College Football Week 5 Scores: Taylor Martinez Won't Lead Nebraska to BCS Bowl

Nebraska sophomore quarterback Taylor Martinez had plenty to prove this season in his second season with the Cornhuskers.

The only problem is, the only thing he is proving is that he is not the quarterback to lead Nebraska to a BCS bowl.

The days of nursing Martinez are over. This is his second season, with the responsibility of leading a storied program in Nebraska to glory. But despite playing Chattanooga, Fresno State, Washington and Wyoming, Martinez had completed just 50 percent of his passes coming into Saturday's game against Big Ten foe Wisconsin.

And against Wisconsin, with a chance to make a statement, all Martinez did was go 11-of-22 for 176 yards and three interceptions in the Cornhuskers' biggest game of the season. That's not inadequate, that's horrendous.

The argument can be made that Martinez is just a sophomore, that he was facing an elite program in Wisconsin for the first time, but in the end those are just excuses. Those equipped to be excellent take advantage of opportunities.

If Martinez merely didn't lead the Cornhuskers to victory against Wisconsin, nobody would have blamed him. But they style in which he did so speaks nothing of a quarterback that should be leading a "BCS-bound" team.

Martinez is not only off to a bad start in 2011, he actually seems to have regressed.

After the game, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini, who was notoriously hard on Martinez last season, said, via ESPN, "We didn't make plays. I'm embarrassed. I apologize to the fans of Nebraska."

Pelini knows he did nothing to lose that game for Nebraska. He's one of the better coaches in college football. But he does feel embarrassed because he believed in Martinez and Martinez let him down, as well as the team.

There is still time for Martinez to turn things around, but he better start now because his head is simply not in the game anymore.

Nebraska was averaging 6.0 yards per carry headed into Saturday's game. Martinez has plenty of help around him. But there's a reason Pelini has been holding him to roughly 21 passing attempts per game: because he doesn't believe in him yet.

And Martinez has done little to inspire.