knapplc

Yes, one side is not playing fair, and that's the "he's not a leader" side. That opinion is based on nothing, no evidence, nada, zilch. It's based on what your preconceived notions conjured up when you saw something on TV. Sadly, there is ample evidence that Martinez is a leader, and that he's growing into that role, and it's not difficult to find. Simply type "Martinez Leader" into google and you get several articles quoting guys like Beck, Burkhead, BK, Kyler Reed and yes, even Aaron Green, who all say he's growing into the role. This is solid, verifiable evidence, yet it is discounted against the unassailable bastion of "Well, that's just my opinion, so there." Falling back on, "It's just my opinion" is fine, but it doesn't win any arguments. I can steadfastly ignore your the-sun-rises-in-the-East evidence, and fall back on "It's just my opinion that it rises in the West," but I shouldn't be shocked when none of you take me seriously. And those of you ignoring facts presented to you showing Martinez' physical abilities in these games, and ignoring direct quotes from coaches and players about his character, should not be shocked when you're not taken seriously, either. Facts are facts, and they are dispassionate and do not involve being a "Martinez lover" or a "Carnes lover" or a fanboy of any other player. I have repeatedly stated that I don't care who starts, that I am simply debunking invalid myths. Yet over and over you continue to paint people who disagree with you as "Martinez lovers." Your arguments are making less sense every time you bring them out. They are debunked by actual evidence, and when they are, you resort to the notion that those who show you that your stance is wrong are on some kind of bandwagon. At what point do you realize that it's not about being a fan of this guy or that guy; rather, it's about being a fan of THE TEAM, and Martinez is part of the team? That's going to happen someday, right?

Bachmann is great for entertainment value alone. This woman is almost too good to be true, maybe even better than Palin. Did you know Bachmann can cure your homosexuality? LINK I'd give that a facepalm if it wasn't so redundant. Good lord, woman.

There are 22 starters, maybe 30 guys who see regular duty. They're profiling 50% of them. Are we out of the realm of "key" players and into the realm of "we're just going to describe most of the team" yet?

"only excelled skill is straight line speed" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gPe211xAh4 I searched for - tops - 15 seconds before finding this video. Note the several cutbacks he makes. Sports Science breaks it down even further. That 70-degree cut he makes doesn't seem like he only has "straight line speed." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21mYRtUmc8k I'm no Taylor Martinez fanboy. I could care less if Carnes or Kellogg or Martinez starts. But these obviously incorrect - baffingly incorrect - statements from people I know know a thing or two about football are going to get a response from me every time. EDIT - forgot about the "bad passer" label. THIS ARTICLE by KC Joyner debunks this myth*, and this took me another ten seconds to find. EDIT #2 - * = And we're talking about a Redshirt Freshman. Like most players, it is to be presumed that Taylor's passing will improve, even a little, over the next few years. Maybe it's a moot point if Carnes takes over, but the fact is that there are solid stats to back up the non-kool-aid-drinking notion that Martinez can get it done through the air. EDIT #3 - People don't change? Wow.

Same here. People are quick to point out that he'll have a whole year under his belt, but defenses will have had an entire year to plan for him. Texas completely shut him down with just one extra week of gameplanning. Sure the offense will be different, but his skillset is very limited and pretty easy to plan for. Texas was his fifth career start. And they did not "completely shut him down," as I'm sure you remember the dropped passes by... pretty much everyone. Texas was not a Taylor Martinez failure, it was a team failure, from the Offensive Coordinator down to the backup Left Guard. That offense fluttered not because of Martinez, but because everyone ganked that whole game. Same thing happened with South Dakota State and Washington II, although by that time Taylor's wheels were screwed beyond repair. It is possible that Martinez will be one of the few college football players who never develop beyond what they were in their first season, but the odds are that, like most guys, with more coaching and more reps he'll get better. Until that's proven to not be the case, I'll continue to believe he'll get better like Kyler Reed did, like Rex Burkhead did, like Roy Helu did, like BK did, etc, etc, etc. If/when he shows that he's not any different than he was last year, with no improvement, then it's time to worry. Don't spend time worrying now.

Well, let's see. We're talking about the same Zac Lee, right? Led us to nine wins in '09 (Cody got the Baylor win), led us to within one second of the Big XII Championship, had us in position to beat Virginia Tech at Blacksburg, led us to one of the most stirring wins ever against Oklahoma - we're talking about that Zac Lee, right? The guy who did all that in his first year starting? Or are we talking about some mythical Zac Lee who was - somehow - responsible for the loss to Iowa State (ignoring the eight fumbles), who was - somehow - responsible for the loss to VA Tech (ignoring the TD pass dropped in the end zone and the several defensive breakdowns on the last drive), or who was - somehow - responsible for the entire offense sucking ass during the CCG, a game he had us in position to win after driving down for the go-ahead field goal with under two minutes to play.... is that the Zac Lee we're talking about? I'd say a 10-4 record with a final ranking in the top 15, when we hadn't finished ranked the previous three years, means we "had done well" with him at QB.

BUT WILL HE JOIN A FRATERNITY AND WHERE WILL HE TAILGATE!!!!!111! If he joins a fraternity he'll 'gate at the house. You know that.

THAT is an impressive list (including Bo).

Why blame the Big Ten for TimeWarner's greed? Or phrased differently, why blame the Big Ten for TimeWarner treating Nebraska different than they treat any other Big Ten market? There isn't a single Big Ten market where the BTN is not on a basic tier - except, for the moment, Nebraska. Who's to blame for that? Not the Big Ten. EDIT - Chris, do you get cable through TimeWarner?

My ire over this snafu will NEVER be directed towards the Big Ten or BTN. If TimeWarner thinks I'm going to get pissed at the Big Ten Conference over this when they charge me the EXORBITANT fees they already charge me, they had damned well better think again. Fan support will NOT lean towards TimeWarner. Their name is dirt just about everywhere they operate for a reason.

This is an unnecessarily pessimistic interpretation of what happened. Most people felt Lee would start because he had started the previous year, and we had done well under him. When Martinez got the gig, most people simply supported him because he's a Husker, not out of some bandwagon fandom.

I don't know if we can say that, Haspula. Rex is a good, tough runner, but there are a lot of those in Division One ball. And remember that this isn't a list of the top Big Ten Juniors, this is a list of Big Ten Juniors who were on the national, overall list. You can find that HERE. All that list does is give the top five Juniors for each position. It's very possible Rex is, in their mind, in the top ten, just not the top five. I could live with that.

At least the forum is consistent. A lot see things in Martinez that others don't. Opposite...but similar response. I don't see how the two are comparable. We've seen one player in one spring game. The other played actual games. It's about a person's perception and vision of a player's ability, not playing time. I see where you are coming from, but PT and how good you think a player is/could be are not the same thing. I think what Moiraine is saying is, that perception is coming from vapor, from nowhere. We don't know anything that is practical about Carnes yet. I think everyone agrees that he looked the best of all the QBs in the Spring Game, but we have to temper that with the fact that there have been a million Spring Game stars who busted in the regular season. I cannot say that Hujan is wrong, all I can do is question where he's seeing that "something" in Carnes. I will give Hujan a beer if Carnes ends up being something special. Maybe two beers. I hope like the dickens he's right. We need special at QB.

We could go on and on about the QBs, but I held off on a reply because this is about Cooper, and maybe the secondary by extension. We could continue the QB discussion in another thread.

I think you have to view this as a business move as much as anything. The Nighthawks need to put butts in seats, so they apparently feel that Crouch can do that. He'll do it one of two ways - one, by being so good on the field that people are drawn to them as a winner, or two, by being a "local sports hero" who will attract fans from nostalgia alone. Crouch's success in Omaha will depend entirely on what kind of offense they run. He's simply not a passing QB at the professional level, so if they're going to run a pro-style offense, he either won't start or won't succeed. Unless he's dramatically improved his passing game, that is.

What "vast" general consensus are you talking about regarding Martinez? I've seen way more criticism about his passing than praise. He's had ONE "good" game passing, and he's been serviceable in a few others. And every single time his one good passing game is brought up, the (correct) caveat that it came against a horrific pass defense is mentioned, and never disputed. This is a straw man, or you're reading way more into the comments about Martinez' passing ability than is warranted. Another thing that is mentioned about Martinez, and which cannot be ignored, is that he was a Redshirt Freshman last year. You cannot address comments about him as if he's a finished product. Give the guy time to mature before talking about what he is. He is a work in progress, nothing more, just like every QB on the roster. We have no idea, based on what we saw last year and in the 2011 Spring Game, who will be the starter this year or next year. Could be Martinez, could be Carnes, could be someone else To talk about what Martinez is or what Carnes is is a mistake at this point. This glass-half-empty way of looking at Martinez becomes even more odd when you turn right around and state that Carnes has solid passing fundamentals. zoogies, how can you make that statement with any level of seriousness when he's never played a single down of D1 football? Surely you don't need a litany of four- and five-star recruits who've bombed at this level, do you? This is what I don't get about the whole concept of being "for" one player and "against" another. The arguments presented, especially in this case, are pure guesswork.

I haven't heard anything yet. It's typically held on the first day of Fall Camp, which this year is August 6th.

Reading the comments from that blog I ran across this at the top. We are truly better off than we were. Without question. bummerbry I just want to say, as a Husker fan, how awesome it is to be in the Big 10. If the discussion taking place here was between the Big 12 fans there would be tons of crap being thrown around instead of what we see here which is good football talk and little debating that becomes nothing more than that. This is going to be fun!! spartooskie Welcome aboard Huskers!

There have been some biased comments made by "insiders" over the last couple of years, a couple I would even describe as wildly biased against players both current and from past years. Everyone has an opinion, and it's normal for some people to simply not get along. What's unhelpful is when those dislikes transfer from a personal dislike into a description of a player's ability. I don't care if John Smith doesn't like Bob Jones. I care if Bob Jones can make a block/catch a ball/run for a first down/complete a pass. If John Smith is telling us that Bob Jones can't block/catch/run/throw not because he can't, but because John Smith doesn't like him, that's worthless information. That's why I give little credence to these "insider" sources and focus on what I see.

Apparently Cody is going to choose between Tulsa, USC and Baylor. I'd put a dollar on him going to Baylor. He'll never see the field at USC and Tulsa is neither close to home nor are they going to be televised in his hometown much.

Because Ohio State used FERPA to withhold a large volume of emails between Tressel and Ted Sarniak, Terrelle Pryor's "mentor," citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Very loosely defined, FERPA was created to protect the privacy of student-athletes as it pertains to their private academic life. Vaguely, their athletic career is mostly an open book, but their academic career is mostly a closed book. FERPA helps keep that book closed. The Buckeyes responded to the FOIA requests from The Dispatch (local Ohio paper) and ESPN, among others, but not fully. One of the main things they refused to provide, that was greatly desired by the press, were the emails between Tressel and Sarniak. Those emails contained, the press felt, key information into who knew what, about what, and when. When OSU denied that part of the FOIA request, this lawsuit was inevitable. In order for OSU to successfully fight off this lawsuit they're going to have to show that the content of the emails was so full of private information about Terrelle Pryor (or any other student-athlete) that they could not be provided, even in a redacted form, without compromising his right to privacy. From what I'm hearing this is not going to be an easy thing for the Buckeyes to show, and the Ohio Supreme Court has, apparently, traditionally sided with openness in public records.

When Phelps dies I hope there are ZERO protestors. I hope he goes quietly into oblivion. He doesn't deserve the time it would take those of us who oppose him to protest him.

I don't think anyone is dismissing Carnes, more like considering him an ace in the hole. This is a guy we've got in hand already; we're looking at Starling for depth, and for the future. But anything we're saying about how good Carnes is going to be is just projection. I saw the Spring Game, and I thought he looked good. But he's still young, still a project. I'm more worried about Martinez doing well than any of the rest of our QBs combined.

Not only that, but if they are a member of the team, or a trainer or some tertiary guy who doesn't like another player, that can skew the information. What we see on the field is the most reliable information. Anything else is going to be clouded by something. It may be a bit of a bland way of looking at things, but you don't get suckered into nonsense as much. That's my take on it.