Nebraska Football: Starting quarterback job is Luke McCaffrey’s to lose

Nebraska football won their first game of the 2020 season and Luke McCaffrey is a big reason as to why.

It hasn’t been an easy road for the Nebraska Cornhuskers this season, but after two lackluster performances at the quarterback position, Scott Frost finally made a positive change. He promoted Luke McCaffrey to the starter while Adrian Martinez was the backup. The difference proved pivotal, as the Huskers hung onto their lead and won their first game of the shortened season.

McCaffrey’s numbers weren’t earth shattering, but he did enough to get his team a big lead and that proved pivotal after the offense stalled in the second half. McCaffrey went 13 of 21 for 152 yards while throwing one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed for 67 yards and a score, giving him two total touchdowns on the afternoon.

Were the numbers insanely good? No, but they were impressive and it was enough to get the Cornhuskers their first win of the 2020 season, which takes a lot of pressure off of them moving forward.

Luke McCaffrey has proven he can lead Nebraska football to victory.

Because of that, McCaffrey deserves to be the starter for the rest of the season unless he starts to slip up majorly. I was a huge fan of Martinez after his freshman year (who wasn’t?), but he fell off fast after that stellar season. Husker fans were ready to cut ties with Martinez after he struggled last year (especially after seeing what McCaffrey could do), so when he didn’t come out of the gate red hot this year, the leash was very short.

McCaffrey and Martinez are similar players, both being playmakers with their legs and average passers. McCaffrey also looks to be turnover prone too unfortunately, having thrown a pick in each of the last two games. He obviously needs to work on that, especially with some big games still coming up down the stretch.

Next up for the Huskers are the Illinois Fighting Illini, who are 1-3, having just won their first game of the season as well. This has turned into one of the more intriguing rivalries in the Big Ten for Nebraska, so McCaffrey needs to bring his all and really prove he’s the right man for the job in Lincoln.

The good news is that if he does struggle or gets injured, Martinez is a capable backup. It’s just hard to keep trotting him out there as a starter when he hasn’t lived up the hype. Time to see what McCaffrey can do the rest of the season.