Hercules

Martinez has an edge in leadership by virtue of his experience. Tommy is a better passer, no question about it. Martinez is more likely to break off a huge, game breaking play--the kind of thing that causes D-coordinators to have nightmares. But T-Mart is also more likely to throw a boneheaded pick. They both have issues with fumbling, although Tommy did a better job of hanging onto the ball today.

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.

But we are only playing Illinois. They clearly suck.

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.

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.

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.

The great old man that is Lou Holtz "they are playing better than they did with martinez"

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."

Brett Smith has 1315 yards passing. 2nd in the nation. Martinez is 91st in the nation with 528 yards. Helluva a stat you plucked there. What does it prove exactly? We are efficiently ineffective in the passing game?

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.

Why is there so much support for Armstrong? He played against an FCS team, I don't get it.

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.

 

I think the RB does indirectly benefit from a QB who is a threat to run the ball. A QB who can run puts the defense in a bind because it creates just another person the defense has to account for. Taylor hasn't been effective running the ball at all this year and Ameer has also struggled while Taylor has been under center.

 

But another thing that has helped more than anything with Ameer's play in the last game was the fact that Beck mixed it up and played Cross and Newby a lot more--each of whom have a different running style and present a different challenge. We MUST continue doing that.

 

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.

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.

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).

 

I think the RB does indirectly benefit from a QB who is a threat to run the ball. A QB who can run puts the defense in a bind because it creates just another person the defense has to account for. Taylor hasn't been effective running the ball at all this year and Ameer has also struggled while Taylor has been under center.

 

But another thing that has helped more than anything with Ameer's play in the last game was the fact that Beck mixed it up and played Cross and Newby a lot more--each of whom have a different running style and present a different challenge. We MUST continue doing that.

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 remember one game where a QB named "Green" showed flashes of having "it" looking smooth and a born leader.....what happened to him?

 

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.

OK, I don't remember how he looked there, so you might be right. It did seem like we were limiting him a lot, however, and using a lot of Wild Rex. Seems like the gameplan tried to keep things out of Cody's hands as much as possible, while both Kellogg & TA were running the show.

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.

Have you been watching Ohio St play? Guiton is just as good if not better than Miller.

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 remember one game where a QB named "Green" showed flashes of having "it" looking smooth and a born leader.....what happened to him?

 

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.

It is also 1000% easier to play QB when you have plenty of time to set up and throw.

And when your primary read is almost always open.

I knew the qb derp was going to be strong after this game but I always underestimate our fanbase

One game is always the best way to judge any QB, obviously...

 

I love the way TA looked, and I also thought Kellogg played really, really well.

 

TM is still the best quarterback on Nebraska's roster. Obviously that toe is a big concern, because you take away that running ability and you take away a lot of what TM can do. If TM still can't run very well, is he the guy you want just sitting in the pocket throwing the football? I don't know.

Turf toe doesn't just affect his ability to run either. It affects his ability to plant the foot and throw. If the injury is affecting him at all, I think you take him out of the game. If he's fully healthy though, cut him loose - he's one of the most dangerous players in college football.

I'm as happy as anybody that our QB play looked so good today. But it's beyond ridiculous to start calling for a starter change based on this game.

It was South Dakota State. Our players, across the board, are bigger, stronger, and faster. By a lot. SDSU had no chance on defense today. Go back, watch the film, and watch our offensive line obliterate their front seven. Our WR's consistently had a step on the coverage. I guarantee our offensive line will not look like that in Big Ten play, nor will our WRs will be that open, and I guarantee that none of our QBs (including TM) will look that good when they play a Big Ten defense.

As far as our offense was concerned, today was as revealing as the Red-White game. Lots of reason to be optimistic and excited, but it ultimately tells us very little about the team.

They shouldn't read these boards. Athletes and celebrities have said not to read about yourself for a long, long time before message boards and social media were even around.

Nate Gerry getting targeted on that flare pattern. Made the same mistake as Alfalava the play before. Or maybe it was the MIKE's responsiblity. Either way, same bust two plays in a row.