Fool us once ... OK, start over. Fool us 12 to 15 times, and we'll be darned if we're going to need the backyard hose to get the scrambled egg off our faces again.

I will not presume to speak for everyone on if the sentiment is shared, but from my perspective and the interactions had daily with Big Red faithful, an unfamiliar but welcome approach has been taken by many in the Husker fan base this offseason.

It's hope mixed with a Midwestern practicality used on many issues: We'll see. Many issues, I said. Not always with football. But this time, yeah, kind of.

Oh sure. There's a confidence you sense in most places you go in this state when the subject is Scott Frost. And with that there is, dare I say, patience. Granted, patience can resemble perturbed on any particular Saturday when the favored sons are racking up 98 yards in penalties and not converting third-and-1s. But when it comes to expectations for the 2019 season, there's this strange occurence that has taken shape from my view: national folks have been hyping the Huskers more than the locals, really.

Ask many a fan about Nebraska's chances to win the West this year and of course most will see it as a real possibility because ... it is. For Nebraska. For Iowa. For Wisconsin. For Minnesota. For Northwestern again, one supposes, with the Wildcats' 2018 triumph being a glaring example of how razor-thin the difference can be between going something like 4-8 and being in Indianapolis. Do I think Pat Fitzgerald's team would have beaten Nebraska any more than half the times if the two sides played 10 times after mid-October? Not really. The Huskers weren't ahead by 10 points with four minutes left in that game because of wild luck. But Northwestern didn't trip on its own feet, stepped up when the biggest moments beckoned, and were 5-1 in Big Ten games decided by one score or less because of that pluck and composure.

It is both a credit to the Wildcats, and as Big Ten Media Days arrives this week, also offseason motivation to everyone else in the division that 2019 can just as much belong to their side if the right itches are scratched.

It's also a good reason why a team like Nebraska, that finished 4-8 a season ago, is getting picked to win the West in the greater number of the preseason publications I've seen – including from Phil Steele himself, who crams so much info about each team into his magazine previews he has to use abbreviations and what seems like Size 6 type.

"They’re my No. 1 most improved team in the country," Steele said of Nebraska during a summer appearance on the '3 Man Front' radio program. "And last year my No. 1 most improved team was the Florida Gators and they went from 4-8 to 10 wins."

Normally a team with a losing record last season wouldn't be a hot pick to win a division, but Nebraska has a coaching staff that jumped from six wins to 13 wins in Year 2 at Central Florida and has a quarterback in Adrian Martinez who is already showing up in Heisman odds as a true sophomore. So in a year when there is no clear favorite in the Big Ten West, when every roster has one reason or another to have some doubts, you can understand why the Huskers are as logical a choice as any.

Besides, and this will go against what Husker fans sometimes think, I believe there's many national pundits who would enjoy seeing Nebraska rise again. Because that's the way those who love college football often feel about the proud programs when they fall down in the mud for a while. The comeback story makes for good copy. Heck, it's hard to remember it now, but there was a time in the early 2000s when someone could have thought that about Alabama. Repeat: Could have.

It's also because of all the struggles and missed championships for Husker football since the turn of the century that might make so many around here seem more grounded than usual this offseason. When the fall product hasn't matched whatever good vibes come from talking season so many times over, even if very little of that is on the tab of Frost and friends, eventually a person decides to not go too far with the song and dance of proclaiming this or that about his or her team in the preseason.

There were recent past years where folks got pretty fired up about some betting lines giving Nebraska only 5 or 6 wins for the upcoming seasons. How could this be? This is Nebraska football, we're taking about. Then came 4-8, and another 4-8, and it's understandable now for people to both believe Nebraska football is going to be good again under Frost while also not chirping too loudly about it before it happens.

There are those regulars on our message board on Husker247 who will even note they hope Nebraska doesn't start the year in the preseason top 25. They'd rather see it earned through results.

As Frost and a trio of Husker players get ready to answer questions in Chicago on Thursday, it is a welcome sign that the best season of the year is almost here. It's also OK that Nebraska fans by this point need more than words.

That needs told to nobody who will be in front of the microphones for Nebraska this week. Nobody was wearing the pain more on his face after losses that brought forth an 0-6 start last season than Frost. His voice wavered after the loss to Purdue, after his team had committed 136 yards in penalties. "I walk out of that tunnel at 0-3 and little kids still want to slap our hands and people are saying, 'You'll get 'em going Coach.' And we will. It's going to happen," said Frost.

Most fans I run across believe that too. Last year's record didn't seem to diminish that feeling much, but it sure did remind that just because Frost showed up, things couldn't change by simply flipping a light switch.

Maybe the Huskers will cover the ground they need quickly, maybe giving Phil Steele another example of calling his shot, and last year's 4-2 finish with close losses at Ohio State and Iowa was the beginning of those better days. After losing at the last second to Iowa, O-lineman Matt Farniok said, "You got to go through hurt, you got to go through pain, and we started to learn that and in the second half of the season we started to fight through crap, and found ways to win."

Farniok also said that some will want to wash away that season that finished 4-8, but players shouldn't. He said it's the foundation for what's coming. "And we're going to be a damn good team."

Outside the locker room, there are fans who think that could be true as soon as this season. But when it comes to one set of rankings, there's probably unanimous agreement: What the eyes see is greater than what the ears hear.