Nebraska athletic director says 8-9 wins is a 'realistic expectation' for the 2021 season

Donate To GopherHole

This is the very same AD who openly complained how unfair it was that Nebraska had to play all those good teams last year, correct? Yeah, okay Moos. I'll file this under "realistic expectations" once your team actually finishes with a winning record (something that hasn't happened since 2016). Until then, I suggest he considers hanging a "we saved Big 10 football" banner from 2020 since that's as close to relevant as the Huskers have been since their last winning season.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
I put Nebraska’s over/under at 6.5 this year. It goes up if Marinez has a great year as a passer, they field a couple of decent RBs, and some of their young WRs turn out to be B1G caliber. If Martinez can’t connect on longer passes, and he ends up as one of the team’s primary running backs (because the real RBs are ineffective), Nebraska might win only 5 or 6. This was a team that used a skinny WR (Wan’dale) and a QB as their running game last year. Wan’dale transferred.
Click to expand...
I don't know what they are doing in Lincoln. They seem to wear out their players. I can understand Wan'dale with family matters, although I think that may be a formal excuse to get away from lincoln. JD Spielman should have finished his career there and break all the Nebraska Receiving Records. Something has to be terribly wrong or dysfunctional. Are they wearing down their players too much in practices that they are piling up injuries? They have been in the Top 25 in recruiting since joining the Big Ten. They have talent on paper. A new facility upgrade won't fix the problem.
 


Plato said:
So did the QB and multiple other players.
I do not disagree with your assessment.
But I find it interesting that the NE AD has done from crowing about national and conference championships when Frost was hired to setting a goal of a W/L record that could only win the West Division of the BIG.
Click to expand...
Moos has definitely complicated Frost’s life by continually setting unrealistic pre-season expectations, perhaps to cater to the NE fan base. Glad that PJ doesn’t have to deal with passive-aggressive messaging from Coyle.
 


Gophergrandpa said:
Moos has definitely complicated Frost’s life by continually setting unrealistic pre-season expectations, perhaps to cater to the NE fan base. Glad that PJ doesn’t have to deal with passive-aggressive messaging from Coyle.
Click to expand...
Even the neb fanbase I think wishes mood would shut up.
 


Great Plains Gopher said:
With that schedule, eight wins will be tough to achieve. If Martinez is hurt, it will be impossible.
Click to expand...
I watched this first 10 minutes or so of the Nebraska game. Martinez had several running plays up the middle. In the spring game. Why? Is he the principal RB again this year? Very strange. If Martinez gets hurt what is the Nebraska offense?
 

Gophergrandpa said:
Moos has definitely complicated Frost’s life by continually setting unrealistic pre-season expectations, perhaps to cater to the NE fan base. Glad that PJ doesn’t have to deal with passive-aggressive messaging from Coyle.
Click to expand...
If 8 or 9 wins is unrealistic in year 4, I think the coaching (and not the expectations) are the problem.
 



Gophergrandpa said:
I watched this first 10 minutes or so of the Nebraska game. Martinez had several running plays up the middle. In the spring game. Why? Is he the principal RB again this year? Very strange. If Martinez gets hurt what is the Nebraska offense?
Click to expand...
If martinez gets hurt they’re a 3-4 win team at most.
I know they all wanted him benched last year and got their wish at times, but without martinez they’re absolutely awful.
 

The guy to watch on Nebraska might be freshman QB Heinrich Haarberg, from Kearney, NE. He is big: 6'5", but only 190 or so. Apparently has a cannon arm (better than Martinez) and can run (probably not as effective as Martinez, esp. at 190 lbs.). Haarberg did very nicely in the spring game. With all the top flight WR talent NE has assembled, it seems like a waste to run QB options up the gut for so many of your plays. Martinez has spotty accuracy on throws well downfield; Haarberg looks more accurate. If Martinez falters again this year, and NE decides to try to use their WR talent more fully, Haarberg might jump over the next QB in line (Logan Smothers). Based on their football blogs, NE fans are tickled by the possibility of a local QB taking the reins someday. I love watching the drama (not the football) at NE ; so much seemingly wasted talent. If Frost ever fully utilized the talent he's assembled, NE could be pretty scary on offense. Defense?
 

Some guy said:
If martinez gets hurt they’re a 3-4 win team at most.
I know they all wanted him benched last year and got their wish at times, but without martinez they’re absolutely awful.
Click to expand...
Martinez reminds me a ton of when Antwaan Randle El was at Indiana. Martinez is a great athlete but he is just ok as a QB. The big difference between these Nebraska teams and those Indiana teams is that Nebraska has way more weapons around Martinez than Randle El ever had.

This is a massive year in the Scott Frost tenure. He has to show that he has things moving in the right direction or his seat will get scalding hot for year 5. I don't think they necessarily fire him if the team goes sub .500 again but it wouldn't shock me eiether.
 

Who are all of these weapons that Nebraska allegedly has?

Wan'dale Robinsion, Luke McCaffery, and Marcus Fleming all left. This is a bad team.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
Who are all of these weapons that Nebraska allegedly has?

Wan'dale Robinsion, Luke McCaffery, and Marcus Fleming all left. This is a bad team.
Click to expand...
Yeah Neb brings in recruits but I think there's been a theme of Frost bringing in under-performers enough that it is an issue. Getting *s... but not the output from them that you'd expect... at all. Oregon fans seemed to have similar complaints after he left when it came to players they deemed as Frost recruits...


Meanwhile every good WR seems to leave Neb. Martinez isn't great but he also doesn't have much to work with.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Martinez reminds me a ton of when Antwaan Randle El was at Indiana. Martinez is a great athlete but he is just ok as a QB. The big difference between these Nebraska teams and those Indiana teams is that Nebraska has way more weapons around Martinez than Randle El ever had.

This is a massive year in the Scott Frost tenure. He has to show that he has things moving in the right direction or his seat will get scalding hot for year 5. I don't think they necessarily fire him if the team goes sub .500 again but it wouldn't shock me eiether.
Click to expand...
Make no mistake, martinez has deficiencies....but he is way better than their other options. And he hides some of their other team deficiencies.

I think it would take 4 or fewer wins to fire
Frost in 2021. But he probably needs a 9+ win season in one of the next two to save his job into fall 2023
 

Well, Nebraska just added Fordham University as their home opener for 2021, so Moos is doing everything he can to help them get to six wins.
 

Martinez's passing stats do not paint a good picture:
2018:
  • Games Played: 11
  • Attempts: 347
  • Yards: 2617
  • Average Yards per game: 237.9
2019:
  • Games Played: 10
  • Attempts: 251
  • Yards: 1956
  • Average Yards per game: 195.6
2020:
  • Games Played: 7
  • Attempts: 151
  • Yards: 1055
  • Average Yards per game: 150.7
huskers.com

Adrian Martinez - Football 2021

Adrian Martinez - Football 2021
huskers.com huskers.com

Question is, what's the root of the problem? WR talent leaving, and no one stepping up to fill the void? Gradual Offensive Scheme changes? Martinez getting really lucky in 2018? Something else?
 

Taji34 said:
Martinez's passing stats do not paint a good picture:
2018:
  • Games Played: 11
  • Attempts: 347
  • Yards: 2617
  • Average Yards per game: 237.9
2019:
  • Games Played: 10
  • Attempts: 251
  • Yards: 1956
  • Average Yards per game: 195.6
2020:
  • Games Played: 7
  • Attempts: 151
  • Yards: 1055
  • Average Yards per game: 150.7
huskers.com

Adrian Martinez - Football 2021

Adrian Martinez - Football 2021
huskers.com huskers.com

Question is, what's the root of the problem? WR talent leaving, and no one stepping up to fill the void? Gradual Offensive Scheme changes? Martinez getting really lucky in 2018? Something else?
Click to expand...
He's not Steve Montanna ... but yeah there's so many issues that it's really hard to account for all the issues.
 

Nebraska looked awful in their spring game. They looked like a Brewster coached team.
 


Taji34 said:
Martinez's passing stats do not paint a good picture:
2018:
  • Games Played: 11
  • Attempts: 347
  • Yards: 2617
  • Average Yards per game: 237.9
2019:
  • Games Played: 10
  • Attempts: 251
  • Yards: 1956
  • Average Yards per game: 195.6
2020:
  • Games Played: 7
  • Attempts: 151
  • Yards: 1055
  • Average Yards per game: 150.7
huskers.com

Adrian Martinez - Football 2021

Adrian Martinez - Football 2021
huskers.com huskers.com

Question is, what's the root of the problem? WR talent leaving, and no one stepping up to fill the void? Gradual Offensive Scheme changes? Martinez getting really lucky in 2018? Something else?
Click to expand...
The root of the problem is Frost is teaching him. He's learning more "Frost" each year......
 

Taji34 said:
Martinez's passing stats do not paint a good picture:
2018:
  • Games Played: 11
  • Attempts: 347
  • Yards: 2617
  • Average Yards per game: 237.9
2019:
  • Games Played: 10
  • Attempts: 251
  • Yards: 1956
  • Average Yards per game: 195.6
2020:
  • Games Played: 7
  • Attempts: 151
  • Yards: 1055
  • Average Yards per game: 150.7
huskers.com

Adrian Martinez - Football 2021

Adrian Martinez - Football 2021
huskers.com huskers.com

Question is, what's the root of the problem? WR talent leaving, and no one stepping up to fill the void? Gradual Offensive Scheme changes? Martinez getting really lucky in 2018? Something else?
Click to expand...
WRs 2018: two great ones, Morgan and Speilman. WRs 2019: one great one, Speilman. Should have been two with Wan'dale Robinson, but they used him for half of his plays at RB. WRs in 2020: 1/2 of a Wan'Dale Robinson (other 1/2 at RB). Plus, as someone mentioned, Frost has turned Martinez into Frost 2.0 (run a lot of designed QB options). Maybe some of the high potential WR recruits and transfers come through for Nebraska this year, but they don't have many WRs who have played meaningful, productive minutes in B1G games.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom