McKewon: Why Huskers Can't or Won't Run the Ball

But this game was not an isolated incident. Nebraska is averaging 35.8 rushes per game this season, 10th-most in the Big Ten. Of its 659 plays this season, NU has passed on 56.3 percent.

The numbers become even more lopsided when confined to the Huskers' five Big Ten games. Offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf has called for a run on 44.5 percent of NU's plays against conference foes. Not including sacks, the Huskers are averaging 34.4 rushes per game in the Big Ten - the lowest total since 2007. I think we all remember how that season went.

Nebraska had one sequence against Purdue on which it ran on three or more consecutive plays, a startling-low number considering the inexperience of its new signal caller. Fyfe had 18 career pass attempts coming into the game, yet NU called 53 passing plays.

Again, that's indicative of what the Huskers have shown in Big Ten play - in five games, they have just eight instances in which they ran three or more times in a row.
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Mavric said:
But this game was not an isolated incident. Nebraska is averaging 35.8 rushes per game this season, 10th-most in the Big Ten. Of its 659 plays this season, NU has passed on 56.3 percent.

The numbers become even more lopsided when confined to the Huskers' five Big Ten games. Offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf has called for a run on 44.5 percent of NU's plays against conference foes. Not including sacks, the Huskers are averaging 34.4 rushes per game in the Big Ten - the lowest total since 2007. I think we all remember how that season went.

Nebraska had one sequence against Purdue on which it ran on three or more consecutive plays, a startling-low number considering the inexperience of its new signal caller. Fyfe had 18 career pass attempts coming into the game, yet NU called 53 passing plays.

Again, that's indicative of what the Huskers have shown in Big Ten play - in five games, they have just eight instances in which they ran three or more times in a row.
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Most teams pass more when they are losing. To get a complete picture, the rushing attempts need cross referenced to score. He sorta did that with the quarter breakdown, but it needs to go further to get a complete picture.

 
brophog said:
Mavric said:
But this game was not an isolated incident. Nebraska is averaging 35.8 rushes per game this season, 10th-most in the Big Ten. Of its 659 plays this season, NU has passed on 56.3 percent.

The numbers become even more lopsided when confined to the Huskers' five Big Ten games. Offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf has called for a run on 44.5 percent of NU's plays against conference foes. Not including sacks, the Huskers are averaging 34.4 rushes per game in the Big Ten - the lowest total since 2007. I think we all remember how that season went.

Nebraska had one sequence against Purdue on which it ran on three or more consecutive plays, a startling-low number considering the inexperience of its new signal caller. Fyfe had 18 career pass attempts coming into the game, yet NU called 53 passing plays.

Again, that's indicative of what the Huskers have shown in Big Ten play - in five games, they have just eight instances in which they ran three or more times in a row.
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Link
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Most teams pass more when they are losing. To get a complete picture, the rushing attempts need cross referenced to score. He sorta did that with the quarter breakdown, but it needs to go further to get a complete picture.
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most of these games haven't been so out of hand that that would be a major factor.

NU abandoned the run in this past game... heck, I can't even say abandoned because they never committed to it.

 
Langsdorf said Mikale Wilbon will get reps against MSU. Doesn't sound too confident about Newby's health. We'll see.

 
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GBRedneck said:
FTW said:
Everything is eerily similar to the Callahan era. The mistakes, the losses, the high pass attempts, lack of a running game. The loss today I consider a blowout even though we managed to get garbage points late in the game very similar to '07 USC game where we lost 49-31 but everyone saw how bad Nebraska got beat and the score didn't indicate that at all. We're in for a wild one, that's for sure. We have fired two guys in the past 12 years who both finished 9-3 and traded it for a guy and his staff for a possible 3-9 outcome... It's a nightmare.
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Perlman at the helm. Check.

Henchman brought in to fire 9 win coach. Check.

Mind boggling coaching search. Check.

Hired a coach with a lifetime .500 record. Check.

Inept buddy hire to run the defense. Check.

Forcing an NFL system on players not built for it. Check.

Starting a promising dual threat QB who was built for the prior offense and turning him into a scapegoat. Check.

With starting QB out, throw a backup to the wolves. Check.

Can't get a come from behind win (Callahan 0-17, Riley 0-5 when trailing at half). Check.

Lots of long time historic streaks broken. Check.

Did I miss anything?
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nope you nailed it. great post!

 
Count 'Bility said:
It's revisionist to say Callahan didnt run the ball He did. And when it was working, he usually stuck with it, as much as youd expect a west coast guy to do so.
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Corey Ross...

 
Through the first five plays of the fourth quarter, we ran 32 running plays (for 176 yards - 5.7 ypa other than the kneel down) and 24 passing plays (13 completions - 54% - 180 yards - 7.5 ypa - 2 INTs).

So when we actually COMMIT to the running game (for the most part), we can run for 176 yards in just over three quarters against the #19 rushing defense in the country.

For comparison's sake, Oregon - they of the #6 rushing offense in the country - ran for 123 yards at a 2.9 yards per carry clip for THE ENTIRE GAME.

After that, we were down by two scores and running out of time so passing was necessary and expected. But we CAN run the ball. It's just a matter or WANTING to run the ball.

 
I agree with Mavric. I wish he could call every other series and see if he could best Langsdorf.

Here's a question for anybody: If Nebraska gets the ball first and goal on the two, would you give the ball to Janovich, or give the ball to Cross with Janovich being a lead blocker, or something else? I like Janovich's chances, but I think everybody runs better with Janovich out in front, so I go with Cross...but Armstrong rolling out with Janovich out front...too many right answers, I guess...

 
Also, did we even run the ball straight over the center one time? I sure don't remember one. That's usually about 50% of our running plays.

MANY more plays were run off tackle than we usually do. And we had a lot more success. Against a pretty good run defense.

Crazy.

 
Remember the theme of 2006 was "Pound the Rock".

I love that they have found something that works. I wish it didn't take so long. Using Cross the way they did, moving Sterup inside to guard. All the effort and get afterness we saw from the entire team. A few QB runs and jet sweeps to great effect. The rhythm was just there. This is the kind of run game that keeps the offense wide open. It wasn't dominating, but it never needed to be: it just needed to be reliable and there.

I hope they build off all this and continue it. Cross-Newby should be the combo the rest of the way (in that order). Sprinkle in a little Devine.

 
Mavric said:
This is exactly the point. In today's game, you need to be able to pass. But you can pick your spots a lot better than we have most of the year. Strong running game with some play-action passes mixed in works great. Just like we did against Minnesota and Michigan State.

https://twitter.com/MatthewSvoboda/status/663530637731741696
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I really thought after Minnesota these coaches finally figured out what worked. Then proceeded to scrap that and throw it 50 times the next couple games, making all of us lose our minds. Really hope they FINALLY realized what works after this game and use that gameplan the next couple weeks. Rutgers gives up a little over 150 rushing yards a game, and the 11th most rushing touchdowns at 24. No reason we shouldn't be able to run on them.

 
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