Guy Chamberlin

not really, most defenses are going to play to stop the run and dare Tommie to throw.....they just aren't convinced that he can beat them with his arm and neither am i.... Fresno State played to stop the run, dared Tommy to throw. And he beat them with his arm. Can he do that for a whole season? Well that's why they play the games. But the line between cautious and pessamistic around here is hard to read, and a lot of evidence is being ignored in order to be crabby. e.g. if I'm reading this correctly, it's "not really" nice to have a lot of good options.

I watched the game again last night. Most of Tommy's incompletions were actually pretty smart, the same incompletions NFL qbs throw every game. Some came from the higher degree of difficulty, like the deep ball Alonzo Moore almost caught and a quick crossing pattern here and there. Can't recall a throw that was plain stupid or lousy. And every time an RB is wide open in the flat doesn't mean Tommy is missing a wide-open receiver, it can mean the RB was a check down option and the primary receiver may have been open for a potentially big gain. If Tommy wasn't completing 70 yard touchdowns to Jordan Westerkamp, you might have a case. Also, Tommy's yards per attempt is considerably better than his predecessor. Better than most quarterbacks in the NCAA at the moment. That's a pretty good measure of overall effectiveness, if you can get past the modest percentage. Things will get tougher for Tommy, but they got tougher when he was a Freshman last year and he held his own. By all accounts he's gotten better. Again, he's in the Top 10 for Total Offense in the frikking nation. I can imagine everyone's numbers getting better if they do everything better, but I'm at a loss as to how speculating on Tommy Armstrong's replacement helps anything.

People on here blow a nut wondering why Tim Beck ever goes away from what is working. Tommy to Westerkamp is working. Tommy to Bell is working. Now Tommy to Hovey and the tight ends is working. The passing game is working, All by its lonesome, and in its ability to open up the running game. Tommy Armstrong is working well, if not as perfectly as guys sitting on sofas are able to perform in their brains. Barring injury, which can happen to anyone at anytime, are there people actively rooting for Stanton or Fyfe to take over mid-season?

Outside of Nebraska, most college football analysts see a lot of upside in Tommy Armstrong. They see the young QB mistakes, too, but they are generally the mistakes of a competitor convinced he can make big things happen. Not the worst trait. Especially when he makes big things happen. Apparently Tommy has also been granted a lot of authority to change plays as he sees fit, coming to the line and recognizing a defensive shift. He has the unsurprising tendancy to call his own number -- keeping the ball himself or going for the highlight reel throw -- and given his overall success rate it will be hard to talk him down from this. He's the nation's #9 leader in total offense. But as defenses now shift to stopping Armstrong first it should open things back up for Ameer Abdullah, who hasn't been ignored as much as he's been semi-neutralized the past two games. Armstrong gives Nebraska a lot of good options. It's nice to have a lot of good options.

If he could hit the broad side of a barn on short passes and learned how to check down. Until then, he's a guy that can run the option and throws a pretty ball. Let me know when he can throw an effective ball. Tommy Armstrong is averaging 9.0 yards per passing attempt. That is, by definition, effective. Don't know what games you watch, but passes like that quick slant to Hovey are both short and difficult, and Armstrong executes them well. Or go back and see how many short yardage downs we've converted on quick curls. It's pretty weird how Nebraska can have a quarterback throwing beautiful long touchdowns passes to exciting receivers, and fans complain he's not dumping it off to his third option enough. Or that he throws a "pretty" ball. Jesus, people.

What do people see in Ryker Fyfe that gets them so excited, and when exactly did they see it? In a mop-up duty against a demoralized Fresno State defense Ryker threw three passes, two were completions, one was a pretty bad throw. He had a nice scramble, no better or worse than Tommy Armstrong, or any number of quarterback confronted with a wide-open field. Armstrong does look off receivers. Always has. Does it better than many Nebraska QBs of the past. But given his pass protection -- better than Taylor Martinez ever received -- he also has the luxury of watching his primary receiver get separation and be open for a bigger gain than if he were to turn and dump off to an equally open RB in the flat. The level of second-guessing around here never ceases to amaze me.

Taylor's numbers when throwing for over 30 attempts per game: Oklahoma State - 23/35 (65.7%) - 323 yards - 5 TD - 0 INT Northwestern - 28/37 (75.7%) - 289 yards - 2 TD - 0 INT Southern Miss - 26/34 (76.5%) - 354 yards - 5 TD - 0 INT UCLA - 17/31 (54.8%) - 179 yards - 0 TD - 1 INT Northwestern - 27/39 (69.2%) - 342 yards - 3 TD - 0 INT Michigan State - 16/36 (44.4%) - 160 yards - 2 TD - 3 INT Minnesota - 21/29 (72.4%) - 308 yards - 2 TD - 0 INT Wisconsin - 17/33 (51.5%) - 184 yards - 0 TD - 2 INT UCLA - 21/35 (60%) - 203 yards - 3 TD - 0 INT Minnesota - 16/30 (53.3%) - 139 yards - 1 TD - 0 INT 4 or 5 of those 10 games were losses. So if you look past the stats themselves, you really get the full picture: When teams force us to pass more than 30 times (or to state it more accurately, when Beck gives up on running the ball too quickly and gets pass happy), our results are not as desirable. Running the ball sets the tone for the game if you stick with it. Passing the ball is pretty hot-and-cold. Especially with a passer like Taylor back there (and I have nothing against him, but I cringed every time he dropped back to pass). Sometimes teams force us to pass more than 30 times by stopping our running game. Running the ball can be equally hot-and-cold. In the games we lost, the passing stats get jacked up because we're trying to come from behind in the fourth quarter with the clock against us and a pourous Nebraska defense doing the offense no favors. We also fumbled a lot. Even more than we threw interceptions. So yeah, you gotta look past the stats to get the full picture. The games where we threw for over 300 yards also tended to come with a solid rushing component.

We wouldn't have beat Texas with a healthy Taylor. We didn't beat Texas with a healthy Taylor. To put it another way: Martinez deserves more credit than a lot of Husker fans are willing to give him, but he doesn't deserve all the credit (or excuses) he's willing to give himself.

Would have been a fun ride in 2010 for sure, but fact remains they struggled against south Dakota state with a healthy Martinez, and lost to an unranked and ripe for the taking Texas at home, all before the Missouri game. Martinez was also fast enough in 2012 to log one of the best highlight reel runs in college football history. Watch him find fifth gear AFTER scrambling for 50 yards against Wisconsin. Had a 90 yard td against a very fast UCLA that year, too.

Only three games into the season. Gotta think a couple of these guys will drop off the board, and a couple unlisted players will have breakthrough games and seasons.

Good point. Weird point. Considering we have the #9 rushing offense in the NCAA, a Heisman contender at running back, a 5:3 run/pass ratio, a 7.4 yard per attempt rushing average to go with a 9.0 per attempt passing average, suggesting the passing game has earned its reps. Every other college football analyst seems to have noted Nebraska's powerful running game, and that teams will need to stop the run first and dare Tommy Armstrong to beat them with his arm. That's exactly what happened the first series against Fresno State, and pretty much every game the past two seasons. Tommy has done alright with his arm, even better with his legs, Abdullah is still getting his carries (they've just gotten tougher), and Cross is still getting his touchdowns. Our running game can certainly get better -- and so could our offensive line -- but underutilized isn't the first phrase that jumps to mind.

yay! that other guy said it first. Damn you, other guy!

Newby. I'd be good with that.

Two of those big plays Saturday were runs right up the gut. We also ran several plays up the gut that got very little. We had some successful deep throws and crossing patterns. And some incompletions. It's hard to conclude that the play we would have called would have been better than the play Beck had called. Wait. That's wrong. It's actually very easy to convince ourselves that our calls would have been better. Hindsight is flawless. I think the safest thing to conclude is that our offensive line doesn't get great push at the moment, but they roll out pretty well and pass block nicely.

I'd love to see more play action myself. And the old rollout option with the three step drop pass, which seems to fit Armstrong's skillset. But I hear a lot of folks on here get frustrated that Beck goes away from what works well. I think they're envisioning what worked well 20 years ago. If you look at it objectively, the short passes -- and the surprise deep route -- work as well or better on a 3rd and 3 than a power running play. Neither Ameer or Cross has appeared a lock to get three yards against teams that have clearly designed a Stop Ameer First strategy. Other than his untouched touchdown Saturday, Ameer has 107 yards on 35 carries the last two games. Our yards per passing attempt have been much better. If you look at the facts, the running and passing game need each other, and Beck's choices are statistically defensible. If you watch the NFL, the coaches make the short outlet pass call on 3rd and 2 about 80% of the time. The offensive line does not yet appear ready to dominate, so I wouldn't call anything Beck is doing "cute", unless that's the adjective we're giving every forward pass.

Imani Cross deserves more carries, but do you take offensive plays away from? Ameer, who many insist is already underutilized? Or Newby, who many insist needs more experience for next year? Armstrong, whose zone reads and designed keepers keep the secondary guessing? Bell and Westerkamp, two of the most exciting game-breakers in recent Husker memory? The tight ends, just getting more involved in the gameplan? Whoever this Hovey guy is? Exactly how upset are we by an offense with a 2:1 run/pass ratio that gains 280 yards rushing, 280 yards passing and scores six touchdowns with six different players? Two weeks after setting the all-time Big 10 record for total offense. Truth is, we didn't run a lot of plays Saturday because we were getting 50, 60 and 70 yards on individual plays. You can say we are dependent on big plays, or be happy that these relatively simple and not-at-all "cute" plays were extremely successful. I'm leaning to the latter.

If Beck doesn't get "pass happy" we don't move the ball. Ameer got his carries in the right situations, but in case you didn't notice, they weren't going far. Passing: 24 attempts for 282 yards. Rushing: 42 attampts for 280 yards. Beck rushes twice as much as he passes. Passing game gets more yards. Each facet helps the other. Yet people still bitch. Damn those successful big plays!

yay!

Piersen-El breaks one. You read it here first.

Push too hard and it can backfire. But this feels about right.

Enjoy the game. Don't read the Game Thread.

Remember all the players who got injured returning kickoffs? Because I don't.

What score would surprise you? Seriously. I'm running through all the scenarios and they're all plausible.

Strictly objective? I think it's pretty amazing you banged that out on a smart phone.

For what it's worth, multiple ESPN pundits were boosting Suh for Heisman in 2009, at the expense of Tim Tebow. But they don't actually cast the Heisman votes. Heisman voters tend to be safe and conservative. They might give a defensive player a second, third or fourth place vote, but never a first. Abdullah probably has a better chance than Suh, especially if the big name quarterbacks fade and/or split votes. The fact they're even debating Ameer's chances two games in against minor league foes suggests Abdullah's stock has risen dramatically.