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[Steve Reichenbach]

I think most of the "talk" about Martinez faded last year,
apparently because the concern has focused on the defense and
he has played pretty well.  Martinez has played well enough
for NU to be very good.  Looking at the historical pass completion
numbers that someone else posted, Martinez' _worst_ completion
percentage (56.3%, which incidentally was last year) is better
than Crouch's best year, better than Frost's best year, about
the same as Frazier's best year (56.4% as a senior), and better
than Gill's best year.  So, I'm not at all surprised that Martinez
is having the year he has had.  Although he appears to have
improved his throwing motion (from what little I know or that
motion really matters), the biggest difference in the completion
rate may be due to fewer dropped passes, which seemed to be
something of a problem last year.

All that said, I would be surprised if he meets his goal of a
70% completion rate for the year.  However, that is a really
high goal and not even necessary for NU to be a championship
team.  What is more important is his (a) performance and execution
in key situations and (b) making few errors.  Those aspects of
his performance are much more important than the difference
between completion rates of 56% (about what Frazier and Frost
had in MNC years) and 70%.

I think the most talk will continue to be about the defense.
I was really concerned after NU gave up 20 first downs to
Southern Miss.  That is often enough to win a game.  Then,
NU gave up 26 first downs in the loss to UCLA.  Last week,
I NU gave up 17 first downs (and I believe 13 first downs in
the first half).  If NU continues to give up more than 20 first
downs per game, it is much more worrisome than whether Martinez
improves his throwing motion and completion rate and therefore
will dominate the "talk".

> I think it's weird how relatively little talk there is about Martinez, at
> least here. I realize we have a loss and it's more natural or interesting
> to talk about the problems on defense, but to me this is easily the most
> fascinating aspect of Nebraska 2012: will he keep it up?
> 
> I think it might be fair to say that literally nobody saw this coming --
> anyone want to dispute that? He was so terrible at the end of last year. I
> know I had given up hope. I did still have occasional visions of how great
> he had been pre-Missouri 2010, but I figured him for zero chance of ever
> reaching that level again. And really, at Oklahoma State is the only
> passing game he ever had that was like what he's doing this year. The
> unique thing about Taylor is that, 1) unlike most raw quarterbacks I can
> remember, his biggest problems, such as pocket presence and throwing
> mechanics, happen to be absolutely fundamental to being a good quarterback,
> and 2) he seemed to have regressed so much in those areas.
> 
> Now he has a chance to reach that level again, and exceed it, but I won't
> consider it done until he displays this kind of form against a real
> defense. The most (only?) pressure he's been under this year was the second
> half against UCLA, and we can't forget what happened there. What it showed
> me is that when it goes bad for Taylor, it can still go really, really bad.
> On the other hand, there's a lot to be said about the improvement at WR and
> RB making things a little easier for him.
> 
> I think he stands a very good chance of succeeding, though. Assuming for
> the sake of argument that he plays well against Idaho State, he'll go into
> Wisconsin with a lot of reps and a lot of confidence. He'll also have a
> healthy Rex Burkhead and stands a good chance of getting an early lead.
> Interestingly enough I think completion percentage will be a good gauge of
> his performance in that game. He and the coaches are going to want closer
> to 13/14 than 17/31.