Quarterback Play

2 of the best quarterbacks in college over the past two years? Most teams would be better, including us.

 
Mariota, Manziel, Winston... no question a guy with their caliber of abilities would help Nebraska. No question. But, I for one noticed that the mental mistakes and miscues our offense made under Martinez were still relevant under TA and RKII - dropped passes, fumbles, etc. So, I think with one of those guys we may have been a 9 or 10 win team right now. But, there are still quite a few other prevalent issues that need addressing.

 
When are we going to stop giving excuses? That's what this is. It's not a reason - it's an excuse.

Good teams find ways to win despite crappy circumstances. They just do, and it's really that simple. Missouri is 11-1 despite Franklin being out for a lot of their season. Michigan State is #10 in the country and they had a 4-way quarterback battle for the first several games of the season remember? Jameis Winston , Marcus Mariota and Johnny Manziel are the three best quarterbacks in the country. It's unfair and unrealistic to say "oh if only we had one absurdly elite player that only three schools out of 123 have access to then we would be good!" Well, no duh. But we don't. Even if we did, that doesn't mean we would win more games.

You don't think that Tim Beck is entirely capable of handicapping his quarterback regardless of how good he is? You don't think our defense was still capable of crumbling and letting runners through like a sieve at times?

We had a lights out quarterback in 2008 in Joe Ganz remember (before you say he wasn't that great, look at his numbers compared to Jameis Winston - almost identical)? We went 9-4 that season.

2008 the excuse was Bo's first year.

2009 the excuse was if only we had an offense.

2010 the excuse was if only Taylor hadn't gotten hurt and the Big XII didn't conspire against us.

2011 the excuse was we moved to a new conference.

2012 the excuse was we had a few bad recruiting classes so flush out those seniors that aren't any good.

2013 the excuse was injuries.

Now we are fabricating unfounded excuses like if only we had an elite quarterback that 1% of teams have, when there is no reason to believe that our results would have been any different, given our track record.

 
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I agree that great QB play is essential to win 10, 11, or 12 games in a regular season. However, I am starting to think that, aside from QB play, to be great in college football you need a great DLine. More so than any other position. Line play kind of goes unsaid but I was of the opinion the last couple years that it was all about having great QB play. I don't think that quite as much anymore. Go put Winston, Mariota, or Manziel at Kansas...results wouldn't be pretty.

The greatest teams in college football in a single year are always regarded as having top offensive lines and defensive lines/fronts.

 
I think Johnny will be a good player. However I think we need a few more bodies at that spot. This year should have taught us that. Florida learned that this year. They went from 10 wins to 4 when the QB went down. I think TA is an upgrade from RKIII but I don't think he's going to be the next Frost, TF or Crouch. I think he could be very solid Joe Daily type of player (who was underrated IMO). I think Johnny should be better than TA by accounts coming from people I trust. But the back up is always better than the starter of course. I would like us to look at a JC guy or a TX's QB that everyone else wants to convert to DB.

 
Having great Qb play is what separates good from great teams. Many things can be an issue in a teams failure on offense but none are so critical as Qb play. I'm not saying a good O line or quality receivers and running backs aren't important but the Qb touches and distributes the ball every play. Having a talented leader with a head for the game can take a pretty good team a long way. We win at least two more games this year with solid Qb play.

 
I dont know why anyone would think we would of been any better this year with a different QB, even a healthy martinez. Its clear there is ZERO quarterback development on this team. Every single QB that has played under pelini has had turnover problems and problems reading coverages. Stanton wont be any better than Armstrong if we dont have anyone here developing these guys. As of right now it looks like next year we will be getting more of the same thing we have been seeing for the QB position for the last 6 years. INTS, Fumbles, Bad reads.

 
A great dual-threat qb is the biggest difference-maker in cfb.

TM wasn't a great one but he was a good one that could bust big runs and fear of those runs opened-up the passing-game. Plus he was less pick-prone this year. Two picks in four starts and one came in desperation time again Minn. If he was up to speed and could plant his foot for running or throwing without being in pain it would've been a different season, no worse than 10-2.

Hoping Armstrong or Stanton can really step-up next season.

 
jdhusker said:
I dont know why anyone would think we would of been any better this year with a different QB, even a healthy martinez. Its clear there is ZERO quarterback development on this team. Every single QB that has played under pelini has had turnover problems and problems reading coverages. Stanton wont be any better than Armstrong if we dont have anyone here developing these guys. As of right now it looks like next year we will be getting more of the same thing we have been seeing for the QB position for the last 6 years. INTS, Fumbles, Bad reads.
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Wow. Throw a kid under a bus why don't you. Stanton hasn't even had a shot yet. Great start bud, great start.

 
I think this offense the last two years, has asked for too much out of the Quarterback. Beck's need to be so muiltiple on offense has put the signal caller in a really tough spot. He must be a manager, he must be a game breaker in the run game, he must be a very good thrower, he has to be able to run option and zone read.

I know the results were poor... but I like what Beck did with the Iowa game. play to the quarterbacks strengths (passing) and remove the weakest part of his game (zone read)

I can only hope this continues next year...

If it's Tommy, lots of option... with limited passing game, 14-16 throws a game.

Stanton is harder to comment on... but I would hope an Elite 11 selection can throw it around the yard.

 
That is a totally ignorant statement JDhusker. T mart showed progress every year he was here. Thru the Minnesota game this year he had 10 td's and 2 ints and I believe that we were + 2 on turnover margin with one of the games being Armstongs 3 pick game against Purdue. The turnover bug was more do to inexperience.

 
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