First Glance: Nebraska awoke to find itself in a strange new conference.

carlfense

carlfense

Heisman Trophy Winner
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Previously on… Nebraska's stock rose just high enough for just long enough last fall – into the top five in October for the first time since 2001 – to really feel the crash at the end: An impressive 9-1 start crumbled into a 1-3 finish, with the Big 12's most improbably explosive offense fizzling amid injuries and predictability and crapping out in the conference championship game for the second year in a row.
That's not the way the 'Huskers had prepared to ride off into the Big Ten: The sour finish extended their Big 12 title drought to a full decade as they , and betrayed the best overall Nebraska outfit since the '01 edition played for the national crown. The cross-conference transition is made even sourer by the Holiday Bowl flop against Washington, the same team they'd trounced by five touchdowns in September. Back when they were running on all cylinders.
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I didn't really think it was that great of an article. It failed to mention Gilmore being another remaining Callahan coach, said that Watson got "demoted", failed to recognize Alfonzo's hype going into next season, how our defense was built to stop the pass even if it gave up rushing yards on paper (and was still elite) and so on. Typical "okay" piece written by someone who doesn't have enough time to cover all 119 teams in Division I FBS football.

 
The article has it's flaws, but nicely summarized the issues with Martinez and our offense last year as follows:

Chalk it up to the accumulated injuries, the inexperience of a redshirt freshman in his first season as a starter, the very public frustrations with coaches that nearly drove him off the team. Martinez was one-dimensional, and when he lost that dimension – by the limitations imposed by both his body and opposing defenses – the operation ground to a halt.
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Many of us have talked about this at length. Some say it was Martinez getting hurt that caused our offense to stumble. Others say it was the largely one-dimensional nature of our offense. I think the smart answer is that it was both.

The answer is clear for Beck: Put Martinez in situations where he can keep defenses honest with his arm and things will be okay. I fully expect him to do that. I honestly think that people are going to be surprised with how quickly we pick up the new offense and how effective we will be next year.

 
Hujan said:
The article has it's flaws, but nicely summarized the issues with Martinez and our offense last year as follows:

Chalk it up to the accumulated injuries, the inexperience of a redshirt freshman in his first season as a starter, the very public frustrations with coaches that nearly drove him off the team. Martinez was one-dimensional, and when he lost that dimension – by the limitations imposed by both his body and opposing defenses – the operation ground to a halt.
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Many of us have talked about this at length. Some say it was Martinez getting hurt that caused our offense to stumble. Others say it was the largely one-dimensional nature of our offense. I think the smart answer is that it was both.
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Yes, those two factors. And another factor was that our offense worked great against non-conf teams that had not seen it before. But sputtered against the B12 defenses that were much faster, much better, and had five games of film to watch. They weren't surprised to see T-Magic tuck it in and head up the middle.

Hujan said:
The answer is clear for Beck: Put Martinez in situations where he can keep defenses honest with his arm and things will be okay. I fully expect him to do that. I honestly think that people are going to be surprised with how quickly we pick up the new offense and how effective we will be next year.
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A passing threat will be HUGE to help out our running game.

 
Hujan said:
The article has it's flaws, but nicely summarized the issues with Martinez and our offense last year as follows:

Chalk it up to the accumulated injuries, the inexperience of a redshirt freshman in his first season as a starter, the very public frustrations with coaches that nearly drove him off the team. Martinez was one-dimensional, and when he lost that dimension – by the limitations imposed by both his body and opposing defenses – the operation ground to a halt.
Click to expand...
Many of us have talked about this at length. Some say it was Martinez getting hurt that caused our offense to stumble. Others say it was the largely one-dimensional nature of our offense. I think the smart answer is that it was both.

The answer is clear for Beck: Put Martinez in situations where he can keep defenses honest with his arm and things will be okay. I fully expect him to do that. I honestly think that people are going to be surprised with how quickly we pick up the new offense and how effective we will be next year.
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The one-dimensional nature of the offense, or the one-dimensional nature of Taylor Martinez? Taylor was just not a threat via the air when he wasn't a threat on the ground.

But I think as long as he doesn't get hurt, we won't see that same situation again next year. And if he does get hurt, I expect someone to be ready to step in if Martinez can't go in.

 
The offense was one-dimensional because of Taylor. If you want a legit passing threat, you're going to need to have a guy that can deliver it.

And even then, we showed - including against Texas - that Taylor can be a threat through the air when he is one on the ground. And actually the offense was not especially one dimensional. Texas was hit multiple times where they didn't expect it, and we had so many open passes for touchdowns. It was ISU '09 in awfulness of execution though. Almost comedic, how many turnovers/dropped balls we saw on plays that had gashed that defense good.

Any way you slice it, we had some good plans going in against nearly all of the teams we played in the first 8 games of the season (SDSU excepted). Hope Beck keeps the good, and doesn't reproduce the bad.

 
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"Taylor was one-dimensional" is not supported by statistics.

However, the statistical and film evidence indicates that Martinez has the right stuff to trigger a more balanced offensive attack in 2011, as he possesses underrated skills as a passer. In a seven-game analysis from last year (at Kansas State Wildcats, vs. Texas Longhorns, at Oklahoma State Cowboys, vs. Missouri Tigers, at Texas A&M Aggies, vs. Oklahoma Sooners in the Big 12 championship game and vs. Washington Huskies in the Holiday Bowl), Martinez averaged 8.2 YPA.
That total came against some of the toughest competition on the Huskers' schedule, and it proves that his No. 22 ranking in FBS yards per attempt for the 2010 season was not a result of his padding his stats against weak foes.

What makes the figure even more amazing is that he earned it despite numerous drops by Nebraska's pass-catchers. They let nine of Martinez's passes go through their hands in these games.

Five of those passes were of the vertical variety (meaning they were thrown 11 or more yards downfield). Had those throws been caught at the yard marker where they were dropped, it would have led to an additional 156 yards. In other words, Martinez could have posted a 9.5 YPA were it not for mistakes by his receivers.
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KC Joyner via ESPN

 
I don't agree with this in regards to the secondary: "none of the holdovers projects as an All-American" - I think Dennard will definately make a name for himself this year, I see him having All-American potential without a doubt.

Or this in regards to Taylor: "He was at his worst in a 4-for-13, 63-yard disaster against Texas" - That wreaks of someone that wrote an article based on statistics alone...he was far worse in a few other games late in the season.

Overall a good read - but Taylor didn't have any knee issues either.

 
kchusker_chris said:
I don't agree with this in regards to the secondary: "none of the holdovers projects as an All-American" - I think Dennard will definately make a name for himself this year, I see him having All-American potential without a doubt.

Or this in regards to Taylor: "He was at his worst in a 4-for-13, 63-yard disaster against Texas" - That wreaks of someone that wrote an article based on statistics alone...he was far worse in a few other games late in the season.

Overall a good read - but Taylor didn't have any knee issues either.
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Yeah. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to see one of our DBs make AA. Most likely Dennard, but could be someone else. We have a lot of talent in the backfield. And we're gonna have a monster D-line, which will help make our DBs look even better.
 
kchusker_chris said:
I don't agree with this in regards to the secondary: "none of the holdovers projects as an All-American" - I think Dennard will definately make a name for himself this year, I see him having All-American potential without a doubt.
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Check out the first posted comment on the bottom of the article.

 
KC Joyner is right. Taylor is a solid passer, what was I thinking? His footwork, pocket awareness, decision-making, and ability to read defenses are all fine. The stats say so.

Taylor isn't one dimensional? We shall see. I know it's not a popular line of thinking, but he still has a lot to prove before we start saying he is a solid passer.

It doesn't mean he can't put up some decent numbers still. As long as he can run it.

When Taylor was no longer a home run threat on the ground: 44/76 58%, 470 yds (6.18 avg) 1 TD, 4 INT

 
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