Who should be our starting QB?

Who should be our starting QB?

  • Adrian Martinez

    Votes: 13 12.3%

  • Luke McCaffrey

    Votes: 85 80.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 8 7.5%
  • Total voters
    106
It's nice to see a lot of posters agree and come to the same conclusion about Luke as a QB. At least that's what my and a lot of other poster's eyes are telling us. He's a talented athlete, no doubt about it, but he's not a QB. I see a potential NFL WR type talent with Luke. 

 
Good point by Sean Callahan:

Northwestern's defense is probably considerably better than we gave them credit for when we played them.  Currently the #4 scoring defense in the country.  #15 total defense.

Total Yards vs. Northwestern this season:

Nebraska - 442 (despite being 4/16 on 3rd down)

Wisconsin - 366 (3/16 on 3rd down)

Iowa - 293 (6/17)

Purdue - 265 (4/17)

Maryland - 207 (4/11)

It obviously wasn't a good game for Martinez.  And 148 of those yards were on McCaffrey's last two drives.  But it probably seemed a lot worse then than it actually was.  Looking at the numbers above we look pretty darn good.  Two turnovers inside the five yard line really swung that game.

 
Mavric said:
Good point by Sean Callahan:

Northwestern's defense is probably considerably better than we gave them credit for when we played them.  Currently the #4 scoring defense in the country.  #15 total defense.

Total Yards vs. Northwestern this season:

Nebraska - 442 (despite being 4/16 on 3rd down)

Wisconsin - 366 (3/16 on 3rd down)

Iowa - 293 (6/17)

Purdue - 265 (4/17)

Maryland - 207 (4/11)

It obviously wasn't a good game for Martinez.  And 148 of those yards were on McCaffrey's last two drives.  But it probably seemed a lot worse then than it actually was.  Looking at the numbers above we look pretty darn good.  Two turnovers inside the five yard line really swung that game.
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I think we played reasonably well in each game until Illinois, which made that one even more frustrating. People point to the yards against Penn State, but to my admittedly kool-aid drunk eyes that had more to do with a decision to try and waste the second half than poor play. NW is currently #1, #1, and #3 in the defensive metrics here. If Illinois was the outlier I'm hoping it was, Friday will be a lot better than people think. That's a gigantic if though, it could just as easily be a negative turning point as it could be the outlier.

 
Husker in WI said:
I think we played reasonably well in each game until Illinois, which made that one even more frustrating. People point to the yards against Penn State, but to my admittedly kool-aid drunk eyes that had more to do with a decision to try and waste the second half than poor play. NW is currently #1, #1, and #3 in the defensive metrics here. If Illinois was the outlier I'm hoping it was, Friday will be a lot better than people think. That's a gigantic if though, it could just as easily be a negative turning point as it could be the outlier.
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Ridiculous. Games aren’t random. We got owned. We get owned every week. If anything, the Penn State was the outliner. As hard it is believe, PSU wanted to lose more than we did. 

 
krc1995 said:
Ridiculous. Games aren’t random. We got owned. We get owned every week. If anything, the Penn State was the outliner. As hard it is believe, PSU wanted to lose more than we did. 
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I'm just saying offensively we easily have the most yards against NW, and the second most against OSU. Penn State was weird, we were rolling and then went hyper-conservative but it was not a good offensive output overall. Illinois was a disaster across the board. And I can't help but notice that the easy common factor in the better games was AM at QB. Those yards need to be points, absolutely. But our game against Illinois didn't match anything I saw in the first 3 games, so I'm expecting a much better performance this week - which may still not be enough to win. 

 
For now, Martinez. Hate to say it but barring a dramatic increase in arm strength, Luke will never be a top-tier D-1 QB. He can scramble and create, but will struggle on designed passes and there's no threat of a deep ball with him.

 
SODAKSKERSFAN20 said:
I didnt want Martinez replaced at all. Where the freshman Martinez went none of us will ever know but i don't think this is on Martinez or McCaffery. A lot of this has to be on Frost and Co. Where is the unique play calling? Remember 2 years ago after the Ohio State game? Frost had Ohio State guessing the entire game and our offense was moving at will. There is zero creativity. ZERO. Seems like we have guys doing things they shouldn't be (Warner jet sweeps, Hickman coming motion to lead block) I get the first drive is scripted but can Frost not get out of his own head and just call plays. 

We need play makers. We are 1-3. Ill take the learning curves of Betts, Fleming, Brown at WR. There are some points in a game where it seriously looks like we have 5 tight ends in the game. Defenses aren't scared of any of those guys and that kills our running game. I also thought Marvin Scott III looked good. Bruiser that can wear down the defense. Did he even get a touch in the 2nd half? 

Start Martinez. Get McCaffery in the game in certain situations and build an identity on offense. Did anyone watch the Cincinnati-UCF game? Quick throws to speed guys. YAC all over the place. Defense moves up and they go over the top. Its a beautiful thing.  
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We have multiple problems with trying to throw “quick throws to speed guys”

1. That is that’s exactly what Frost has telegraphed for multiple seasons and so corners are looking to jump those routes every single time (after having practiced for them all week) with both safeties having no fear of deep balls and so stacking the box in anticipation. Until Frost starts sending Fleming or Betts (or anyone else) on deep routes over 15 yards, the rest of our offence will be hamstrung as we’re forcing the opposing defence to only protect a very small portion of the field.  Force their 11 guys to defence 30 yards of field? Or only 10?  Which is easier for them to do?

2.  Despite enough time in the system, both QB’s are horrible at those throws. At this point I think they’re more likely to need a psychiatrist than a new QB coach, but until they can hit simple things like a swing pass (when it’s open) we’re going to have a rough time. 

3.  I thought our OL played their worst game of the year. Between the bad snaps and inability of the right side (Wilson in particular) to either pass block or run block, all your play call options are going to be hard to execute.  On the snaps issue, it could be argued that an OC playing to his strengths and away from his weaknesses would install a bunch of plays where the QB is under Center to see if on balance those provide better outcomes.  
 

All-in-all our OC seems to be aiming for Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the exact same things over and over and expecting different results.”  There will be no success until that changes.

 
Canadian Fan said:
All-in-all our OC seems to be aiming for Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the exact same things over and over and expecting different results.”  There will be no success until that changes.
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Actually I think an argument against this statement can be made. Meaning, I think doing the exact thing over and over can be for developing consistency. What I wonder is, if Frost were to actually implement say 15 plays and off of those 2 audibles.. You run those 15 plays over and over until players can do run them with their eyes shut.. Isn't that kind of what the Osborne offenses were? (again, showing my lack of real understanding here) 

 
I think the answer is definitively Martinez. He's not vastly superiorly to McCaffrey, but I think he has the better deep ball. I also fancy the notion of having McCaffrey and Wandale both on the field most plays, used interchangeably at running back, slot, etc. Hopefully their presence would distract the defense enough to allow the wide receivers find creases/openings.

 
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