bdubb75

I was more commenting on the way he was just throwing them up against Fresno State. There were times the OL played well and he still seemed to be just letting her rip. He needs to make good/better decisions with the ball because the chances are always slim against good teams.

I'm not disagreeing with the OL being a huge part but against Fresno State, he threw up a few prayers and luckily, they were answered. Against better teams, that kind of thing will not result in good things (typically). I guess I was hoping our O would be a solid moving force this season and so far, it seems like we are all over the place with feast or famine plays. I def. think T-Mart is the best QB we have and he's great when he's great but when he's throwing up hopes and prayers, it's scary.

I would just like to feel like he's more in control. He seems to put the ball on the ground...a lot and he's always seemingly throwing off his back foot straight up in the air. He's obviously a hybrid type player because he isn't a true QB or true RB but he's playing QB so he needs to develop like one. I worry that the bigger/faster/stronger teams will manhandle the OL so much that we'll have to pass to get anything going and throwing it up, might not be the best answer.

I know I know, T-Mart is awesome etc. I just think we need a real QB back there and I think we could use T-Mart as a slash type player with our Frosh RB's. Maybe I'm just being negative because I thought we would whoop Fresno and we would shut them down early and often. I hold my breath whenever Martinez throws the ball because he almost always seems to be just throwing it up and against teams like Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan, we'll get burned. I also think I might have held my expectations too high from last year because it seems like we didn't progress much from last season to this season. I need a pick me up!

I know the OL didn't do that well last night but not every sack was on them. There were a few times where Martinez held onto the ball more than 4-5 seconds and just ate it. You can't ask your OL to give you more than 3-4 seconds in a passing situation especially when it's a 3 step drop for the QB. I personally think Martinez has mentally been beaten with his ankle and toe because he seemed so timid in the pocket against OU and Washington. He didn't commit to scramble and he didn't commit to throwing it away or trying to break the pocket. Also we had way too many penalties. There were a few 3rd and shorts that turned into 3rd and mid to long which don't help. Not to mention, just like with OU, I think Washington just pinned their ears back a few times because they don't fear Martinez running. He just seemed to be beaten after getting hurt. He goes from busting 80 yard TD runs in the first 7 games to not being able to break the pocket and scramble for a yard or two. I think he held the ball too long against OU and Washington quite a few times.

I don't know that it's all play calling. There were a few times that Martinez just kind of bottled it up and took it in the pocket. On a lot of the sacks, he held onto the ball for 5 seconds or more and you can't expect to have that kind of time all the time. I agree with Watson when he said that Martinez kind of lost himself in the 2nd half of the OU game. Maybe it's a lot of mental with his ankle and toe but after the first 7 games, I felt great about what was happening and we were blowing it up on both sides of the ball. After Martinez got hurt, things just kind of got away from us and the defense and kicking game is all that kept us in those games really. Personally, I don't like the offense in general. I prefer a more power style running game and maybe a little traditional option mixed in with the ability to stretch the field with a drop back passing game. Here's to hoping we make strides going into 2011 because the first 5 games of the 2011 season are not going to be cake walks. We'll be seeing Wisconsin and Ohio State early in the season (and Washington - again lol).

Here we go from ESPN. Take it for what it's worth: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5902864

Honestly, if Taylor stays healthy all season, there is NO reason why we shouldn't be 13-0 right now. I honestly believe that because we didn't play a single game where we were out of it. We "dropped" the ball on the Texas game. A healthy Taylor beats aTm and I feel the same for the OU game. The OU game might be the only game that we could have lost based on the turnovers and sacks but honestly, with Taylor not being 100%, it hinders our running game and when that happens, OU just pinned their ears back and blitzed us and put the heat on us. Because we couldn't run the ball and OU was mixing up blitzes and coverages, our hobbled RS frosh QB was confused and out of sorts.

I'm not sure where to begin with this. I don't know if it's the Big 12 and Beebe sticking it to us or the general bowl selection method. A lot of bowls already had invites or invites ready to go before championship week. aTm had already received the Cotton Bowl bid and personally, I think they don't deserve it over us or even Mizzou. Sure, they finished strong and beat us but we played for our conference championship and it was a very close game (and it shouldn't have been as we pretty much gave OU every opportunity to blow us out). It sucks that we are going to the Holiday Bowl because we already spanked Washington during the regular season and we played for a conference championship. They beat USC and almost lost to 2-10 Washington State. So basically the consolation of going 10-3 and losing all games by an average of 4 points and losing our conference championship, we get a 6-6 team that doesn't deserve to share the same field with us. I think there is valid reason to be upset as lesser teams are in better bowls or even better bowl matchups. I say do away with the bowl/conference affiliations and let the better teams play in better bowls. I saw Stewart Mandel from Sports Illustrated post on Twitter that the NU fans and Temple fans deserve to be upset. Temple went 8-4 and beat UConn yet they aren't going bowling anywhere and NU is getting stuck against a team they beat once already that is 6-6. I say we hang 50+ on them again and get the hell out of the Big 12 and move on to bigger and better things.

I agree and disagree. I personally think the D deserves some huge credit as we pretty much locked them down on 3rd down all night not to mention on 4th down too. Sure, they gave up 455 yards but OU also had 4 bonus possessions with the turnovers. I blame the offense and the play calling personally. Our offense is looking more and more like Florida's offense. Run the zone option that's easy defended when the D has speed or a good front 4. We run the spread option and our backs for the most part have to run to the sidelines just to try and get the corner because the QB was ZERO threat to run the ball because of injuries. Without a QB that can run the offense, it's not effective (see Florida with a passing QB trying to run the dive/zone/read option). I personally feel like the offense let the team down again. This is a 2 year running thing for the most part as we have almost always had inconsistent QB play over the past 2 seasons. We play close because of our defense. If the offense puts any drive together in the 2nd half, we either tie and go to OT or we win but that didn't happen. Taylor was rolling around into linemen and then getting sacked after holding the ball for about 6 seconds. Sometimes you just have to tuck it and run or throw it away but I really feel like he was out there on guts and wasn't even close to 100% although he didn't limp like he has in past games. Side note: I can't stand the offense we run. We have to very good running backs that can carry the rock and for the most part, both do well with the read option but I would love for a more pro style offense with a fullback and some lead blocking. With a defense like we have, a very Alabama like offense or USC offense would suit us. Of course, these are my opinions but in the games we lost this year, ALL 3 I feel that the offense let us down.

Taylor just looks out of it. He has that deer in the headlights look.

Get Taylor out now. He's not 100% and he's showing it. We need Lee in or hell, Cody. Somebody that is consistent and somebody that will throw the damn ball away.

I think the D is getting too tired to keep us close in this game. Our offense is playing poorly which is pretty common in all of our losses. We keep turning the ball over, T-Mart isn't 100% and Rex is doing alright but he's pretty much a single threat back there. I'm pretty bummed. I had a feeling we would lose but being up 17-0, I thought we had it going but then like a flash, it's 17-17 and we haven't done much since. Let's hope we get a decent bowl somewhere...or maybe I can eat my own words/thoughts in a few minutes. Nonetheless, GO BIG RED!

At this point, I'd say Cody should start just because Martinez isn't healthy. Also, is Zac Lee ok? He played but I noticed he didn't do much throwing. Anybody know the story? I thought he was the better QB as far as Lee v. Cody. I just want the winning QB to play. Martinez has everything against him with turf toe and a bad ankle. Those two injuries aren't good for the type of running he does.

Has there been a status on Zac Lee? I knew there was some back and forth about it. Does anybody know? I didn't get a chance to watch the KU game but if Colorado can dump 40+ on them, I thought we could too so I'm not sure what happened but a win is a win.

Is anybody going to be to streaming the game by chance? Justin.tv or anything? I really want to see the game but it isn't available where I am in Florida via my cable/TV provider.

So, with Pitt's recent loss to UConn, it seems like the Big East is wide open. With that being said, wouldn't it be awesome to win out and go 12-1 and win the Big 12 title to only play somebody like UConn or USF in the Fiesta Bowl? For some reason, that just aggravates me. I'd almost rather play a SEC school in the cotton bowl. Thoughts?

Yea I'm in the panhandle, Pensacola area, and we almost never get it. Just like last week, Ga. Tech and Clemson were on TWO channels (both being unranked) and they didn't air the NU game. I don't mind watching it on my computer but I'd prefer to see it in HD on my TV.

Does anybody know the coverage areas for the Mizzou game? I know it's ABC/ESPN but I'm in Florida and they often leave us out. Last week, on ABC AND ESPN, they aired Ga. Tech v. Clemson instead of the NU game.

I think the issue is more scheme than anything. We pretty much play a basic 4-3 (sort of). With only having 4 down linemen and rarely blitzing, it leaves the running game wide open (see OK State). Also, I think another thing that hinders us is that we don't disguise much of anything in the way of coverage or blitzing, what you get is what you see with our D. The problem with having only 4 linemen and no blitzing is that the offense has 5 OL, a possible TE and a possible FB/HB to help block on pass plays or run plays. I personally think we need to mix it up a little more. If we are going to leave our corners out on islands, we have to get pressure on the QB or we're going to get beat more often in not in the passing game. Cornerback is easily the hardest position to play in football in my opinion because you have no idea where the ball is going, who's going to throw it or where the WR is going to run.

Crazy right? The best part is that he should have had 3-4 against Texas if we didn't drop the passes.

If OK State lines up and just runs it every down, they'll never be stopped. We are getting WHIPPED up front and to be honest, it's unfair to ask our front 4 to deal with their 5 OL and the FB/TB. The number don't add up. That coupled with the fact that our LBs aren't getting in the gaps to stop the run.

So from 1st and goal to 2nd and 20. I hope dropped passes don't kill us again.

Prince getting owned so far in this game. Sorry guys, this one is getting away from us in a hurry.

I think so too. We've had a lot of opportunities early and we've played it close but we can't even slow them down. We're fortunate enough for the KO return and Hagg's pick because if we didn't have those 2 things, we'd be down by a TD or more.