NU Offense Trending Sharply Upwards

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International Man of Mystery
Does everyone love Watson again? Does he get to keep his job now, or are people still interested in seeing him leave?

NU offense trending sharply upwards
By Mitch Sherman

LINCOLN — Say this about the Nebraska offense through three football games: The Huskers know who they are.

And that's saying something after the past two years.

The sixth- and seventh-ranked Huskers play a run-first, explosive brand of football not so different from Oregon.

You've seen it: Based out of the shotgun; lots of zone read; multiple in scheme and equipped, it seems, to score from any place on the field. Most important, the Huskers finally have found an identity — a hot-button topic in 2008 and '09 under coordinator Shawn Watson, who looks like a mastermind again.

“We always thought this was the vision of where we could be,” Watson said Tuesday.

NU ranks fifth nationally in scoring (47.7 points per game), fourth in rushing (344 yards) and eighth in total yardage (513.3). Quite the contrast from a year ago, when Nebraska ranked 75th in scoring, 62nd in rushing and 99th in total offense.

“What's been a little bit different is we have been scoring so quick, we've been on the field a lot more (defensively), to be honest with you,” coach Bo Pelini said. “I wanted to tell coach Watson to tell the offense to use a little bit more clock.”

Watson's not surprised with the quick-strike style or the overall production. Neither is Pelini.

“I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think Coach Watson is a heck of a football coach,” he said. “What a good football coach does is he looks and sees what his talent is. You don't just play one scheme. ... You evolve according to your talent.”

Watson, meanwhile, feels a sense of redemption.

“I didn't get stupid overnight,” he said.

The Huskers' offensive woes of 2009 are well documented. Quarterback Zac Lee battled an arm injury most of the season. Injuries also slowed or sidelined I-backs Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead and several offensive linemen.

So what's the difference this year?

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I'm not sold on the guy at all but if it was his idea to start Tmart this year I'll have to start changing my mind in a big way (and eat a gallon or so of crow...).

 
I've always been a watson fan. His offense got cold last year, and he had to change his style of offense mid-season and now his hard work is paying off. apart from the hiccup last year, his offense schemes were successful. The transition to a west coast pass-happy offense to a run dominated offense is not a cake walk. Watson was able to do it in a relatively short period of time. His value to this team is immeasurable. Of course, everyone will be throwing rocks at him again if the team offense struggles for even one game. I'd rather have Watson with the reins to this offence than most any other OC in college fball.

 
Silent Commit said:
I've always been a watson fan. His offense got cold last year, and he had to change his style of offense mid-season and now his hard work is paying off. apart from the hiccup last year, his offense schemes were successful. The transition to a west coast pass-happy offense to a run dominated offense is not a cake walk. Watson was able to do it in a relatively short period of time. His value to this team is immeasurable. Of course, everyone will be throwing rocks at him again if the team offense struggles for even one game. I'd rather have Watson with the reins to this offence than most any other OC in college fball.
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Disagree. His offenses have always been mediocre to ok at best. This is not HIS offense, and we have only had 3 games against sub-par competetion. If we put up 30 points on Texa$$ and win that game, I'll give him props. But none so far for putting an acceptable offense on the field in his 5th year here.

 
I think you can still have issues with what happened last year and praise him for this year.. (if this offense turns out to be as good as it looks this year)

My issue was injuries and talent completely shut this offense down last year. It came to an unacceptable level of ineptness..

A great OC would have figured out how to generate some offense last year. I can accept there will be years where the offense will be up or down. But, we should never be falling down to the 100's nationally in offensive production.. If we do, he's to blame. Just as he's to be credited when we're good.

 
I'm not a big fan of Watson, but I think he's a decent OC. What amazes me is how people completely blame Watson for last year's offense even though both he and Bo have said repeatedly that Bo shut things down. Bo has even said he pulled the reins in a little too much. Why doesn't Bo, the HC who made the decision to hamstring the offense, take any of the blame? And why do Cotton and Watson not get more credit for what has happened so far this season? I think people's biases for and against various coaches is showing through here.

 
RedDenver said:
I'm not a big fan of Watson, but I think he's a decent OC. What amazes me is how people completely blame Watson for last year's offense even though both he and Bo have said repeatedly that Bo shut things down. Bo has even said he pulled the reins in a little too much. Why doesn't Bo, the HC who made the decision to hamstring the offense, take any of the blame? And why do Cotton and Watson not get more credit for what has happened so far this season? I think people's biases for and against various coaches is showing through here.
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I think you summed it up in your first sentence. "he's a decent oc"..

I agree he's decent, but I'm not sure I'm willing to settle for decent. If he can look like a mastermind when a guy like Martinez is playing and look like a pop warner coach when Lee is playing, there's going to be far too many extreme highs and lows in his tenure here.

I understand there will always be some fluctuation based on talent, but not to the extremes of the last few years.

 
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i remember being happy that watson was staying on when NU hired BO, and i defended him last year. BO can overreact, and he did last year with reigning in the offense. i do not blame him, he was incredibly confident in his defense, and he should have been, but when you are outmatched like we were in the TU game, you have to take risks if you expect to win. last year was tough for the offense, and i do not hold it against any coach (although i do have issues with cotton, but root for him). anyone willing to pass judgment over watson for last year is being unfair, unrealistic, and should give him some more time. i am sure many are already seeing him in a different light from last year.

 
It wasn't just about Bo reigning in the offense. Part of our offensive sucktitude last year was due to injuries. We were pretty banged up in several O-line spots. Both Roy and Rex weren’t at full speed either.

As for this year, let’s revisit this topic in about a month. We’ll know what we got by then.

 
nuance said:
It wasn't just about Bo reigning in the offense. Part of our offensive sucktitude last year was due to injuries. We were pretty banged up in several O-line spots. Both Roy and Rex weren’t at full speed either.

As for this year, let’s revisit this topic in about a month. We’ll know what we got by then.
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that is why i thought you cannot pass judgment on the coaching staff for the offensive performance last year.

 
sd said:
nuance said:
It wasn't just about Bo reigning in the offense. Part of our offensive sucktitude last year was due to injuries. We were pretty banged up in several O-line spots. Both Roy and Rex weren’t at full speed either.

As for this year, let’s revisit this topic in about a month. We’ll know what we got by then.
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that is why i thought you cannot pass judgment on the coaching staff for the offensive performance last year.
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Was that an implied "hence" at the beginning there???

/jk

 
He may not have gotten stupid over night, but his offense sure can get SUCKY overnight.

Too many towerring highs, followed by abyss like lows.

 
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