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Gaurd or Center is supposed to swing the gate and block that back side. Not TM"s fault. Clearly his fault. He wasn't supposed to stop and smell the roses, that's a timing pass that was supposed to already be gone, or he needed to continue the roll to evade the pressure. I'm done making excuses for Martinez's lack of progression as a QB.

Hahahahahaha.... zero pocket awareness. Thanks Taylor.

This is entirely possible. But what's to keep any team on the rest of our schedule from doing the same thing? I'm glad TA is getting reps. It will really help us out down the road. But hopefully we don't need him for the rest of the year. Unless you've got a veteran defense with lots of experience playing different fronts, it is VERY difficult to just switch willy-nilly. Purdue had an extra week to prep their guys and make the switch after initial install in camp. And in case we're forgetting, they didn't really play that well (44-7). So actually, I'd love all of our opponents to try that if it we get results like that.

I'm not sure if this was discussed in the thread already, but I read (and I apologize, I can't remember exactly where and can't find the quote now. But here's an article referencing Beck after the game) that Beck was frustrated because Purdue's defense came out in a 3-4 defensive front that there was no film of them ever doing. As a result, the Huskers didn't do any practice against 3-4 (and particularly 3-3-5) fronts. I'd wager that, aside from some basic installation, TA has never practiced our offense against a 3-3-5 defense (3 safeties). That'd certainly explain why he seemed to never see the safety on that early INT. If they'd practiced 2 safety formations all week, he's not even going to be thinking about it. In contrast, RKIII has been here forever, calls in plays, and has certainly practiced against a 3-3-5 many times. Personally I'm not seeing anything in this game about TA other than what it looks like when faced with something completely unexpected. I'd say he reacted about how most freshmen would.

Crackpot conspiracy, I know, but that's what the top of the page asks for and I'm really bored on a Friday night. Popped in to my head after reading a snippet of the Rivals news from Wednesday's practice saying that Martinez tried to come onto the practice field without his boot, but was sent back in to put it on. What if Martinez was holding onto the job despite some major meltdowns at critical times in part due to blackmail that his dad had, namely, an audio tape of Bo railing on the fanbase behind closed doors. Now, I don't know if Casey Martinez was even at the Ohio State game, so that's a major problem with my theory. However, in trying to find out I found this snippet from an ESPN background fluff piece: Continuing the crackpot-ery, if we look at that section of text we might interpret some things. "Every time they say he can't do something, he finds a way to do it." That might be something you'd expect to hear from a guy who helped a talented, but ultimately flawed, son pursue his dream to be a QB. Taylor is physically gifted when it comes to speed, certainly. But he's never reached a completely acceptable level as a passer because he can't throw accurately downfield, allowing the defense to stack the box against us. I believe he legitimately was the best option for Nebraska when he began starting. But let's consider a hypothetical. As his career advanced, he continued to have issues in critical situations. The Ohio State game followed a drubbing at the hands of Wisconsin in which Taylor did not play well. Perhaps there were rumblings behind closed doors to finally make a change at QB. Following the comeback win against Ohio State, Pelini was recorded. Perhaps Casey Martinez was present (very doubtful), or maybe he just heard about the tape (many after the leak revealed they had known the tape existed) and acquired a copy shortly thereafter. He warns Pelini that if Taylor is benched, the tape comes out. Fast forward to this year. Taylor plays poorly against UCLA, and despite clearly being limited. After the very public loss, Pelini is done with Martinez. He's got two perfectly capable players behind him (perhaps the continued rotation of QBs is a message to TMart about his replaceability?) and is ready to make the change. He informs Taylor, Taylor cries to daddy, daddy uses his 'nuclear option' and releases the tape. Bo rides out the storm, explains the situation to his bosses, who show leniency in light of the nature of the material's release. The injury is detailed as 'turf toe', a choice convenient both for its open-ended length and non-grisly nature (as opposed to an ACL, which you can't 'fake'), and the once anointed starter silently becomes the backup as the intriguing young QB that can't help but draw inklings of Touchdown Tommie into your mind, wins game after game.

A quote from Bo today reminded me to resurrect this thing for 2013: Have to say, he's been better than I had hoped.

I don't believe that's true. What I'm talking about is they get down in their stance and then stand back up and then behave as if they're under some type of spell ... . Anyway, I don't want to beat it to death. It's completely true and yes, he understands what you're saying..................it's normal play. They're being a bit aggressive, but yes, that type of offense has existed for awhile. But, it has become much more prevalent in the last few years, including Nebraska.

In honor of Ameer's first pretty big game, I thought I'd selfishly bump my initial scouting report of him. I stand by my original analysis, except he's faster than I gave him credit for.

This decision, to stop supporting them materially, was made after observing several different Occupy protests - either in person or through watching their own livestreams. It's more than a 'few bad apples' and some of these people are in leadership positions within the movement. (I know, they say they don't have leaders, but they do. All groups form leaders) The movement needs to face it that people who have this view, that they should goad violence for PR value, need to be pushed out of the movement. Until they do, they are contributing to an intentionally unsafe environment. Now - if we found out the Coaches or trainers for the Huskers were intentionally creating unsafe conditions that would get their players hurt - and then the U asked me for a donation for the football program - I think many in Husker Nation would rightfully tell them "No. Not until you fix this problem." Doesn't mean they now hate the Huskers or hope for the best for the team. Likewise, as I said before, "I still support many of the ideas. I support their right to peaceful assembly." But I have withdrawn my material support from the Occupy movement and I have discussed why with the local protestors. Some of them understood and agreed this was a serious problem to address. Some were frustrated - frustrated in general, I think. And some were very angry with me and reiterated that they were at war with the 1% and those who are tools of the 1% (which meant the cops) and told me I wasn't steadfast enough to the ideals and too soft. Speaking solely for myself, I don't see how the change that Occupy protesters want can be achieved without eventual violence. To be honest, I've long felt that violent revolution is something I'll see in my lifetime within this country. I'm sure someone will now bring up Ghandi as an example of non-violent protest achieving great things, but you have to understand context. Ghandi was pitted against a waning empire operating half a world away in a country that they couldn't realistically control due to size. That isn't very comparable to the United States today.

IMO, Jean-Baptiste earned the starting spot across from Dennard. I hope to see him in the lineup two weeks from now.

This might come as a shock to you, so you may want to sit down. Taylor Martinez isn't a pro athlete. He's a college student. He's not earning millions of dollars a year, he's on scholarship. He is dealing with the pressure, he's just doing it in a way that the press doesn't like. I say screw the press. I will be on the side of the college student 100% of the time in that scenario. The press don't deserve a damned thing from a college student. Let's be honest about college football for a second. College football is big business. Martinez is the lead employee (he doesn't get paid, of course, but that's for another thread) of the team that that business is marketing to its customers. Yes, he is a college student. But his primary "job" is not his education, its football. The "student athlete" is, in nearly all cases, a myth that we perpetuate to make ourselves feel better about not paying these kids. Taylor is here to play football and get a shot at making a living of it in the pros. If he wants that dream (which, statistically, I'd bet he does), he needs to start working toward it NOW, not after he graduates. Dealing with a hostile press is part of the audition for the NFL, especially at QB.

How would you see it if you were Taylor? Swinging this back around to the original subject of this whole huge sidebar, which was Taylor's boorish behavior at the presser, if you read anything like that about you after a game, how would you react? Would that endear you to the fans? It's all well and good for some people (not you, Hammerhead) to say that he's supposed to be able to take the grief that comes along with being QB at a high-profile school like Nebraska, but "taking it" doesn't mean allowing it to happen without reaction. He's not a robot, and in the context of some of the S I've seen flung his way, I don't blame him for his statements. I certainly wouldn't like it, but if that was the worst I had to deal with, I'd take it for what it is. Like I said, I don't blame Taylor for reacting to the presser the way he did, but after his performance on Saturday night, I don't know what else he would expect. I think your first sentence is easier said than done. None of us exist under that microscope that Taylor's sitting under. I agree with your second sentence, though. If he expected to be buttered up he's delusional. But I think he's had plenty of other grief than just we're seeing here. The guy takes a lot of grief. And he deserves it. He's a sports figure. Part of the job description is taking grief when you perform poorly and being able to deal with it. Plenty of NFL players take flak week in and week out without acting snotty in a press conference. If that's what he wants to be, then he needs to learn to deal with the pressure on and off the field. College football isn't all marching bands, fight songs, and cheers no matter what idyllic image we have.

Are people seriously naive enough to ask that we try to run the ball over and over and over, without throwing when the D stacks the box? Do you guys have any concept of how football works? Beck's playcalling in the 2nd quarter was football 101. Are they stacking the box to stop the run? Hey, better start throwing it to those wide-open receivers. Martinez is the sole reason we lost that game. He threw 3 picks in situations with wide open receivers, either because he forced the ball into a guy that was covered, or he badly, BADLY missed the pass. Move him to WR or, better yet, DB, and get a competitive offense onto the field.

Martinez has a long way to go before I'll think that he should be our starting QB. And that's not saying that I think Carnes is amazing. I just think that Taylor has reached his limit as a QB. I'm sick of hearing "he's a Sophomore." That's 3 years in the program. He should know how to properly read a zone-read. Burkhead can, no problem. He should know not to speed up and drift out on an option right before he realizes that he can't get past him, thus breaking the pitch relationship and getting stuffed for a loss or short gain. READ the defender's motion and keep or pitch. Very, very simple. And for the love of all that is holy, hire a QB coach with that family money. He wants to be a QB? Prove it! No excuse for me to have a better throwing motion than Martinez. I only ever played OLine. If Martinez could clean up that ugly motion, he'd find that his passes suddenly stop floating a yard or two behind his receiver. At this point in time, if I had some magical power to control the football program, I'm moving Martinez to WR and sliding Carnes into the lineup. If Martinez still can't spot a wide open checkdown receiver (Abdullah, Legate, others I'm sure), I'll take the next guy in line, please. Use that speed to open up the field and clean up those running lanes.

Nice Work TO But in my opinion its hard for me to take any of those championships seriously from 1900-1950 because of the schedules and who they were playing. Seriously if you look at Notre Dame's 1924 schedule they played against Lombard College, Wabash, Army, Princeton, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, and Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Michigan's 1901 Schedule looked like this Albion, Case, Indiana, Northwestern, Buffalo, Carlisle, Ohio State, Chicago, Beloit, Iowa, and Stanford in the Rose Bowl. I could continue this with other schools Agreed. There was a period of time (1920-1928) in which Grinnell College (Div 3 doormat) was in the Big 8 with Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Iowa State, and Missouri. Granted, Grinnell College played in and won (Against Iowa) the first football game west of the Mississippi in the 1800's, but the college is probably 5% of the size of the rest of those institutions and shouldn't have been playing on the same field.

The other thing to remember is that recruiting services believe this is a down year for TE's nationally. If our coaching staff agrees with them, its easy to understand locking up (probably) the best TE in our own back yard given our needs.

Criminally low rating from Rivals, but that's to be expected based on their history of rating long-time Nebraska commits.

I was reading a recruiting article about WR Kenny Lawler and it was noted by his father that they have been told by the coaches that the new offense will be "wide receiver friendly." I must be behind on my offensive rumor mill updates, because I'd been under the assumption that we would still be a fairly run heavy offense. That said, we do have a disciple of Air Kansas running our offense, so I could see us running a system closer to that as well. Doubly so with recent comments that the offense is similar to Martinez's high school offense, in which he threw far more often than running. Anyone have any new insights into what we might see on the field this fall?

Watch the whole video and I am sure you'll see the same type of RB. This was Chris' highlight tape. He was hyped, only to be another notch on Bevo's Ubber Talented but We Wasted it pole. Of course Chris didn't help himself while in Austin. But again this was Malcom Brown a couple of years ago except with better hands. I've seen that video before, I guess I just don't agree. I think Malcolm is more physically gifted than Chris Whaley was, coming out of highschool.

Wilder will be playing defense at FSU before he done. Nothing about him was overly spectacular on the offensive side of things. Mike Blakely might have been the best RB out there at the end of their football seasons. Brown is a bruiser, but a lot of the same things were being said about Alonzo Whaley's bro Chris and look how that ended up working out for the kid. Hershel Sims may put up the best numbers in college when it is all said and done. Good point on Wilder. That's one thing I hate about Rivals, though. Why rank Wilder as your #2 RB when everyone knows he's unlikely to ever touch the field at that position? RE: Brown, him and Whaley may be comparable in size (though Chris is a couple inches taller than Malcolm, I believe), but they are very different runners. They have pretty similar long speed (low 4.5's), but Malcolm is on a whole other level when it comes to "wiggle." Whaley and "agile" would never be spoken in the same sentence. The most you'd get out of him is a slight hiccup in order to perform a shallow cutback through the hole. Brown, on the other hand, is much niftier on his feet and maintains his balance better through contact. That's not to say that he'll have any better luck in college than Whaley did, but he's at least a different breed of back.

So I'm bored and spend my time watching recruit highlights in my off time at work, and I'd be curious to see other's opinions on my sentiments so far this off-season. If I had to rank our incoming RBs, I would go 1) Ameer Abdullah 2) Aaron Green 3) Braylon Heard Here is my quick analysis of the each of the 3, having seen pretty much any film on them that I can find: Ameer: Positives: Exceptionally nimble in space. Runs with a very low center of gravity, has excellent short area burst. Completely ignores contact, seems like he's made of rubber (He's got a little bit of Barry in him). Good, not great, long speed (I'd say he's probably in low 4.5's, might hit high 4.4's on a good day). Exceptional vision to find a hole or cutback lane. Very good receiver for a RB on both short and medium routes, catches with his hands and can high point the ball to make catches against taller defenders. Negatives: Doesn't have that 2nd gear to totally blow past defenders. Lacks bulk, very small bodied. Has a tendency to keep moving laterally, rather than vertically, which may lead to problems against faster college defenses. Aaron Green: Positives: Good long speed (4.4's), very efficient in his cuts with very good overall agility, little wasted movement. Focuses on getting downfield first. Avoids contact very well. Excellent vision to find the hole or make use of his downfield blockers. Solid pass catcher on short routes. Negatives: Doesn't run through contact that well. He can shrug off an arm tackle, but doesn't have that "it" factor of contorting out of a tackle. Built more like a WR than a RB at this point, but has plenty of room on his frame to add good bulk. Braylon Heard: Positives: Great long speed, if he gets a crease he can take it to the house. Enough agility to get to the hole in the line. Good burst from stop. Negatives: Runs high. Has solid moves to evade defenders, but performs them awkwardly. Often has his feet too close together, allowing him to lose his balance easily and go down. Built thin, not a particularly strong runner. Runs similarly to Taylor Martinez. Great vertical speed, only moderate shiftiness. If I had to slot Ameer into the top 10 on Rivals, and re-rank the top 11 or so in my own opinion (a fair challenge given that I've placed him above Aaron Green at #8), I'd have the top 10 as follows: 1. Malcolm Brown - Great speed for a back his size. Absolutely punishing as a runner. Good agility, not great. 2. Devonta Freeman - This guy is like Ameer, but a little faster. Very similar runners. 3. Brendan Bigelow - Flat out astonishing speed. If I had to guess, this kid is running legit 4.3's in high school. tie 4. Ameer Abdullah tie 4. Mike Blakely - A lot of what I like about Ameer, I see in Blakely. I think Ameer is slightly faster, but Blakely showed his moves against better competition than Ameer. 6. Aaron Green 7. Savon Huggins - Looks great on tape, but did it against pretty mediocre competition in New Jersey. He looks the part (6' 220) and has great speed. He could easily top this list if he proves it against better competition. 8. Brandon Williams - Good speed, but he's a long strider who is tall and skinny. Needs to put on 20-30 lbs before he fills out his frame properly. Reminds me of a Daniel Thomas type. 9. James Wilder - I just don't get the love. He's got good vision, shows decent strength, but he bumbles through it all. Constantly looks like he is off balance and lacks good long speed. Not a game breaker, but could produce well if given lots of carries. 10. Isaiah Crowell - Repeat what I said about Wilder. Looks slow and plodding, but has the skills to grind out production.

Dad's joining the staff as a GA to coach TE's and son is likely to follow, still working out details.

Measured by...? No 40 times in college are accurate. I remember reading a couple of years ago that Helu was timed running a mid 4.2 in spring ball. We all know that's not true. I voted Martinez. Watching highlights of them both, Robinson is lightyears ahead of Martinez in "wiggle", but Martinez is a touch faster in long speed.

Obviously as outsiders we can never really know, but Cody has always seemed like the consummate team-player. So much so, in fact, that it seems like he's missing the drive and desire to be a leader and reach his full potential. He seems just fine being the backup and rooting along with the rest of us. All that said, I think he'll move to WR or possibly even TE or LB in the future. I could see him red-shirting and making the transition in the next couple years.

Heh, anyone else notice that his top recruiters for Notre Dame and Oregon are Ed Warriner and Scott Frost, respectively? Sure its nothing, but fun to speculate that we targeted those guys with him in mind.