Nebraska senior quarterback Taylor Martinez is expected to miss his third consecutive game when the Huskers play Purdue on Saturday in their first road contest of the season.
Martinez has been bothered by turf toe and hasn't played since a Sept. 14 loss at UCLA. He has missed wins over FCS opponent South Dakota State and Illinois. Nebraska (4-1) is off next weekend, and Martinez could return Oct. 26 at Minnesota.
Redshirt freshman Tommy Armstrong III will make his third consecutive start in Martinez's stead. Armstrong has played well: He has been at the helm of 13 drives, and Nebraska has scored touchdowns on nine of them. The Huskers haven't punted on any Armstrong-led drive.
That said, the competition level hasn't been that high, and it won't be high Saturday, either. Purdue is the worst team in the Big Ten and true freshman quarterback Danny Etling will be making his first career start for the Boilermakers.
The Huskers' schedule toughens considerably in November, with games against Northwestern, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Iowa. If the Huskers are to win the Legends Division, Martinez needs to play in November. While Armstrong has a good upside, right now Martinez is both a better passer and a more explosive runner than Armstrong, who was a consensus top-10 dual-threat quarterback nationally in the 2012 recruiting class. Armstrong, who is a more physical runner than Martinez, chose Nebraska over Baylor and TCU, among others.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
