Nebraska transfer Adrian Martinez proving he can win close games as Kansas State’s QB

For as long as Adrian Martinez has been playing college football, the knock on him has always been the same.

He can’t win close games.

But that narrative is beginning to change now that Martinez is midway through his first season at Kansas State.

With Martinez leading the offense this year, the No. 17 Wildcats (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) have played in four games that were decided by single digits and won three of them. K-State found a way to win its latest nail-biter over the weekend when it beat Iowa State 10-9 at Jack Trice Stadium, with Martinez accounting for 323 yards of offense and a touchdown.

“Find a way to win,” Martinez said afterward. “That’s what it’s all about. I have a lot of faith in my teammates and a lot of faith in myself, too. We didn’t know how it was going to happen. At one point they took the lead 9-7 and our guys never faltered.”

That is a big change from his days at Nebraska.

During his four seasons in Lincoln, the Huskers seemed unable to win close games. They lost them so often it almost felt like they were cursed. Nebraska went 5-22 in games decided by single digits while Martinez was on campus, including an improbable 0-9 run last year.

Some Nebraska fans blamed all those defeats on Martinez. But a change of scenery has helped turn him into a winner.

K-State football coach Chris Klieman said the Wildcats were lucky to have a quarterback with five years of starting experience leading their offense against Iowa State.

“Boy, he doesn’t panic,” Klieman said of Martinez. “He’s so calm. He got us out of some plays and got us into some some different plays. It was one of those things where we were changing personnel and we had to call some things really fast, which maybe got us into some plays we didn’t like. But he does such a good job of being calm and relaxed and trying to keep us out of the negative plays.”

Martinez was at his best on K-State’s opening drive when he avoided a blitz from Iowa State and found Phillip Brooks down field for an 81-yard scoring strike, which proved to be the only touchdown of the game.

There were no style points to be found on Saturday. Good thing Martinez wasn’t searching for them.

“It was kind of ugly, but we found a way,” Martinez said. “Guys stepped up and made big plays in big moments. All it’s really about is winning. We are happy at the end of the day.”

Martinez went on to throw for 246 yards and later showed his toughness by gutting out 77 yards as a rusher.

That led to some physical tackles, which left Martinez visibly bruised when the game was over.

“We definitely had to earn everything,” he said. “They’re a physical, big defense and they play disciplined. We knew that going in and had a couple of different looks for them. It was just a grind-it-out, find-your-way type of game.”

He has only played six games for the Wildcats, but Martinez has already found many different ways to help K-State win.

Martinez was little more than a game manager against South Dakota and Missouri, as he took a back seat to star running back Deuce Vaughn. Then he transformed himself from Bruce Banner into the Hulk and steamrolled Oklahoma for 382 total yards and four touchdowns in a 41-34 win. Next came 171 rushing yards and three touchdowns against Texas Tech in a 37-28 victory. Then came another narrow win over Iowa State.

His only blemish came against Tulane, when the Green Wave pulled off a 17-10 upset on a day when nothing seemed to go right for the Wildcats.

Plenty of things went wrong for K-State against Iowa State, but that didn’t stop the Wildcats or their quarterback from gutting out a road victory.

Martinez now expects to win close games.

“It’s my fifth year playing college football and I’m just really excited to be a part of this squad,” Martinez said, “and have that type of confidence no matter how the game is going.”