USA Today: Big Ten spring preview 2020

[lo country]

I for one can't wait to see how mildly Martinez improves this year on bubble screens

Not to beat a dead horse, but it wasn't just the passing on those routes.  It was the telegraphing, the inability to set it up and complete failure to execute. We just sucked in every component of that pass.....Blocking would be a great start.

If I was Frost/Lubick my first play against Purdue would be a fake screen and hit a delayed blocking TE opposite the play side going  deep for a one pass/one catch TD......I imagine the entire D would jump that screen  route....Not even covering the TE.....

 

[Danimal]

I think people who are starting to dry up on Frost don't realize the amount of unlucky s#!t he's gone through and the fact that literally 9 of our losses under him have been by one possession. 9 with terrible roster depth. You flip those all to wins and he's bo pelini 2.0 with 8-9 wins a season but recruiting momentum 

Frost brought over a whole coaching staff put together by a rookie HC at the G5 level with his best bud at DC, he didn't do himself any favors. Bo had his share of close losses, it's not like his seasons couldn't have been better too. I agree we were unlucky in '18. If Akron doesn't take away our tune-up game and AM doesn't get assaulted post-play we go 6-6. Last year was not bad luck, the job didn't get done on O, D or ST's. Of course there were personnel issues we're working on fixing but too often we got outcoached. We should have at least made a freaking bowl.  CU and a majorly depleted Purdue squad were inexcusable losses, Minnesota blew us off the freaking  field. Not saying I've lost hope by any stretch, I do think we'll get better,  but I'd say an "I'll believe it when I see it" attitude towards this regime has been earned.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

If you think one player was single handedly costing the team wins last year,  I don't know what to tell you.  If you think Martinez will be benched after a single bad game to start the season in 2020, I also don't know what to tell you.  Neither of those things are true.

If he struggles multiple times in September, he will get benched,  but not after one game.

If the general view that the winnable games are in the first half of the schedule then Frost cant afford to drop several early ones and then realize AM is not the answer so he brings in the frosh with no experience to get on the job experience in games we will have little chance of winning.  Play the rookie early to get him ready for the future.  

 

[runningblind]

If the general view that the winnable games are in the first half of the schedule then Frost cant afford to drop several early ones and then realize AM is not the answer so he brings in the frosh with no experience to get on the job experience in games we will have little chance of winning.  Play the rookie early to get him ready for the future.  

You think they go 7-0 with a freshman at QB over a Junior? Possible sure, but unlikely.  What happens if he has some early struggles, due to barely 2 years playing QB and a total of 12 college passes, and NU is 2-2 after September with those last 5 brutal games coming up? Would Martinez still be on the roster to go back to or does he transfer after losing the job to a freshman because he wants to play his last year or two?  That sets you up for missing a bowl yet again and the wheels falling off recruiting.   If you start Martinez, he struggles,  you can go to the freshman backup and him struggling then is understandable.  The mediocre year is chalked up to his inexperience.  If you start McCaffrey over Martinez he better be dang good right away or you've probably got a mess on your hands.  Frost doesn't have another year to "get ready for the future" if he wants continued momentum in the program.  The future is right now.

I think if the first 7 games are winnable, then playing the experienced guy gives you the best chance of winning versus completely rolling the dice with the unknown. 

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Freshman or not Adrian is 9-13 as a starter.  Probably the worst record of any of our QBs in half a century.  His supporting cast is not very good either but the defenders of AM2.0 have to realize he has not played very well overall in his two years.  I tended to give the benefit of the doubt (i.e. excuses) as a freshman.  I gave entire team similar allowances as I knew very

well how recruiting had been.  Class rankings were unduely high as there were highly regarded players at a few positions that raised / skewed the numbers.  Most of those are no longer on the team for a variety of reasons.  But this fall I can’t be so tolerant. I will understand to a small degree but we need to win the winnable games (bottom half of the schedule) and be in most of the rest.  Ohio State and PSU will thump us.  

 

[WyoHusker56]

Freshman or not Adrian is 9-13 as a starter.  Probably the worst record of any of our QBs in half a century.  His supporting cast is not very good either but the defenders of AM2.0 have to realize he has not played very well overall in his two years.  I tended to give the benefit of the doubt (i.e. excuses) as a freshman.  I gave entire team similar allowances as I knew very

well how recruiting had been.  Class rankings were unduely high as there were highly regarded players at a few positions that raised / skewed the numbers.  Most of those are no longer on the team for a variety of reasons.  But this fall I can’t be so tolerant. I will understand to a small degree but we need to win the winnable games (bottom half of the schedule) and be in most of the rest.  Ohio State and PSU will thump us.  

If being a Freshmen All American is not playing very well in his two years, than I just give up.

 

[Husker in WI]

Freshman or not Adrian is 9-13 as a starter.  Probably the worst record of any of our QBs in half a century.  His supporting cast is not very good either but the defenders of AM2.0 have to realize he has not played very well overall in his two years.

And Patrick Mahomes was 16-21 in his college career. W/L isn't that indicative of the QBs performance for college IMO - too many other variables. I'm not saying Adrian is great and everyone else is terrible, but people try to zero in on one thing holding this team back and there just isn't one. Our QB play was good enough to win 8 or 9 games last year if other things were better. Our defense was good enough to win 8-9 games last year if other things were better. We have a lot of problems, and QB play hasn't been way above the other issues for me.

 

[Huckleberry Muhammad]

If being a Freshmen All American is not playing very well in his two years, than I just give up.

Then give up, because his performance and losses speak for themselves.  All American is not what it used to be, and even in the old days was an exercise in popularity and guessing games as opposed to on-field performance as much as it should have been.  In Nebraska's case a true great captain of the offense out there would never do the things Martinez has done to lose games.  He's good at times but not a great quarterback, and he's being coached by a man who exhibits The Peter Principle;  Frost belongs in the AAC where he can excel. 

 

[Nebfanatic]

Then give up, because his performance and losses speak for themselves.  All American is not what it used to be, and even in the old days was an exercise in popularity and guessing games as opposed to on-field performance as much as it should have been.  In Nebraska's case a true great captain of the offense out there would never do the things Martinez has done to lose games.  He's good at times but not a great quarterback, and he's being coached by a man who exhibits The Peter Principle;  Frost belongs in the AAC where he can excel. 

:HotTake:

 

[BigRedBuster]

Then give up, because his performance and losses speak for themselves.  All American is not what it used to be, and even in the old days was an exercise in popularity and guessing games as opposed to on-field performance as much as it should have been.  In Nebraska's case a true great captain of the offense out there would never do the things Martinez has done to lose games.  He's good at times but not a great quarterback, and he's being coached by a man who exhibits The Peter Principle;  Frost belongs in the AAC where he can excel. 

 

[KingBlank]

Not to beat a dead horse, but it wasn't just the passing on those routes.  It was the telegraphing, the inability to set it up and complete failure to execute. We just sucked in every component of that pass.....Blocking would be a great start.

If I was Frost/Lubick my first play against Purdue would be a fake screen and hit a delayed blocking TE opposite the play side going  deep for a one pass/one catch TD......I imagine the entire D would jump that screen  route....Not even covering the TE.....

How about actually taking a shot instead of looking like little b#%#%es all the time. I agree

 

[dspanther05]

And Patrick Mahomes was 16-21 in his college career. W/L isn't that indicative of the QBs performance for college IMO - too many other variables. I'm not saying Adrian is great and everyone else is terrible, but people try to zero in on one thing holding this team back and there just isn't one. Our QB play was good enough to win 8 or 9 games last year if other things were better. Our defense was good enough to win 8-9 games last year if other things were better. We have a lot of problems, and QB play hasn't been way above the other issues for me.

Patrick Mahomes threw for 4700 yards, 36TDs and rushed for 500 yards and 10TD his sophmore year. We win 10 games last year with that stat clip.

 

[Cdog923]

Freshman or not Adrian is 9-13 as a starter.  Probably the worst record of any of our QBs in half a century.  His supporting cast is not very good either but the defenders of AM2.0 have to realize he has not played very well overall in his two years.  I tended to give the benefit of the doubt (i.e. excuses) as a freshman.  I gave entire team similar allowances as I knew very

well how recruiting had been.  Class rankings were unduely high as there were highly regarded players at a few positions that raised / skewed the numbers.  Most of those are no longer on the team for a variety of reasons.  But this fall I can’t be so tolerant. I will understand to a small degree but we need to win the winnable games (bottom half of the schedule) and be in most of the rest.  Ohio State and PSU will thump us.  

224/347 (64.6%), 2,617 yards (7.5 yp/a), 17 TDs, 10 INTs, 629 yards rushing, 8 TDs, 139.5 QBR. As a freshman. 

Now, go ahead and find me a more efficient QB in the last 10 years. I'll give you a hint: there's only 1. 

 

[Cdog923]

Then give up, because his performance and losses speak for themselves.  All American is not what it used to be, and even in the old days was an exercise in popularity and guessing games as opposed to on-field performance as much as it should have been.  In Nebraska's case a true great captain of the offense out there would never do the things Martinez has done to lose games.  He's good at times but not a great quarterback, and he's being coached by a man who exhibits The Peter Principle;  Frost belongs in the AAC where he can excel. 

Whomever gave this nonsense a trophy should find themselves right next to all of .1's sock accounts. 

 

[Husker in WI]

Patrick Mahomes threw for 4700 yards, 36TDs and rushed for 500 yards and 10TD his sophmore year. We win 10 games last year with that stat clip.

True. He also had a RB with about 1900 all purpose yards and a stable of receivers. Not trying to claim Martinez is close to that level, just pointing out that W/L as a QB measurement isn't great. I think stats are better, but you have to account for the style of offense and the supporting cast. This offense should produce great stats from the QB position, so that's a fair knock on Martinez last year. But Mahomes also wouldn't have put up his 2015 stat line with our team last year.

I think everyone agrees Martinez did not perform up to expectations last year. We jsu tdisagree on how far below, and how much of it was his fault directly.