USA Today: Big Ten spring preview 2020

dspanther05 said:
That's fair.  Just like pretty much every team, but I feel like especially in this offense, we are going to live and die by our QB play.  If Martinez doesn't make a significant leap this year, we are staring down the barrel of another sub 500 season with the schedule we have.  
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That's pretty much every offense in football.  But...it's over stated.  It's probably the most team oriented sport there is.  Yes, everything goes through the QB.  But, as we've seen, if you don't have a good line, it doesn't work.  If we don't have good WRs, it doesn't work.  

Our offenses of the 90s wouldn't have been anywhere close to as good if we didn't have the QBs we had.  This year's Hiesman Trophy winner wouldn't have been anywhere close to as good as he was with out the line and, especially, the WRs around him.

 
Cdog923 said:
224/347 (64.6%), 2,617 yards (7.5 yp/a), 17 TDs, 10 INTs, 629 yards rushing, 8 TDs, 139.5 QBR. As a freshman. 

Now, go ahead and find me a more efficient QB in the last 10 years. I'll give you a hint: there's only 1. 
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This offense is designed around the QB.  An average athletic QB will have those stats you just described.  However, we won’t win 9-10 games a year with those stats at QB in our offense.  Iowa, MSU, etc would do well with a QB like that stat wise, not us.  We need more than just an athletic game manager.  

 
Husker in WI said:
True. He also had a RB with about 1900 all purpose yards and a stable of receivers. Not trying to claim Martinez is close to that level, just pointing out that W/L as a QB measurement isn't great. I think stats are better, but you have to account for the style of offense and the supporting cast. This offense should produce great stats from the QB position, so that's a fair knock on Martinez last year. But Mahomes also wouldn't have put up his 2015 stat line with our team last year.

I think everyone agrees Martinez did not perform up to expectations last year. We jsu tdisagree on how far below, and how much of it was his fault directly.
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Ummm, Who’s to say he wouldn’t of?   What super talent did he have around him at Tech?   A sixth round pick and a 5th round pick.  Good chance the 2019 team could have that by the time everyone graduates.  If Mahomes has NU’s 2019 defense that year, he probably wins 11 games at a minimum.  

 
You guys are knowledgeable about each player and their perceived impact on the games.. games that we won and lost.  Having said that I do believe some of this discussion is nitpicking while overlooking the big picture:  Nebraska football has been in decline through several coaching regimes here and dozens of players at each position.  And a couple of interesting Athletic Directors.

Please think about that.  What is wrong is not about how good the QB is or hopes to be.  Or the wide receiver.  Or the next great recruit.  This has been going on for too long to micro-manage our sensibilities by arguing about what could have been if only this or that player were healthy or this or that backup quarterback had seen more action. 

 
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Archy1221 said:
Ummm, Who’s to say he wouldn’t of?   What super talent did he have around him at Tech?   A sixth round pick and a 5th round pick.  Good chance the 2019 team could have that by the time everyone graduates.  If Mahomes has NU’s 2019 defense that year, he probably wins 11 games at a minimum.  
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I don't think draft position is a great way to measure the college talent. Losing Ozigbo and Morgan clearly hurt us last year, and they both went undrafted. Great college players aren't always great FL prospects. Deandre Washington would've easily been our starter at RB last year, and Jakeem Grant put up big numbers before Mahomes, and has carved out a pretty good role in the NFL. I'd hazard a guess that the majority of the rest of their contributing receivers, regardless of NFL success, would've been better #3 receivers than we had last year.

As far as skill players who actually contributed last year getting picked, it's probably JD and Wan'Dale. Mills turned it on at the end of the year, but RB just isn't highly valued - especially when he's going to be seen as a depth power guy. So measuring by NFL draft we'll end up slightly better - JD and Wan'Dale probably go earlier than the 5th but who knows. There's also the fact that Wan'Dale was a freshman and dinged up quite a bit, while Washington and Grant were both upperclassmen.

Huckleberry Muhammad said:
Having said that I do believe some of this discussion is nitpicking while overlooking the big picture:  Nebraska football has been in decline through several coaching regimes here and dozens of players at each position.  And a couple of interesting Athletic Directors.
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It's all nitpicking, but it's the offseason. What else can we do? Talking about how bad we are and have been overall isn't any fun.

 
Archy1221 said:
This offense is designed around the QB.  An average athletic QB will have those stats you just described.  However, we won’t win 9-10 games a year with those stats at QB in our offense.  Iowa, MSU, etc would do well with a QB like that stat wise, not us.  We need more than just an athletic game manager.  
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This was as a true freshman. They were also better than Milton's numbers his freshman year. 

WyoHusker56 said:
Gerry Gdowski?

I don't actually know I used Google.
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Cdog923 said:
This was as a true freshman. They were also better than Milton's numbers his freshman year. 

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Which kinda proves my point.  UCF has a losing record that year with those stats, same as NEB.   You can’t be successful as a team with a QB that has those types of stats in this offense.  The offense is designed around a certain type of QB in order to win games.   Thank you for agreeing with me. 

 
Archy1221 said:
Which kinda proves my point.  UCF has a losing record that year with those stats, same as NEB.   You can’t be successful as a team with a QB that has those types of stats in this offense.  The offense is designed around a certain type of QB in order to win games.   Thank you for agreeing with me. 
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The big thing I'll say though is that by 2017, UCF had two juniors and two seniors on the offensive line. It wouldn't be smart to ignore that fact when then looking at their 2017 success.

 
QB stats are only a part of the story.   Tommie Frazier is one of the best college players / QBs ever!  His stats pale in comparison to hundreds of average or better QBs but he had “it” - he was a difference maker - period.  He had great players around him but he came within a missed FG of three consecutive titles and won about 95% of games he played in!   

Its a team game and Frazier, Gill, Gadowki, Ganz, Berringer, Tagge, and a few others were team leaders and great managers that made those key plays at the key times with very few glaring costly errors mixed in.   

I am not an Adrian hater at all but I just cant overlook the missing ingredients (intangibles like confidence, ability to make something out of nothibg, etc).   I hope and pray with all my diehard Husker heart that Adrian becomes all the player that Frost stated from the first day he is capable of being.  He has the size and should have the strength (6-2 + 225 lbs).  He has shown adequate speed and some elusiveness at times.   Evidently injuries and the fear of getting more of them have made his play tentative and less than stellar.  To win 8 games this year we need more than good QB ratings and stats - we need highlight plays - several a game where he carries the team down the field in the tough stretches.   We havent had RBs or WRs (enough at same time atleast) to win games vs better teams without superlative QBing.  We have Luke and Logan that might be able - we dont know yet - but I just havent seen Adrian pass my eye test.  I think this maybe where many who want to try another QB are coming from anyway. 

 
Archy1221 said:
Which kinda proves my point.  UCF has a losing record that year with those stats, same as NEB.   You can’t be successful as a team with a QB that has those types of stats in this offense.  The offense is designed around a certain type of QB in order to win games.   Thank you for agreeing with me. 
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LOL. Pump the brakes there, bucko. You also cannot be successful with the talent and depth at O-line that this team has had the past two seasons. You also cannot be successful as a team with the talent and depth at WR that this team has had the past two seasons. You also cannot be successful as a team with the talent and depth at RB.......

Are you getting the point? Adrian is far from, hardly, and nowhere near the main problem with this offense. The fact that he had the second most efficient season at QB in the last 10 years, as a true freshman, is more indicative of his level of talent than it is anything else. 

 
84HuskerLaw said:
QB stats are only a part of the story.   Tommie Frazier is one of the best college players / QBs ever!  His stats pale in comparison to hundreds of average or better QBs but he had “it” - he was a difference maker - period.  He had great players around him but he came within a missed FG of three consecutive titles and won about 95% of games he played in!   

Its a team game and Frazier, Gill, Gadowki, Ganz, Berringer, Tagge, and a few others were team leaders and great managers that made those key plays at the key times with very few glaring costly errors mixed in.   

I am not an Adrian hater at all but I just cant overlook the missing ingredients (intangibles like confidence, ability to make something out of nothibg, etc).   I hope and pray with all my diehard Husker heart that Adrian becomes all the player that Frost stated from the first day he is capable of being.  He has the size and should have the strength (6-2 + 225 lbs).  He has shown adequate speed and some elusiveness at times.   Evidently injuries and the fear of getting more of them have made his play tentative and less than stellar.  To win 8 games this year we need more than good QB ratings and stats - we need highlight plays - several a game where he carries the team down the field in the tough stretches.   We havent had RBs or WRs (enough at same time atleast) to win games vs better teams without superlative QBing.  We have Luke and Logan that might be able - we dont know yet - but I just havent seen Adrian pass my eye test.  I think this maybe where many who want to try another QB are coming from anyway. 
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Tommie's the GOAT, but, just as devil's advocate: go ahead and put Adrian on the '95 Huskers and see what happens. 

 
Undone said:
Exactly. And that would be a senior 2AM, everything else being equal about the setup.
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My guess is that he would get hurt and the backup would play half the games.  

His passing stats would go down (lack of opportunity) rushing attempts would go up till he got hurt. 

 
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