Five Defining Moments of the 2019 Season

[Husker in WI]

your opinion. but that decision created locker room issues and arguably contributed to QB poor performance and at least 1 loss. yea i'd say it could have helped us get one more win.

just curious. what are your top 10 reasons?

Right, totally my opinion. I have no sources so I don't know about locker room problems - haven't heard that a lot on here though.

Oof, I dunno if I can go through and pick ten. I guess it depends on what we're calling 'reasons' - I'm thinking individual plays that in my opinion changed games more than playing Jurgens at center vs. Colorado. There were a handful of plays against Colorado, Indiana, Purdue, and Iowa that each could have swung the game. The flea flicker against CU, the sack fumble against Indiana, the pick in the red zone against Purdue, and the kick return against Iowa all come to mind. Plus several missed field goals/third down conversions allowed. I don't know if it's exactly ten to be honest, but roughly anyway.

 

[huskerfan74]

I would add Frost’s bad decisions to that list, especially insisting to go with a struggling Martinez when you have two other capable QBs, and his endless swing pass calls that killed many of our drives. 
 

 

[madrat]

Who ended up being one of our best most consistent oline....answers get him back for three yrs.....so there is that

How did a guy that was often the worst scored OL starter get adjudicated as one of the best?  There is only five of them, so I guess being top 5 is one of the best.  But honestly, just being fast out of a stance is not good enough.  He has struggles with making line calls which threw a wrench in our pass protection much of the season.  He often makes bad angles on linebackers and pulling linemen.  Other than maybe Farniok, I'm not sure anyone else on the OL has as many lookout blocks in the run game.

 

[krc1995]

Starting the 2nd half of the Colorado game with a time out. 

 

[Huckleberry Muhammad]

That moment against Iowa when McCaffrey came in, threw a touchdown on his first play, turned the momentum around, made victory seem more than possible, and had all of Memorial Stadium chanting "Luuuuuuuuke!" marking the dramatic beginning of the the Luke McCaffrey era.

Then he returned to the bench and the moment was gone. 

Priceless.  And true.

Yeah that one was super frustrating to sit back and watch.

Two reactions came from the people in our section that game.  One was that Frost should get T.M. to heck out of there no matter the QB's reasons for going back and forth from okay to terrible.  The other was that Frost was using the other QBs for limited schemes and that was a waste of the guy we liked:  Luke. 

Tempering all of that a bit for me is the (few) times Martinez showed us great stats in a game.  My wife is of the opinion that "he's immature and some people just stay that way so don't expect much consistency from him over time."  The hell of it is S.F. keeps up talking him, so he's it.  Yes the O-line could do better, of course, as well as receivers;  those things are good for any QB in there.

The whole package is at pretty much the same level, which brings us to the point that Frost's decision making during games is of utmost importance, but seems to lack the insight to win games steadily through the season;  especially the games we're supposed to win.  That thing of having Luke come in and perform so well then benching him seemed to just take away a lot of the confidence one could work up over Frost.  I see no brilliance, no development of Frost himself, let alone the players. 

 

[hskrfan4life]

One was that Frost should get T.M. to heck out of there

Everything after that doesn't matter because people can't seem to figure out who the hell the QB is. 

Everyone loves the back-up QB until he starts sucking then we continue this.

There's a reason Martinez was starting. There will be a competition next year. If Luke wins the job and struggles, people will be ready to turn ship right away. Just no satisfying anyone which is why none of us are coaches.

 

[Huckleberry Muhammad]

Everything after that doesn't matter because people can't seem to figure out who the hell the QB is. 

Everyone loves the back-up QB until he starts sucking then we continue this.

There's a reason Martinez was starting. There will be a competition next year. If Luke wins the job and struggles, people will be ready to turn ship right away. Just no satisfying anyone which is why none of us are coaches.

Without all that there would be no Husker football forums. 

 

[10_point_buck]

TM or AM......both deer in the headlights guys who can be magic, but more often than not.....tragic.  Not acknowledging that is just pure and simple Kool Aid denial.

 

[hskrfan4life]

TM or AM......both deer in the headlights guys who can be magic, but more often than not.....tragic.  Not acknowledging that is just pure and simple Kool Aid denial.

Is it though? I mean Taylor had a pretty good Junior year and Senior year before getting hurt. And the jury isn't out on AM yet because he's got an all important junior year coming up. I think writing someone off before their time is up is just not a great thing to do. but do as you wish.

 

[10_point_buck]

Is it though? I mean Taylor had a pretty good Junior year and Senior year before getting hurt. And the jury isn't out on AM yet because he's got an all important junior year coming up. I think writing someone off before their time is up is just not a great thing to do. but do as you wish.

Or, vice versa....putting a guy up on a pedestal and talking like he is the next Joe Burrow is completely premature, but do as you wish.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Is it though? I mean Taylor had a pretty good Junior year and Senior year before getting hurt. And the jury isn't out on AM yet because he's got an all important junior year coming up. I think writing someone off before their time is up is just not a great thing to do. but do as you wish.

I think one thing I struggle with when discussing Taylor and Adrian Martinez is that so many people focus on their negatives, and what they do poorly, rather than what they do/did really well.  Taylor did a lot of things very well, and his Junior season was one of the best QB seasons in NU history.  Adrian has had so much of NU's offense put on his shoulders, so anytime the offense struggles, he's the one getting the most blame.

 

[TGHusker]

I think an argument could be made for the I formation drive against OSU that ended with the OSU CB on his back intercepting AM’s pass. 

yes, that was a momentum changer.  The sad thing is that we were running the ball well on that drive and then got away from it the rest of the game. 

 

[lo country]

TM or AM......both deer in the headlights guys who can be magic, but more often than not.....tragic.  Not acknowledging that is just pure and simple Kool Aid denial.

between TA, TM and AM, we have had YEARS of big or bust.  IMHO, they were either playing great or playing bad.  Not much in between.  I think 2AM 1.0 was the most consistent of the bunch.  He's in there somewhere, staff just needs to find him.  I know injury, loss of Oz/Stan, OL, new center etc....but he was still big or bust.

Frost has a serious history with getting QB's ready.  I wonder how much of Milton was Frost vs Verduzco......Maybe Frost will take a bigger role in AM 3.0 (Unsure how much time he spends with QB's)