Florida Husker Watcher
New member
New poster here. For the record, I watch the Huskers and wish the team well but I'm not a fan in the sense that you all are. My primary allegiance is with another team.
With that said, my objective observations:
(1) Adrian Martinez should not be starting. That should have been apparent by 2019. I think the fact that he remains as your starter is probably the result of: (i) Frost's loyalty to Martinez, maybe coming from his psychology as a former QB; and (ii) Frost's preference for an offensive strategy predicated on a dual-threat QB.
The trouble with attempting to build an offense strategy around a dual-threat QB is that in most years there are between 0 and 2 true dual-threat QBs in the entire nation. And Martinez isn't one of them. He's a running back who can throw a bit - and as running backs go, he's not all that fast. Every team since 2019 just loads the box, sells out for the run, and dares Martinez to beat them through the air.
(2) Because Martinez can't throw, and because of the offensive philosophy - it is predicated around explosion fueled by a dual-threat QB - the Huskers are not playing complimentary football. The time of possession? 25 minutes for the Huskers. And that figure is inflated in reality because Illinois traded yards for time on that last TD possession. Want yards and a TD? Fine - we'll give it to you. Just so long as you take 7 minutes doing it. This is a shame because the defense looks like it could actually hold up their end of the "bargain."
(3) Instead of trying to predicate offensive explosiveness on a QB, you'd be better off to predicate it on getting 2 or more true #1 NFL-caliber receivers paired with a capable game-manager sort of QB. The reason I say this is because you will be able to find those "parts" to build the machine - on aggregate, you recruit well. But you are trying to build a particular species of machine that requires one part that is so rare that you are unlikely to locate it if you are not Ohio State/Alabama/Clemson. Explosiveness can be constructed other ways.
(4) For my money, I'd first work on building a machine that possessed the ball, limited mistakes, and played great D. Build that culture first. Sure - that'll top out at 8-9 wins. But understand that when you are doing that you are just building the platform to add explosiveness to. When you add the explosiveness, you'll be back to competing at a national level. You have the facilities and recruiting to accomplish this.
Big picture: A successful Nebraska would be good for the Big Ten. Right now, Nebraska is perceived as a failed experiment in compromise. The Big Ten compromised academically in terms of letting Nebraska join - but it was supposed to get a football power to add to the West. Instead it got its only non-AAU member school and a losing football team. If Nebraska were to succeed on the football field, the conference might consider permitting other non-AAU members to join. Right now, that's a non-starter because the conference feels it didn't get what it bargained for.
With that said, my objective observations:
(1) Adrian Martinez should not be starting. That should have been apparent by 2019. I think the fact that he remains as your starter is probably the result of: (i) Frost's loyalty to Martinez, maybe coming from his psychology as a former QB; and (ii) Frost's preference for an offensive strategy predicated on a dual-threat QB.
The trouble with attempting to build an offense strategy around a dual-threat QB is that in most years there are between 0 and 2 true dual-threat QBs in the entire nation. And Martinez isn't one of them. He's a running back who can throw a bit - and as running backs go, he's not all that fast. Every team since 2019 just loads the box, sells out for the run, and dares Martinez to beat them through the air.
(2) Because Martinez can't throw, and because of the offensive philosophy - it is predicated around explosion fueled by a dual-threat QB - the Huskers are not playing complimentary football. The time of possession? 25 minutes for the Huskers. And that figure is inflated in reality because Illinois traded yards for time on that last TD possession. Want yards and a TD? Fine - we'll give it to you. Just so long as you take 7 minutes doing it. This is a shame because the defense looks like it could actually hold up their end of the "bargain."
(3) Instead of trying to predicate offensive explosiveness on a QB, you'd be better off to predicate it on getting 2 or more true #1 NFL-caliber receivers paired with a capable game-manager sort of QB. The reason I say this is because you will be able to find those "parts" to build the machine - on aggregate, you recruit well. But you are trying to build a particular species of machine that requires one part that is so rare that you are unlikely to locate it if you are not Ohio State/Alabama/Clemson. Explosiveness can be constructed other ways.
(4) For my money, I'd first work on building a machine that possessed the ball, limited mistakes, and played great D. Build that culture first. Sure - that'll top out at 8-9 wins. But understand that when you are doing that you are just building the platform to add explosiveness to. When you add the explosiveness, you'll be back to competing at a national level. You have the facilities and recruiting to accomplish this.
Big picture: A successful Nebraska would be good for the Big Ten. Right now, Nebraska is perceived as a failed experiment in compromise. The Big Ten compromised academically in terms of letting Nebraska join - but it was supposed to get a football power to add to the West. Instead it got its only non-AAU member school and a losing football team. If Nebraska were to succeed on the football field, the conference might consider permitting other non-AAU members to join. Right now, that's a non-starter because the conference feels it didn't get what it bargained for.
