Bo Pelini Dream Team

[The Maudfather]

I'll clarify. It's acknowledged by anyone with common sense that at times, our offense can be its own worst enemy. A good portion of that has to do with Taylor. But you'd be hard pressed to find a QB who can run this offense and make it as big of a threat as it is now.

Nobody is saying that Taylor doesn't run the offense well. At least, that's far from the point that I am trying to make. The point I am trying to make is that Ganz was an excellent QB for us and that he did not have nearly as many costly turnovers.

 

[Landlord]

My point is, Landlord said that Ganz had a knack for coughing up the ball and making mistakes during crucial moments. Moments, of course, being plural. Outside of the one play at Texas Tech (the game he went 36 for 44, with 349 yards and a couple scores), I don't see where Ganz folded when we needed him.

Colorado game in 2007 - We gave up 65 points, but we were up 11 starting the second half and he threw two crucial interceptions, one for a touchdown and one in our own territory that led to another score.

Va Tech in 2008 - He might have kept us in it, but that interception deep in our own territory was really costly.

Oklahoma in 2008 - Not just on him, but he started that game off as bad as you possibly can.

Texas Tech in 2008 - He played lights out the whole game, but his interception ended it.

Colorado in 2008 - The sack he took would have lost us the game if not for Alex Henery's miracle golden leg.

 

[ADS]

You could say the 2008 OU game, but that seems like it was a total team brain fart.

OU's offense was a buzz saw that year. You can hardly fault Ganz for those two picks in against OU though...first play of the game, if you watched any sort of film on Nebraska at all that year, you knew exactly what play we were running. We had run that screen play a million times and Dominique Franks jumped the route. The second pick was a tipped ball.

That's why I said it seems like it was a total team (you could throw in coaching) brain fart. I haven't watched any highlights of that game for a couple of years, so I had forgot his second INT was a tipped ball.

 

[The Maudfather]

You could say the 2008 OU game, but that seems like it was a total team brain fart.

OU's offense was a buzz saw that year. You can hardly fault Ganz for those two picks in against OU though...first play of the game, if you watched any sort of film on Nebraska at all that year, you knew exactly what play we were running. We had run that screen play a million times and Dominique Franks jumped the route. The second pick was a tipped ball.

That's why I said it seems like it was a total team (you could throw in coaching) brain fart. I haven't watched any highlights of that game for a couple of years, so I had forgot his second INT was a tipped ball.

I know you weren't pushing that game on Ganz, I just wanted to clarify how things went down that game.

:cheers

 

[kchusker_chris]

I'll clarify. It's acknowledged by anyone with common sense that at times, our offense can be its own worst enemy. A good portion of that has to do with Taylor. But you'd be hard pressed to find a QB who can run this offense and make it as big of a threat as it is now.

This. I was undecided on Taylor before last season. But I think he made a few strides that will really pay off this year. He's still turning the ball over, he's still taking a lot of sacks, still making a few boneheaded decisions. But, he's also improved greatly as a passer, knows the offense well, somehow found a way to share the load with one of the most loaded offenses (skill position wise) I've seen in a long time, overcome a lackluster pass-blocking OL, a pitiful defense, and willed his team to some big wins - whether they should have been close or not...he still took it on his shoulders and got the W. He's ready for a breakout year. But he should be....he's had 3 years at the helm. Most guys get 2 at most. I think he'll turn a lot of skeptics into supporters this year.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Again, no doubt it was a bone headed play. and the ball should have been thrown into the 3rd row. However, we had many chances to win that football game and you can't put it on the guy that delivered a clutch touchdown to put the game into OT.

My point is, Landlord said that Ganz had a knack for coughing up the ball and making mistakes during crucial moments. Moments, of course, being plural. Outside of the one play at Texas Tech (the game he went 36 for 44, with 349 yards and a couple scores), I don't see where Ganz folded when we needed him.

You can say that about MANY of Taylor's fumbles. The offense can put up 35 points and lose by 10 and some people point to a fumble by TM for the loss.

 

[Mavric]

Seems timely:

Nebraska's Martinez enters senior season with plenty at stake

When questioned whether his final season has any special meaning, Martinez demurs. He doesn't view 2013 as a "legacy-defining" season, maintaining he will leave Lincoln happy regardless of the individual stats he compiles as a senior.
"I've had a good career at Nebraska so far," he said. "So I just gotta keep playing, keep trying to win them all, and everything else will fall in place."

Martinez insists neither he nor his team has set any goals or win thresholds for the upcoming season. Instead, he explains his expectations with the oldest of football clichés. "We just have to take one game at a time," he said.

Still, however reluctant Martinez may be to admit it, this is his final act. He's gone from hyped to criticized to potentially overlooked, a career arc that's been simultaneously fascinating and frustrating.

If nothing else, Casey believes his son has at least one goal in mind heading into this fall.

"Knowing Taylor, he wants to win a championship," Casey said. "No one in the country wants to win a championship more than he does."

 

[jsneb83]

Martinez is tough, though. :dunno

I mean he is by getting up when he gets hit but when he runs, he slows down and he gets knocked instead of hitting back n trying to stay on his feet which is why Ganz was liked so much even though Ganz didn't do it a ton.

Actually him slowing down decreases the force of the hit.

 

[huskrplaya]

Martinez is tough, though. :dunno

I mean he is by getting up when he gets hit but when he runs, he slows down and he gets knocked instead of hitting back n trying to stay on his feet which is why Ganz was liked so much even though Ganz didn't do it a ton.

Actually him slowing down decreases the force of the hit.

So you would rather see him get hit backwards with "less force" then see him try to pick up an extra few yards off a quick cut?

 

[jsneb83]

Martinez is tough, though. :dunno

I mean he is by getting up when he gets hit but when he runs, he slows down and he gets knocked instead of hitting back n trying to stay on his feet which is why Ganz was liked so much even though Ganz didn't do it a ton.

Actually him slowing down decreases the force of the hit.

So you would rather see him get hit backwards with "less force" then see him try to pick up an extra few yards off a quick cut?

I would rather have him fight for extra yards. I was mainly being a smartass

 

[huskrplaya]

Martinez is tough, though. :dunno

I mean he is by getting up when he gets hit but when he runs, he slows down and he gets knocked instead of hitting back n trying to stay on his feet which is why Ganz was liked so much even though Ganz didn't do it a ton.

Actually him slowing down decreases the force of the hit.

So you would rather see him get hit backwards with "less force" then see him try to pick up an extra few yards off a quick cut?

I would rather have him fight for extra yards. I was mainly being a smartass

Haha alright. I don't hate Martinez but those small things keeps him from being great.

 

[Mavric]

I don't think people appreciate how bad his ankle injury was and how long it affected him for. It really took away a lot of what he was used to being able to do. Take a look at the highlights from before his injury:



Nobody's going to confuse him with Scott Frost but there isn't any of the hesitant slides that we've seen since then. Even his throwing mechanics were much better - stepping into throws and putting some smoke on the ball. I really think he wasn't as confident running the ball and that led to some increased fumbling problems which led to shying away from hits even more. I think towards the end of last year he started to see him finishing runs a little bit better. Hopefully another year of training and some more confidence in the guys behind him (in the coach's perspective) will lead to less emphasis on not taking hits and more confidence running the ball.

 

[HuskerShark]

I don't think people appreciate how bad his ankle injury was and how long it affected him for. It really took away a lot of what he was used to being able to do. Take a look at the highlights from before his injury:

Had to watch that entire thing. WOW... That brings me back to 2010 when we had no idea who was going to start game 1, and then we were all dumbfounded when we saw him thrash people all season long.

 

[suh_fan93]

I'll clarify. It's acknowledged by anyone with common sense that at times, our offense can be its own worst enemy. A good portion of that has to do with Taylor. But you'd be hard pressed to find a QB who can run this offense and make it as big of a threat as it is now.

Wow. This was a whopper. I'm betting we could easily find someone to run our offense lol. Guys on our team now even. Since no quarterback knows what it's like to get any playing time besides Martinez it's not like we would find out anyway.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

Taylor's TRUE arm shows in the Okie Lite game in 2010. Because of his injury, this lingered on his throwing capability and STILL has an effect. IMO, and its just an opinion, not a fact, we will see Taylor with a MUCH better arm this year. Better than his RSF year. I also see him running and having more freedom on the offense than last year. With a better O-line (on paper at this time) and a better special teams (on paper once again) we will see much less turnovers.

Another thing that grinds my gears, is how people state that we led the nation in turnover margin, but they seem to forget that we didn't have a defense that could convert turnovers. Because of the lack of athleticism on the front 7, our great secondary had to pick up slack, which made them more vulnerable to the passing game, which we still did quite well at. Sure turnovers were a HUGE problem, but it was more than just our offense, it was our special teams.