According to Sipple...

[zoogs]

I really think we are all drinking some heavy stuff though if we look at this as an intense 3-way QB battle. There's competition for sure, but...Keller-Ganz, that was a QB battle. Lee-Witt, that would have been a QB battle. As another poster said right now, it's currently Lee-Lee's arm, and we are scrambling to try to get the guys behind him up to speed. Just my take.

No, it wasn't. Keller was going to the QB, even if he graded out as the 5th best QB

:facepalm: EVERYONE here thought it wasn't going to be a QB battle for different reasons back then. As in Ganz was nowhere close to Keller and coaches were just paying him lip service by calling it a tight battle.

And now we come back and say with hindsight that the job was guaranteed to Keller?

It was a battle and Keller won - believe what you want to believe, but Keller won it.

 

[knapplc]

It was clear at the Spring Game in 2007 that Keller was better at that time for the offense we wanted to run. Keller was throwing to a spot where our WRs were going to be. Ganz waited for the cut, then threw. Keller had a rapport with the WRs and he was on pace to throw for over 3,200 yards when he got hurt. With that porous O Line, that was a pretty solid effort.

Ganz picked it up and had a great 2008 season, but in September, 2007, Sam Keller was the better QB.

For all the loooooong list of things I'll fault our former coach for, starting Keller wasn't one of them.

 

[huskerswrkhavoc]

I really think we are all drinking some heavy stuff though if we look at this as an intense 3-way QB battle. There's competition for sure, but...Keller-Ganz, that was a QB battle. Lee-Witt, that would have been a QB battle. As another poster said right now, it's currently Lee-Lee's arm, and we are scrambling to try to get the guys behind him up to speed. Just my take.

No, it wasn't. Keller was going to the QB, even if he graded out as the 5th best QB

:facepalm: EVERYONE here thought it wasn't going to be a QB battle for different reasons back then. As in Ganz was nowhere close to Keller and coaches were just paying him lip service by calling it a tight battle.

And now we come back and say with hindsight that the job was guaranteed to Keller?

It was a battle and Keller won - believe what you want to believe, but Keller won it.

There are people that were close to the program that say Keller was guaranteed the job just by coming here.... It isn't a hindsight thing.... but i'm not saying Keller wasn't the best QB at the time, but there wasn't the true battle that was portrayed.

 

[junior4949]

Having three names mentioned for our starting QB and some love for all of them is something only homers would believe will bode well. We are likely in SERIOUS trouble at the QB position for the second year in a row. Last year was likely the low point of Big Red football on the O and the high point in a long while on D. We have the same cast back on O and lost huge on D. In spite of the love some rags give us; the truth is there are big problems. Some claim that Martinez is the answer with his legs. Unlikely at best that we put in a successful whole new offense in fall practice. Likely a disaster if we try.

Others say that our RBs will take the pressure off of Lee and he'll only throw a few times a game and that will make him more effective? So we're saying we have the same QB that is subpar and the same RBs we had last year and that this year we'll be better. Talk about doing the same thing and hoping for a different result. Helu has not proved to be a durable RB. If he is hampered; you are right back to where you were last year.

We have a huge QB problem and to believe otherwise is simply drinking koolaid now. I think with any of the top 20 QBs in the country we could be great. Without one of them, I can see a lot of disappointment. I hope I am wrong but 100 yards against Tejas will not get it done.

Though there are problems at reciever; one decent QB is what I believe will be our achilles heel.

Wow, what a doom-and-gloom post!

Having a QB battle isn't a disaster. It can be, but it's not inherently so. Berringer gave Frazier a serious run for his money in 1994, as I recall. That seemed to turn out OK. In the summer of 1990 we had the three-headed battle between Mike Grant, Mickey Joseph and Keithen McCant, and that didn't turn out so well. QB battles aren't necessarily good or bad.

As x and B-rent mentioned, Tommie Frazier wouldn't make this team a winner without a solid O Line. If that line is back up to par, we'll be OK. If not... it won't matter who our QB is.

There never really was a serious competition between Berringer and Frazier. Had Frazier not gone down to injury, most people wouldn't even know who Berringer was. While it wasn't nearly as publicized as Crouch, Frazier gave the ultimatum his freshman year that he was transferring if he wasn't played. In hindsight, the 95' team is quite an amazing story and a tribute to TO for being able to hold that team together. The team according to a couple of the starting OL I knew was pretty ticked that there wasn't a QB battle prior and during the 95' season. Then, it had to deal with the LP dibacle in which the QB in waiting (Frost) was involved. There was quite a bit of adversity the team dealt with during the season, and TO had the glue to hold it together. I still remember after the 95' season when basketball intramurals were going. There was probably the biggest crowd in Nebraska intramural history when Frazier's team who was ranked #1 played Berringer's team. Brook was quite the bball player, and his team mostly composed of OL ran circles around Frazier's team.

To put into perspective just how little action Berringer saw in 95', he had less than 1/3 of the passing plays Frazier did (31.2%); he had less than 1/4 of the carries Frazier did (21.6%); and he had just over 1/4 of the total offensive attempts Frazier did (27.3%). In fact, LP had just one attempt less than Berringer did the entire season even though LP was suspended for most of 95'. Berringer didn't even see any action at all in two of our games in 95'.

 

[Bye Bye Texas!]

My contention last season was that a QB transition hardly ever goes smoothly. First year QBs tend to have difficulties, it's just part of the game. Mix in the fact that our OL wasn't very good, the WRs couldn't catch (serious dropoff from Swift/Pete), an injury to his throwing arm, and the constant looking to the sidelines to see if he was getting jerked out, and it makes sense why Zac had some problems.

What QB have we had in recent history that's come in (with no game experience) and looked above average, consistently, their initial season?

 

[Scratchtown]

One has to assume if Martinez is the starter that the power running game/option is making its return to Lincoln. I just can't see him being the starter and tossing it down field much.

careful the way you just throw that term around, you get all the old timers all hootin and hollering thinking the 70's-90's are back (couldn't resist, sorry! I really do respect most of who have been here before me). However, I think it is important to understand that we will NOT line up in double tights maryland I formations, at least not in regularity. If we do go to a power running game/option you will see that it looks ALOT more like Oregon's running game rather than the old 1990's version of the Huskers. Of course I'm not one of the coaches nor do I ever get to see practices or hear of what coaches talk about so I could be blowing smoke. I just really really think that this is the way we are headed rather than back to the 3 yards and a cloud of dust era.

 

[billdozer15]

My contention last season was that a QB transition hardly ever goes smoothly. First year QBs tend to have difficulties, it's just part of the game. Mix in the fact that our OL wasn't very good, the WRs couldn't catch (serious dropoff from Swift/Pete), an injury to his throwing arm, and the constant looking to the sidelines to see if he was getting jerked out, and it makes sense why Zac had some problems.

What QB have we had in recent history that's come in (with no game experience) and looked above average, consistently, their initial season?

Joe Ganz. He came in for an injured Keller at lit it up.

 

[junior4949]

By lighting it up, are you referring to the 4 picks he threw against Kansas and the 3 picks he threw against CU? We scored a lot of points those three games Ganz started his junior year, but the other teams scored a lot of points off of Ganz's turnovers. While Ganz did a pretty good job his senior year, his first year starting was anything but smooth.

 

[husker B-rent]

By lighting it up, are you referring to the 4 picks he threw against Kansas and the 3 picks he threw against CU? We scored a lot of points those three games Ganz started his junior year, but the other teams scored a lot of points off of Ganz's turnovers. While Ganz did a pretty good job his senior year, his first year starting was anything but smooth.

i disagree because yeah he threw some interceptions but he got our offense to move and work. all keller was doing was throwing to his RB. ganz threw it all over the field and he was asked to throw it alot because that was the only way we stood a chance of winning the games. if you throw the ball 60 times a game you are almost guaranteed to have a few picks.

 

[bshirt]

One has to assume if Martinez is the starter that the power running game/option is making its return to Lincoln. I just can't see him being the starter and tossing it down field much.

careful the way you just throw that term around, you get all the old timers all hootin and hollering thinking the 70's-90's are back (couldn't resist, sorry! I really do respect most of who have been here before me). However, I think it is important to understand that we will NOT line up in double tights maryland I formations, at least not in regularity. If we do go to a power running game/option you will see that it looks ALOT more like Oregon's running game rather than the old 1990's version of the Huskers. Of course I'm not one of the coaches nor do I ever get to see practices or hear of what coaches talk about so I could be blowing smoke. I just really really think that this is the way we are headed rather than back to the 3 yards and a cloud of dust era.

3 yards and cloud of dust??

You must be very young and never seen them play. They usually were in the top 5 rushing & scoring in the nation so it was "5" yards or "6" yards or "55" yards and a cloud of dust (and a change in the scoreboard).

Also, in 31 years (25 TO/6 FS) of "3 yards and a cloud of dust" they never had an offense as inept as last year.

 

[zoogs]

YOU must still think it's 1995, when an OL with a crazy enough S&C program could just flat-out dominate and physically outclass even the best teams out there.

 

[junior4949]

By lighting it up, are you referring to the 4 picks he threw against Kansas and the 3 picks he threw against CU? We scored a lot of points those three games Ganz started his junior year, but the other teams scored a lot of points off of Ganz's turnovers. While Ganz did a pretty good job his senior year, his first year starting was anything but smooth.

i disagree because yeah he threw some interceptions but he got our offense to move and work. all keller was doing was throwing to his RB. ganz threw it all over the field and he was asked to throw it alot because that was the only way we stood a chance of winning the games. if you throw the ball 60 times a game you are almost guaranteed to have a few picks.

He threw almost 10% of his passes to the other team. The only times I've seen teams like TT that do throw that much a game have almost 10% of their passes picked, they lose!

 

[Scratchtown]

One has to assume if Martinez is the starter that the power running game/option is making its return to Lincoln. I just can't see him being the starter and tossing it down field much.

careful the way you just throw that term around, you get all the old timers all hootin and hollering thinking the 70's-90's are back (couldn't resist, sorry! I really do respect most of who have been here before me). However, I think it is important to understand that we will NOT line up in double tights maryland I formations, at least not in regularity. If we do go to a power running game/option you will see that it looks ALOT more like Oregon's running game rather than the old 1990's version of the Huskers. Of course I'm not one of the coaches nor do I ever get to see practices or hear of what coaches talk about so I could be blowing smoke. I just really really think that this is the way we are headed rather than back to the 3 yards and a cloud of dust era.

3 yards and cloud of dust??

You must be very young and never seen them play. They usually were in the top 5 rushing & scoring in the nation so it was "5" yards or "6" yards or "55" yards and a cloud of dust (and a change in the scoreboard).

Also, in 31 years (25 TO/6 FS) of "3 yards and a cloud of dust" they never had an offense as inept as last year.

Yea, I vaguely remember the 90's. I remember 97 the best, and trust me, I know my Nebraska history.

 

[Husker_x]

Until Wats moves on I don't see a pure spread-option attack coming to Lincoln. And I don't think we'll ever go back to the power running out of the I. Pelini wants a physical running game in the context of overall balance. It's been his position since he was hired.

 

[bshirt]

Until Wats moves on I don't see a pure spread-option attack coming to Lincoln. And I don't think we'll ever go back to the power running out of the I. Pelini wants a physical running game in the context of overall balance. It's been his position since he was hired.

I think "balance" is supremely over-rated.

We desperately need to excel at running or passing the ball (identity). PJ or TO running the ball, or a Leach @TT passing the ball, whatever.....being a jack of all trades and a master of none has a high price when you're not playing SunBelt teams.

Sure, if you have enough overwhelming talent you can somewhat achieve excellence at both but it isn't easy. It's difficult to imagine NU being able to load up on endless 5 star offensive talent annually like a USC/Florida/Alabama. Not impossible.....but not likely.

We really don't know to what extent Bo wants a physical running game. I hope it's his offensive priority #1-2-3-4 and 5. We'll see....