Eric Martin Suspended By the Big 12 for the Mizzou Game

Now, if this isn’t enforced with similar situations and other teams, then I have a problem with it.

After watching the video for the 300th time it’s pretty obvious he led with his head, what is inevitably gonna piss me off is the fact that this won’t be enforced with any regularity, hell there was another helmet to helmet call in this game and you don’t see that effer suspended…

I really don’t have a problem with it either, especially given everything that’s been going on in the NFL the last couple of weeks. As long as this is the first instance of a new consistently enforced system of punishment, I’m totally fine with it. (Though that’s a big if – I could also easily see this being the only suspension of its kind in the next few years of the Big 12.)

Now, is there a bit of FU in this on the part of Dan Beebe? Of course. I’m not necessarily convinced that’s why he levied the suspension, but I’m sure Beebe’s very pleased with the way this situation worked out – that he got to make an example of Nebraska.

But as for the hit itself, I just can’t see it as clean no matter how many times I watch it. Martin had this coming. Let’s face it – if someone had hit one of our guys like that, we’d be out cheering this suspension like crazy.

That’s pretty presumptuous of you! If you look at the hit he led with his shoulder and drove into the block. That was a textbook hit but ole’ boy was looking at the clouds and took the full force. Unfortunately for Martin he was born with normal anatomy putting the head on top of the shoulders.

Who’s to say that the guy was out of the play? Have we not seen numerous cross field cut-backs in the return game. And is Martin expected to be looking behind him to figure out where the return man is? Hardly..

On the video it shows him jumping up and down celebrating after the hit. People need to realize that after the hit he saw Niles Paul racing for 6- plenty of reason to celebrate and jump up and down if you ask me.

If I was going to the game this weekend I’d have a sign that had the #46, and it would say:
’A’nother
’B’ebee
’C’onspiracy

1. You’re right, there are a million better ways to block that guy, and he didn’t necessarily have to block him at all.

2. I don’t think it’s “blatantly cheap”, in the heat of the moment you have a split second to make a decision like that, and I don’t think that one could think to themselves, “oh i’m gonna go wreck that guys world and try to hurt him” in that amount of time. Guys like Eric Martin like contact, and that’s what he was doing, he saw a chance to knock that guy on his ass, and that’s what he did.

3. No one knows whether or not he was “gloating” keep in mind a few things here, niles paul just scored a TD, it’s louder than shit in that stadium, and I’m sure he didn’t have a clear view of what was going on on the field, call me naive, just my opinion.

4. I think the Big 12 should have petitioned the NCAA to handle it, that’s why they’re there, it would have looked far less “suspicious” to some, had the NCAA stepped in and suspended Martin, rather than a Dan Beebe, someone who can’t help but feel a little bit resentful towards to corn huskers.

On a brighter note, this should have little personnel affect on the game, and should do nothing other than stoke the fires of an already fired up Nebraska team.

he said it was because he thought he put a kid in a coma.

If you believe that, you need to find the tallest building around you and jump off head-first.

He really said it was because he was winded already and couldn’t go out to defend on the ensuing kickoff and was being given crap by his teammates. He wasn’t in on the ensuing kickoff.

really makes me want to go “Eric Martin” on him…smug bastard.

If Nebraska had suspended Martin the big 12 wouldn’t have.

Second, one has nothing to do with the other. One was a dumb decision that the Big 12 can do nothing about, so Gundy did. The other was a cheap shot in a game that the officials missed. He lowered his shoulder to line up his head.

The kid’s career is potentially over (from unsubstantiated rumors floating around, but still). It is serious, I feel bad for him. The reason they were so cautious with keeping him on the ground was due to prior neck/back injuries that he has had in his career. He certainly doesn’t have good luck with avoiding terrible injuries.

That said, injuries happen from legal plays all of the time. It is unfortunate, but not all injuries are necessarily a direct result from an illegal hit. My biggest problem with Martin on that play was the fact that he gloated after making the hit. I wish that he would have turned around and found someone else to block; his celebrating is made worse by the player being injured.

If I had to guess, the Big 12 probably just made life that much tougher for Mizzou. Martin wasn’t a huge contributor on defense. His biggest area of strength was on special teams, but his loss isn’t a devastating one.

This does do one thing however. Bo’s teams always do better when they have an “us vs. them” narrative to play against. We now have that narrative. Regardless of what reality might be, is there any chance at all that Pelini hasn’t already used this as a form of motivation?

The Congressional hearings on concussions, NFL crackdown on helmet-to-helmet hits, and the NCAA officiating emphasis on targeting were all done in the hopes of screwing Nebraska out of a random special teams player for a game. It had nothing at all to do with the nature of the hit, the location of the defender being blocked, the apparent reaction of the player (even if it was for the touchdown, it still looked bad on the reply), and the severity of the injury.

They’re all out to get you.

It’s not an out and out conspiracy, mind you – just a mindset which has existed in the Big 12 for the entirety of its existence. We have never been a good fit in this conference, and now there’s a certain amount of punishment taking place for NU having the temerity to call all the bluffs and finally put its own interests on equal footing with the conference.

I am going to miss the Big XII NOT. AT. ALL.

like “offisides,” unabated to the kicker as Henery nails a 65-yard field goal and on the subsequent try he misses.

Or, running into the kicker on a 4th and 7 when it was obviously roughing.

They’ll give us some calls…

for looking at it objectively! I admit I assume he was talking about his block on the sideline too. It is what it is- football.

He reportedly asked the coaching staff if he could go “apologize” for hurting the kid.

It was a dangerous, albeit in my opinion, legal hit that resulted in the injury of the opposing player. The real issue is that the OSU player was coming off another back injury so the trainers were cautious (and for good reason), causing a very long delay in gameplay and allowing Ed Cunningham and Ron Franklin to condemn Eric Martin to death for being a murderer. All of the compounding factors took what would have otherwise been dismissed as a physical play and turned it into a huge debate.

Obviously Husker fans are going to cry foul and OSU fans are going to think justice was served. What I don’t understand is the vitriol being spewed by MU fans who, though I think they are as equally biased against their team, have otherwise been mostly enjoyable to discuss football with. How can you be so certain that Eric Martin was out to intentionally injure players? Arguing such in a debate that really doesn’t involve MU makes your fans look even more fickle and arduous than how you view Nebraska fans.

I remain unconvinced that Beebe isn’t sniggering to his Texas masters about how he seized an opportunity to give Nebraska yet another parting gift.

Again, I’m not saying he is lying, or that he was joking about it on the sideline, but if it was me, I wouldn’t admit to it. Either way, what’s done is done, and shouldn’t really hurt y’all’s chances against Missouri.

Don’t mind me if I steal it and replace Herbie Husker with the Herpies simplex B virus around his mouth with this lovely picture.

even the most black hearted, hate filled mizzou fan, if they really look at it objectively, can’t say that there isn’t a little bit of fishy-ness around this…for what it’s worth I’m not worried about what happens in case of a loss, I think we win handily…and before you go on about how no one respects MU, it’s not a lack of respect in your team, it’s just that I really really like our match up with you guys.

It absolutely won’t be because we lost Martin. We’re mad because that “suspension rule” hasn’t ever been enforced before and they just happen to enforce it against Nebraska for our biggest game of the season.

I highly doubt losing Martin will affect this game (though he does make some nice special teams tackles, not blocks, and our team has really struggled tackling, but I digress), but do wonder about the enforcement of the rule.

It isn’t a conspiracy, but this certainly couldn’t be the first illegal hit (if it was illegal) or the first legal hit that induced an injury (if it was legal) throughout the entire season. I just wonder why it was enforced now, but at least it was only Eric Martin.

If Missouri beats us it is because they are a good football team. I think Missouri is good, I don’t think they will win but I don’t really have any rational reasons based on this season so far. I had a feeling NU would lose to UT and I have a feeling they will beat MU – I hope I’m correct.

Also, Missouri doesn’t have ANY flaws ;)

Pretty much sums it up right there. Thanks for the link Ceek!