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Husker QB job still up for grabs
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
By Bob Hamar
bob.hamar@theindependent.com
LINCOLN — If you believe Zac Lee and Cody Green, the Nebraska quarterbacks they didn’t hear anything Saturday.
Some fans were booing — apparently at Lee — when the junior struggled to get the offense going in a 31-10 loss to Texas Tech Saturday at Memorial Stadium. When Green replaced Lee in the third quarter, he got what amounted to a standing ovation from the crowd.
Lee said he didn’t hear the boos.
“I doubt you guys believe it, but I honestly didn’t hear them,” Lee said Tuesday at Nebraska’s weekly press conference. “I’m pretty focused on what’s going on.”
And Green didn’t hear the cheers.
“I drowned it out,” Green said. “It was kind of like whenever I went in versus Florida Atlantic. I’m used to it now. Of course everybody wants to see me run out there, but I have tunnel vision — blinders on like a race horse. All that outside stuff doesn’t bother me any more.”
What the Huskers (4-2 overall, 1-1 in the Big 12) face now is a full-blown quarterback controversy as they head into Saturday’s 11:40 a.m. game against Iowa State (4-3, 1-2) at Memorial Stadium in a game that can be seen on Fox Sports Net.
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said both quarterbacks did some good things and both did some bad things in the loss to Texas Tech, but the bad things weren’t all their fault.
“At the end of the day, for a quarterback to play well you have to play well around him,” Pelini said. “You have to enable that quarterback to be able to play well and that didn’t always happen.
“It sometimes all falls on the quarterbacks shoulders. That’s the nature of the position, but it’s not always the case.”
After practice on Monday, Pelini said he didn’t care if Nebraska fans wanted a quarterback change. That’s something he and the coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, will decide.
“I don’t get influenced by what the fans or media or anybody else thinks,” Pelini said. “When they want to come in here and watch films and they earn the title and the respect of being a head coach, then they can start making decisions. Until then, the buck stops here.”
Pelini said Lee has handled the situation well and feels like the whole state of Nebraska is against him.
He said the best thing Lee can do is take an “I’ll show you” attitude.
“It’s disappointing when people boo and people do those things, but that’s human nature and that’s who they are,” Pelini said. “You can’t let it affect you. You have to fight through and you find out what’s deep inside of you.”
Changing quarterbacks in the middle of the season — if that’s what Pelini decides to do — can be risky. Oklahoma State did that in 2006 when coach Mike Gundy benched starter Bobby Reid in favor of Zac Robinson.
That led the the infamous, “I’m a man. I’m 40,” rant by Gundy after a newspaper article said the OSU coaching staff thought Reid was soft.
Gundy knows all about the risks of changing quarterbacks during the season.
“I think there is always a risk because sometimes a team looks at a certain player as a leader and you make a change in mid stream,” Gundy said Monday during weekly the Big 12 teleconference. “It’s like a lot of decisions we make in college football. We’re not sure how they’re going to work out. You try to weigh all the options and figure out what’s best for the football team for that Saturday, that year and the future. You have to make a decision and go with it.”
Senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said there won’t be any disharmony among the Nebraska players regardless of who starts at quarterback.
“I think with the maturity and character we have on this team we won’t have a split locker room at all,” Suh told reporters Tuesday. “I know that’s what you guys are looking for and that’s what you want to see — who’s going to go for Cody and who’s going to go for Zac. The coaches are going to pick the best player at that point of time for that week.”
Pelini is still saying the starting QB will be a game-time decision, but he also said Lee is still No. 1 at this point.
Green has had to grow up fast this season. Many expected him to redshirt until back-up quarterback Cody Spano was lost for the season with an injury.
After that happened, the NU coaches decided they needed to get Green ready to play.
It’s been quite a first-person education for Green. He found out just how fast fans can turn on the starting quarterback.
“I didn’t really think it would be as fast,” Green said. “With one play that Zac made, it was like the whole state was against him just because of one bad pass he threw. I’ve seen it in colleges back at home. Of course everybody saw it at Oklahoma State and how everybody was on Reid’s bandwagon and just jumped straight off of it just like that.
“I didn’t really think it would happen that fast here, but it really didn’t surprise me once it did.”
Practice report
The Nebraska football team practiced for two hours Tuesday at the Hawks Championship Center, as the Huskers prepare to host the Iowa State Cyclones Saturday. Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson noted that he has been encouraged with the Huskers’ ability to take challenges and bounce back after a loss to Texas Tech last Saturday.
“We’ve learned a lot from them,” Watson said. “They are a good group of guys. They have a lot of resiliency. They are young, but they’ve done a nice job of responding to the challenges we’ve made to them. We had a really good practice today. It felt like us.”
Watson noted that while the quarterbacks are competing, they are also continually playing physical ball in practice. Even though they are not participating in a full scrimmage, they take their share of hits.
“We have young quarterbacks and they need a true sense of what it’s like in a game,” Watson said. “It helps evaluate their ability to play in the pocket.”
After scouting Iowa State’s defensive philosophy, Watson said that he is impressed with the brand of football they are playing.
“Iowa State is playing really good football,” he said. “I’ve been impressed with their defense scheme-wise. They play a scheme similar to our guys and they are playing it really well. They haven’t had the expansive package our guys do, but they are in year one. I’m really impressed with what they’ve done with their effort and what they’ve done in terms of their scheme.”
The Huskers will return to the practice field on Wednesday afternoon. Kickoff for the Iowa State game is set for 11:30 a.m. and the game can be seen on FSN. Check back to Huskers.com for more updates on the Nebraska football team throughout the week.
Some fans were booing — apparently at Lee — when the junior struggled to get the offense going in a 31-10 loss to Texas Tech Saturday at Memorial Stadium. When Green replaced Lee in the third quarter, he got what amounted to a standing ovation from the crowd.
Lee said he didn’t hear the boos.
“I doubt you guys believe it, but I honestly didn’t hear them,” Lee said Tuesday at Nebraska’s weekly press conference. “I’m pretty focused on what’s going on.”
“I drowned it out,” Green said. “It was kind of like whenever I went in versus Florida Atlantic. I’m used to it now. Of course everybody wants to see me run out there, but I have tunnel vision — blinders on like a race horse. All that outside stuff doesn’t bother me any more.”
What the Huskers (4-2 overall, 1-1 in the Big 12) face now is a full-blown quarterback controversy as they head into Saturday’s 11:40 a.m. game against Iowa State (4-3, 1-2) at Memorial Stadium in a game that can be seen on Fox Sports Net.
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said both quarterbacks did some good things and both did some bad things in the loss to Texas Tech, but the bad things weren’t all their fault.
“At the end of the day, for a quarterback to play well you have to play well around him,” Pelini said. “You have to enable that quarterback to be able to play well and that didn’t always happen.
“It sometimes all falls on the quarterbacks shoulders. That’s the nature of the position, but it’s not always the case.”
After practice on Monday, Pelini said he didn’t care if Nebraska fans wanted a quarterback change. That’s something he and the coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, will decide.
“I don’t get influenced by what the fans or media or anybody else thinks,” Pelini said. “When they want to come in here and watch films and they earn the title and the respect of being a head coach, then they can start making decisions. Until then, the buck stops here.”
Pelini said Lee has handled the situation well and feels like the whole state of Nebraska is against him.
He said the best thing Lee can do is take an “I’ll show you” attitude.
“It’s disappointing when people boo and people do those things, but that’s human nature and that’s who they are,” Pelini said. “You can’t let it affect you. You have to fight through and you find out what’s deep inside of you.”
Changing quarterbacks in the middle of the season — if that’s what Pelini decides to do — can be risky. Oklahoma State did that in 2006 when coach Mike Gundy benched starter Bobby Reid in favor of Zac Robinson.
That led the the infamous, “I’m a man. I’m 40,” rant by Gundy after a newspaper article said the OSU coaching staff thought Reid was soft.
Gundy knows all about the risks of changing quarterbacks during the season.
“I think there is always a risk because sometimes a team looks at a certain player as a leader and you make a change in mid stream,” Gundy said Monday during weekly the Big 12 teleconference. “It’s like a lot of decisions we make in college football. We’re not sure how they’re going to work out. You try to weigh all the options and figure out what’s best for the football team for that Saturday, that year and the future. You have to make a decision and go with it.”
Senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said there won’t be any disharmony among the Nebraska players regardless of who starts at quarterback.
“I think with the maturity and character we have on this team we won’t have a split locker room at all,” Suh told reporters Tuesday. “I know that’s what you guys are looking for and that’s what you want to see — who’s going to go for Cody and who’s going to go for Zac. The coaches are going to pick the best player at that point of time for that week.”
Pelini is still saying the starting QB will be a game-time decision, but he also said Lee is still No. 1 at this point.
Green has had to grow up fast this season. Many expected him to redshirt until back-up quarterback Cody Spano was lost for the season with an injury.
After that happened, the NU coaches decided they needed to get Green ready to play.
It’s been quite a first-person education for Green. He found out just how fast fans can turn on the starting quarterback.
“I didn’t really think it would be as fast,” Green said. “With one play that Zac made, it was like the whole state was against him just because of one bad pass he threw. I’ve seen it in colleges back at home. Of course everybody saw it at Oklahoma State and how everybody was on Reid’s bandwagon and just jumped straight off of it just like that.
“I didn’t really think it would happen that fast here, but it really didn’t surprise me once it did.”
Practice report
The Nebraska football team practiced for two hours Tuesday at the Hawks Championship Center, as the Huskers prepare to host the Iowa State Cyclones Saturday. Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson noted that he has been encouraged with the Huskers’ ability to take challenges and bounce back after a loss to Texas Tech last Saturday.
“We’ve learned a lot from them,” Watson said. “They are a good group of guys. They have a lot of resiliency. They are young, but they’ve done a nice job of responding to the challenges we’ve made to them. We had a really good practice today. It felt like us.”
Watson noted that while the quarterbacks are competing, they are also continually playing physical ball in practice. Even though they are not participating in a full scrimmage, they take their share of hits.
“We have young quarterbacks and they need a true sense of what it’s like in a game,” Watson said. “It helps evaluate their ability to play in the pocket.”
After scouting Iowa State’s defensive philosophy, Watson said that he is impressed with the brand of football they are playing.
“Iowa State is playing really good football,” he said. “I’ve been impressed with their defense scheme-wise. They play a scheme similar to our guys and they are playing it really well. They haven’t had the expansive package our guys do, but they are in year one. I’m really impressed with what they’ve done with their effort and what they’ve done in terms of their scheme.”
The Huskers will return to the practice field on Wednesday afternoon. Kickoff for the Iowa State game is set for 11:30 a.m. and the game can be seen on FSN. Check back to Huskers.com for more updates on the Nebraska football team throughout the week.
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