Hercules

I've seen it 2-3 times, but there's no reason to run it with RKIII.

Poor decision there. Also rather predictable play call. Feel like we see that RB wheel route every time we line up in the diamond.

This. Martinez had turf toe his freshman year as well, and he came back as a very effective runner both his sophomore and junior years. Don't know when he'll be fully healthy again after this injury, or when he'll be effective again, but if he gets back to 100%, you're crazy not to put a guy like that in the game. He knows the whole offense, he can progress through his reads, he's a threat to score on any given play, and he is among the most accurate passers in the conference (even after going up against defenses like Michigan and Michigan State, which TA has not done yet). Also kinda tired of hearing how TA is a better runner than TM. They're styles are so different. TA is never going to be someone who takes it 40 yards for a score (or even 20 yards, maybe), and he's never going to be a 1000 yards rusher like TM. He is shiftier in small places and because of that, he is able to keep you more on schedule at times. But to say that one of those running styles completely outweighs the other is wrong - they're both effective in their own way. Don't forget to mention Taylors penchant for fumbles. He rarely progresses through all of his reads. Really rare. He has horrible pocket presence. He hasn't proven to be a running threat AT ALL this year. The threat of him going the distance on every play, isn't there right now. You assume he will get back to 100%. That's a big assumption. Tommy definitely has his faults, but I prefer a RS FR make the mistakes than a RS SR. Yes, this is assuming he's back to 100%. It's all hypothetical. If he's not 100%, by all means, play Armstrong. But if Taylor is back to 100%, he's absolutely a threat to run the ball, and anybody who says otherwise has completely lost their objectivity. You're right, Taylor has had a penchant for fumbles. Armstrong has fumbled the ball as well, but he's mostly an unknown at this point. Taylor didn't have a fumbles problem two starts into his career either - it was revealed over time. Taylor does do a better job of going through his reads - that's an area that he has improved in a great deal, and I'm not so sure I've seen Armstrong throw to a checkdown receiver yet.

This. Martinez had turf toe his freshman year as well, and he came back as a very effective runner both his sophomore and junior years. Don't know when he'll be fully healthy again after this injury, or when he'll be effective again, but if he gets back to 100%, you're crazy not to put a guy like that in the game. He knows the whole offense, he can progress through his reads, he's a threat to score on any given play, and he is among the most accurate passers in the conference (even after going up against defenses like Michigan and Michigan State, which TA has not done yet). Also kinda tired of hearing how TA is a better runner than TM. They're styles are so different. TA is never going to be someone who takes it 40 yards for a score (or even 20 yards, maybe), and he's never going to be a 1000 yards rusher like TM. He is shiftier in small places and because of that, he is able to keep you more on schedule at times. But to say that one of those running styles completely outweighs the other is wrong - they're both effective in their own way.

Coming into this game, I thought that Tommy was the more accurate thrower, but now I'm not sure. TA threw a lot of high balls today, and was bailed out by his receivers a number of times. The Kenny Bell grab was ridiculous, Quincy Enunwa had to make a great catch on that second TD of the game, and TA flat out missed Tre Foster wide open in the end zone. TA played well, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Taylor can do when he's healthy. Then, if Taylor struggles, go with TA.

Well, there is a bit of truth to this. I doubt these guys could hang within four TDs of tOSU or Wisconsin. Or probably Michigan. OTOH, Illinois might be about on par with Iowa this year. Probably better than Minnesota and Purdue. Don't look now, but Iowa's beating MSU.

I think some believe an outside run is more suited to Ameer than IC Imani can't just run between the tackles every time he's on the field. THAT would be poor playcalling, because it would be predictable. Cross has to have the presence of mind to get forward and stay out of the endzone. That's basic common sense stuff for the RB position.

So, honest question here - if Lou Holtz said it... Does that make it more true or less?

Why are people blaming Beck for the safety? That makes no sense. Cross is the one who ran back into his own end zone. That has nothing to do with playcalling, it's just a boneheaded mistake.

Love how Armstrong looks. Love how the offense looks. Disagree about Martinez, though - want to see him healthy running the offense with everybody on that unit executing the way they have been the past few games.

Personally, my favorite new student tradition is the "Nebraska Birdman."

Are you kidding me? Do you even know what a passing efficiency rating is? Yeah, Smith has thrown for more than double the yards Martinez has. He's also thrown more than double the attempts. THAT'S WHY WE HAVE A PASSING EFFICIENCY RATING.

There are some things RKIII does better than Taylor. There are some things Tommy Armstrong does better than Taylor. But neither of them have shown it against a remotely quality opponent. And neither of them can do this: and btw, for all the flack Taylor catches regarding his passing... He's currently 26th in the nation in pass efficiency - 2 spots ahead of Brett Smith.

People really need to stop saying this. South Dakota State could beat Southern Miss. these FCS teams are starting to be a non gimmie game. They are capable of beating us and yes even better than the bottom rung of the FBS teams. I don't think any FCS team should be taken lightly, but it's getting a little out of hand. North Dakota State made a lot of noise by beating K-State to start the season - but K-State is clearly average this year or worse - they just got manhandled by a Texas team whose coach is as good as gone. This stat has been thrown around a lot, but apparently people need to be reminded - SDSU gave up an average of 411 yards of total offense in their first three games. That was against Butler, North Dakota, and Southeastern Louisiana. This was a bad defense.

The thing that helped Ameer's play yesterday was that SDSU's front seven was no match at all for our offensive line. It's pretty simple. And that we had a QB that was running the football as well. Not when RKIII was in the game, and when he was, the offense didn't miss a beat.

It probably has at least something to do with QB play, whether you choose to be convinced or not. It's no secret a QB that can run and/or push the ball down the field will only help his running back. Obviously SDSU was over-matched physically (much like Wyoming and Southern Miss), but I fail to see how you fail to see how having a QB that can keep a defense honest will help open up running lanes. Of course having a QB who can keep a defense honest will help open up running lanes. That's just not what was happening yesterday. Go back and watch the offensive line if you don't believe me. There's no comparison between their play in the first few games and against SDSU. edit: I'm not saying that TA and RKIII weren't impressive. There's just no reason that the game yesterday should be the reason they start over a healthy TM. They're going to have to show it against legit competition first. (I would say that they could earn it in practice, but I'm not sure that our #1 defense is a much better test than SDSU).

The thing that helped Ameer's play yesterday was that SDSU's front seven was no match at all for our offensive line. It's pretty simple.

I don't remember a single game like this. Green had a lot of potential and athletic ability but he always looked a bit lost back there. Colorado 2010. No. They were extremely conservative with Cody that game. Don't believe anyone came away impressed with Cody after the game. Heck Rex ended up with more passing touchdowns than him in that game. And I'd argue that the Colorado defense that year was as bad or worse than SDSU. Tommy to me looked to have complete control of this offense and he's only a freshman. Plus even against Southern Miss our offense struggled at first with the 3 and outs. Strongly disagree about SDSU defense vs. Colorado's defense. You're not accounting for the sheer gap in athleticism there. Yes our offense struggled against Southern Miss more than against SDSU, but you have to understand that the offense is a unit. It's not just the QB. Why do you think Ameer Abdullah looked so good yesterday? It's not like he needed the pass to set him up - he went for first downs on his first two carries, right off the bat. Against Wyoming and Southern Miss, he averaged 6.0 and 6.7 ypc. Against UCLA, he averaged 4.3. Against South Dakota State, he averaged 9.3. You can't convince me that has anything to do with QB play.

They did limit Green more than they limited Armstrong and Kellogg, but it was also Shawn Watson's offense, and Green led the offense to 45 points against an FBS team. The point is - don't overreact. Armstrong and Kellogg are both good backup QBs - but they played against an FCS squad that was severely outmanned at every position on their defense. Think about the one-to-one match ups they had to face yesterday. Offenses usually have to try to create mismatches - that wasn't even remotely necessary for us yesterday, anywhere on the field. This conversation would make more sense to me if Armstrong looked awesome and Kellogg came in and looked average. At least then, you can see that having a certain QB on the field actually made a difference. But the truth it is, it didn't matter who we had on the field, because we were that much better than SDSU at every single other position.

When one fan base is upset about the play of the returning first-team all-conference QB, it might be because his play has been sub-par and they really need to look at other options. When two fan bases are upset about the play of their returning first-team all-conference QB's and are calling for a change, it might be an excellent demonstration of how fans think that plugging in the backup QB will solve all of their offensive problems.

I don't remember a single game like this. Green had a lot of potential and athletic ability but he always looked a bit lost back there. Colorado 2010.

Anybody who didn't notice how different the offensive line was against SDSU just watches the ball every play.

If every QB the fans anointed as the next Tommie Frazier really was the next Tommie Frazier, Nebraska would have won approximately 13 more national championships since 1997. We're definitely right this time, though.