Ad Disclosure
Adrian Martinez: ‘At no point is losing acceptable’
Published:
Nobody outside of Lincoln expected Nebraska to put up such a fight against Ohio State on Saturday. With an extra week to prepare, everyone anticipated the Buckeyes would blow out the 2-6 Huskers.
So losing 36-31 to one of the top 10 teams in the country is quite a feat for a young team still enduring some growing pains. Unless you’re a member of the team, that is.
The Huskers had a valiant effort, but freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez made it clear that the performance wasn’t nearly good enough. He’s not happy unless the team picks up the win, even against one of the better teams in the nation.
“At no point is losing acceptable,” Martinez said after the game.
Head coach Scott Frost echoed the same sentiment.
“We had every chance in the world to win that game,” Frost said. “My only message for the team was disappointed for them. Ticked off, but proud of them.”
Martinez played a fairly clean game for Nebraska, completing 22-of-33 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown, but made a really bad decision early in the game. While trying to throw the football away, he threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage, resulting in a fumble. The Huskers were in scoring position.
The freshman also had 72 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.
Nebraska dropped to 2-7 on the season and is officially eliminated from bowl eligibility. Saturday’s outing against the Buckeyes was still far better than most anticipated and is proof that the program is starting to build momentum under Frost.
There aren’t many Huskers that care about that, though. For Martinez, Frost and others, there’s still no excuse for not adding a tally to the win column, regardless of opponent.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB