Adrian Martinez

Archy1221 said:
he had more than 1 bad game this year 
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I didn’t say that he only had one bad game, I said he played bad against a good defense in NW and as fans overreacted a bit. He’s still struggled but I really think we would of been better off rolling with him with a full arsenal of plays. Instead we went into a shell offense with both him and Luke and it sucked. 

 
Farms said:
I didn’t say that he only had one bad game, I said he played bad against a good defense in NW and as fans overreacted a bit. He’s still struggled but I really think we would of been better off rolling with him with a full arsenal of plays. Instead we went into a shell offense with both him and Luke and it sucked. 
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I would agree with that.  Who knows if outcomes would have changed because QB play want that good in any of our losses.  AM played so bad last year and parts of this year that it forced the coaches hand to give LM a look.  It didn’t work and they quickly moved back to AM.  Hopefully either AM drastically improves in the throwing game, or we get a grad transfer who can help.  More of the current AM will be another losing season. 

 
Mavric said:
I really think we screwed ourselves thinking/being pressured into switching QBs.  We didn't realize that Northwestern's defense was that good.  Ohio State still needs 50 yards in the last 9 minutes to have more than we did against NW.
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We did screw ourselves, and I think it was an emotional reaction by Frost. His defense could be though that nobody really knew for sure just how good Northwestern's defense was until down the back stretch of the season.

 
Wanted to make some comments on Martinez's turnovers against Rutgers.

I think the fumbles are very forgivable, because on that one where he got flipped I think it was 3rd down and probably nobody got open. He took it all on his own shoulders (literally) to try to make the play. 

Frost gritted his teeth and decided to go more with power run as the base starting I think with that third drive - and then things started to work, thus Martinez didn't have to win the game all by himself with his legs. No matter what anybody says, this is not the 1995 offense and we just shouldn't be smashing our QB on 23 runs per game unless our lead blocking is working really well (which it finally was in the 2nd half).

Now the interceptions that he threw? Those are all on him. On both of them he wasn't being pressured in the pocket; he had time to throw and just threw two really bad passes. 

Frost has to establish the run with his running backs like he did later on in that game, that's the bottom line for me.

 
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Although potentially counterintuitive, if I’m his position coach, the first thing I do is find some new drills for AM to work on ball security.  If he can reduce his fumbles by 50% that would be HUGE step in the right direction all on its own. 

 
Undone said:
We did screw ourselves, and I think it was an emotional reaction by Frost. His defense could be though that nobody really knew for sure just how good Northwestern's defense was until down the back stretch of the season.
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I don't know if it was so much emotional as it was just a bad confluence of influences.  We haven't had as much success as we'd like.  They said the QB competition was close.  Martinez struggled.  Luke showed flash against Ohio State then moved the ball well against Northwestern.  So he gets a shot and - even though he didn't play particularly well - we still beat Penn State.  So, since wins have been really hard to come by, there's really no way to go back right away.  And by the time we did it was too late.

 
@Undone  Regarding the Martinez flip, that’s one of his signatures. He does it at least once later in the game and I’ve seen him do it before. Not sure of the functionality of the move. 

 
Mavric said:
I don't know if it was so much emotional as it was just a bad confluence of influences.  We haven't had as much success as we'd like.  They said the QB competition was close.  Martinez struggled.  Luke showed flash against Ohio State then moved the ball well against Northwestern.  So he gets a shot and - even though he didn't play particularly well - we still beat Penn State.  So, since wins have been really hard to come by, there's really no way to go back right away.  And by the time we did it was too late.
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Yeah.

I believe we really should have beaten Illinois & Minnesota. I can't say that about Northwestern or Iowa - but the Illini & Goofers shouldn't have beaten us. We ran for 215 against Illinois (with McCaffrey having 122 of those yards) and then ran for 197 against Minnesota (with Martinez rushing for 96 of those).

Something is just off there. Not having Mills for Illinois hurt...but man we screwed that game up so bad.

 
krc1995 said:
@Undone  Regarding the Martinez flip, that’s one of his signatures. He does it at least once later in the game and I’ve seen him do it before. Not sure of the functionality of the move. 
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My first thought on it was he was mad at himself for sliding too early and costing us a first down against Purdue so he was determined not to let that happen again.

 
Lightfighter214 said:
Turning the ball or regularly is never forgivable. 

If you cant hold on to the the ball, you shouldn't play. Biggest predictor of winning is the turnover margin.
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Yep, It’s how you have 600+ yards of offense yet only score 28 points. 

 
:dunno

QB Luke McCaffrey 12-16 for 93 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT; 8-49 rushing

At the 5 yard line, OC shouldn't have called a pass play that resulted in INT.  That's 3-8 missed points.  But yes, NW had a great year against QB's.

 
Lightfighter214 said:
Turning the ball or regularly is never forgivable. 

If you cant hold on to the the ball, you shouldn't play. Biggest predictor of winning is the turnover margin.
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He only has three interceptions on the year. He's made really good decisions about where he was throwing the ball, all things considered.

My argument is that Frost went to too many QB runs this season because:

1. Mills was hurt for a bit there.

2. He's just kind of too stubborn for his own good sometimes.

The first item is of course perfectly acceptable - the second one isn't at all. Our QBs just shouldn't run the ball as much as we did this year. Adrian is a big, strong kid - but he's no Taysom Hill.

 
Adrian has played a lot better since they sat him down.  Maybe deep down he needed that?  Like a wake up call? 

I think there was nothing wasted by playing Luke, who almost rallied Huskers over NW, beat PSU, and showed his freshman colors against Illinois (but the entire team played awful too).  Most freshman QB's have a bad game or some bad play here and there.  I still think he has a lot of time to grow and improve, get comfortable with the system, add good weight and strengthen his arm.  One more year backing up Adrian next season will help towards that as well. 

But yeah, I'm proud of Adrian and have always liked him.  Minus the 4 turnovers, he played very good.

 
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