Tanner Lee draft choice exposes schism between Nebraska football fans
When the Nebraska football team goes 4-8, it’s pretty easy to blame the quarterback. It’s even easier when the quarterback throws 16 interceptions.
Here’s the thing, Tanner Lee rarely gets credit for playing on a bad team. Instead quite a few too many Cornhusker fans tend to claim they were bad because of Lee.
Yes, his turnovers were bad. Yes his completion percentage wasn’t great, but it also wasn’t as bad as you’d think when listening to fans critique his performances.
Take a look at his immediate predecessor. Tommy Armstrong was certainly a different kind of player, which gets him a pass from the same people who claim Lee just wasn’t good.
Still, Armstrong’s best completion percentage at Nebraska for a season was 55.2 percent. That same season he threw … 16 interceptions. Yet when Armstrong earned himself a tryout as an UDFA with the Minnesota Vikings, fans were almost (rightfully) uniformly happy for him.
Tanner Lee completed 57.5 percent of his passes this season. He also threw for 23 touchdowns. There is also this:
Weird stat given all of Tanner Lee's inconsistnecies, but in last year's games vs. Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Purdue, Minnesota, and Penn State, Lee's stats were:
— Кevin (@KevinFromDuval) April 30, 2018
127/203 (62.5%), 1,815 yards, 12 TD, 1 INT
Tanner Lee might have been inconsistent as a starting quarterback for the Nebraska football team, but he wasn’t bad. The supporting cast, including a porous offensive line, no running game and a defense that leaked like a sieve don’t seem to share enough blame for that 4-8 season.