The question on every Nebraska fan’s mind since the final whistle blew in Saturday’s loss at Northwestern has been, will the Huskers make a change at quarterback?
Junior Adrian Martinez had another inconsistent start while playing the majority of the first three quarters. He was eventually pulled going into the fourth quarter for redshirt freshman Luke McCaffrey.
McCaffrey also made his share of mistakes, but he nearly equaled Martinez’s stats in just three drives and had NU in position to tie the game in the final seconds before coming up just short.
The first question out of the gate during head coach Scott Frost’s weekly press conference was whether there was any chance he would give McCaffrey the start over Martinez for this week’s home opener vs. Penn State.
Frost didn’t announce any final decision, but he left the door wide open for further speculation.
“It’s going to have to develop,” Frost said. “We had a lot of kids who played well and a lot of kids who are ready to play, and I think our team understands that we’re going to let it compete on the practice field play the guy that practices the best and gives us the best chance to win. So there’s a bunch of positions that will be that way this week, including quarterback.”
Martinez finished 12-of-27 passing (44.4 percent) for 125 yards and an interception while rushing 13 times for a game-high 102 yards. He’s now completed 24-of-42 passes (57.1) for 230 yards, no touchdowns, a pick, and a lost fumble returned for a touchdown.
Frost said the biggest issues facing Martinez right now were recognizing coverages, finding open receivers, and delivering consistently accurate passes.
“I think there’s just some decisions that need to be made a little quicker and more efficiently,” Frost said. “Then a few balls were just errant and out of bounds that needed to be put on the money. But for the most part, I think it’s just processing information quickly, getting the ball out on time and where it’s supposed to go at a better clip.
“Just eliminating the plays that are killing us on drives and just a couple plays here and there that’ll kill you in a game.”
On the other hand, McCaffrey completed 12 of his 16 attempts at Northwestern for 93 yards, but he too had a costly interception in the red zone. He’s now 16-for-21 (76.2) for 148 yards on the year.
“Luke came in and did a good job…” Frost said. “Luke’s personality, in general, he’s a spark plug. He’s just got an energy that exudes out of him, and I think people rally to that.”
Frost said it remained to be determined how the first-team reps would be split up this week in practice between Martinez and McCaffrey, noting that during the season, they obviously wanted to give the starter more work with the top offense.
But Frost added that he trusted both players to handle the situation well and that he owed it to them and the entire team to play whoever earned the right to start.
“I wish I had the magic answer for that,” Frost said. “All I can tell you is that I’m going to treat that position just like any other. It’d be a disservice to my football team to play a player at any position if we had a player that position that we thought gave us a better chance to win.
“So we just have to evaluate that like any other position and play the guy that practices the best and is most ready to help us win a football game.”
