Skeeball

We need to let Adrian take his redshirt year to heal up. Let Vedral and McCaffery battle it out for starter. Smothers can use a year to learn the Offense.

I agree with most of what you are saying. However, we still have the sea of red fan support (at least for now), which gives us a recruiting advantage over the other 5-7 teams of the world. I still believe HCSF is the guy, but it's going to take a few more years. Luke needs to be given serious consideration to start next year or at the very least keep Martinez on a very short leash. I know the sample size is small, but Luke appears to be a faster "blinker", better passer and a better running than Martinez. HCSF's evaluation needs to be weighted toward game performance. A QB might look great in the green jersey Monday-Friday, but it doesn't mean much if he's not getting it done on Saturday when he's taking hits.

This thread needs to be put to rest. Washington's career in football is almost certainly over. His actions and the criminal charge are certainly a contributing factor, but his attitude is the biggest issue. Unless he has a "St. Paul on the road to Damascus" moment, we've seen the last of him on any significant football stage.

Do we get to reassign their scholarships to deserving players?

You and 80K other fans in Memorial stadium. Luke is not only more decisive, passes more accurately and runs more aggressively, but also elevates the play of those around him. He's a gamer. I'm a Frost believer, but I have wonder if he's too close the situation to see the forest through the trees.

We'll have an inexperienced D-Line and lack some depth, but there is talent there. Robinson, Casey, Green, Daniels (Damion), Stille. I'm more concerned at linebacker, but I'm hoping Garrett, Reimers and perhaps a healthy Heinrich can pick up the slack. Barring injuries we're covered in the secondary. I too was a bit perplexed at some of the decisions made yesterday. Seemed like the coach and QB were not always on the same page. Playing for the OT was one good example. "Fear of Failure", may have influenced some of these decisions.

Agreed, I certainly hope he gets it together in the off season because we may need a quality 3rd string backup QB before the season is over.

Martinez is the least accurate passer (and perhaps the slowest blinker, certainly the most indecisive) in the QB room. He would have the most value in the QB room as a runner, if he used his 225+ lbs frame to run people over, but he's constantly running laterally or trying to find the ground or out of bounds. Our QBs that give up 20 to 40 lbs to him run with much more authority. For some reason, Martinez has it in his head that he's "the franchise QB" who can't afford to potentially get hurt. I don't know whether that has been coached into him or if he determined that on his own, but until he adjusts this attitude, he's of no value to us. There had better be a QB competition this off season AND he needs to be put on a short leash come early next season. We open with Purdue, then play 3 quality non-conference foes (one FCS and two mid majors). Anything less then a 3-1 start spells another December at home. Adrian may be a great "practice" player, but if he can't get it done on Saturday's we need to move on. The coaches needs to be more concerned with winning games, than the possibility of losing a poor performing QB, with "potential", to the transfer portal. I've heard Verduzco say on several occasions that if you have 2 QBs you have no QBs, but when you have a QB that's performing as poorly as Martinez has this year, you ARE getting paid the big bucks to make those changes sooner than later.

Hodge looks better than Aho on film. Closes the gap better and hits with more authority. Of course, Aho is at a bit of a disadvantage coming out of the DE stance, but I'm going to have to just trust the coaches on this one.

From Hudl clips it doesn't look like he has the snap to whistle motor that Nelson has. I take the physique comments with a grain of salt. Could be one of the many Tarzan's in the locker room, but Jane's on the field. His Hudl film simply isn't that impressive. Hodges look more impressive. True, some of that is due to playing out of different positions, but I like seeing LBs who can close the gap quickly and lay out licks. That add's up to TFLs. Like I said before, could be a diamond in the rough. Certainly hope he proves me wrong.

I'm with you on that. Looking at his Hudl clips, nothing really jumps out at you. Perhaps the coaches see a diamond in the rough???

I'm glad Joe has had the success he's had. He's worked hard, persevered, lead a team to a successful year (possibly a national championship) and deserves all the accolades. This mentality is exactly what we are looking for in each and every one of our players. I also understand Frost's decision, as he is looking for a QB to run his system, and believed he already had the guys to do it. Clearly, our program (and QBs) have a lot of work ahead of us. If Joe feels slighted and wants to throw it back in our face, he has every right to do so. Wish him nothing but the best.

In the category of counting one's ditch chickens way before they've hatched, a win might pit us against Florida St in something like the Cure or Frisco bowl. That said, a win Friday is going to take a much better performance that we had against Maryland. A better team that hadn't already packed it in for the season would have exploited our miscues making a game of it.

Problem is they are still just Freshmen and redshirt Freshmen. Let's see them as Juniors and Seniors before passing judgement. I'm pleased with our current 2020 recruits, but we are having problems filling out the balance of the class. That's a big a concern for me, but I'm hoping that staff can pull some "Cats" out of the bags, to use a Verduzco vernacular.

I think Steve Taylor hit the nail on the head. We have some players in the secondary that are afraid to hit. A glancing shoulder blow and falling to the ground doesn't cut it in big boy football. That's certainly not Husker football. We need to find people who can cover and love to hit and wrap up. It's going to take recruiting and time. I still believe Frost is the right man for the job. He not only has the skill set and drive, but he understands the tradition and bleeds Husker red. We've had coaches and ADs in the not too distant past who were content to go through the motion and pick up their paycheck. You know who I'm talking about. We may not make a bowl game this year, but I'm excited to see what we look like when Frost's recruits are Juniors and Seniors.

I'd rather blitz with 90 and leave 10 in coverage.

We need multiple hats to the ball every play. That takes 11 players, executing at full speed every play until the whistle blows. That last Purdue touchdown, Lamar took the play off, assumed his teammate was going to make the tackle and we gave up 7. I'm not laying this all on Lamar as he wasn't the only player taking plays off, but collectively it cost us the game.

I'm not arguing that Aranda might have some great ideas, but he's also got the studs and speed to implement those great ideas. You can bring in the greatest race horse trainer in the world, but he's not going to turn a Clydesdale into the next Kentucky derby champion.

BTW, the defense's weakest link is at LB by far. People looking for DL play makers in a 3-4 is just not reasonable. Unless you've got someone like Suh (or Clemson/Bama's 5* D-line studs), the most you can expect from your 3 DLs is to eat up blockers hold their ground and perhaps occasionally beat their block(s) and pick up a TFL or sack. LBs need to either shoot gaps like maniacs or cover. Our LBs don't do either very well.

Pellini won a Natty as DC at LSU in 2007. Would he do?

Frost, was the hottest coach on the market in 2017, going undefeated and beating Auburn in the Peach bowl. Now suddenly he has completely forgotten how to coach? Everyone just needs to RELAX!!! To the naysayers on this board, I would like to say Frost will get his full 7 years at the helm. Just look at Florida St., Willie Taggert gets less than 2 years and now they are starting at ground zero again with at least another 2 recruiting years bailing on them. Let's face it, we don't have the seasoned horses to complete, particularly at linebacker and on the O-Line. I like most are disappointed at the execution, but this improve with years in the system. Long story short, I'd rather stick with a coach and staff the bleeds Husker red, than jump back into perpetual rebuilding and the latest flavor of the month coach.

Put in Vedral. Are we worried about hurting Adrian's feelings? He's got the off season to get over that and work on his throwing technique.

1st and goal on the 2 1/2 yard line? Run it right at them 4 times in a row!!!! If you can't punch it in you don't deserve to score. Throwing into double coverage? What's wrong with checking down??? Why are we throwing the ball at the receivers feet on the swing passes? Vedral is a better QB here and now. ...and for crying out loud wrap up when tackling. Get some pressure on the QB. The slowest QB in the BIG, is lighting us up on the ground. Getting multiple hats to the ball should be a given if you team is not going through the motions. 4th and 1/2 yard on the goal. Go for it!!!! We're play to not lose. What ever happened to no fear of failure????

They already have. You don't think taking the intentional dive on defense to slow the tempo isn't an adjustment?

If we have learned anything this year, it is that it's difficult to win the battle up front in the B1G with a group of underclassmen. We need a pipeline of juniors and seniors that have been in the S&C program for 3+ years. Until the most recent decade it was unheard of for a Freshmen (Redshirt or otherwise) to crack the starting line up on the Huskers O-Line. An occasional sophomore, the caliber of Dave Remmington might do it, but that was the exception to the rule. Don't fool yourself into believing that Benhart, Piper and/or Corcoran will be our salvation in 2020. This is a project that's going to take not only great recruiting, but years of hard work and mental fortitude.