Unpopular Opinions: Husker Edition

Guy Chamberlin said:
Actually DuBose had two consecutive thousand yard seasons at Nebraska. So did Redwine. I just figured they would have piled up more yards as featured studs in a run-happy offense than Newby did as a back-up to Abdullah and less-than-stellar starter on poor rushing squads. 
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Thanks for the clarification on Dubose, I couldn't remember if he tore up his knee before his junior or senior season.  As far as featured stud, Dubose did split carries with Jeff Smith (who had more carries) in 1984.  Dubose did average 20 carries per game in '85 and averaged 116 YPG.  While Redwine was the back with the most carries in 79 & 80, he still only had 14 carries per game in those years.

What the total yardage does show about Newby was that he was able to accumulate a decent amount of total yards in 2015 and 16 as the back with the most carries on those Riley teams, especially as those teams played 13 games in each season.  His YPG average in those 2 seasons was a pedestrian 63 YPG.  Even if you add in his receiving yards, it's still only 75 YPG.

 
Another unpopular opinion might be that I think NU will win more games when the majority of total yards gained are rushing vs passing and we must average 450 a game as well.  Rushing yards are more valuable than passing.  I believe this is a truism of fundamental football.  Always has been although the rule changes have tended to balance the scale somewhat the past decade.  

I think a vigorous and dedicated effort to win the ground game battles is absolutely critical.  A bevy of 4 star WRs won’t fix our run game deficiencies.  

 
84HuskerLaw said:
Another unpopular opinion might be that I think NU will win more games when the majority of total yards gained are rushing vs passing and we must average 450 a game as well.  Rushing yards are more valuable than passing.  I believe this is a truism of fundamental football.  Always has been although the rule changes have tended to balance the scale somewhat the past decade.  

I think a vigorous and dedicated effort to win the ground game battles is absolutely critical.  A bevy of 4 star WRs won’t fix our run game deficiencies.  
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This isn't an unpopular opinion at all. It's shared by almost every coach in football.

When the running game is working, you win games. It's that simple. But because it's that simple, virtually every Defensive Coordinator will start by taking the running game away. Especially if you have a dual-threat quarterback who runs better than he passes. You don't have a great rushing team just by deciding to run the ball 80% of your plays. Stronger teams can sometimes run the ball at will. Against better teams with good defensive line speed, you may have to pass more. Only when your passing game is a legit threat does the running game get its lanes back.

I don't know why we think there's a magic formula. A 180 yard rushing day might not stack up against previous Husker teams, but it could be part of a really effective 450 yard performance. The next week, against a different defense, maybe you run wild and pass less. 

If you have to choose between great receivers and great running backs, I'm going to take both because that's how great football is played. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
This isn't an unpopular opinion at all. It's shared by almost every coach in football.

When the running game is working, you win games. It's that simple. But because it's that simple, virtually every Defensive Coordinator will start by taking the running game away. Especially if you have a dual-threat quarterback who runs better than he passes. You don't have a great rushing team just by deciding to run the ball 80% of your plays. Stronger teams can sometimes run the ball at will. Against better teams with good defensive line speed, you may have to pass more. Only when your passing game is a legit threat does the running game get its lanes back.

I don't know why we think there's a magic formula. A 180 yard rushing day might not stack up against previous Husker teams, but it could be part of a really effective 450 yard performance. The next week, against a different defense, maybe you run wild and pass less. 

If you have to choose between great receivers and great running backs, I'm going to take both because that's how great football is played. 
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This is the part that's annoying some of the fanbase, but it's a core part of Frost's philosophy. Urban Meyer has mentioned a couple of times how difficult it can be to prepare for use since we can vary so much from week to week. Obviously we haven't been difficult enough to prepare for, but they want to be flexible enough to exploit any team's weakness.

I feel like our games against Wisconsin have been a good offensive example. Wisconsin could not rush the passer in 2018, and we had Martinez throw for close to 400 on them. Then this year they could get after the passer, and we attacked another weakness and ran for almost 270. Those need to turn into more points (and wins), but in the games we go pass heavy it's because that's the weakness they've targeted. Not because they don't understand the importance of running the ball.

 
In my opinion, Tom will always be one of the greatest coaches in college football, however, with that said

I have these bones to pick:

Tom never should have picked his replacement

Tom, as AD,  should have picked a more seasoned coach instead of Bo

If Tom could run for congress, run for governor or become the AD,  he should have just coached another 5-10 years and we wouldn't  be in the current mess.

Tom should have just kicked the @%# extra point.  (But I'm proud of him not doing so :smokin )

 
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TGHusker said:
In my opinion, Tom will always be one of the greatest coaches in college football, however, with that said

I have these bones to pick:

Tom never should have picked his replacement

Tom, as AD,  should have picked a more seasoned coach instead of Bo

If Tom could run for congress, run for governor or become the AD,  he should have just coached another 5-10 years and we wouldn't  be in the current mess.

Tom should have just kicked the @%# extra point.  (But I'm proud of him not doing so :smokin )
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Tom should hot have signed off on Steve Pederson. 

 
Turner Gill was a better QB than Tommie Frazier.     Turner was a  finger tip away from a NC (83), a yard out of bounds bad call from another (82) and got us in the position to play in a 3rd (81 vs Clemson)

 
TGHusker said:
In my opinion, Tom will always be one of the greatest coaches in college football, however, with that said

I have these bones to pick:

Tom never should have picked his replacement

Tom, as AD,  should have picked a more seasoned coach instead of Bo

If Tom could run for congress, run for governor or become the AD,  he should have just coached another 5-10 years and we wouldn't  be in the current mess.

Tom should have just kicked the @%# extra point.  (But I'm proud of him not doing so :smokin )
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Someone had to say it. 

 
I don't know why I keep opening this thread

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We will never "be back", if being back means being dominant for 30+ years.  The Devaney/Osborne era was a lightning in a bottle phenomenon that relied on facets of college football that are no longer unique to the Huskers. We may get better, and we may contend for and/or win championships, but we will never be "that" team again.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
This isn't an unpopular opinion at all. It's shared by almost every coach in football.

When the running game is working, you win games. It's that simple. But because it's that simple, virtually every Defensive Coordinator will start by taking the running game away. Especially if you have a dual-threat quarterback who runs better than he passes. You don't have a great rushing team just by deciding to run the ball 80% of your plays. Stronger teams can sometimes run the ball at will. Against better teams with good defensive line speed, you may have to pass more. Only when your passing game is a legit threat does the running game get its lanes back.

I don't know why we think there's a magic formula. A 180 yard rushing day might not stack up against previous Husker teams, but it could be part of a really effective 450 yard performance. The next week, against a different defense, maybe you run wild and pass less. 

If you have to choose between great receivers and great running backs, I'm going to take both because that's how great football is played. 
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There is no magic formula beyond rush for about 450 yards and you win almost 100% of the time.  Pass for 450 and probably win about 65% of your games.  Assuming identical defenses etc.  

And in my observation it is a minority opinion on this Board and usually gets you hammered for even suggesting to “run the dam ball”.   Its not so much the ratio of run vs pass plays as it is YARDS gained.  Defenses stop the run first for a reason. 

 
TGHusker said:
Turner Gill was a better QB than Tommie Frazier.     Turner was a  finger tip away from a NC (83), a yard out of bounds bad call from another (82) and got us in the position to play in a 3rd (81 vs Clemson)
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Yeah.....no.   Frazier 2 Nattys and a 3 time MVP in national title games.

It’s close though, real close.  Turner had some bad breaks.  And our defense wasn’t half as good as Frazier’s squad.

 
TGHusker said:
Turner Gill was a better QB than Tommie Frazier.     Turner was a  finger tip away from a NC (83), a yard out of bounds bad call from another (82) and got us in the position to play in a 3rd (81 vs Clemson)
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Oooh! That's controversial. But I might have to agree with you. Gill was the smoothest quarterback we ever had. 

 
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