Nebraska Cornhuskers: Is it time to bench Tommy Armstrong?
The Nebraska Cornhuskers have stumbled to a (2-4, 0-2) record in Big Ten play. It’s safe to say, the Cornhuskers are one road loss away from being in a complete free fall. They face the (4-2) Minnesota Golden Gophers, so a third straight conference loss is highly likely. With the season goals almost completely out of reach, should the coaching staff think about benching quarterback Tommy Armstrong?
Read More: Nebraska’s offense has struggled during Big Ten play.
Ever since conference play started, Armstrong has been the worst quarterback in the Big Ten. (Well, he hasn’t spiked the ball on fourth down yet). He’s completed 21/59 passes for 234 yards, one touchdown, and an interception. He’s not the same player we saw during non conference play, and that has to concern the coaching staff. However, the offensive play calling hasn’t really changed to help Armstrong flourish.
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Instead of using Armstrong’s strength on the regular basis, it seems like he’s been limited by Mike Riley’s offensive system. Armstrong had eight carries for 50 yards, including a touchdown run against Wisconsin. He also had a 30+ yard run in the first half called back by an illegal formation. There’s no reason why Armstrong shouldn’t have doubled his output over the weekend.
Still, it seems like Riley is more intent on implementing his system than winning games this year. Think about it, the Huskers are roughly five plays away from being undefeated, but they have four losses instead. Currently, Armstrong only has 45 rushing attempts, including sacks. Therefore, if you aren’t going to adhere to Armstrong’s strengths as a runner, it maybe time to put in another quarterback.
Tommy Armstrong
After two straight abysmal performances, Armstrong is completing 52.4 percent of his passes. Last season, his passing rate was over 53 percent, so his regression in the passing game is evident. We were concerned about the Huskers falling in love with the passing game earlier in the season, but this has become a nightmare of epic proportions.
Behind Armstrong at quarterback, the Huskers could put in Ryker Fyfe. However, he has almost no experience playing in games. This season, Fyfe has completed 5/7 passes with a touchdown, and an interception. He has two touchdown passes in his career. The other two quarterbacks are a pair of redshirt freshman, A.J. Bush and Zack Darlington. It shows how little quarterback experience there is on the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Still, it might be time to give one of these quarterbacks a chance to run the show. Understandably, coach Riley wouldn’t want to start a new quarterback on Saturday. The Gophers give up 163 passing yards per game, so it wouldn’t be ideal to make a quarterback change. However, the Huskers have to see improvement from Armstrong early in the game. If not, things could get bad enough offensively to warrant a switch.