Armstrong update

[Enhance]

Then why don't we find out how he does against a good team? Personally, I would let Tommy play the first big game and see how he does. If it isn't so hot, let Taylor play. We KNOW Taylor isn't the best QB in big games (I consider these games as against teams with a perceived greater talent level than us.) Taylors turnovers have PROVEN to be an issue is these "big games". And to be honest, our defense is going to allow us to win anything big this year, unless they significantly pick up the pace in the next couple weeks. If anything I want to see if Tommy rises to the occasion or falters. This is partially because I am confident that Taylor will not be above 90% at any point this year.

Furthermore, didn't PaulCrewe say he was waiting to see how TA did this week against Illinois because they have a defense that's "10x better" than SDSU? And now you're saying that they are both worthless.

For the first bolded statement, that's what I've been arguing. But, putting TA in just for the sake of putting TA to see how he does isn't the best idea IMHO. I know what we've got with TM, even if it isn't always the prettiest performance. We threw Cody Green into the fire and he monumentally failed. I'm not saying the same would happen to TA, but I think experience outweighs youth in this argument. But, that's only if Martinez is healthy, and with turf toe, that can be a big if.

As for the second bolded statement, I'm almost positive Illinois has some of the worst defensive statistics in the B1G. I feel confident saying that if we revisit their defensive statistics in four months, Illinois will be among a pretty bad group of defenses.

 

[Ric Flair]

Put me down as a vote for giving Armstrong the starting nod and never looking back. Some doubt that Armstrong can get it done in a big game. But we know Martinez cannot, because we have four years of failures that document that. Martinez averages more than a fumble a game, a category he's led the country in for three years running. He's a turnover machine.

Martinez has played a total of 40 games at Nebraska, which means over his career he has averaged 1.125 fumbles per game, 0.375 fumbles lost per game (not quite a fumble lost every three games) and 0.675 interceptions per game (more than one interception every two games).

Those stats are just an absolute killer. And far more of his mistakes come against the Ohio States and Wisconsins of the world than against the Idaho States. So in big games we can typically count on Martinez to turn the ball over 2-3 times on average. That's one player committing 2-3 turnovers on his own on average in those games. And you're going to have a tough time winning games when you have a QB simply handing the other team the ball with that frequency. It's also worth noting what crappy situations that routinely puts the defense in. As deservedly maligned as that unit has been, Martinez's frequent errors have caused at least some of those problems.

A lot of posts recently have noted how limited Martinez is as a runner, even when healthy. He's basically a one trick pony, who can find a gap and explode through it on occasion. But he's not shifty as a runner. He has terrible pocket presence and isn't mobile in the pocket in a way a QB needs to be.

But I found this analysis of his passing to be fairly shocking...

Bill Connelly at SB Nation has done some phenomenal statistical work looking deeper into the numbers of college football. One of his articles looked at how successful college quarterbacks were for different lengths of passes thrown. This does not refer to the length of the overall passing play, but the distance the ball was in the air between the quarterback and receiver.
Looking at Martinez, we learn that he’s very good at the short pass. Martinez completed 90.9 percent of his passes from 0-4 yards, second only to Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater in that yardage for the quarterbacks charted. Martinez completed 81.8 percent of his passes thrown less than zero yards (behind the line of scrimmage), and he connected on 75 percent of his passes thrown between five and nine yards.

Once the passes get a little longer, though, things look worse for Martinez. For passes from 10 to 14 yards, Martinez has a completion percentage of 50 percent. That’s not terrible, but it’s not great either.

But then things fall through the floor. Martinez completed only 10 percent (!) of passes between 15 and 19 yards and only 16.7 percent of passes from 20 to 24 yards. There wasn’t enough statistical data to chart Martinez’s success rate for any passes longer than 24 yards.

So in summary, Martinez is a one dimensional runner even when healthy, a decent passer only on passes of less than 10 yards and a turnover machine who regularly hands the other team the ball. I'm failing to see how a four-year starter with these limitations brings more to the table at this point than a redshirt freshman who is a more natural quarterback, a better leader and the future of the program. We've seen the very best that Martinez has to offer. It's simply not good enough. And I'll take the mistakes Armstrong makes while learning on the job over the mistakes Martinez continues to make because he hasn't learned the job any time.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1754936-nebraska-football-what-does-taylor-martinez-need-to-show-nfl-scouts-in-2013

 

[knapplc]

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Martinez isn't the reason we've been losing, but he's one of the biggest reasons we've been winning the past three years?

The guy fumbles and everyone wants to bench him. The guy puts the team on his back and defeats Ohio State, Michigan State (twice), Penn State (twice), Michigan, Wisconsin, and a host of weaker opponents and his detractors brush those wins aside. He has not cost us one game, not one time, in his career.

The old saying in politics was "It's the economy, stupid." Remember that? It has a cousin that applies here - "It's the defense, stupid."

People who claim to be fans of this team but harp on and on about our quarterback need to give up being a football fan. Clearly the game is too complicated for them.

 

[Enhance]

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Martinez isn't the reason we've been losing, but he's one of the biggest reasons we've been winning the past three years?

The guy fumbles and everyone wants to bench him. The guy puts the team on his back and defeats Ohio State, Michigan State (twice), Penn State (twice), Michigan, Wisconsin, and a host of weaker opponents and his detractors brush those wins aside. He has not cost us one game, not one time, in his career.

The old saying in politics was "It's the economy, stupid." Remember that? It has a cousin that applies here - "It's the defense, stupid."

People who claim to be fans of this team but harp on and on about our quarterback need to give up being a football fan. Clearly the game is too complicated for them.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

On top of that, tfree32, I've seen that article linked several times on this board, and I will continue to vehemently oppose it's use as anything more than a fun read with no statistical relevance. Read how they calculated their data - it's extremely, extremely, skewed. The article itself questions the validity and says something along the lines of this should article should not be used to draw any real conclusions from.

 

[Ric Flair]

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Martinez isn't the reason we've been losing, but he's one of the biggest reasons we've been winning the past three years?

The guy fumbles and everyone wants to bench him. The guy puts the team on his back and defeats Ohio State, Michigan State (twice), Penn State (twice), Michigan, Wisconsin, and a host of weaker opponents and his detractors brush those wins aside. He has not cost us one game, not one time, in his career.

The old saying in politics was "It's the economy, stupid." Remember that? It has a cousin that applies here - "It's the defense, stupid."

People who claim to be fans of this team but harp on and on about our quarterback need to give up being a football fan. Clearly the game is too complicated for them.

I respectfully disagree. There's enough blame for our struggles to go around and a large helping belongs to the defense. But just as Martinez deserves credit for his play in some of the comebacks you referenced, he deserves blame for his mistakes and poor play in the losses and blowouts. The defense has been pretty craptacular the past couple of seasons. But the offense hasn't done a lot to help them out. Some of the blame for that falls on Beck for questionable play calling. But some falls on Martinez for not playing well in big games.

 

[True2tRA]

Why is it so hard for people to grasp.

Isn't this a conversation you should have with your doctor?

 

[Ric Flair]

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Martinez isn't the reason we've been losing, but he's one of the biggest reasons we've been winning the past three years?

The guy fumbles and everyone wants to bench him. The guy puts the team on his back and defeats Ohio State, Michigan State (twice), Penn State (twice), Michigan, Wisconsin, and a host of weaker opponents and his detractors brush those wins aside. He has not cost us one game, not one time, in his career.

The old saying in politics was "It's the economy, stupid." Remember that? It has a cousin that applies here - "It's the defense, stupid."

People who claim to be fans of this team but harp on and on about our quarterback need to give up being a football fan. Clearly the game is too complicated for them.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

On top of that, tfree32, I've seen that article linked several times on this board, and I will continue to vehemently oppose it's use as anything more than a fun read with no statistical relevance. Read how they calculated their data - it's extremely, extremely, skewed. The article itself questions the validity and says something along the lines of this should article should not be used to draw any real conclusions from.

What specific issues do you have with the data?

 

[knapplc]

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Martinez isn't the reason we've been losing, but he's one of the biggest reasons we've been winning the past three years?

The guy fumbles and everyone wants to bench him. The guy puts the team on his back and defeats Ohio State, Michigan State (twice), Penn State (twice), Michigan, Wisconsin, and a host of weaker opponents and his detractors brush those wins aside. He has not cost us one game, not one time, in his career.

The old saying in politics was "It's the economy, stupid." Remember that? It has a cousin that applies here - "It's the defense, stupid."

People who claim to be fans of this team but harp on and on about our quarterback need to give up being a football fan. Clearly the game is too complicated for them.

I respectfully disagree. There's enough blame for our struggles to go around and a large helping belongs to the defense. But just as Martinez deserves credit for his play in some of the comebacks you referenced, he deserves blame for his mistakes and poor play in the losses and blowouts. The defense has been pretty craptacular the past couple of seasons. But the offense hasn't done a lot to help them out. Some of the blame for that falls on Beck for questionable play calling. But some falls on Martinez for not playing well in big games.

The bold should have been all you said. The offense hasn't done "a lot" to help the defense out? Are you serious?

This is like a guy volunteering to help a crash victim. You're trying to bandage the boo-boo on his elbow while ignoring that he's bleeding out from a head wound.

 

[beanman]

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Martinez isn't the reason we've been losing, but he's one of the biggest reasons we've been winning the past three years?

The guy fumbles and everyone wants to bench him. The guy puts the team on his back and defeats Ohio State, Michigan State (twice), Penn State (twice), Michigan, Wisconsin, and a host of weaker opponents and his detractors brush those wins aside. He has not cost us one game, not one time, in his career.

The old saying in politics was "It's the economy, stupid." Remember that? It has a cousin that applies here - "It's the defense, stupid."

People who claim to be fans of this team but harp on and on about our quarterback need to give up being a football fan. Clearly the game is too complicated for them.

I respectfully disagree. There's enough blame for our struggles to go around and a large helping belongs to the defense. But just as Martinez deserves credit for his play in some of the comebacks you referenced, he deserves blame for his mistakes and poor play in the losses and blowouts. The defense has been pretty craptacular the past couple of seasons. But the offense hasn't done a lot to help them out. Some of the blame for that falls on Beck for questionable play calling. But some falls on Martinez for not playing well in big games.

The bold should have been all you said. The offense hasn't done "a lot" to help the defense out? Are you serious?

This is like a guy volunteering to help a crash victim. You're trying to bandage the boo-boo on his elbow while ignoring that he's bleeding out from a head wound.

With the defense's lack of depth last year, it certainly didn't help them to have to come right back onto the field after the offense turned over the ball. They were bad enough on their own. They were worn down several times last year by the 3rd quarter. It isn't all their fault. More like 85/15, with the offenses dumb turnovers being the 15%. You can't ignore that Knapp. Turnovers are killers.

 

[Ric Flair]

Why is it so hard for people to grasp that Martinez isn't the reason we've been losing, but he's one of the biggest reasons we've been winning the past three years?

The guy fumbles and everyone wants to bench him. The guy puts the team on his back and defeats Ohio State, Michigan State (twice), Penn State (twice), Michigan, Wisconsin, and a host of weaker opponents and his detractors brush those wins aside. He has not cost us one game, not one time, in his career.

The old saying in politics was "It's the economy, stupid." Remember that? It has a cousin that applies here - "It's the defense, stupid."

People who claim to be fans of this team but harp on and on about our quarterback need to give up being a football fan. Clearly the game is too complicated for them.

I respectfully disagree. There's enough blame for our struggles to go around and a large helping belongs to the defense. But just as Martinez deserves credit for his play in some of the comebacks you referenced, he deserves blame for his mistakes and poor play in the losses and blowouts. The defense has been pretty craptacular the past couple of seasons. But the offense hasn't done a lot to help them out. Some of the blame for that falls on Beck for questionable play calling. But some falls on Martinez for not playing well in big games.

The bold should have been all you said. The offense hasn't done "a lot" to help the defense out? Are you serious?

This is like a guy volunteering to help a crash victim. You're trying to bandage the boo-boo on his elbow while ignoring that he's bleeding out from a head wound.

I don't disagree that the defensive struggles have been the larger issue. But I think you're placing far too much of the blame on that unit, while almost completely absolving the offense generally and Martinez specifically.

How much pressure do repeated three and outs place on an already struggling defense? How about turnovers? How difficult is is for a defense to spend most of the game on the field because the offense simply can't move the ball consistently?

No doubt the defense has been a veritable dumpster fire. But that hasn't occurred in a vacuum. The offense hasn't done them any favors.

 

[knapplc]

With the defense's lack of depth last year, it certainly didn't help them to have to come right back onto the field after the offense turned over the ball. They were bad enough on their own. They were worn down several times last year by the 3rd quarter. It isn't all their fault. More like 85/15, with the offenses dumb turnovers being the 15%. You can't ignore that Knapp. Turnovers are killers.

Let's talk when 85% of the posts on this board are legitimate critiques of the defense, then. Instead we have zero (0) posts on the front page discussing defensive shortcomings, but we have two threads on the front page right now asking for a fifth-year senior who holds umpteen team records to be benched in favor of a redshirt freshman who's made two career starts against two very weak opponents.

 

[knapplc]

No doubt the defense has been a veritable dumpster fire. But that hasn't occurred in a vacuum. The offense hasn't done them any favors.

Martinez has been the primary reason we've won so many of our tough games over the past two years. Yet you're here griping about him as if he's the dumptser fire, while paying lip service to the defense's responsibility.

It beggars belief.

 

[Ric Flair]

No doubt the defense has been a veritable dumpster fire. But that hasn't occurred in a vacuum. The offense hasn't done them any favors.

Martinez has been the primary reason we've won so many of our tough games over the past two years. Yet you're here griping about him as if he's the dumptser fire, while paying lip service to the defense's responsibility.

It beggars belief.

I've made clear repeatedly that the defense is the larger issue knappic, including in this thread. So that's simply untrue.

And I'm unclear why you don't seem to think that Martinez's mistakes and inconsistent play matter at all. When an offense can't move the ball and turns the ball over all the time, it puts a lot more pressure on the defense. When you have a crappy defense to begin with, that makes things even worse.

 

[True2tRA]

I liked Rex Burkhead many of the past 3 years. One of my favorite Huskers ever. Man there were a lot of games I thought we would run the legs right off that kid.

 

[TheSker]

Turnovers are a key statistic to any and every game......winning the turnover battle. Our defense needs to create turnovers and our offense needs to avoid them. Turnovers are a fair criticism of Martinez.