ColoradoHusk

Jamal Lord often had to scramble for the first down marker on third and long to keep a drive going. I don't think any ball carrier EVER scrapped and bulled and lunged for that marker more than Jamal Lord did once he got within three yards of it. I always felt sorry for Lord in that too many times he had the game put on his back and then got trashed because he couldn't carry the whole team. Plus Lord had to deal with replacing Crouch, having Solich and Cotton for his OC's, no weapons at WR, and average I-backs at his side. Yes, he was not good passing the ball, but he still did a good job of running the offense. Lord inherited the same RB Crouch had 1,300 yard, 5.6 ypc Dahran Deidrick and ran the same system for the same coach. The WRs remained almost precisely as mediocre. And we'd kill to have the Nebraska Defense Lord had back in 2002. Didn't that 2002 defense get Craig Bohl fired, along with his assistant coaches? Yeah, 2002 defense kinda sucked. By 2003 they were giving up only 14 points a game and back in the thick of it. I just found both years of Jamal Lord offenses the hardest to watch in all my years of fandom. Lol, I hear ya. It wasn't great, but I don't think it was all Lord's fault.

Jamal Lord often had to scramble for the first down marker on third and long to keep a drive going. I don't think any ball carrier EVER scrapped and bulled and lunged for that marker more than Jamal Lord did once he got within three yards of it. I always felt sorry for Lord in that too many times he had the game put on his back and then got trashed because he couldn't carry the whole team. Plus Lord had to deal with replacing Crouch, having Solich and Cotton for his OC's, no weapons at WR, and average I-backs at his side. Yes, he was not good passing the ball, but he still did a good job of running the offense. Lord inherited the same RB Crouch had 1,300 yard, 5.6 ypc Dahran Deidrick and ran the same system for the same coach. The WRs remained almost precisely as mediocre. And we'd kill to have the Nebraska Defense Lord had back in 2002. Didn't that 2002 defense get Craig Bohl fired, along with his assistant coaches?

Jamal Lord often had to scramble for the first down marker on third and long to keep a drive going. I don't think any ball carrier EVER scrapped and bulled and lunged for that marker more than Jamal Lord did once he got within three yards of it. I always felt sorry for Lord in that too many times he had the game put on his back and then got trashed because he couldn't carry the whole team. Plus Lord had to deal with replacing Crouch, having Solich and Cotton for his OC's, no weapons at WR, and average I-backs at his side. Yes, he was not good passing the ball, but he still did a good job of running the offense.

Putting Mike Grant in the same catagory as Lord is laughable. There are only a couple QB's that have started games (in recent history) that are on the level of Grant. Dailey, Green, and maybe Turman. Keithen McCant..Mickey Joseph. Are you actually saying Keithen McCant wasn't any good? The guy led the team to a Big 8 title, was All-Conference, and Conference Offensive Player of the Year. http://www.scout.com/college/nebraska/story/1197512-husker-look-back-better-late-than-never?s=204

Yet so many Nebraska fans hated him and were mad that he wasn't a career 70% passer!!! Taylor's not soo much different than the guy we have under center right now: he'd force some throws when the sideline would've sufficed. But one thing you could never question was his heart, and he led some pretty monumental comebacks in his 4 years at Nebraska. Too bad injury shortened his senior season. Taylor Martinez was a good QB he just didn't win enough games to make everyone happy. He was also an odd duck in interviews. I think that threw people off more than anything. Jim Harbaugh is the coaching equivalent. Taylor Martinez won more than Zac Taylor, yet fans LOVE Zac Taylor. Doesn't make sense to me.

Just as long they don't do the Star Trek performance that Kansas State did earlier this season.

Except for the Keithen McCant/Mickey Joseph/Mike Grant stretch I'd say you're spot on. Those three guys were pretty highly touted as I recall but they weren't quite as good as expected. All of them were good runners, they just couldn't throw worth a damn. I remember Mike Grant throwing low balls constantly. McCant wasn't terrible. He led the team to a Big 8 title. He was much better than Joseph/Grant.

Yet so many Nebraska fans hated him and were mad that he wasn't a career 70% passer!!! Taylor's not soo much different than the guy we have under center right now: he'd force some throws when the sideline would've sufficed. But one thing you could never question was his heart, and he led some pretty monumental comebacks in his 4 years at Nebraska. Too bad injury shortened his senior season. I loved Taylor. His freshman injury robbed him of a lot of his explosiveness, but he still showed it at times the rest of his career. I was super bummed when he got injured in his senior year and he couldn't come back.

Yet so many Nebraska fans hated him and were mad that he wasn't a career 70% passer!!!

I'll have to echo other's thoughts here - the NFL should have absolutely nothing to do with a college quarterback's career. A lot of great college players choose to never even move on to the NFL, or, decide to pursue other avenues for a variety of reasons. That should not be used as a barometer for their college career. I don't think that's the argument here. I believe OP's designation of a "true qb" references said QB's passing abilities, and their ability to read defenses while making plays. Crouch would not really be in that conversation. Phenomenal athlete and leader, but not in the same conversation with these other QB's in terms of throwing the football. Crouch wasn't even the best QB on Nebraska's team in 2001 when he won the Heisman - Bobby Newcomb was. He would make my top ten list as well. Crouch should have been the wide receiver about half the time and Newcomb taking snaps. Newcomb was faster than Crouch and much better passer. IMO I was extremely excited to see Newcomb play QB in 1998. How many teams had a starting QB that returned a punt for a TD? I thought Newcomb lost a step after his knee injury. My son wore a Newcomb jersey for several years. First of all Newcomb wasn't on the 2001 team he graduated in 2000. So your point is moot. Secondly in 1998 before Newcomb hurt his knee I would agree with you that he was the better QB, but after wards he wasn't. He was tentative, he may of lost a step, but he always looked like he had lost a little of his guts to me. In 1999 Crouch looked better in games early than Newcombe. I know Crouch was upset and went home and all that, but he looked better. Newcombe had a few highlights after moving to WR and had a couple good punt returns and such, but he never looked as electric as he did before the injury to me. I was a huge Newcombe fan back in the day. One of the biggest "what ifs" in recent NU history involves "what if Newcombe never hurt his knee in 1998?" After that, he wasn't the same player. He didn't have the same speed and quickness. That's not a knock on him, it happens to a lot of guys after injuries.

Not trying to disrespect Brook, but he was beat out by a better QB. He handled it with class, but it's not like he gave the starting QB position back to Tommie.

The "Jamaal Lord" discussion goes back to my point of "what is the QB's job?" Some people have the NFL mentality and think that the QB's job is to sit in the pocket and fling the ball all over the place. There is nothing wrong with that thought. I have the mentality of the QB's job is to "run the offense that is asked by his offensive coordinator and head coach". So, in the point of view, the characteristics and statistics of Osborne, Solich, and Beck/Bo QB's are going to be different than Callahan/Riley QB's. Shoot, there are significant differences between Osborne's QB's in the 70's and the Osborne QB's in the 80's and 90's. IMO, the best QB's in those eras are able to run the offense, lead the team, and get wins. Scott Frost may have not had the best throwing motion, but he is one of my top 5 QB's. He ran that offense in 1997 to near perfection and he was a great leader. The running QB's in the 1980's may not have had great stats because they were mostly there to hand off to the IB's, hand off to the FB's on options, and pitch to the IB's on options. Every once in a while, the QB would be asked to throw a deep, play-action pass. Crouch and Lord put up gaudy running stats, because Solich's offense became centered around their running abilities. Zac Taylor and Joe Ganz put up big passing numbers and "QB rating" stats because of the offense they played in. Taylor Martinez put up some great rushing stats, and very serviceable passing stats. He may have not had a "great throwing motion" but why is throwing motion a requisite for a great QB. Josh Freeman was a big QB with a rocket arm, but he never did anything special in college.

Real classy to crap on Jammal Lord. While he wasn't the best passing QB, his time at NU is under appreciated. He had bad RB's and WR's and Lord was out there pretty much all by himself. Agreed. If Jammal Lord had played at NU five or six years earlier he would be remembered among the all time great Husker QBs. The guy was a heck of an athlete. He just didn't have the surrounding cast. Disagree. Jammal Lord put up huge stats by calling his own number. He ran a Nebraska offense where the most successful play was a broken scramble. He was a 46% passer, and although not asked to pass much, still threw 12 interceptions his Junior year. His passing numbers didn't significantly improve his Senior year and his rushing numbers were considerably worse. His running backs, Dahrran Deidrick and Cory Ross weren't chopped liver. They'd probably be starting for Nebraska today. His defense gave up only 14.5 points a game, comparable to our then-recent national championship teams. Aesthetically, Jammal Lord's offense was a horrible thing to watch. Great athlete? Sure, why not. But a quarterback I'm still trying to forget. If anything, Lord is over-rated for being under-rated. He also played with a very average David Horne and Josh Davis. I thought Ross didn't start playing until late in the 2003 season? Ross didn't become the full time starting I-back until the 10th game in 2003. He played some early in the season, but the I-backs who got the first crack at I-back in 2003 were Josh Davis and David Horne.

When I am asked what makes a great QB, it's not necessarily be a good passer or be a good runner. I think that the best QB's run the offense they are asked to run. I think that all of the running QB's NU had back in the day aren't appreciated by today's fans because they didn't have great passing stats. But, for the most part NU had good/great QB's for most of the past 45-50 years.

Real classy to crap on Jammal Lord. While he wasn't the best passing QB, his time at NU is under appreciated. He had bad RB's and WR's and Lord was out there pretty much all by himself.

Can't go wrong with Gill. He had great skills as a passer. I loved the passes he would throw off option-action.

Nothing against Taylor, I liked Ganz better because Taylor was such a statue back there. I like my QB's to have some mobility, which Ganz had.

Gdowski was a great player, great athlete. I am sure Osborne wishes he would have redshirted him one year. If he was a 5th year senior in 1990, it could have been a totally different end to the year. Mickey Joseph was a good option guy, but his limitations limited NU in the loss to CU. Then Joseph got hurt early in the Oklahoma and NU had to go with Haase & Grant after that.

You think so? He's statistically the 3rd worst accurate passer on the list. Different eras and different offenses. I am just going by what I saw with my two eyes, and I think he would have been dangerous in today's offenses that truly use a dual-threat QB. Gerry Gdowski would have been another QB of the 1980s who I think would have been a complete stud in today's spread offenses that utilize strong passers who can also run.

Plus he got some sweet stats in starting the last 3 games of Callahan's era, when BC tried to show everyone how awesome his offense was, regardless who was quarterback.

You think so? He's statistically the 3rd worst accurate passer on the list. Different eras and different offenses. I am just going by what I saw with my two eyes, and I think he would have been dangerous in today's offenses that truly use a dual-threat QB.

Don't get your hopes up on Collins. That guy is gone after this year.

I don't think it's fair to compare QB's from different eras and in different offenses. If you look at a guy like Steve Taylor, he would have been a total stud in an offense he was asked to pass more.

I knew what people would answer, I guess I just needed the confirmation. I think people have a negative bias against Bo (which I am not saying it isn't deserved) and they want Riley & NU to win so they want to have hope from this "big win" against Michigan State. Don't get me wrong, I was cheering for the win against NU at home with my family, and we had a huge cheer when NU pulled off the W. However, after the recency bias wears off, I am still very concerned about what happened in the debacle losses that have occurred this year. Just as Bo's performance in "big games" concerned me, Riley's performance in "non-big games" concern me. Except Bo's losses were still coming in year 7. This is still Riley's first year This is Riley's first year at NU. However, his entire coaching career at Oregon State was full of head-scratching losses. Yes, he get a "Big Win" every now and then, but he has just as many "bad losses" or more during his career. That is a trend that has continued at NU.

I knew what people would answer, I guess I just needed the confirmation. I think people have a negative bias against Bo (which I am not saying it isn't deserved) and they want Riley & NU to win so they want to have hope from this "big win" against Michigan State. Don't get me wrong, I was cheering for the win against NU at home with my family, and we had a huge cheer when NU pulled off the W. However, after the recency bias wears off, I am still very concerned about what happened in the debacle losses that have occurred this year. Just as Bo's performance in "big games" concerned me, Riley's performance in "non-big games" concern me.