So is O'Brien a bust

[Mierin]

Someone on FB said that Bob Devaney rose from the grave and will now be the HC instead of Riley. Should I believe it?

Yes?

 

[Undone]

I am still having a hard time seeing why people are assuming Lee will start when we haven't even seen him take a snap, nor will we see him take one until the Spring game. Then we can start assuming things. Experience ≠ Best option.

We did have the radio show/podcast appearance from Nate Gerry saying that Lee plays very well in practice when asked, "Who should we keep our eyes on for 2017?"

That's not nothing, and it's one hell of a lot more than some Facebook post.

 

[Landlord]

Lee deserves for his time here to be judged on it's own merit aside from Tulane. Sometimes quarterbacks, and players in general, just need a change of scenery, sometimes they find the right coach/scheme to mesh with, sometimes they just get better.

Russell Wilson did not set the world on fire in his three years at North Carolina State. His quarterback rating jumped almost 60 points in his senior year at Wisconsin, with his completion % jumping from 57.8% to 72.8%.

Hell, two former mediocre Purdue quarterbacks are now starting at SEC schools.

We've seen more than a handful of players, especially quarterbacks, take a big step up in ability after transferring to at least give Lee the benefit of the doubt until he proves otherwise.

 

[BIG ERN]

Tommy Armstrong was 2-10 vs teams who finished the season in the top 25...

 

[Undone]

Tommy Armstrong was 2-10 vs teams who finished the season in the top 25...

+1.

Time to try something different. And no matter who the starter is, it'll be something different.

My ideal scenario is to try to start the season next year with a really heavy run/pass ratio and see what Bryant and Ozigbo can do to reliably set up reasonable third & short passing scenarios for whoever our quarterback is. That's an offense (in theory, obv) that I'm excited to watch.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Tommy Armstrong was 2-10 vs teams who finished the season in the top 25...

+1.

Time to try something different. And no matter who the starter is, it'll be something different.

My ideal scenario is to try to start the season next year with a really heavy run/pass ratio and see what Bryant and Ozigbo can do to reliably set up reasonable third & short passing scenarios for whoever our quarterback is. That's an offense (in theory, obv) that I'm excited to watch.

Chances are low for this scenario playing out as we will need a top twenty or better offensive line in order to 'push' our way down the field consistently. Haven't had that in a decade. We had so little depth this year that we were backing up our backups with walkons from other positions.

But for Tommy Armstrong scrambling so well, we'd have had literally dozens of drive stopping sacks and hard to imagine we'd have made it through the season with just 3 QBs marginally healthy enough guys taking the beating that would have resulted from all those hits.

 

[Nebfanatic]

Tommy Armstrong was 2-10 vs teams who finished the season in the top 25...

+1.

Time to try something different. And no matter who the starter is, it'll be something different.

My ideal scenario is to try to start the season next year with a really heavy run/pass ratio and see what Bryant and Ozigbo can do to reliably set up reasonable third & short passing scenarios for whoever our quarterback is. That's an offense (in theory, obv) that I'm excited to watch.

Chances are low for this scenario playing out as we will need a top twenty or better offensive line in order to 'push' our way down the field consistently. Haven't had that in a decade. We had so little depth this year that we were backing up our backups with walkons from other positions.
But for Tommy Armstrong scrambling so well, we'd have had literally dozens of drive stopping sacks and hard to imagine we'd have made it through the season with just 3 QBs marginally healthy enough guys taking the beating that would have resulted from all those hits.

I don't agree with this.
How many times this season were we in 3rd and less than 5? A ton and our 3rd down conversion rate outside of 2 games (49% outside of OSU and Iowa, 45% including those games) really shows that. Heck in those two games we did a decent job of getting into 3rd and manageble. For all the hate on Langs that is one thing he did very well all year, put our offense in manageable 3rd down situations

Also we ran the ball nearly 58% of the time this year. Don't see that dropping too much as I think Riley would like to stay at about 55%. So I think what Undone laid out is a very accurate description of what our offensive strategy will be next season

 

[Undone]

Chances are low for this scenario playing out as we will need a top twenty or better offensive line in order to 'push' our way down the field consistently. Haven't had that in a decade. We had so little depth this year that we were backing up our backups with walkons from other positions.

That's a reasoned argument. Here's to hoping we can start a QB capable of throwing a decent WR sideline screen as an occasional run replacement play that can consistently gain 4-ish yards. Tommy has shown time and time again that he just wasn't capable of reliably doing this. Martinez couldn't either. But, I digress.

 

[Mierin]

I don't care about mechanics. The QB can throw it off his foot as long as he completes a good % of his passes and avoids interceptions.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Ill continue to not take anything serious in regards to Les Miles ability to recruit, evaluate, develope qb's. If he didnt get after Obrien, it probably means the guy will win a pair of Heismans here.

 

[Hunter94]

Fyfe threw what? 50 or 60 passes? Are 60 passes worth a year of eligibility for POB? The correct answer is no.

A more talented backup allows for the coaches to go the the backup earlier if the starter is injured or ineffective. POB could have actually played more than Fyfe, if he could have just beaten out Fyfe at the beginning of the season.
I would have had POB ready to play this season and not worry if he will be eligible to play in 2020. I would think I could recruit and develop another QB by then.

I think it's dumb to waste a year of eligibility to be a backup. I imagine it didn't matter if POB beat out Fyfe. If he didn't beat out Tommy, he was going to redshirt.

I think it's ironic that there's this huge concern about wasting eligibility, then 2/3 of our QB's transfer out. They came here to play....let them play. Doesn't seem to be this kind of concern at most other positions which tells me it's more of a concern that the coach doesn't want a quarterback controversy.

​It's entirely the fault of the coach that we don't have anyone prepared to play in big games and have to send some hobbled guy out there....then make excuses about having to play a hobbled guy. That's really .500 thinking.

agree, i thought when Pelini left, we were done starting the walking wounded at QB...........WTF??

 

[Undone]

I don't care about mechanics. The QB can throw it off his foot as long as he completes a good % of his passes and avoids interceptions.

So to summarize, you do care about mechanics then. Because you just described a phenomenon that doesn't generally exist (meaning, a QB with bad mechanics that has a high completion ratio and doesn't throw a lot of interceptions).

 

[Hunter94]

Tommy Armstrong was 2-10 vs teams who finished the season in the top 25...

+1.

Time to try something different. And no matter who the starter is, it'll be something different.

My ideal scenario is to try to start the season next year with a really heavy run/pass ratio and see what Bryant and Ozigbo can do to reliably set up reasonable third & short passing scenarios for whoever our quarterback is. That's an offense (in theory, obv) that I'm excited to watch.

Chances are low for this scenario playing out as we will need a top twenty or better offensive line in order to 'push' our way down the field consistently. Haven't had that in a decade. We had so little depth this year that we were backing up our backups with walkons from other positions.
But for Tommy Armstrong scrambling so well, we'd have had literally dozens of drive stopping sacks and hard to imagine we'd have made it through the season with just 3 QBs marginally healthy enough guys taking the beating that would have resulted from all those hits.

I don't agree with this.
How many times this season were we in 3rd and less than 5? A ton and our 3rd down conversion rate outside of 2 games really shows that. Heck in those two games we did a decent job of getting into 3rd and manageble. For all the hate on Langs that is one thing he did very well all year, put our offense in manageable 3rd down situations

Also we ran the ball nearly 58% of the time this year. Don't see that dropping too much as I think Riley would like to stay at about 55%. So I think what Undone laid out is a very accurate description of what our offensive strategy will be next season

and we ran too much against Iowa......only because TA couldn't hit his receivers.......he had at least 3 over throws that should have been TD's.....playing hurt sucks!

 

[Mierin]

I don't care about mechanics. The QB can throw it off his foot as long as he completes a good % of his passes and avoids interceptions.

So to summarize, you do care about mechanics then. Because you just described a phenomenon that doesn't generally exist (meaning, a QB with bad mechanics that has a high completion ratio and doesn't throw a lot of interceptions).

No. I don't care.

The key word in your post is "generally."

Most of the time you need good mechanics to complete a high % of your passes, but I only care ahout the end result.

 

[husker98]

Not a bust. It seems there was already tension within the team last year so how do you think that would have helped this year if the MR benches the starting Senior QB?? If you play POB this year while he is still learning he would have picked up a bunch of bad habits because the line is garbage. As far as Tanner Lee goes, he played in a similar offense on a bad Tulane team. Purdue had two QB'S who left their bad team and started for two power 5 programs and did ok. This offense is predicated on being able to hit the underneath routes and being able to make reads.. those are two things TA doesn't do well. Who ever the next QB is doesn't have to be great he just needs to be able to know who the open guy will be and be able to make the throw. The bigger question will be if the new O-linemen playing next year will be busts.

We have a winner. You're not going to bench the what has been repeatedly identified as the teams leader, the guy all the remaining Bo guys turn to on offense, and start a freshman, even if he is better.

IF we started POB over tommy there would have been a real risk of Riley losing the teams support.

If POB doesn't win the starting job next season or the year after then lets have this discussion. Right now its way to premature since. ya know. He red shirted.