As an outsider, I can confidently say things are better than fans may feel right now

[RedDenver]

 

19 minutes ago, TheSker said:

The one McCaffrey threw in the red zone bounced off a helmet 

 

It happened once to each team.

That's how I remember it too. LM's INT hit a lineman in the helmet and bounced to a NW defender.

[FrantzHardySwag]

11 minutes ago, J-MAGIC said:

Luke really wasn't doing anything Adrian already wasn't. His numbers look better because NW was playing prevent on the last drive and giving him stuff underneath. He certainly wasn't pushing the ball downfield anymore than Adrian was. 

 

If coaches think the ball isn't going where it needed to with Adrian and need to make a change, then let's do it. But I think way too much blame is being placed on the QBs for our passing game right now and I think Adrian gets one more chance from me. 

So far Luke has more yards per attempt, a better passer rating, a better completion %, more yards per carry. He also showed the ability to get the ball to Betts and Fleming. The starting RB also said they move better tempo wise when Luke is in the game. It's time to see what he can do with a full game at the helm, not just coming in cold the last quarter of the game. We know what we're gonna get with AM at this point.

[Huskers93-97]

57 minutes ago, J-MAGIC said:

Luke really wasn't doing anything Adrian already wasn't. His numbers look better because NW was playing prevent on the last drive and giving him stuff underneath. He certainly wasn't pushing the ball downfield anymore than Adrian was. 

 

If coaches think the ball isn't going where it needed to with Adrian and need to make a change, then let's do it. But I think way too much blame is being placed on the QBs for our passing game right now and I think Adrian gets one more chance from me. 

Did the playcalling overthrow a 6-8 TE by 10 yards? Did the playcalling throw balls in the dirt? Did the playcalling stare at his first option and throw it to him everytime? Come on man. Adrian is not the guy. 

 

One thing the playcalling DID DO, It was not a smart decision to call a pass play where you throw over the middle from the 5 yard line with a freshman QB. Seriously, 11 guys in the box. Young QB. Not smart play call. Have him sling it to the outside with a fade to Omar. Or 6-8 TE. 

[J-MAGIC]

1 hour ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

So far Luke has more yards per attempt, a better passer rating, a better completion %, more yards per carry. He also showed the ability to get the ball to Betts and Fleming. The starting RB also said they move better tempo wise when Luke is in the game. It's time to see what he can do with a full game at the helm, not just coming in cold the last quarter of the game. We know what we're gonna get with AM at this point.

 

You're comparing 42 pass attempts to 21, with 10 of those 21 coming on the final drive against a Northwestern defense playing off man and happy to give up easy, short throws. If you take away Luke's long pass in garbage time against the OSU backups, he is only slightly ahead in YPA (and even with that pass included Luke is still currently lower in YPA that Adrian's career average), and if you take away Luke's 47-yard run as a tailback against OSU (i.e., plays where they're both playing quarterback) he is averaging fewer yards per carry than Adrian. They have the same number of turnovers. If you apply context here, there has been no significant statistical difference between the two.

 

Adrian played a bad game against the No. 5 defense in the country; that doesn't mean he deserves a hook. I understand that people want quick fixes, but that is not how the incredibly complex and team-dependent game of football works. The biggest problem in our passing game right now is that we have no one who can get open downfield. Adrian has looked extremely skiddish to put the ball in harms way this season, and that coupled with no one being able to create separation leads to the over- and under-throws we saw Saturday. I am not in the meeting rooms; maybe Adrian is not getting the ball where it needs to go, and if so, sweet, let's make a change. But I do not think QB is the main problem with our passing game right now, and if Luke takes over I think you are going to see him struggle with a lot of the same things that Adrian is struggling with right now. 

[Husker in WI]

Just now, J-MAGIC said:

 

You're comparing 42 pass attempts to 21, with 10 of those 21 coming on the final drive against a Northwestern defense playing off man and happy to give up easy, short throws. If you take away Luke's long pass in garbage time against the OSU backups, he is only slightly ahead in YPA (and even with that pass included Luke is still currently lower in YPA that Adrian's career average), and if you take away Luke's 47-yard run as a tailback against OSU (i.e., plays where they're both playing quarterback) he is averaging fewer yards per carry than Adrian. They have the same number of turnovers. If you apply context here, there has been no significant statistical difference between the two.

 

Adrian played a bad game against the No. 5 defense in the country; that doesn't mean he deserves a hook. I understand that people want quick fixes, but that is not how the incredibly complex and team-dependent game of football works. The biggest problem in our passing game right now is that we have no one who can get open downfield. Adrian has looked extremely skiddish to put the ball in harms way this season, and that coupled with no one being able to create separation leads to the over- and under-throws we saw Saturday. I am not in the meeting rooms; maybe Adrian is not getting the ball where it needs to go, and if so, sweet, let's make a change. But I do not think QB is the main problem with our passing game right now, and if Luke takes over I think you are going to see him struggle with a lot of the same things that Adrian is struggling with right now. 

 

The other piece is the things we're taking for granted with Adrian that Luke may not do as well. Frost mentioned the loss on first and goal from the 2 was the result of Luke checking to the wrong thing. I know the argument is you take those in the short term while he learns, but the unspoken implication there was maybe we don't go backwards if Adrian is in at that point. And maybe we don't get to that point if he was in, but who knows. I don't think a QB change cures everything, so I'm not going to question who they roll with too heavily. Whoever it is needs to be better, and needs the supporting cast to be better.

[Huskers93-97]

1 minute ago, J-MAGIC said:

 

You're comparing 42 pass attempts to 21, with 10 of those 21 coming on the final drive against a Northwestern defense playing off man and happy to give up easy, short throws. If you take away Luke's long pass in garbage time against the OSU backups, he is only slightly ahead in YPA (and even with that pass included Luke is still currently lower in YPA that Adrian's career average), and if you take away Luke's 47-yard run as a tailback against OSU (i.e., plays where they're both playing quarterback) he is averaging fewer yards per carry than Adrian. They have the same number of turnovers. If you apply context here, there has been no significant statistical difference between the two.

 

Adrian played a bad game against the No. 5 defense in the country; that doesn't mean he deserves a hook. I understand that people want quick fixes, but that is not how the incredibly complex and team-dependent game of football works. The biggest problem in our passing game right now is that we have no one who can get open downfield. Adrian has looked extremely skiddish to put the ball in harms way this season, and that coupled with no one being able to create separation leads to the over- and under-throws we saw Saturday. I am not in the meeting rooms; maybe Adrian is not getting the ball where it needs to go, and if so, sweet, let's make a change. But I do not think QB is the main problem with our passing game right now, and if Luke takes over I think you are going to see him struggle with a lot of the same things that Adrian is struggling with right now. 

If you are going to remove selective stats. Then dont compare Luke to Adrians career average. Adrian had a great freshman season. But he is not that player anymore in year 2 and 3. 

 

Also- if you have a kid who is a junior (closer to reaching his peak) and a kid who is a freshman (nowhere close to reaching his potential) and they are break even. I am rolling with the freshman. Adrian you know what your getting and it wont change. Luke is a freshman who will make mistakes- but if this year is a wash so who cares. Get him ready with game reps for next season. If your going to get the same results. But I think the results will only get better as he gets more reps.

[FrantzHardySwag]

2 minutes ago, J-MAGIC said:

 

You're comparing 42 pass attempts to 21, with 10 of those 21 coming on the final drive against a Northwestern defense playing off man and happy to give up easy, short throws. If you take away Luke's long pass in garbage time against the OSU backups, he is only slightly ahead in YPA (and even with that pass included Luke is still currently lower in YPA that Adrian's career average), and if you take away Luke's 47-yard run as a tailback against OSU (i.e., plays where they're both playing quarterback) he is averaging fewer yards per carry than Adrian. They have the same number of turnovers. If you apply context here, there has been no significant statistical difference between the two.

 

Adrian played a bad game against the No. 5 defense in the country; that doesn't mean he deserves a hook. I understand that people want quick fixes, but that is not how the incredibly complex and team-dependent game of football works. The biggest problem in our passing game right now is that we have no one who can get open downfield. Adrian has looked extremely skiddish to put the ball in harms way this season, and that coupled with no one being able to create separation leads to the over- and under-throws we saw Saturday. I am not in the meeting rooms; maybe Adrian is not getting the ball where it needs to go, and if so, sweet, let's make a change. But I do not think QB is the main problem with our passing game right now, and if Luke takes over I think you are going to see him struggle with a lot of the same things that Adrian is struggling with right now. 

I get it, Luke's sample size is flawed, not gonna argue that. AM has a huge sample size. He's 9-14 as a starter, he led the B1G in turnovers last year, his decision making looks timid, he's a pretty good rushing QB. I think we would learn a lot by having a full game of Luke. Maybe the same problems persist, but maybe the tempo is improved (Like Mills says), the reads are better, we start finding guys in the intermediate passing game, ect. Can't know unless you try. Losing 7 of the last 8 makes me think a change up is completely justified at this point. 

 

 I'm not saying AM is all of our problems. We need to get Wandale more involved. We need to find an intermediate to deep passing game. We need better play calling in the redzone. 

[Hilltop]

2 hours ago, TheSker said:

The one McCaffrey threw in the red zone bounced off a helmet 

 

It happened once to each team.

My mistake - I originally thought their lineman tipped it with his hand.  I just watched the replay again and it looks like their defender missed it but he hit a Husker Lineman in the head- bad pass and decision imo.  

[gossamorharpy]

1 hour ago, J-MAGIC said:

 

You're comparing 42 pass attempts to 21, with 10 of those 21 coming on the final drive against a Northwestern defense playing off man and happy to give up easy, short throws. If you take away Luke's long pass in garbage time against the OSU backups, he is only slightly ahead in YPA (and even with that pass included Luke is still currently lower in YPA that Adrian's career average), and if you take away Luke's 47-yard run as a tailback against OSU (i.e., plays where they're both playing quarterback) he is averaging fewer yards per carry than Adrian. They have the same number of turnovers. If you apply context here, there has been no significant statistical difference between the two.

 

Adrian played a bad game against the No. 5 defense in the country; that doesn't mean he deserves a hook. I understand that people want quick fixes, but that is not how the incredibly complex and team-dependent game of football works. The biggest problem in our passing game right now is that we have no one who can get open downfield. Adrian has looked extremely skiddish to put the ball in harms way this season, and that coupled with no one being able to create separation leads to the over- and under-throws we saw Saturday. I am not in the meeting rooms; maybe Adrian is not getting the ball where it needs to go, and if so, sweet, let's make a change. But I do not think QB is the main problem with our passing game right now, and if Luke takes over I think you are going to see him struggle with a lot of the same things that Adrian is struggling with right now. 

I think the key difference though is we’ve been seeing this sub par junk from Martinez now for the past 2 seasons (this year and last), both of which have been a clear regression compared to year 1.

 

There’s a saying in football, when there’s a qb battle typically you don’t have 2 starting qbs you have none... while Luke most likely isn’t a world beater who’s gonna save the day, I’d argue the unknown upside is why we need to give him the reigns given 2AM now has had opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to win the job, and he hasn’t.

 

last thing I want to see happen is we waste a development year sticking with AM because, in paper, he should be the starter yet we witness another inconsistent output from the guy without knowing what we actually have in Luke

[PasstheDamnBallGuy]

55 minutes ago, Hilltop said:

My mistake - I originally thought their lineman tipped it with his hand.  I just watched the replay again and it looks like their defender missed it but he hit a Husker Lineman in the head- bad pass and decision imo.  

Yeah I'm pretty sure there was a LB or DB sitting under that route also so if it was low enough to hit a players head its not going to get over that defender anyway. 

[TheSker]

4 minutes ago, PasstheDamnBallGuy said:

Yeah I'm pretty sure there was a LB or DB sitting under that route also so if it was low enough to hit a players head its not going to get over that defender anyway. 

.....except if it's Benhart

[PasstheDamnBallGuy]

Just now, TheSker said:

.....except if it's Benhart

Oh it was, but anyone on that field should be able to catch something or at least tip it even 6'8" in the air. 

[Undone]

I still maintain that what will happen if Luke gets the starting role (which I don't think is going to happen) is that defenses - especially the good ones - will really make him look one-dimensional.

 

Frost & Lubick had better figure out how to get the ball in space off of high percentage throws to guys like Robinson, Fleming, & Thompkins. 

[Hilltop]

13 minutes ago, Undone said:

I still maintain that what will happen if Luke gets the starting role (which I don't think is going to happen) is that defenses - especially the good ones - will really make him look one-dimensional.

 

Frost & Lubick had better figure out how to get the ball in space off of high percentage throws to guys like Robinson, Fleming, & Thompkins. 

Watching Christian play yesterday I couldn't help but see the similarities to Luke.  NFL players knew what was coming and struggled to stop it.  They may scheme well for Luke but, if he is anything like his older brother, he is going to be effective in spite.  I am still an Adrian fan but you can't deny Luke has the "It" factor right now.  If I'm Scott, I have to give Luke the keys for at least a half against Penn State.     

[Undone]

26 minutes ago, Hilltop said:

...but you can't deny Luke has the "It" factor right now.

 

Meh.