Start Mcaffrey vs Wisconsin, Iowa

If you've ever been a college athlete, you will understand that there is growth in strength from 18-23 years old.  That is why I do not favor throwing the young guys in against the wolves.  In practice if you are on the scout team you generally go hard in 1v1 against the second team on down, but there is a general rule that you don't mess with the first team guys in practice, and in turn they refrain from ripping your head off.  This arrangement allows you to survive until your sophomore year.

The new kids are playing younger bc they are better coached out of high school but you can't speed up that physical maturation.

SO I prefer to let a kid develop with healthy knees in order to see what they can really do when they are 21-22 year old.

 
But doesn't Luke still have the ability to keep the redshirt on? If so, definitely wouldn't do this.

I think Martinez gets a small benefit of the doubt for the Purdue game that he needed to shake off the rust. But he just didn't play well within Frost's scheme on Saturday. He doesn't run to keep the chains moving when he should, he made a bad decision on the interception, and he missed a walk-in touchdown pass to Kanawai.

If that kind of play happens again against Wisconsin I think you have to put Vedral in there.

*Edit, before somebody nitpicks that - he does have good instincts for scrambling when he's in the red zone. He just isn't really doing it much outside of the red zone like he did last year. His scrambling was a big part of our great offensive yard totals last year.

 
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Adrian is still the starter. However, I think we will see Frost will design a couple packages (or implement already designed packages) with McCaffrey for the Wisconsin game. 

 
This is the worst prepared team since the 60's. Worse than Callahan. Worse than Pelini. Worse than Riley. It needs such an overhaul in every phase but you have to start with the defense. Chinander needs to go. But he won't replace him. So the whole team goes down with the ship. This is like some Cosgrove $hit going on. Then focus on the offense. First down on the two yard line and you can't push Mills through on 4 downs against Purdue? There have been a lot of great playing quarterbacks that couldn't cut it as a coach. Put Frost up there. And once the glow fades from his Central Florida days you won't be seeing the recruits anymore. One already bailed last week.

 
Taylor Martinez regressed as a sophomore. Went on to have his best season the next year. 

Colt McCoy regressed as a sophomore. 

JT Barrett did too. 

Jalen Hurts as well. 

It's not that uncommon. It doesn't mean he will come back out of it even better than before, but it does mean that there's certainly some amount of realistic potential for that to happen and to say his time is up, he's not the future, we can't go anywhere with him, etc., is declaring a fate that isn't set. 

 
Fat Tony said:
Then focus on the offense. First down on the two yard line and you can't push Mills through on 4 downs against Purdue?
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And the disappointing thing is that he made the same mistake against Illinois. Went finesse when he should have gone power, we settled for a field goal, and had to rely on our defense to put the game away.

That's four down territory. It's pretty weird that he didn't call three consecutive power runs on that series.

 
I thought Adrian Martinez looked like a generational quarterback and total game-changer last year. Hand-picked by Frost for his system, and looking cool and confident as a true Freshman on a team with a lot of holes, but nowhere to go but up.

We've also seen enough freshman and sophomore QBs in the NCAA to know not all of them need a lot of seasoning: they just have the instinct. They're gamers and leaders from the get go and they can't wait to get the ball on every snap. I thought Adrian Martinez was that guy. It could have been the homer talking, but everybody else thought the same thing. He started this year in the top ten of Heisman candidates for Gods sakes. So when the chatter started for Vedral or McCaffery, I thought it was knee-jerk over-reaction. 

Then I changed my mind. All available evidence suggests starting Vedral or McCaffrey and benching Martinez. Not because the fans are restless but because those qbs probably give the team a better chance of winning. That's only fair to the team, and only fair to the QBs who stepped in and ran the same offense more decisively. They work their a$$ off, too. It can definitely mess with team chemistry, but right now the team chemistry clearly isn't healthy. 

And if Adrian Martinez is benched in his Sophomore season, and doesn't fight back to regain his job, then he doesn't have the leadership instinct we needed from him all along. 

I'd be all for Adrian winning his job back next year by seriously upping his game. 

 
Although now that I think about it.....two times this season Adrian Martinez drove the team to a go ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter, only to have the defense let the opponent waltz down the field and win. Any stop on a 3rd and 7 would have sealed the win, and our lasting memory would have been Adrian Martinez on a designed keeper, pumping his fist in the end zone, sealing the six wins needed for a bowl game. 

Adrian is definitely not as good as he was last year, none of it having to do with the OL and all of it having to do with his decision making. 

But I gotta think if our defense wasn't so helpless, we might not be having this conversation. 

 
huskerfan74 said:
I fully agree. It is time to invest in the future of this program and AM is not it. 
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Unfortunately, SF's reputation is tied strongly to AM's success.  SF noted that he thought AM had the potential to be the best all time QB at NU and he wouldn't trade him for anyone in the country.  

That is a lot of twine holding you to a stake you place into the ground.

 
TGHusker said:
Unfortunately, SF's reputation is tied strongly to AM's success.  SF noted that he thought AM had the potential to be the best all time QB at NU and he wouldn't trade him for anyone in the country.  

That is a lot of twine holding you to a stake you place into the ground.
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Show of hands: who thought Purdue's third string quarterback looked better than Adrian Martinez? 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
And then when nobody was open, to run with authority and crucial first downs, even though you're not a dual threat quarterback. 
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Which is easier to do when the defenders turn their backs in man coverage - if our opponents are in man, seems like they have a spy. But to your point, whether its the coaches putting them in better situations or the player's decisions, it's not good when their 3rd stringer looks better.

 
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