Adrian Martinez Injury

Here's a huge concern about Martinez, though. Especially with Michigan's stout defense on deck.


I fail to understand how fatigue can be a factor after the summer of workouts we heard about.  And if it was heat-related, Troy seemed unaffected. And we have this fancy-schmancy food/hydration plan now, so the guys should be in even better shape (side note - the O Line LOOKS like they're in way better shape than previous years).

So, you have a valuable QB in Martinez and an O Line that looked leaky, especially late in the game, against what is supposed to be a worse defense. 

Do you really want to put Martinez back there under those circumstances?

 
Save him for Wisconsin game.  Work on cleaning up all the stupid penalties and turnovers between now and then.  We do that, we beat Purdue without A.M..  He comes back for Wisconsin fully healthy, boosts the team's confidence and ads a whole new dimension to our offense and makes it difficult for Badgers to prepare for us. 

Beat Purdue then Wiscy and 7 wins is alive and well, make that 8 with a bowl game. 

 
You are crazy if you think Martinez doesn't start this game. Obviously coaches are playing it close to the vest, but he'll be in there. Probably runs for 125 w/ 2 scores, throws 3 more. Huskers 38, Mich 28.

 
knapplc said:
Here's a huge concern about Martinez, though. Especially with Michigan's stout defense on deck.


I fail to understand how fatigue can be a factor after the summer of workouts we heard about.  And if it was heat-related, Troy seemed unaffected. And we have this fancy-schmancy food/hydration plan now, so the guys should be in even better shape (side note - the O Line LOOKS like they're in way better shape than previous years).

So, you have a valuable QB in Martinez and an O Line that looked leaky, especially late in the game, against what is supposed to be a worse defense. 

Do you really want to put Martinez back there under those circumstances?
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Heat could definitely play a factor, as it was 100 degrees on the field and you have 300+ lbs guys playing every snap of a game (though I guess Conrad was out for 9 plays while Wilson was in there). Troy's DL had the luxury of rotations. I am just stating facts and not using this as an excuse, as I think the OL play was bad last year and I did not expect it to be much better this year (so far I am not wrong). The big problem in the last game was that the game plan going in was to rely on the OL to win you a game, and I do not think they are a capable group. For any game going forward, you have to look at the OL as a giant weakness that you have to game plan around. Martinez's escapability and improv may be heavily needed for success this year.

 
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madman23 said:
You are crazy if you think Martinez doesn't start this game. Obviously coaches are playing it close to the vest, but he'll be in there. Probably runs for 125 w/ 2 scores, throws 3 more. Huskers 38, Mich 28.
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I agree.  I would bet money Martinez plays this weekend.  Not so sure about the score part haha.

 
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madman23 said:
You are crazy if you think Martinez doesn't start this game. Obviously coaches are playing it close to the vest, but he'll be in there. Probably runs for 125 w/ 2 scores, throws 3 more. Huskers 38, Mich 28.
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You are crazy, madman

 
knapplc said:
I fail to understand how fatigue can be a factor after the summer of workouts we heard about.  And if it was heat-related, Troy seemed unaffected. And we have this fancy-schmancy food/hydration plan now, so the guys should be in even better shape (side note - the O Line LOOKS like they're in way better shape than previous years).
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For the same reason that you don't see many 300-pound marathon runners?

Being in shape is great but there's nothing that can keep you from getting tired after working out for three-plus hours in 100 degree temperatures.  That's a lot of energy expended over a long period of time.

 
Mavric said:
For the same reason that you don't see many 300-pound marathon runners? 

Being in shape is great but there's nothing that can keep you from getting tired after working out for three-plus hours in 100 degree temperatures.  That's a lot of energy expended over a long period of time.
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The key thing here is, Troy seemed unaffected. If the heat didn't affect them, why did it affect us?  Flaw in our training or hydration? Is it just an excuse?

It was hot for everyone at the game, and I'm still feeling really tired from it four days later (and from chores on Sunday).  I can see how it could have affected the guys. But why didn't it equally affect Troy?

 
knapplc said:
The key thing here is, Troy seemed unaffected. If the heat didn't affect them, why did it affect us?  Flaw in our training or hydration? Is it just an excuse?

It was hot for everyone at the game, and I'm still feeling really tired from it four days later (and from chores on Sunday).  I can see how it could have affected the guys. But why didn't it equally affect Troy?
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Are you talking Troy's offense or defense? 

I feel fairly confident in saying their defense rotated players much more than our offensive line did.  Plus most of the defensive guys are not 300 pounds.

If you're talking their offense, how do you know it didn't?  We held them to 253 yards which I would think is one of the lowest totals against the Huskers in years.  And they got almost half their yards on three plays which had more to do with us being out of position than anything to do with conditioning.

 
Mavric said:
Are you talking Troy's offense or defense? 

I feel fairly confident in saying their defense rotated players much more than our offensive line did.  Plus most of the defensive guys are not 300 pounds.

If you're talking their offense, how do you know it didn't?  We held them to 253 yards which I would think is one of the lowest totals against the Huskers in years.  And they got almost half their yards on three plays which had more to do with us being out of position than anything to do with conditioning.
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Good post.

The main observation I have in the Troy game is that our offensive line was pretty ineffective in the fourth quarter at muscling Troy off the line. Something has to give there, and I'm not sure I care whether it was the heat, our strength being an issue, our conditioning being an issue, or whatever. I expect this offensive line to perform better in the fourth quarter against a Sun Belt team no matter what and it just wasn't good enough. I'd almost go as far as to say it was borderline poor.

Going to have to continue to improve that unit for conference play if we want to avoid a losing record.

 
Mavric said:
Are you talking Troy's offense or defense? 

I feel fairly confident in saying their defense rotated players much more than our offensive line did.  Plus most of the defensive guys are not 300 pounds.

If you're talking their offense, how do you know it didn't?  We held them to 253 yards which I would think is one of the lowest totals against the Huskers in years.  And they got almost half their yards on three plays which had more to do with us being out of position than anything to do with conditioning.
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I'm talking about their defensive line, because I'm comparing them to our O Line in relation to the Greg Austin quote I posted above. 

According to their participation report, five guys played on their D Line. Their weights:  327, 296, 279, 269 & 241.  That's against 75 offensive snaps. 

In contrast, we played seven O Linemen. Their weights:  335, 330, 325, 310, 305, 300 & 300. 

I mean, if heat was an issue, you'd think it would be moreso for the guys who played more snaps with heavier guys leaning on them.  But that didn't seem to be the case.

 
Undone said:
Good post.

The main observation I have in the Troy game is that our offensive line was pretty ineffective in the fourth quarter at muscling Troy off the line. Something has to give there, and I'm not sure I care whether it was the heat, our strength being an issue, our conditioning being an issue, or whatever. I expect this offensive line to perform better in the fourth quarter against a Sun Belt team no matter what and it just wasn't good enough. I'd almost go as far as to say it was borderline poor.

Going to have to continue to improve that unit for conference play if we want to avoid a losing record.
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I haven't gotten to the fourth quarter yet.

But I noticed the same thing the week before against Colorado and even earlier in the the Troy game - We do pretty well when we can get a bit of an angle on someone to make a hole but we don't get a lot of push.  I guess I'm not sure that has a lot to do with conditioning because I've seen it at all different points in the game.  I think it's just a hard thing to do.  I don't think the "we should just be able to push them around" really applies that much anymore.  Some opponents are obviously easier than others but if it were that easy Wisconsin should have just been able to run over BYU instead of losing to them.  Back in the day that was a thing but I think those days are pretty much gone for most everyone in college football.

I do think we can be better than we've shown on that front.  But I do think that will take some time to build in a new mentality and be physically stronger as they transition into a completely different style of offense.

 
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