Could this be Bo's TO moment?

[HuskerNationNick]

... begin the Armstrong era now than see more of Taylor choking in big games....

I would rather end the year in a losing season than burn Armstrong's red shirt. Just my opinion. The best option for us, is to let him observe and learn. It will be more valuable than throwing him in young and expecting big things out of him.

 

[Huskerfan1985]

Here's the other thing you get with Martinez. Long, sustained drives and touchdowns, opposed to field goals, in the red zone. Again, if our d ever forced turnovers and created a short field against anyone this offense would be lethal.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

Burkhead is everyone's favorite, but honestly, this offense is fine without him.

Completely disagree with you here.

I just feel that Abdullah is more elusive and seems make up for any production lost with Burkhead. Not really a knock on Burkhead either, more that we have good depth at rb.

Heard is more elusive than Abdullah in my opinion and can see holes Abdullah can't, but Burkhead is someone you need 2 or more guys to tackle, and someone you have to try to get lower than him to get a tackle. Just because he is more of a North and South runner, doesn't mean he lacks the talent of Abdullah. Compare the carries and yards of these two, you will see what I am talking about. Burkhead can also take 40 snaps in a game, and still run just as hard as he did in the 1st quarter.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

Here's the other thing you get with Martinez. Long, sustained drives and touchdowns, opposed to field goals, in the red zone. Again, if our d ever forced turnovers and created a short field against anyone this offense would be lethal.

Ummmm, our offense is lethal

 

[tmfr15]

I would agree that the offense is lethal. I think what we need is a distributor of the ball, a guy who can hurt you with his legs to some degree, but has the ability to pitch and throw the ball acurately. We aren't talking about Peyton Manning here. What we are talking about is a guy who is mobile and has the ability to read the defense and get the ball to the right guy for a big play. Taylor makes too many mistakes at this point. When he simply does his job at an average level, which he did quite a bit of in Columbus, you see how good this offense can be, whether its one of the backs, Kenny Bell, Kyler Reed, Ben Cotton or Jamal Turner......

Pressure on the QB, from inside a competitive position group, is the only way to affect a change in Taylor's behavior. But the items I have to emphasize about my post are A QB CHANGE NOW IS TOO EARLY..... WE MUST EXPECT MORE from Tommy in the meeting room and in practice and TOMMY MUST PLAY if Nebraska loses a couple more and is removed from the conference title game so that we can set up a spirited off season competition between the two guys.

 

[tmfr15]

... begin the Armstrong era now than see more of Taylor choking in big games....

I would rather end the year in a losing season than burn Armstrong's red shirt. Just my opinion. The best option for us, is to let him observe and learn. It will be more valuable than throwing him in young and expecting big things out of him.

Why? Find out what you have in Armstrong NOW. We can't wait, or we'll be having the same conversation when Armstrong is a junior and there is some other QB recruit behind him. We want to be able to say he has playing experience and is a known commodity. Riding behind the junior signal caller here will only set up Armstrong to ride the pine all year next year and enter the frey in 2014 as a completely unproven redshirt sophomore.

 

[Karawithasmile]

Your setting yourself up for a snowball effect.

First you complain Taylor Martinez has to go and to let Tommie Armstrong take the reins, then he has a couple of INTs or fumbles the ball and cost us games, then you want either Brion Carnes or Jamal Turner to get a look at QB, The same things happen again. Now you want Johnny Stanton to start for you, he has a rough start. Then you'll want coaching changes or bring up the already heated debate about how we can't recruit 5 star QBs or whatever.

No matter what the negative subject is, it always ends up as a big stinkin' pile of wasted posts in a rotting thread.

This. Like it or not, there's a good chance that Armstrong would look very similar to the freshman Martinez - inexperienced. I think giving him time and not forcing him into the game too early (or burning his redshirt) will benefit the team in the long run. We've all watched how Martinez has struggled since playing as a freshman. Had he had more time to develop, perhaps he'd more a more lethal passer at this point.

Also, I disagree that we'd be better off taking Martinez out right now, even if that meant a losing season. It's important we don't treat this season as a total waste at this juncture, especially for recruiting purposes. We need to play the guy who gives us the best chance to get a "W" and that guy is Martinez at this point. THAT SAID, our offense needs to run stuff more to his strengths. More play action passes, more pistol, more roll-outs. Less straight back drops.

 

[huskerXman]

Your setting yourself up for a snowball effect.

First you complain Taylor Martinez has to go and to let Tommie Armstrong take the reins, then he has a couple of INTs or fumbles the ball and cost us games, then you want either Brion Carnes or Jamal Turner to get a look at QB, The same things happen again. Now you want Johnny Stanton to start for you, he has a rough start. Then you'll want coaching changes or bring up the already heated debate about how we can't recruit 5 star QBs or whatever.

No matter what the negative subject is, it always ends up as a big stinkin' pile of wasted posts in a rotting thread.

This. Like it or not, there's a good chance that Armstrong would look very similar to the freshman Martinez - inexperienced. I think giving him time and not forcing him into the game too early (or burning his redshirt) will benefit the team in the long run. We've all watched how Martinez has struggled since playing as a freshman. Had he had more time to develop, perhaps he'd more a more lethal passer at this point.

Also, I disagree that we'd be better off taking Martinez out right now, even if that meant a losing season. It's important we don't treat this season as a total waste at this juncture, especially for recruiting purposes. We need to play the guy who gives us the best chance to get a "W" and that guy is Martinez at this point. THAT SAID, our offense needs to run stuff more to his strengths. More play action passes, more pistol, more roll-outs. Less straight back drops.

I think T-Mart hasn't been the same SINCE his freshman year. He is a totally different runner.

 

[huskerXman]

... begin the Armstrong era now than see more of Taylor choking in big games....

I would rather end the year in a losing season than burn Armstrong's red shirt. Just my opinion. The best option for us, is to let him observe and learn. It will be more valuable than throwing him in young and expecting big things out of him.

Why? Find out what you have in Armstrong NOW. We can't wait, or we'll be having the same conversation when Armstrong is a junior and there is some other QB recruit behind him. We want to be able to say he has playing experience and is a known commodity. Riding behind the junior signal caller here will only set up Armstrong to ride the pine all year next year and enter the frey in 2014 as a completely unproven redshirt sophomore.

once again spot on!

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

My question to all of you guys is:

What happens when Tommy starts making mistakes? Oh, it's just because he's a freshman. Those are the same excuses we gave Taylor when he was a freshman. It's a vicious cycle, and it doesn't need to be that way.

Taylor is our QB. If we can't make it to the CCG, it would be pointless for us to burn his red shirt, just for him to prove what he has. He'll get the chance next year, when we are blowing out an opponent late in the 4th quarter.

Cutting Taylor from his starting spot now, after all the work he has put in, and all the improvement he has shown, just for having "A" bad game in "A" hostile environment, against "A" good defense, with poor offensive line play wouldn't do anything but hurt us at this point.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Your setting yourself up for a snowball effect.

First you complain Taylor Martinez has to go and to let Tommie Armstrong take the reins, then he has a couple of INTs or fumbles the ball and cost us games, then you want either Brion Carnes or Jamal Turner to get a look at QB, The same things happen again. Now you want Johnny Stanton to start for you, he has a rough start. Then you'll want coaching changes or bring up the already heated debate about how we can't recruit 5 star QBs or whatever.

No matter what the negative subject is, it always ends up as a big stinkin' pile of wasted posts in a rotting thread.

This. Like it or not, there's a good chance that Armstrong would look very similar to the freshman Martinez - inexperienced. I think giving him time and not forcing him into the game too early (or burning his redshirt) will benefit the team in the long run. We've all watched how Martinez has struggled since playing as a freshman. Had he had more time to develop, perhaps he'd more a more lethal passer at this point.

Also, I disagree that we'd be better off taking Martinez out right now, even if that meant a losing season. It's important we don't treat this season as a total waste at this juncture, especially for recruiting purposes. We need to play the guy who gives us the best chance to get a "W" and that guy is Martinez at this point. THAT SAID, our offense needs to run stuff more to his strengths. More play action passes, more pistol, more roll-outs. Less straight back drops.

I think T-Mart hasn't been the same SINCE his freshman year. He is a totally different runner.

Yeah, because his TD runs against Ohio State, or Wisconsin, or UCLA weren't impressive at all. He is the same as a runner, probably even better. Just not being utilized like he should be.

He's a QB who can run better than he can throw, but he can throw better than he ever has.

 

[Huskerfan1985]

We could start Armstrong and then complain about him not being enough of a leader

 

[tmfr15]

Taylor has excellent parts to his game. He runs exceptionally well and he has gotten better at the throwing part of the game, but he still makes bad decisions. And he is not being threatened by Ron Kellogg, which is not meant as an offense to RKIII, it's just a fact.

P.S. No one learns anything with mop up duty. And you seem to be under the impression that we are going to be blowing out a lot of teams, I would put the over-under on that at three and take the under.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

We could start Armstrong and then complain about him not being enough of a leader

That definitely wouldn't happen. Armstrong was a leader before he even put on the NU jersey. He helped a lot with our recruiting, as Bandares is doing the same. He helped a lot of kids make their minds up on committing here, like Jordan Westerkamp, which will be a key WR for us in the future. We just want him to be ready when he goes in, like reading the defense and making corrects adjustments when needed. We pull Martinez now, you ruin that relationship that is built on the offense, which makes them explosive. Armstrong doesn't have the chemistry and would have to develop the trust and figure out who his "go to" receivers would be. Its too late in the season to make a change, and would be completely pointless to burn a red shirt, to put us in the same position we are in now. #TeamMartinez

 

[kchusker_chris]

38 points should be enough to win. But these type of games are about momentum. We should know that as well as anyone. We turned the tide on them last year and in a similar span came back and won the game. South Carolina flipped it on us and dominated from there on. Michigan did the same thing after a fumble to start the half. Wisconsin last year. Oklahoma in the championship game. It's about momentum. We are not capable of turning it when we're on the road. And we seem completely incapable of maintaining it when we have it. Becks' "fast, faster, and as fast as we can go until we're completely out of control" offense might put up gaudy numbers against 70+ ranked defenses, but there's a point when you're on the road in a big game that you have to adjust the tempo for the situation. OSU turned the tide on this year and dominated us from there on out. All you people defending Taylor to the end (and I certainly am not saying he's the only issue) need to look at when/what changed that momentum. It wasn't the defense. I'll give you a hint, the 'when' is with 10:45 minutes left in the half, and the 'what' was an interception. And it continued throughout the game peaking at the end of the 3rd quarter.