As odd as it sounds, losing to Troy was huge for Frost. It made some fans think they could realistically not win a game all year. Now any wins are gravy and he'll get credit for getting everything he could out of this depleted roster.
I've lived most of my life in Husker country, their fans are too arrogant to admit they were over confident this season (they are the smartest fans in cfb you know...). The criticsim of Frost will come at him like it did Solich, Callahan and Bo, after they have a good start or set the bar even remotely high. Once their fans sniff even a tiny whiff of success, they are magically transformed to mid 90's and back on their high horse.That's when they are likely to turn. For as bad as he was, the fan base was always pretty even keeled about Mike Riley, that's because he gave them no taste of success.