Everyone knew Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Scott Frost had to deliver a reasonably impressive season to remain on the job in Lincoln. He didn't have to dominate, but he did have to show progress and inspire confidence that he could improve his players. Saturday against the Illinois Fighting Illini, Frost failed on every front.

A 30-22 loss to Illinois in a poorly-played game will increase the temperature in the room by several hundred degrees in Nebraska. Scott Frost sits on a flaming seat after an embarrassing performance by his team in a game the Huskers were favored to win by a touchdown.

The fact that Nebraska is nowhere near the elites in college football is a significant problem in itself, but Scott Frost has done something far worse than what anyone could have imagined in Lincoln. He hasn't been ordinary. He hasn't been mediocre. He has been legitimately bad.

After three seasons of bad football, Year 4 needed to produce competence — not spectacular play or brilliant, authoritative football, but the mere avoidance of ineptitude. Nebraska has been atrocious. Scott had to clear that relatively low bar and begin to build toward something better.

This loss to Illinois did not do it.

Nebraska trailed 30-9 at one point. Most of its yards and first downs gained came after falling behind by 21 points. Illinois played a soft prevent defense in the final 20 minutes of the game and happily conceded yards in exchange for draining the clock.

Even with Illinois playing soft defense, Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez — a senior with ample playing experience — completed just 16 of 32 passes. The Huskers committed a personal foul and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty which wiped out an interception in the first half. They were just 5 of 14 on third downs. They committed five penalties. They allowed Illinois quarterback Artur Sitkowski to complete 80 percent of his passes. The Huskers also missed two extra points and shanked multiple punts.

Nebraska fans were already fed up with Scott Frost before the season started. It's true that his buyout is very large, but Husker fans and boosters will not put up with another year of this. Moreover, new athletic director Trev Alberts is not beholden to Frost in any way. The hot seat gets hotter in Lincoln, and it isn't even September.