March Badness, Round One, Fumble Region: Jordan Jefferson vs Taylor Martinez

No. 2 Jordan Jefferson

Its actually LSU fan internet law that you can’t say nice things about Jordan Jefferson on here, but nonetheless, we will endeavor.

What was good: A lot of people will tell you that Jefferson is one of the worst quarterbacks that LSU has ever had, and that’s simply not true. For one, he won an SEC championship and played for a national title, and that’s something that only three other players in the history of the program can say. One of few in this tournament that qualify as well. Jefferson won 24 games in his time with the program, fifth most in school history. He is LSU’s all-time leading rusher among quarterbacks, and sixth respectively in career passing touchdowns and touchdowns responsible for. And his tenure featured a number of huge wins, including two over Alabama, and a top-five Arkansas team in 2011 as well.

What was bad: While he definitely isn’t the worst, you couldn’t really call him good, either. Jefferson was just a 58 percent passer for his career, and finished his career with a passer rating of 127.8. Along with Jarrett Lee, Jefferson was the poster child for the Tigers’ struggles throwing the football under Les Miles, and his final game as a brutal, embarrassing shut-out against Alabama that would ultimately prove to be an anchor the program is still trying to untie.

No. 3 Taylor Martinez

For Nebraska’s T-Magic, I sought out noted Cornhusker aficionado Nikolai Denmark (@NikolaiDenmark) on twitter.

The good: The man was the second to last gazelle in a lion hunt. Everything around him could be falling apart in an historic loss and he’d rip off a run like this:

When you were expecting a tough game against a conference rival, he’d absolutely bury them:

The bad: Well, there’s this, which we saw all too often:

(Career 59.8-percent passer who threw 29 career interceptions and took nearly 90 sacks.)

When things got really bad, he’d call home for halftime advice. Luckily, he had a levelheaded coach that would never overreact to these incidents.

Win or lose, for four years, we knew he would take the wheel.