Pat Fitzgerald and Scott Frost have quite a bit in common.

They are both coaching their alma maters: Fitzgerald at Northwestern, Frost at Nebraska. They were both celebrated star players who led their schools to championships in the 1990s. They both look like former players and respect the other one very much.

But they don’t see eye-to-eye about the impact Nebraska’s week off will have on Saturday’s matchup between their two teams.

The Huskers didn’t play last week because their game against Wisconsin was canceled due to a COVID outbreak within the Badger program. They tried to quickly schedule a game against Chattanooga but were rebuffed by the Big Ten.

On Monday, Fitzgerald called that a “huge advantage” for Nebraska because, he explained, the Husker players got to rest while the Wildcats played in a physical, “four-quarter war” with Iowa.

When Fitzgerald’s remarks were relayed to Frost at his press conference about 90 minutes later, the Nebraska head man raised his eyebrows and chuckled. He paid Fitzgerald a compliment before taking the other side of the argument.

“Pat’s one of the smartest guys in the country probably, but I don’t know if I agree with him on that one,” said Frost.

So who’s right? It depends on your viewpoint. And probably whether your shirt is purple or red.

Fitzgerald says that his team is pretty beat up after last Saturday’s 21-20 comeback win over the Hawkeyes. The good news is that wide receiver Riley Lees, who missed the last three quarters of the Iowa game, and cornerback Greg Newsome II, who suited up but didn’t play, were back on the two-deep that was released on Monday as starters. The bad news is that the Wildcats’ pool at defensive tackle is shallow, as neither starter Trevor Kent nor rotation regular Jason Gold Jr. were listed.

So naturally, Fitzgerald said that “it’s a big advantage for Nebraska. They get a week off to rest up and they get a chance to watch us play.”

Fitzgerald stressed that his 2-0 team needs to rest and recover before facing the Huskers. The Wildcats didn’t take Sunday off, as is their custom. Instead, they practiced on Sunday night, after returning late Saturday night from the 2:30 game in Iowa City, to give the players and coaches Election Day off. As Fitzgerald explained, they moved their typical Monday to Sunday, and their typical Tuesday to Monday.

Frost would’ve loved to have had an opportunity to play last Saturday so that his team could be that tired. He said more than once that his team has “had more practices with one game under our belt than any team in the history of football.”

“Maybe, if this was Week 7 or 8, having a week off would be nice. But we’ve only played one game,” he lamented.

Coaches always downplay their own team and talk up the competition, so it may be gamesmanship on both of their parts that they think the other side has the bigger advantage. For what it’s worth, Nebraska cornerback DeCaprio Bootle also said that he would’ve rather played last weekend than rest with a COVID-induced bye.

What’s been plainly obvious since August is that Nebraska wants to play. Desperately. Even if their only game thus far – a 52-17 pummeling by No. 3 Ohio State on Oct. 24 – didn’t go so well.

When the Big Ten first postponed the fall season back in August, the Huskers famously tried to schedule games outside the Big Ten on their own. They got their wrists slapped by the league. Last week, once their game with Wisconsin was scuttled, they tried it again, this time attempting to get an FCS team to fill the void. Again, they were admonished by the Big Ten.

The Huskers may not be on the Christmas card list for rookie conference commissioner Kevin Warren this year.

Nebraska and Northwestern have been as closely matched as any two teams in college football since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2011. Seven of their nine games were decided by one score, six of them by three points or fewer. The Huskers hold a 5-4 edge.

If this is another tight game down the stretch, will Nebraska get a boost because their legs are fresher? Or will the Wildcats hold sway due to the confidence of winning a one-point road game just last week?

There’s only one way to find out.