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Huskers QB coach Mario Verduzco harsh on himself, Martinez: ‘We were both piss poor’

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Nebraska quarterback coach Mario Veduzco tends to tell it like it is. And when he was asked about Adrian Martinez’s performance in the season opener against South Alabama last week, he was pretty honest.

“Both of us were piss poor,” Verduzco said, according to Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald. “He’s just a young guy, man. I’m in charge of getting him ready to go and I didn’t do a very good job. I gotta get better.”

Martinez, expected to be in the Heisman Trophy race right out of the gate, has seen better days. He completed just 13-of-22 pass attempts for 178 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He wasn’t much of a factor in the rung game, either, getting just six yards on 13 attempts.

The offense accounted for just 14 points in the 35-21 victory.

In no way should Martinez be written off after one game. Those Week 1 contests can be tricky to evaluate. But the sophomore didn’t perform the way most expected.

For what it’s worth, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence didn’t have the best game against Georgia Tech either, throwing for just 168 yards with two interceptions and just one touchdown pass. It happens.

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Nebraska does need Martinez to perform better in Week 2, though, against a feisty Colorado team in a rivalry game. He can’t have a performance similar to what we saw against South Alabama, otherwise the Huskers are in serious trouble.

Verduzco knows that better than anyone. Expect to see a better play under center this Saturday for the Huskers.

Dustin Schutte

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