Couple other things I noticed

[adc7236]

1. Legate needs to work on his blocking before getting too many more carries.

2. Seriously, I can not for the life of me understand people's fascination with the Rexcat. Why in the world would we use that when we already have a QB who can run the ball? No kidding, if someone could answer this for me, I'd appreciate it, because I see it brought up all the time on this board and just don't understand it.

Seriously, I can not for the life of me understand people's fascination with T-Mart's running ability. Why in the world would anyone think that his skills are comparable to Rex. One makes plays and the other makes big runs when no one is around.

+1

 

[Mierin]

Tmart rushes for 135 yds (7.1 ypc) & 3 Tds, 11 for 22 (including the drops) passing the ball and....."he sucks!!".
lol!

This is only semi-related but you reminded me... I was reading "conversation" on espn about the Fresno State game and someone said "I'm a Husker fan and cannot believe we will get 200 passing yards in this game. UNLESS we put in Brion Carnes, who can tear defenses apart with is passing game."

I quickly ran away from there

 

[Cdog923]

1. Legate needs to work on his blocking before getting too many more carries.

2. Seriously, I can not for the life of me understand people's fascination with the Rexcat. Why in the world would we use that when we already have a QB who can run the ball? No kidding, if someone could answer this for me, I'd appreciate it, because I see it brought up all the time on this board and just don't understand it.

Because Rex is much, much better at making reads out of the Read Option than Taylor is. That, and he's a much better runner inbetween the tackles.

 

[zoogs]

It is downright amazing, isn't it?

The

NU might have the "best" fans in the nation. But the sharpest? Well.........

Tmart rushes for 135 yds (7.1 ypc) & 3 Tds, 11 for 22 (including the drops) passing the ball and....."he sucks!!".

lol!

Nobody is saying he sucks. He just had an up-and-down game, along with the rest of the offense. Nothing rave-worthy.

Let me remind you of a certain "best" fan who was presented with a quarterback who went 27-of-35 (77%) for 340 yards (9.7 ypa) and 4 TDs, and said..."yeah, he can win against sucky Sun Belt teams, but so what. My grandmother can run faster than him."

In the end, it's a season opener and we played a glorified scrimmage against a team that was completely outmatched. There's not too much to say either way. Sure we struggled some, but whatever. It's a season opener.

 

[Hercules]

1. Legate needs to work on his blocking before getting too many more carries.

2. Seriously, I can not for the life of me understand people's fascination with the Rexcat. Why in the world would we use that when we already have a QB who can run the ball? No kidding, if someone could answer this for me, I'd appreciate it, because I see it brought up all the time on this board and just don't understand it.

Because Rex is much, much better at making reads out of the Read Option than Taylor is. That, and he's a much better runner inbetween the tackles.

I don't really buy this. The part about making better reads, that is. Burkhead didn't have to deal with defenses keying on him like Martinez did. After Kansas State, every defense we played last year set out to stop Martinez, at the risk of leaving other parts of our offense undefended. No defense gave Rex Burkhead that much respect.

If you want to run Rex between the tackles, then just hand the ball off. With Martinez on the field, you've got a QB who can run, and the defense has to worry about defending his legs and his arm. Even when he hands the ball off, Martinez can create problems for the defense because they're so worried about him keeping it. You take him off the field, and you remove the most dynamic player from our offense, the guy that keeps defensive coordinators up at night, and you're only doing it so you can run the same plays with Rex Burkhead and one of the other running backs. It doesn't make any sense, it makes the offense less threatening, and easier to defend.

For the record, I think the coaches might agree with me, since at least according to Rex Burkhead they haven't worked on the Rexcat at all this year. Maybe he's just lying, that wouldn't surprise me, but for now I'm going with "the coaches agree with me."

 

[bshirt]

It is downright amazing, isn't it?

The

NU might have the "best" fans in the nation. But the sharpest? Well.........

Tmart rushes for 135 yds (7.1 ypc) & 3 Tds, 11 for 22 (including the drops) passing the ball and....."he sucks!!".

lol!

Nobody is saying he sucks. He just had an up-and-down game, along with the rest of the offense. Nothing rave-worthy.

Let me remind you of a certain "best" fan who was presented with a quarterback who went 27-of-35 (77%) for 340 yards (9.7 ypa) and 4 TDs, and said..."yeah, he can win against sucky Sun Belt teams, but so what. My grandmother can run faster than him."

In the end, it's a season opener and we played a glorified scrimmage against a team that was completely outmatched. There's not too much to say either way. Sure we struggled some, but whatever. It's a season opener.

lol!

zoogies.....that's pure BS and you know it. It wasn't until "immediately" after the SunBelt teams when Z. Lee & our offense turned into a supremely efficient 3 & out machine that myself and other said he wasn't hacking it.

 

[H2h]

Cant believe all the hate on rex. Did you not see him get hit at or behind the line of scrimmage time after time and still fight his way forward for a yard or two? As for him running the wrong way on the option TD, from the tv glimpse i saw it didnt appear martinez even turned to tell him the audible, maybe i missed it.

Oh and the spacing on the option was rex's fault? you mean the time martinez took it all the way to the boudary then handed it to rex? or the other 5 times that the blocking was poor and it was blown up in the backfield. I would put the majority of the option failures on the o-line, as would most i presume, but martinez needs to make guys commit one way or another before he pitches it. He looked hesitant and predetermined on whether or not he was going to pitch it from the start. Again, this is not all on martinez at all, the blocking was bad.

 

[Hercules]

Cant believe all the hate on rex. Did you not see him get hit at or behind the line of scrimmage time after time and still fight his way forward for a yard or two? As for him running the wrong way on the option TD, from the tv glimpse i saw it didnt appear martinez even turned to tell him the audible, maybe i missed it.

Oh and the spacing on the option was rex's fault? you mean the time martinez took it all the way to the boudary then handed it to rex? or the other 5 times that the blocking was poor and it was blown up in the backfield. I would put the majority of the option failures on the o-line, as would most i presume, but martinez needs to make guys commit one way or another before he pitches it. He looked hesitant and predetermined on whether or not he was going to pitch it from the start. Again, this is not all on martinez at all, the blocking was bad.

Nobody is hating on Rex, but there seems to be a perception on this board that Rex is almost infallible while Martinez is seen as one of the three stooges. Rex is a tremendous player, but some of us point out his mistakes to draw attention to the fact that everybody on offense has work to do, not just a select few.

 

[gobiggergoredder]

After Kansas State, every defense we played last year set out to stop Martinez, at the risk of leaving other parts of our offense undefended.

Herc, I couldn't agree with you more on this statement. It will happen again. I can only speak for myself when I say this is one of the main reasons I am concerned.

I am of the opinion that we will see a repeat of last year. I see very few teams allowing T-Mart to repeat a K-State/Washington I game. They are going to make him use other dimensions of his game. Dimensions that have been nothing short of inconsistent.

There is no doubt that the number of playmakers on offense has increased (Freshman I-Backs, Enumwa, Turner), but there still needs to be an unpredictable/reliable way to get them the ball.

 

[Saunders]

Cant believe all the hate on rex. Did you not see him get hit at or behind the line of scrimmage time after time and still fight his way forward for a yard or two? As for him running the wrong way on the option TD, from the tv glimpse i saw it didnt appear martinez even turned to tell him the audible, maybe i missed it.

Oh and the spacing on the option was rex's fault? you mean the time martinez took it all the way to the boudary then handed it to rex? or the other 5 times that the blocking was poor and it was blown up in the backfield. I would put the majority of the option failures on the o-line, as would most i presume, but martinez needs to make guys commit one way or another before he pitches it. He looked hesitant and predetermined on whether or not he was going to pitch it from the start. Again, this is not all on martinez at all, the blocking was bad.

Nobody is hating on Rex, but there seems to be a perception on this board that Rex is almost infallible while Martinez is seen as one of the three stooges. Rex is a tremendous player, but some of us point out his mistakes to draw attention to the fact that everybody on offense has work to do, not just a select few.

Ding ding, Winnar!!!

 

[Cdog923]

1. Legate needs to work on his blocking before getting too many more carries.

2. Seriously, I can not for the life of me understand people's fascination with the Rexcat. Why in the world would we use that when we already have a QB who can run the ball? No kidding, if someone could answer this for me, I'd appreciate it, because I see it brought up all the time on this board and just don't understand it.

Because Rex is much, much better at making reads out of the Read Option than Taylor is. That, and he's a much better runner inbetween the tackles.

I don't really buy this. The part about making better reads, that is. Burkhead didn't have to deal with defenses keying on him like Martinez did. After Kansas State, every defense we played last year set out to stop Martinez, at the risk of leaving other parts of our offense undefended. No defense gave Rex Burkhead that much respect.

If you want to run Rex between the tackles, then just hand the ball off. With Martinez on the field, you've got a QB who can run, and the defense has to worry about defending his legs and his arm. Even when he hands the ball off, Martinez can create problems for the defense because they're so worried about him keeping it. You take him off the field, and you remove the most dynamic player from our offense, the guy that keeps defensive coordinators up at night, and you're only doing it so you can run the same plays with Rex Burkhead and one of the other running backs. It doesn't make any sense, it makes the offense less threatening, and easier to defend.

For the record, I think the coaches might agree with me, since at least according to Rex Burkhead they haven't worked on the Rexcat at all this year. Maybe he's just lying, that wouldn't surprise me, but for now I'm going with "the coaches agree with me."

That's the very essence of a Read Option, though. If the defense is keying on the QB, hand the ball off to the RB. How many times last year did we see Taylor make the incorrect read, and get stuffed behind the line?

 

[Saunders]

1. Legate needs to work on his blocking before getting too many more carries.

2. Seriously, I can not for the life of me understand people's fascination with the Rexcat. Why in the world would we use that when we already have a QB who can run the ball? No kidding, if someone could answer this for me, I'd appreciate it, because I see it brought up all the time on this board and just don't understand it.

Because Rex is much, much better at making reads out of the Read Option than Taylor is. That, and he's a much better runner inbetween the tackles.

I don't really buy this. The part about making better reads, that is. Burkhead didn't have to deal with defenses keying on him like Martinez did. After Kansas State, every defense we played last year set out to stop Martinez, at the risk of leaving other parts of our offense undefended. No defense gave Rex Burkhead that much respect.

If you want to run Rex between the tackles, then just hand the ball off. With Martinez on the field, you've got a QB who can run, and the defense has to worry about defending his legs and his arm. Even when he hands the ball off, Martinez can create problems for the defense because they're so worried about him keeping it. You take him off the field, and you remove the most dynamic player from our offense, the guy that keeps defensive coordinators up at night, and you're only doing it so you can run the same plays with Rex Burkhead and one of the other running backs. It doesn't make any sense, it makes the offense less threatening, and easier to defend.

For the record, I think the coaches might agree with me, since at least according to Rex Burkhead they haven't worked on the Rexcat at all this year. Maybe he's just lying, that wouldn't surprise me, but for now I'm going with "the coaches agree with me."

That's the very essence of a Read Option, though. If the defense is keying on the QB, hand the ball off to the RB. How many times last year did we see Taylor make the incorrect read, and get stuffed behind the line?

Not nearly as many times as there being no correct read because the defense had both guys covered.

 

[junior4949]

Cant believe all the hate on rex. Did you not see him get hit at or behind the line of scrimmage time after time and still fight his way forward for a yard or two? As for him running the wrong way on the option TD, from the tv glimpse i saw it didnt appear martinez even turned to tell him the audible, maybe i missed it.

Oh and the spacing on the option was rex's fault? you mean the time martinez took it all the way to the boudary then handed it to rex? or the other 5 times that the blocking was poor and it was blown up in the backfield. I would put the majority of the option failures on the o-line, as would most i presume, but martinez needs to make guys commit one way or another before he pitches it. He looked hesitant and predetermined on whether or not he was going to pitch it from the start. Again, this is not all on martinez at all, the blocking was bad.

You said it. I did see him get hit at or behind the LOS. While I'm glad he rolled off a yard or two, I'm a lot more concerned with him getting hit at or behind the LOS. Our OL performance has me a bit concerned. If we were coming off a year where the OL play was really good, I'd chalk it up to game one jitters. However, our OL performance hasn't been very good for quite some time. The struggles of the OL is really becoming a trend rather than just game one jitters.

Unless the option has changed over the past 20 years, it is exactly the RB's fault if the spacing between the RB and QB falls apart. The QB can't be looking around for where his RB is at. The QB's job is to run with the ball until someone forces him to pitch it. From what I saw of our option ability, I wish the coaches would just let it go. We do not appear to have the ability to run the option.

 

[sd'sker]

Unless the option has changed over the past 20 years, it is exactly the RB's fault if the spacing between the RB and QB falls apart. The QB can't be looking around for where his RB is at. The QB's job is to run with the ball until someone forces him to pitch it. From what I saw of our option ability, I wish the coaches would just let it go. We do not appear to have the ability to run the option.

the problem was that t-mart needed to decide to cut up or pitch it, but he would try to cut the corner on the outside leaving the rb no place to go. and when desperate enough, he would just hand it off, which should never happen on an option. it was sloppy all around. t-mart should have been better because it is not all that different from the zone read. you read the defense and either pitch it, or cut up and sprint.

edit: you should trust me, i dominated ncaa 1997-2004 by running the option. but nowadays, i don't know, everything's changed.

 

[junior4949]

My basic evaluation of our option running ability was it looked like a monkey screwing a football. Yeah, Martinez wasn't impressive with it. The RB was rarely where they should have been. And, our OL didn't do a very good job blocking for it. I just wish they would scrap it. If we continue to run it and run it as poorly as we did Saturday, we might as well become accustomed to several turnovers per game.