An interesting take on the Spring Game: "Still Under Wraps"

zoogs

zoogs

Assistant Coach
http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2011/04/16/4daa39678cac9

In the CIA, DEA, FBI, NATO, UN and even the PTA, secrecy has its comforting virtues. A purpose.

But it didn't do Nebraska's football team many favors in Saturday's Red/White Spring Game. Especially NU's top two quarterbacks, Taylor Martinez and Cody Green, who sputtered in an bland-as-a-plain-bagel offense specifically designed to limit them so Big Ten opponents next fall couldn't ferret out any clues of coordinator Tim Beck's top-secret attack.

While third-stringer Brion Carnes steadied himself in the pocket and fired at will to relatively wide-open targets that included the electric Jamal Turner, Martinez and Green were seemingly stuck in the Shawn Watson era. Mini-slants to Brandon Kinnie. Tight end curl and flat routes run by Ben Cotton, J.T Kerr and the stupendously tall Robert Barry. These routes, and others, were slow to emerge. Same stuff from last year. None of the verve and energy Beck and his players have crowed about.
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An interesting angle and context to the struggles of Taylor and Cody today, and a slight pew-pew on the feel goodness I think most of us had from the offensive barnburner that happened.

Here's more from Sam:

Couple things:

*Carnes did not face as good of a defense. People will argue this with me or point to some anecdotal moment, but it's accurate.

*Beck admitted in the postgame that he was too conservative early in the game and opened up the playbook just a little after awhile.

*The play that favors Martinez most - the zone read - was not run as it normally would be. The open, 4-and-5 wide sets that favor Green were not run much, either.

If you put Green in a 5WR and a shotgun and you tell him to sling it, I'm telling you, he's comfortable in that. If you tell him to run shortside speed option into Eric Martin working against a true freshman, he's not going to do much.

Should he fumble the ball? No.

But Beck wouldn't call that in a real game. He called it later on third-and-goal from the 10 with Carnes running it. Carnes didn't get anything either.
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It seems the name of the game is still secrecy right now. Hopefully the prelude to taking the Big Ten completely by storm.

 
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It was the spring game. We learned virtually nothing. It is football though - an oasis in the desert, and we can enjoy that. Just don't put too much stock into it.

 
I like McKewon as much as the next guy, but I don't know that opening the playbook for Martinez and Green would've made a tangible difference in their long-term development. You can only do so much within the confines of the spring game. Ultimately I don't think Bo's approach today will hurt us at all. There are plenty of other things about Bo much more worthy of complaint.

I hope Sam enjoyed the weather at least, and the fact that football was played.

 
One hell of a sweet oasis this year. I think these high scoring spring games are much more fun and easier to enjoy than defensive battles.

 
I like Sam's writing and he raises a good point.

I've never quite understood why you wouldn't want to open up the play book in your last official practice for months. Why not work some of those kinks out, as Sam said, and prepare yourselves for the summer and fall?

At the same time, I can understand that Bo wants to keep things close to the chest and treats the spring game as a reward more than an actual practice. But I still think for the sake of practice and preparation that a game shouldn't be that vanilla.

 
talaricohusker said:
any one notice that most of the O was run in the pistol? i think that will be our base O
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It was about half our offense, and I doubt that anything we saw in this game will be indicative of what we see this Fall. It was very basic. Taylor in particular had NOBODY to throw to. The passing lanes were terribly crowded, and he had no open receivers - or should I say, no receivers working hard to get open. Neither did Green, for that matter.

 
knapplc said:
talaricohusker said:
any one notice that most of the O was run in the pistol? i think that will be our base O
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It was about half our offense, and I doubt that anything we saw in this game will be indicative of what we see this Fall. It was very basic. Taylor in particular had NOBODY to throw to. The passing lanes were terribly crowded, and he had no open receivers - or should I say, no receivers working hard to get open. Neither did Green, for that matter.
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I agree i was there at the game and every thing seemed sloppy to me. i know the guys were having fun but still it was sloppy play on the o line and all

 
i think the secrecy crap is overdone, after a couple games next fall, will there be any secrets left? any way now we know, Beck can do a helluva Watson impersonation... :facepalm:

 
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