Nebraska Football: 5 Things That Must Happen for the Cornhuskers to be a Top 25 Team in 2020 (Adrian Martinez becomes the Big Ten West's best QB)

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Athlon:

1. Adrian Martinez becomes the Big Ten West's best quarterback (and top three in conference)
While an offense's overall success isn't necessarily tied to a quarterback's performance, Nebraska can’t make that claim with Scott Frost's current system.

Martinez's biggest competition to be considered the Big Ten West's best signal-caller comes in the form of Minnesota's Tanner Morgan with arguments to be made for Purdue's Jack Plummer and Northwestern's Peyton Ramsey.

Morgan was instrumental in leading P.J. Fleck's Golden Gophers to an 11-2 record, including a win over Auburn in the Outback Bowl. He threw for 3,253 yards while completing 66 percent of his passes and had an astounding 30-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. However, he was assisted by 1,000-yard rusher Rodney Smith, along with Mohamed Ibrahim and Shannon Brooks, who combined for another 1,000-plus on the ground.

In 2020, Minnesota loses both Smith and Brooks. As a result, the Huskers and Golden Gophers have the same number of proven running backs with the Big Red boasting Dedrick Mills. However, Minnesota retains two other major contributors to the offense in Rashod Bateman and Chris Autman-Bell, who tallied a combined 1,537 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns.

Nebraska's wideout corps is far less robust, which we'll address in a moment.

For the Huskers to be ranked at the end of '19, Martinez not only has to return to his true freshman form, but he must also elevate to a new level. That would mean at least throwing for 2,700 yards at a 65 percent completion rate and seeing significant improvement over 2018's 17:8 touchdown-to-interception rate.

It also means he quite likely has to be the team's second-most productive rushing threat as he has the past two seasons. If he does this, he easily leads a ranked Nebraska team and garners at least third-team All-Big Ten honors.


Go Gophers!!
 

Adrian has to become a top 10 QB in the country for Nebraska to be ranked 25th?
They must be pretty down on the rest of the team
 

Hahahahahahaha

Nuff said.

Nebraska will be down with Illinois, in the West this year. What a mistake it was to add them to the Big Ten.
 

First they have to get rid of those damned hoodies!!!!!!!!!!
 




#2Gopher said:
? I miss something there. What does hoodies have to do with it? I have a hoodie.
Click to expand...


It was a joking jab at Scott Frost. He roasted his own players after losing to Minnesota for wearing hoodies in the cold. Implied his own players weak.
 

Actually…

1. They get their annual undeserved spot in the early-season rankings.
 

Some guy said:
I like Nebraska in the big ten.
They add value for me.
Click to expand...
Why, out of curiosity?

They do nothing but suck up resources, to me. Low population state, draws very little national interest anymore, since they suck now. They aren't winning the Big Ten much accolades or bowl wins, let alone national competitiveness.
 



MplsGopher said:
Why, out of curiosity?

They do nothing but suck up resources, to me. Low population state, draws very little national interest anymore, since they suck now. They aren't winning the Big Ten much accolades or bowl wins, let alone national competitiveness.
Click to expand...

The volleyball competition is amazing!
 

Some guy said:
Adrian has to become a top 10 QB in the country for Nebraska to be ranked 25th?
They must be pretty down on the rest of the team
Click to expand...
I had to look. He's only a Jr. Seems like he's been there for more years than that.
 

MplsGopher said:
Why, out of curiosity?

They do nothing but suck up resources, to me. Low population state, draws very little national interest anymore, since they suck now. They aren't winning the Big Ten much accolades or bowl wins, let alone national competitiveness.
Click to expand...
They have a great environment to travel to (I’ve been there 4 times now)

they are much more enjoyable to watch a game against than games against Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Miami of Ohio, Illinois, Northwestern.

Without expanding to 14 I think big ten is still at an 8 game schedule.

They aren’t a blue blood anymore but they’re still a top 50 program in my mind.
 

Martinez had his moments last year but the absence of a real RB threat and more importantly on OL that was not much to brag about.
The OL should be somewhat better and no one has mentioned the bad defense which might be slightly better.
Unless NE chooses to leave the BIG is unlikely to kick them out.
So just enjoy the deep pain and misery their over entitled fans express after another season without national "relevance".
 



Some guy said:
They have a great environment to travel to (I’ve been there 4 times now)

they are much more enjoyable to watch a game against than games against Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Miami of Ohio, Illinois, Northwestern.

Without expanding to 14 I think big ten is still at an 8 game schedule.

They aren’t a blue blood anymore but they’re still a top 50 program in my mind.
Click to expand...
Hindsight, Missouri would’ve been the head and shoulders better option.

Oh well.
 

NE is a value add to the Big Ten. They are not a resource drain. They have a ravid fan base and bring enough TV's to make their revenue share worth it. They also are a national brand. While irrelevant now in the national conversation they get rated high because they are a brand. Shoot just based on the amount of space they take up on Gopherhole it shows why they are important to the Big Ten or at least the West
 

MplsGopher said:
Hindsight, Missouri would’ve been the head and shoulders better option.

Oh well.
Click to expand...
I would’ve loved the three adds to be Nebraska, Missouri, and Maryland.

move Purdue to the East.
Ideally, Nebraska, Missouri, and Notre Dame with Purdue in the East would’ve been a sweet west division
 

There are those players who seem to be around forever and Martinez is certainly one of them. Who on the Gophers would fans of other teams say has been around forever (don't use Rodney or Shannon as they were here forever but have moved on)?
 




Some guy said:
I would’ve loved the three adds to be Nebraska, Missouri, and Maryland.

move Purdue to the East.
Ideally, Nebraska, Missouri, and Notre Dame with Purdue in the East would’ve been a sweet west division
Click to expand...
Notre Dame will never happen in our lifetimes.

I’d rather have Purdue and Indiana in the western division. I like Iowa State and Missouri, myself.

Iowa-Iowa St-Minn-Wisc-NW-Illinois-Missouri-Kansas-Purdue-Indiana

would be a fantastic conference, to be honest. All AAU schools. No need to play Michigan’s, Ohio St, or Penn St ever again.
 

MplsGopher said:
Notre Dame will never happen in our lifetimes.

I’d rather have Purdue and Indiana in the western division. I like Iowa State and Missouri, myself.

Iowa-Iowa St-Minn-Wisc-NW-Illinois-Missouri-Kansas-Purdue-Indiana

would be a fantastic conference, to be honest. All AAU schools. No need to play Michigan’s, Ohio St, or Penn St ever again.
Click to expand...
Personally I don’t care about AAU.
im glad we have a top flight university in Minnesota...but I’m okay if Michigan State and Nebraska play is in football even if they aren’t quite as good
 

I expect Luke McCaffrey to be the starter by the end of the year.
 

Some guy said:
Personally I don’t care about AAU.
im glad we have a top flight university in Minnesota...but I’m okay if Michigan State and Nebraska play is in football even if they aren’t quite as good
Click to expand...
Michigan State is just fine. They’re similar to Iowa and Wisconsin. Rutgers and Maryland are fine too, we just don’t have much history with them. (don’t get me wrong, neither do we with the Big 8 schools, but they’re closer in the neighborhood!)

It’s the Michigan, Ohio St, and Penn St games that aren’t really fair competition for schools like Minn, Illinois, Indiana, etc

So I like the schools I named, in that they’re all reasonably “fair” for each other.

I know others would disagree and that’s fine. Ain’t gonna happen anyway.
 

MplsGopher said:
Notre Dame will never happen in our lifetimes.

I’d rather have Purdue and Indiana in the western division. I like Iowa State and Missouri, myself.

Iowa-Iowa St-Minn-Wisc-NW-Illinois-Missouri-Kansas-Purdue-Indiana

would be a fantastic conference, to be honest. All AAU schools. No need to play Michigan’s, Ohio St, or Penn St ever again.
Click to expand...

I think the whole AAU thing gets overblown. The two reasons Nebraska lost AAU status is the AAU doesn’t recognize agricultural research. A largely agricultural state is going to be heavy in agricultural research. The AAU also doesn’t recognize the medical research of University of Nebraska Medical
Center just because of how it is incorporated as a seperate entity. Yet they have been one of the key research centers in the US for the treatment of SARS, Ebola, and Covid. It has been their physicians and epidemiologists who have been advising the Big Ten conference and been on the regular conference calls with the university leaders of all the big ten schools.
 

GopherGod said:
I think the whole AAU thing gets overblown. The two reasons Nebraska lost AAU status is the AAU doesn’t recognize agricultural research. A largely agricultural state is going to be heavy in agricultural research. The AAU also doesn’t recognize the medical research of University of Nebraska Medical
Center just because of how it is incorporated as a seperate entity. Yet they have been one of the key research centers in the US for the treatment of SARS, Ebola, and Covid. It has been their physicians and epidemiologists who have been advising the Big Ten conference and been on the regular conference calls with the university leaders of all the big ten schools.
Click to expand...
The agriculture part is false, because Iowa State is AAU.

Also, Indiana University medical school and medical research campus in Indianapolis was only recently incorporated into Bloomington campus for research dollars. But IU was in the AAU before that.

I don’t buy that the AAU cut them for superfluous reasons. They cut them, because the profs they hired weren’t getting it done, weren’t winning nationally competitive grants.

Also, Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, and Rice have no medical at all, but are still AAU.

Apparently, Lincoln has a similar academic reputation to K-State, SD State, and ND State. That isnt AAU material, if true.
 

MplsGopher said:
The agriculture part is false, because Iowa State is AAU.

Also, Indiana University medical school and medical research campus in Indianapolis was only recently incorporated into Bloomington campus for research dollars. But IU was in the AAU before that.

I don’t buy that the AAU cut them for superfluous reasons. They cut them, because the profs they hired weren’t getting it done, weren’t winning nationally competitive grants.

Also, Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, and Rice have no medical at all, but are still AAU.

Apparently, Lincoln has a similar academic reputation to K-State, SD State, and ND State. That isnt AAU material, if true.
Click to expand...

the agricultural part is not false. Iowa State has a ton of research around their engineering school outside of Ag. AAU doent recognize research grants from USDA for example. Had Nebraska
Brought their medical school under the university umbrella they to would have remained in the AAU. They elected not to do it. Discounting Ag research would be like Minnesota discounting Norman Borlaug’s research. And it could be argued his research has had more of an impact on the world than any other Minnesota researcher ever. Again the AAU thing seems silly as something to get hung up on. Would you accept Notre Dame or Boston College based on academics as they aren’t AAU schools either? It just seems silly that is the one membership you are hung up on.
 
Last edited:

BleedGopher said:
per Athlon:

1. Adrian Martinez becomes the Big Ten West's best quarterback (and top three in conference)
While an offense's overall success isn't necessarily tied to a quarterback's performance, Nebraska can’t make that claim with Scott Frost's current system.

Martinez's biggest competition to be considered the Big Ten West's best signal-caller comes in the form of Minnesota's Tanner Morgan with arguments to be made for Purdue's Jack Plummer and Northwestern's Peyton Ramsey.

Morgan was instrumental in leading P.J. Fleck's Golden Gophers to an 11-2 record, including a win over Auburn in the Outback Bowl. He threw for 3,253 yards while completing 66 percent of his passes and had an astounding 30-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. However, he was assisted by 1,000-yard rusher Rodney Smith, along with Mohamed Ibrahim and Shannon Brooks, who combined for another 1,000-plus on the ground.

In 2020, Minnesota loses both Smith and Brooks. As a result, the Huskers and Golden Gophers have the same number of proven running backs with the Big Red boasting Dedrick Mills. However, Minnesota retains two other major contributors to the offense in Rashod Bateman and Chris Autman-Bell, who tallied a combined 1,537 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns.

Nebraska's wideout corps is far less robust, which we'll address in a moment.

For the Huskers to be ranked at the end of '19, Martinez not only has to return to his true freshman form, but he must also elevate to a new level. That would mean at least throwing for 2,700 yards at a 65 percent completion rate and seeing significant improvement over 2018's 17:8 touchdown-to-interception rate.

It also means he quite likely has to be the team's second-most productive rushing threat as he has the past two seasons. If he does this, he easily leads a ranked Nebraska team and garners at least third-team All-Big Ten honors.


Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
Huh?
 

My expectation is that Nebraska will be ranked (and possibly undefeated) for their October 31 match up with tOSU. Then things are going to take a hard nose dive.

Their schedule to end the season:
@tOSU
vPSU
@iowa
@WIS
vMINN
 

hello-world said:
My expectation is that Nebraska will be ranked (and possibly undefeated) for their October 31 match up with tOSU. Then things are going to take a hard nose dive.

Their schedule to end the season:
@tOSU
vPSU
@iowa
@WIS
vMINN
Click to expand...

Purdue and especially Cincinnati are really really tough games. Whatever they get out of that six game stretch to end the year is gravy but I’d be shocked if they went into Columbus ranked or unbeaten.
 

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