Armstrong at QB

[The Dude]

Our option game looks better than it has at any other point under Beck. I think Tommy does a really good job making reads and selling fakes, and having a jet sweep in the arsenal is a huge boost to the run game, and offense in general. When we tried to run it before this year, the timing was just all off.

 

[QMany]

So you've spent quite a bit of time watching the opponents of the rest of the teams in the Top 25?

You don't? My weekends are centered around watching Top 25 teams play South Dakota, Troy and UC Davis.

 

[kchusker_chris]

As you can see, only one QB ahead of Tommy in Rushing Yards has played a tougher schedule. Only six of the 14 QBs ahead of Tommy in Yards Per Completion have played a stronger schedule.

Doesn't' this kind of prove his point. Everyone that is better than Tommy, has played easier schedules. Shouldn't we find those behind him and their easier schedules?

(for the record, I agree with you - but the comparisons are not in Tommy's favor right now)

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's quite possible Nebraska has the worst/easiest schedule of any of the top 25.

Not sure if you mean to-date or for the year but so far (according to Sagarin) aTm, Baylor, Michigan St., Notre Dame, Stanford, Mississippi St. and Arizona St. all have easier schedules and Wisconsin and Ohio St. aren't ahead of us by much.

How has MSU (Oregon), Stanford (USC), and Mississippi St (LSU) possibly have easier schedules than us? That's one thing I don't like about Sagarin, sometimes the stuff he presents is strange.

Earlier this year after Rutgers beat Washington State on the road, he still had Washington State ranked much higher than Rutgers...

Because MSU's other three opponents are 100+ and two of them are 190+. Stanford's other two opponents are 130+. Miss St.'s other three opponents are all 110+. Our worst opponent is Florida Atlantic at 115, the other two are Top 100.

I get that, but the reality is if we played the 'easier' schedules of most of those teams (like MSU), we'd have 1 loss.

 

[cg_8]

Here's an NFL QB.

Watch around. We're lucky to have Tommy on our roster. Glad to have him...

 

[NUpolo8]

It's quite possible Nebraska has the worst/easiest schedule of any of the top 25.

Not sure if you mean to-date or for the year but so far (according to Sagarin) aTm, Baylor, Michigan St., Notre Dame, Stanford, Mississippi St. and Arizona St. all have easier schedules and Wisconsin and Ohio St. aren't ahead of us by much.

I'm saying it's the eye test.

I would hope (probably ill-fated) that we can all agree that FAU, McNeese and Fresno are very bad. In fact, the FCS squad may be the best we've faced so far. We frankly so not know how good Miami is, and won't until later, but they don't look good. Talented yes, but not good.

I'm happy with Tommy too. So I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

So you've spent quite a bit of time watching the opponents of the rest of the teams in the Top 25?

So my hope was I'll fated. Got it.

 

[kchusker_chris]

Because MSU's other three opponents are 100+ and two of them are 190+. Stanford's other two opponents are 130+. Miss St.'s other three opponents are all 110+. Our worst opponent is Florida Atlantic at 115, the other two are Top 100.

Is there really a difference between 80+ and 190+ at this level? Nebraska should beat either by a landslide. However, there is a HUGE difference between 5ish and 30 - which is what you'd be comparing when looking at MSU (Oregon), Stanford (USC), and Mississippi St (LSU).

Our single game (since let's be honest, that's all that matters) was against Miami. Theirs were against what at the time looked to be top 10 teams. I'd take our schedule any day of the week.

 

[admo]

Armstrong is running well. Very physical and confident. It's been great to see. I think he does a decent job passing. Sometimes really good compared to last year. He can get better but I do like what he's shown through 4 games operating as our Qb this year. The more experience he gets the more things will slow down. He is a sophomore. Even Ameer is a lot bigger, stronger and a better running back today than he was as a sophomore when he took over for Rex. I think Tommy can follow the same path as Ameer. It just takes time, more games and some seasoning.

He's averaging almost 9 yards per carry. He's probably not going to take it to the house, but when he runs he's getting chunks of yards. In Taylor's first season, he averaged less than 6, his other two were closer to 5, and his best season barely broke 1000 yards. For as good of a runner as he was, Tommy will likely surpass him by the end of the season. That's some pretty solid company to be in when you're talking about a rushing QB. He doesn't guess on the zone read - he's rarely wrong. That's a welcome change. Add to it that he's fairly calm in the pocket, scrambles well and has an effective deep ball and he's only going to get better. I feel really good about Tommy at this point. He'll get more in sync with his WRs as the season goes on. If he throws an INT or two, it is what is. That's going to happen. 9TD to 2INT...I'll take that all season long. Feed the ball to your skill players, capitalize on your opportunities and limit the mistakes. He's doing all that and then some.

Just to be fair, through the first 5 games, Taylor was averaging almost 11 yards per carry.

We were all salivating and getting hard-ons because Taylor, Rex and Roy were all hovering around 10 yards per carry the first handful of games that season.

Which is not in any way to take away from Tommy or to try and compare him; he's done very well picking his times to keep it and Beck has done a good job getting him running opportunities. One of those 15+ yarders late against Miami was the same play that sprung Taylor for 70+ yards against MIchigan State in 2012.

I hear you. I know you aren't wanting to compare, although you kind of did. Although I prefer not to compare Taylor with Tommy, I will in order to illustrate what I see right now.

By this time through 4 games as a soph Qb, Taylor had the keys to the offense for 16 games already. He was still shot putting his throws and did not have much value passing. Not with consistency in my opinion. The offense went through him, good or bad, and IMO again, that's why there was a lack of steadiness from game to game. The offense was up and down week to week which usually depended on him.

It wasn't until his offseason workout prior to his junior year that he showed value in the passing game on a more consistent level. By that time he already started 25 games as the focal point of the offense. Good thing he did because teams had already figured out which part of his game was his weakness. And the good teams took advantage of it.

With Tommy so far, he is running the offense and everyone is getting involved. It's not just do or die with him on every snap. The offense is churning out nice drives and they look more fluid and cohesive. There are some big plays happening too. I prefer his toughness when he runs the ball. He keeps the chains moving which is good enough to wear down defenses. His passing has improved from last year to right now. In addition to Ameer's excellent season and leadership, Tommy is bringing value to the offense, running and throwing at this point. And our receivers are making some nice plays as well. There is more unity in this offense.

It will get tougher as we all know. Fumbles, interceptions, and boneheaded plays will kill as they always have before. We will see soon if he continues to play well or if he chokes. To this point, I'm very pleased and enjoying the ride so far.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Because MSU's other three opponents are 100+ and two of them are 190+. Stanford's other two opponents are 130+. Miss St.'s other three opponents are all 110+. Our worst opponent is Florida Atlantic at 115, the other two are Top 100.

I get that, but the reality is if we played the 'easier' schedules of most of those teams (like MSU), we'd have 1 loss.

It is amazing the extent Husker fans will go to to prove how bad their own team is. So...you have just declared that you KNOW we would have a loss with their schedule. Watching games with you must be a real treat.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Because MSU's other three opponents are 100+ and two of them are 190+. Stanford's other two opponents are 130+. Miss St.'s other three opponents are all 110+. Our worst opponent is Florida Atlantic at 115, the other two are Top 100.

I get that, but the reality is if we played the 'easier' schedules of most of those teams (like MSU), we'd have 1 loss.

It is amazing the extent Husker fans will go to to prove how bad their own team is. So...you have just declared that you KNOW we would have a loss with their schedule. Watching games with you must be a real treat.

Woah, I'm not out to prove how bad our team is. My point is simply that I don't agree with Sagarin that Michigan State's schedule is 'easier'. Unless you think that Nebraska would've beat Oregon on the road in week 2, it's my belief that we'd have 1 loss with their schedule. So calm it down a bit there buddy.

kchusker_chris's point is a good one.

 

[TheSker]

Armstrong's stats are very good.....the most important one in my view to distinguish himself is not turning the ball over via fumble or INT.

 

[Mavric]

Because MSU's other three opponents are 100+ and two of them are 190+. Stanford's other two opponents are 130+. Miss St.'s other three opponents are all 110+. Our worst opponent is Florida Atlantic at 115, the other two are Top 100.

Is there really a difference between 80+ and 190+ at this level? Nebraska should beat either by a landslide. However, there is a HUGE difference between 5ish and 30 - which is what you'd be comparing when looking at MSU (Oregon), Stanford (USC), and Mississippi St (LSU).

Our single game (since let's be honest, that's all that matters) was against Miami. Theirs were against what at the time looked to be top 10 teams. I'd take our schedule any day of the week.

It's basically an average - or at least I'm assuming it is something similar to an average; I don't know what his formula is. Those teams have played one team better than any team we've played but the rest of their schedule is teams worse that we've played. Thus, overall, our strength-of-schedule would be expected to be similar but not surprising if ours is slightly better.

 

[Mavric]

It's quite possible Nebraska has the worst/easiest schedule of any of the top 25.

Not sure if you mean to-date or for the year but so far (according to Sagarin) aTm, Baylor, Michigan St., Notre Dame, Stanford, Mississippi St. and Arizona St. all have easier schedules and Wisconsin and Ohio St. aren't ahead of us by much.

How has MSU (Oregon), Stanford (USC), and Mississippi St (LSU) possibly have easier schedules than us? That's one thing I don't like about Sagarin, sometimes the stuff he presents is strange.

Earlier this year after Rutgers beat Washington State on the road, he still had Washington State ranked much higher than Rutgers...

Because MSU's other three opponents are 100+ and two of them are 190+. Stanford's other two opponents are 130+. Miss St.'s other three opponents are all 110+. Our worst opponent is Florida Atlantic at 115, the other two are Top 100.

I get that, but the reality is if we played the 'easier' schedules of most of those teams (like MSU), we'd have 1 loss.

But you didn't ask how we'd do against their schedule. You asked how theirs were worse than ours. I simply answered your question.

 

[Mavric]

It's quite possible Nebraska has the worst/easiest schedule of any of the top 25.

Not sure if you mean to-date or for the year but so far (according to Sagarin) aTm, Baylor, Michigan St., Notre Dame, Stanford, Mississippi St. and Arizona St. all have easier schedules and Wisconsin and Ohio St. aren't ahead of us by much.

I'm saying it's the eye test.

I would hope (probably ill-fated) that we can all agree that FAU, McNeese and Fresno are very bad. In fact, the FCS squad may be the best we've faced so far. We frankly so not know how good Miami is, and won't until later, but they don't look good. Talented yes, but not good.

I'm happy with Tommy too. So I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

So you've spent quite a bit of time watching the opponents of the rest of the teams in the Top 25?

So my hope was I'll fated. Got it.

As is mine that you would answer a direct question.

 

[NUpolo8]

Good Lord.

If you really want to fight about nothing it'd be a lot easier if you'd just out and say it.

Besides, you contradict yourself up there when you ADMIT that most have had tougher schedules, but then half a$$ buy it back by saying "well all they've done is play one better team than us", which, news flash, makes their schedule tougher.

But since you asked, here are a few, not all mind you, teams that have played tougher schedules thus far than us. (NOTE: strictly my opinion on what I've seen, no fancy figurin' here)

Georgia

Stanford

LSU

Wisconsin

Mizzou

Texas A&M
Oregon

USC

UCLA

MSU

ND

Ohio St.

There, I answered your question. And this is really about nothing, I am not one of the Tommy haters, I was just agreeing with many on this board that Nebraska hasn't exactly faced a murderers row yet and we should probably keep the anointing oil in a cool, dry place for a few more weeks (http://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?/topic/71632-we-have-accomplished-nothing-reality-check-time/)

I didn't realize this was another of my crazy, wrong statements like the one I made back in August that Fresno St was probably going to be quite bad this year.