secret that both fan bases despise each other and like to taunt and ridicule each other.

If a rivalry were based solely on being petty and snarky and mean-spirited, the Iowa-Nebraska rivalry would be among the best.

But a rivalry is mostly decided on the field where Iowa has won four of the last five games against Nebraska, the last two in overwhelming fashion.

The Cornhuskers offered hardly any resistance in last year’s game in Lincoln, Neb., especially on defense, where they collapsed quicker than a sink hole.

It was clear that Nebraska had to make a coaching change immediately, and Frost was ready to come home.

It was a match made in Cornhusker heaven and now it’s starting to pay dividends.

There is a bright side from Iowa's perspective should Nebraska continue to rise under Frost because that would make the Cornhuskers relevant again, and that would benefit the Big Ten West Division, for which Iowa is a member.

Friday’s game, which starts at 11 a.m. at Kinnick Stadium and will be televised by Fox, has the makings of a highly competitive matchup.

It didn’t look that way a month ago as Nebraska continued to struggle while Iowa soared to a 6-1 record. But a lot has happened since then, and from Nebraska's standpoint, most of it has been positive.

Nebraska's only loss since being 0-6 was a 36-31 thriller at Ohio State that raised eyebrows just from being competitive.

Iowa should be favored to win Friday's game, and probably should win the game based on the circumstances, including playing at home.

But the Nebraska team that folded against Iowa last season is nothing like the current Nebraska team, and Scott Frost deserves most of the credit for that.

He is starting to be what opposing fans, and especially Iowa fans, feared he would be, which is finally the right fit at Nebraska.

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