Happy for Marty

[Sheffielder]

Seen him holding the clipboard all season...bad weather/gritty win and he did more than his fair share to earn it. No idea where he'll find himself on the depth chart next season, but glad he was our QB today.

 

[torque-cat]

Seen him holding the clipboard all season...bad weather/gritty win and he did more than his fair share to earn it. No idea where he'll find himself on the depth chart next season, but glad he was our QB today.

he has the confidence and toughness and threw a beautiful long TD today. He’s got to be the favorite going into next year unless Green is back.

 

[DaCat]

Marty is a hard-nosed runner. He still has a ways to go as a passer, although he showed flashes of good potential like his TD pass to Lees, a perfectly placed pass with a nice touch touch on it. He also should've had one more TD pass that Pugh dropped in the end zone. However, balance that out with some poor decisions, including the 1 interception, and two more that should have happened, if not for a penalty negating one and the defender dropping the other one. He seemed to have a good grasp of the offense and I saw him go through reads. Some hard work over the off-season should help him compete for the starting position.

 

[NURoseBowl]

Agreed. He's not a finished product, but a productive offseason should make him, at the very least, a solid contender to start next season. Gritty kid who's easy to root for.

 

[Sheffielder]

I don't have an eye for this kind of stuff, but in the absence of his passing game improving significantly, could we build an effective offense around a run-first QB? And does Marty have the bones to be an effective run-first QB?

 

[Titanium999]

I don't have an eye for this kind of stuff, but in the absence of his passing game improving significantly, could we build an effective offense around a run-first QB? And does Marty have the bones to be an effective run-first QB?

Not likely! Too many injuries for a running qb!

 

[TerraCat]

If we get a creative OC he might be able to put some interesting packages together with Marty in the mix.

 

[Palindrome]

If we get a creative OC he might be able to put some interesting packages together with Marty in the mix.

To me, that’s the key to success at NU for as far into the future as we can see. To think that we can use conventional schemes and just out-effort and/or out-muscle and/or outrun the rest of the Big10, that’s not our DNA.

The OC needs to inculcate the belief that “different is better”, which should be relatively easy to do given this past season. I always liked it when the “experts” would say things like “XYZ University will have a lot of work to do preparing for NU because they are predictably unpredictable”. That takes players with good minds (Check), flexible skillsets (Check?), and great attitudes (Check, check, check) to accept the extra challenges needed to master any intracacies required.

 

[Titanium999]

Disagree! We can’t have our an taking hits! Marty needs to take a backseat to Green and Hunter! My money is on Hunter shining next year! We need Bowser and a few other guys healthy back there!

 

[corbi296]

To me, that’s the key to success at NU for as far into the future as we can see. To think that we can use conventional schemes and just out-effort and/or out-muscle and/or outrun the rest of the Big10, that’s not our DNA.

The OC needs to inculcate the belief that “different is better”, which should be relatively easy to do given this past season. I always liked it when the “experts” would say things like “XYZ University will have a lot of work to do preparing for NU because they are predictably unpredictable”. That takes players with good minds (Check), flexible skillsets (Check?), and great attitudes (Check, check, check) to accept the extra challenges needed to master any intracacies required.

I think Fitz would disagree with you. Unless you are Charlie Weis, most coaches realize that any schematic advantage developed through innovation quickly dissipates because other teams copy and adapt. That is not a path to sustainable, long term success. Fitz's goal is to build this up to the point where NU is just flat out better. Recruit top talent, out develop the competition and out play them on the field. No trickery or gimmicks, just go out there and consistently beat the opposition physically and with better execution. We are a ways off from achieving that level of success.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

I think Fitz would disagree with you. Unless you are Charlie Weis, most coaches realize that any schematic advantage developed through innovation quickly dissipates because other teams copy and adapt. That is not a path to sustainable, long term success. Fitz's goal is to build this up to the point where NU is just flat out better. Recruit top talent, out develop the competition and out play them on the field. No trickery or gimmicks, just go out there and consistently beat the opposition physically and with better execution. We are a ways off from achieving that level of success.

You describe the perfect world, but this is Goldilocks scenario just is not going to happen at NU. We are not in the same hemisphere as the top three teams in the B1G is terms of talent. Even if we see a significant uptick in recruiting we MAY be able to get to the 20-25 range in team rankings from the 45-50. Good enough to compete for the West, not good enough to compete for the Natty. That’s Fitz stated goal. There are just too many major comparative obstacles NU has in recruiting, not the least of which is a crappy home field advantage where visiting fans are prevalent and modern day comforts are not existent to help build that fan base. NU sells life after football, unfortunately many of the best recruits don’t emphasize this.

We have to get real about development. How many top 3 round picks has NU had? The big boys put out more in a year that NU does in two decades. If I am a top 100 recruit, what sells me more, number of 1st round picks or a 40 year decision? No contest. Playing WR am I looking for development from Springer or Hartline? Not a shot a Springer. Insert nearly any NU Coach versus a big boy Coach here.

I haven’t seen anyone clamoring for gimmicky offense. I have seen many, including myself, wanting some creativity where we actually do something other teams might not be prepared for.

 

[corbi296]

You describe the perfect world, but this is Goldilocks scenario just is not going to happen at NU. We are not in the same hemisphere as the top three teams in the B1G is terms of talent. Even if we see a significant uptick in recruiting we MAY be able to get to the 20-25 range in team rankings from the 45-50. Good enough to compete for the West, not good enough to compete for the Natty. That’s Fitz stated goal. There are just too many major comparative obstacles NU has in recruiting, not the least of which is a crappy home field advantage where visiting fans are prevalent and modern day comforts are not existent to help build that fan base. NU sells life after football, unfortunately many of the best recruits don’t emphasize this.

We have to get real about development. How many top 3 round picks has NU had? The big boys put out more in a year that NU does in two decades. If I am a top 100 recruit, what sells me more, number of 1st round picks or a 40 year decision? No contest. Playing WR am I looking for development from Springer or Hartline? Not a shot a Springer. Insert nearly any NU Coach versus a big boy Coach here.

I haven’t seen anyone clamoring for gimmicky offense. I have seen many, including myself, wanting some creativity where we actually do something other teams might not be prepared for.

Everyone is creative to varying degrees. What I was responding to is the premise that NU has to resort to unconventional schemes to win games. Something akin to rolling out the Spread offense in the Big Ten like Walker did. Not only is it unrealistic to think that type of innovation can be sustained over the long term, it also is not a path to sustained success as the analytical coaches in today’s game are so quick to copy and adapt. There is a difference between using creativity to give yourself a situational edge in games and believing that a program has to be schematically unconventional to sustain success. The latter is just not realistic nor is it a pathway to long term success. If it were, then Fitz should seriously consider adopting the Triple Option offense like the service academies employ. There is nothing more unconventional than that offense.