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McCaffrey Should Start at QB

Milton ran the ball a lot for Frost but a lot of those runs were scrambles when nothing was open. We saw more of that out of AM his freshman year. OSU likely had 4 future NFL DBs playing defense against our WRs. We'll have better success with our downfield passing game going forward I believe.
 
A year ago I went with my GF at the time to visit her brother in Bama and he asked if I wanted to see our new QB (Smothers) since I was from Nebraska , so we went to one of his games. The kid has a far more accurate arm than AM and LM as well as this kid also has T-Mart speed before he got hurt. He is a nightmare in the open field as he has ankle breaking shake and bake and runs like a cross between an RB and WR in the open field. He also has almost the same insane top gear as TM, not quite but very close. He however does need to work on his arm strength a little and when that happens, AM and LM don't stand a chance against him as he's also an ultra competitive field general.
Yeah I believe he will be the real deal.
 
Come on. There is no way you watch that game and conclude that he's better than Martinez. I'm curious...what did you actually see that led you to that conclusion? You can't make that switch on hope hype.
People said the same thing about Beau Davis....
 
We all agree he’s our best player. It’s idiotic to turn him into a Swiss Army knife when he could be taking every snap.

AM looked good, who cares. It’s good to have an experienced backup.
Nope. AM is our best WB. Mccaffery be our best athlete though.
 
Come on. There is no way you watch that game and conclude that he's better than Martinez. I'm curious...what did you actually see that led you to that conclusion? You can't make that switch on hope hype.
I’ve now seen 15 losses or so led by AM. He is who he is.

He’s incapable of throwing deep. He’s incapable of protecting the ball. He’s incapable of improvising.

It’s time to see what else we have. I’m not promising better, I just know we need different.
 
I’ve now seen 15 losses or so led by AM. He is who he is.

He’s incapable of throwing deep. He’s incapable of protecting the ball. He’s incapable of improvising.

It’s time to see what else we have. I’m not promising better, I just know we need different.
Clearly the guys voted Martinez captain for a reason. Hard to throw deep when your deep options are walk ons. Give Martinez 5 games his junior year. Many of those 16 losses wouldn’t have mattered even in Tom Brady was our qb.
 
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Clearly the guys voted Martinez captain for a reason. Hard to throw deep when your deep options are walk ons. Give Martinez 5 games his junior year. Many of those 16 losses wouldn’t have mattered even in Tom Brady was our qb.
Do people think you need randy moss in order to attempt deep passes?

Guys are 1 on 1 all over the place. Throw it up. Pass interference is a huge chunk play for our offense.

We don’t even try
 
We all agree he’s our best player. It’s idiotic to turn him into a Swiss Army knife when he could be taking every snap.

AM looked good, who cares. It’s good to have an experienced backup.

just trying to keep AM around for backup, first 2 interceptions by AM and we will never see him in on the field again
 
Do people think you need randy moss in order to attempt deep passes?

Guys are 1 on 1 all over the place. Throw it up. Pass interference is a huge chunk play for our offense.

We don’t even try
I don’t disagree with that. Which is why I question if frost is gun shy in the big 10 taking shots downfield. His offense at UCF seemed so different. Maybe We throw East/west so much it’s like he is afraid to let receivers make plays downfield because the big 10 has better players? I really think our o line is good, mills runs hard, we have two decent quarter backs. I think that combination is good for four wins minimum. Schedule isn’t as bad as it seemed
 
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Do people think you need randy moss in order to attempt deep passes?

Guys are 1 on 1 all over the place. Throw it up. Pass interference is a huge chunk play for our offense.

We don’t even try
It seems like Frost has moved towards a Bill Walsh, WCO, type of offense since he got here.
 
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Are we even sure Luke can pass the ball? I mean Martinez is not the problem. We have the worst receivers in Power 5 right now and seems like so many of our passes are East /west. Complain about Martinez but I would say he starts and does well at most SEC schools. Maybe our offensive system isn’t that great anymore.
We saw the staff put Luke in for that play action pass downfield to JD in the Iowa game last year. They did it specifically for that play, so either they don't trust Martinez to throw it deep or Martinez could not throw it deep due to injury (to his non throwing shoulder) last year?

We haven't seen Martinez throw it deep at all this year, but we did see him throw it real hard to Warner in the end zone, so I don't think it's any physical issue.
 
When Frost was at UCF they threw the deep ball early and often. He's had to reinvent the offense here.

He also had better wide receivers at his disposal which he hasn’t here YET..

But he has been reluctant to wanting to throw down field even a few times a game, so the question is does he or doesn’t he have faith in 2AM making those throws.
 
Amart should remain the starter. I like that they got Luke involved and he got a few snaps. I think they had a game plan and they followed it. I think as the season goes along and they get the new players settled in they will be playing some guys that can stretch the field and then they will be taking some deep shots.
 
He also had better wide receivers at his disposal which he hasn’t here YET..

But he has been reluctant to wanting to throw down field even a few times a game, so the question is does he or doesn’t he have faith in 2AM making those throws.

I think it is clearly a personnel issue. In 2017 Milton threw for 4,000 yards and they constantly pushed the ball downfield. At UCF he also had at least 3 WR better than anyone he has had here (maybe as many as 6). His first year here we pushed the ball down the field alot more with Spielman and Morgan, who are pretty ordinary, but head and shoulders above what we are trotting out there now. Finding, keeping and developing WR's is what is keeping our offense from being very good.
 
I think if he’s moved he should be moved to receiver. If he’s deemed as the starting qb, who is he going to throw to? We need playmakers at the wideout position.
It sounds like we may have one or two that could do the job, but they are maybe a little uppity at the moment and aren't seeing the field as a result.
 
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I’ve now seen 15 losses or so led by AM. He is who he is.

He’s incapable of throwing deep. He’s incapable of protecting the ball. He’s incapable of improvising.

It’s time to see what else we have. I’m not promising better, I just know we need different.
We have no deep passing game, I'm sure part of that is on AM. I also see about 10 threads about how bad our WR's are. So there's that.

AM fumbles a lot. #7 fumbled too.

IMO, this was one of Martinez's better games since his Freshman year. Much more accurate throws, and quicker decisions to run when he sees an opportunity.

We all know that AM was bad last year. If 7 was last year where he is this year, AM would be been replaced. From our VERY limited view of AM this year, he was much improved against the best team we'll face all year.

I'm not saying AM won't eventually earn the bench and get replaced this year. My point is that from the only evidence we've seen this year, now is not that time.
 
What I have seen is the big difference is; on a run that Martinez would probably lose 2 yards, McCaffrey would gain 6 or 7. Big benefit. Also, there were a couple of times where McCaffrey had to scramble and either got yards or threw the ball away where Martinez gets sacked.

I like McCaffrey's feet a lot better. I don't think Adrian was terrible, I just think he has had his shot and McCaffrey seems to be a better option. I feel like Adrian really struggles on finding the open receiver. There were many times again where he was locked in where we had a guy running free.
 
AM: 12/15 for 105 yards
LM: 4/5 for 55

dinking and dunking is no way to go through life, people!
Give Martinez the start against Wisconsin. If he struggles then yes Luke might be the guy. I just feel like if frost passed on burrow for Adrian he has to do some good things in practice. It wouldn’t surprise me if Luke was the qb by Game 4. Unfortunately I would see Adrian leaving as he is good enough to start at half of power 5 schools.
 
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Do people think you need randy moss in order to attempt deep passes?

Guys are 1 on 1 all over the place. Throw it up. Pass interference is a huge chunk play for our offense.

We don’t even try
Who do we have with blazing speed? Tyreek Hill is NOT very tall, but man does he stretch a defense by A LOT and he catches the long passes. My point? A 6-4 receiver is not the only answer. With Frost, if speed kills, time to prove it.
 
Give Martinez the start against Wisconsin. If he struggles then yes Luke might be the guy. I just feel like if frost passed on burrow for Adrian he has to do some good things in practice. It wouldn’t surprise me if Luke was the qb by Game 4. Unfortunately I would see Adrian leaving as he is good enough to start at half of power 5 schools.
Watching this game on Saturday, Frost gave LM quite a few snaps against the best team we will play, in the first game of the year. His motives are varied. Light a fire under AM? Check. See what LM's progress looks like? Check. See if we can get more playmakers on the field at once? Check. See if one guy demonstrates that he deserves the job? Check.

The QB is going to have designed runs. Under old Nebraska football, this led to big things. Hopefully we are establishing the run to open up the pass.
 
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Give Martinez the start against Wisconsin. If he struggles then yes Luke might be the guy. I just feel like if frost passed on burrow for Adrian he has to do some good things in practice. It wouldn’t surprise me if Luke was the qb by Game 4. Unfortunately I would see Adrian leaving as he is good enough to start at half of power 5 schools.
Here's the thing, though, if you're a coach,:

You start a true freshman under center, you're choosing to take your lumps now for a payoff later.

We took those lumps. In 2018 and 2019.

In order to get here.

We now have a 3 year, very seasoned and experienced, starter at QB. Which is a year longer, already, than most NCAA QB's get to start.

And we could potentially have him under center for 2 more years after this. I don't know if there's ever been a 5 year starter at QB. Not 5 years in the system, but a 5 year STARTER.

So, for this season, by every objective account, the competition was razor thin at QB.

Is HCSF ready to put another freshman under center, and take the lumps that invariably come with that? Gonna admit that going "all in" with Martinez, which resulted in Gebbia leaving, didn't yield a difference maker at QB? How much rope does he have to perform a re-set?
 
Who do we have with blazing speed? Tyreek Hill is NOT very tall, but man does he stretch a defense by A LOT and he catches the long passes. My point? A 6-4 receiver is not the only answer. With Frost, if speed kills, time to prove it.

Hill also isn't human. It isn't just about speed - the height and length helps a ton on down the field throws.
 
Who do we have with blazing speed? Tyreek Hill is NOT very tall, but man does he stretch a defense by A LOT and he catches the long passes. My point? A 6-4 receiver is not the only answer. With Frost, if speed kills, time to prove it.
we don't have anybody with blazing speed.

wan'dale is quick, but would never be mistaken for a burner.
 
Yea. 9 yards per completion against OSU starters vs 13 yards per completion vs backups. Great comp!
come on now. you're better than this.
3 of AM's completions, and 21 of his yards, came down 38-14 and 38-17 in the 3rd quarter against the buckeye 2nd team.

yards/attempt is the most telling stat for a QB. AM's has been south of 8 for more than a full season now. he is either unable or unwilling to throw down the field. this is not my opinion. it is plain as day fact.
 
its
3 of AM's completions, and 21 of his yards, came down 38-14 and 38-17 in the 3rd quarter against the buckeye 2nd team.

yards/attempt is the most telling stat for a QB. AM's has been south of 8 for more than a full season now. he is either unable or unwilling to throw down the field. this is not my opinion. it is plain as day fact.
taking too long to pull the trigger...?
 
Frost also needs to spread it out more and open it up. Tired of the excuses. Watch Ohio St line up compared to how we line up and run routes. Several times we have 4 players in the same vicinity. I get they are better but no reason not spread it out more. If not, then go more power - it can work with our QBs, RBs, and TEs
 
Do people think you need randy moss in order to attempt deep passes?

Guys are 1 on 1 all over the place. Throw it up. Pass interference is a huge chunk play for our offense.

We don’t even try
I EXPECT there will be more "throwing it up" when Manning gets on the field. I don't think we had anybody we had any confidence in to come down with the 50/50 balls at OSU. Actually we did try that to our TEs twice I think. One was nearly intercepted.
 
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3 of AM's completions, and 21 of his yards, came down 38-14 and 38-17 in the 3rd quarter against the buckeye 2nd team.

yards/attempt is the most telling stat for a QB. AM's has been south of 8 for more than a full season now. he is either unable or unwilling to throw down the field. this is not my opinion. it is plain as day fact.
or everybody is playing deep and taking away deep throws. They doubt that we can go the length of the field without a holding penalty or turning the ball over so why worry about short passes? We really didn't have a great deep threat last year and OSU has tremendous athletes at DB who weren't going to let us get open deep. I'm optimistic about our offense this year.
 
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Yards/attempt is the most telling stat for a QB. AM's has been south of 8 for more than a full season now. he is either unable or unwilling to throw down the field. this is not my opinion. it is plain as day fact.
I agree with this point, although it is somewhat skewed by the relentless, my-God-this-play-again? use of the tight end screen last year.

Also, I'm afraid that if Frost inserts McCaffrey as the starter, yards per attempt will sink even lower. If Luke's going to start, they need to remove the training wheels and give him more of the playbook to work with.
 
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