What will change, hopefully change, or stay the same with the 2012 offense?

[Saunders]

It's not sandlot football it's called new looks or wrinkles. Sprinkle in some new looks and plays in every game to throw the defense off balance. Every team when they play Nebraska brings a ton of new looks and things they had never shown before. How many times in postgame press conferences did we hear Bo say that? So somehow nearly every team in the FBS can do it but if Nebraska were to try it we'd be playing sandlot football? Not buying it.

There's a slight difference between showing a different look (i.e flexing a TE or motioning a fullback) and just putting players in random positions just for the heck of it. Now you're talking about something completely different. What you described above is the kind of stuff we do on my flag football team. Carnes had enough problems last year running a basic playbook and reading defenses, let alone throwing in a bunch of gadget plays.

 

['SkersRule]

If Carnes knows 5 pass plays out of our basic pistol set that would be 11 personnel for those keeping track at home then what difference does it make who lines up where? It doesn't make a shred of difference to us but it could make the defense hesitate for just that split sceond which could result in a big play or even cause them burn a timeout early in the game. There were certainly numerous instances last season where our defense had to burn timeouts because the offense was doing something unexpected.

 

[Enhance]

If Carnes knows 5 pass plays out of our basic pistol set that would be 11 personnel for those keeping track at home then what difference does it make who lines up where? It doesn't make a shred of difference to us but it could make the defense hesitate for just that split sceond which could result in a big play or even cause them burn a timeout early in the game. There were certainly numerous instances last season where our defense had to burn timeouts because the offense was doing something unexpected.

I think you're ignoring something very basic here. Running a play isn't as simple as saying you go here, you go here, run the play. It takes repetition, hours of practice and hours film study to get good at your job. Do we really want to devote hours each week (which is what it would take) to introducing multiple different fluke/trick plays for every game? It's just so unreasonable. It will result in false starts, not having 7 players on the line, timeouts, you name it. Remember back to '08, when we had the trick field goal play and the holder would throw it over his shoulder? We did it twice - once for a first down, and once for a touchdown awarded to the other team. Trick plays are dicey, and need to be carefully planned/coordinated.

An exampled that worked for us - against Iowa, we had Martinez get the ball, fake a run, and then he did a little jump pass to a wide open Reed. Required no personnel changes and nothing fancy. Just a twist on the basic concept of play action.

I'm not saying fluke/trick plays aren't beneficial - they can be game changers. But they need to be things that make sense. Cotton at FB doesn't. Martinez at WR with Carnes at quarterback doesn't.

When Pelini is talking about getting new looks, he isn't talking about our opponent lining the center up at wide receiver. Sure, there are some personnel things, but most of what he's talking about are formations - different ways the opponents line up their base personnel to throw the defense off.

I understand what you're saying, but trick plays need to be an extremely small percentage of what you do as a football team. You're somewhat making it seem like it should be a staple of what we do, and it isn't a staple of any team. Even Spurrier's antics are only once or twice a game at most, and he's outside the norm.

 

['SkersRule]

I'm talking about wrinkes off of our base offense. Cotton has been a starter at TE for three seasons I'm sure he could handle learning two or three plays from the FB spot. Would something like that actually work? I surely don't know but I do know one thing it'll absolutely never work if it is never tried. And even that detracts from the point which is to get more creativity into the offense whether we're talking about personnel groupings or play design. Imagine Kyler Reed lining up as a FB and then running a wheel route. Miami did that to us in the Rose Bowl years ago. They lined up Jermey Shockey as a FB, he ran a wheel route and the scored a TD. I'm not talking about deviating away from our base offense and going crazy with this. Just bring enough to the table each week to give the defense something extra to think about.

 

[Saunders]

I'm talking about wrinkes off of our base offense. Cotton has been a starter at TE for three seasons I'm sure he could handle learning two or three plays from the FB spot. Would something like that actually work? I surely don't know but I do know one thing it'll absolutely never work if it is never tried. And even that detracts from the point which is to get more creativity into the offense whether we're talking about personnel groupings or play design. Imagine Kyler Reed lining up as a FB and then running a wheel route. Miami did that to us in the Rose Bowl years ago. They lined up Jermey Shockey as a FB, he ran a wheel route and the scored a TD. I'm not talking about deviating away from our base offense and going crazy with this. Just bring enough to the table each week to give the defense something extra to think about.

Ok, now that makes more sense. Your original post sounded like you wanted the A-11 offense... and I was going to tell you to put down the crackpipe.

 

[carlfense]

Good posts in here Enhance. I think I +1'd most of them.

What we do not need is more gadget plays and personnel groupings . . . what we need is some good old fashioned execution. Make the critical blocks. Hold on to the football. Play smart. Catch passes. Etc.

 

[bshirt]

Good posts in here Enhance. I think I +1'd most of them.

What we do not need is more gadget plays and personnel groupings . . . what we need is some good old fashioned execution. Make the critical blocks. Hold on to the football. Play smart. Catch passes. Etc.

Agreed the "last" thing we need is more gimmick plays.

We desperately need to dump this tragic "multiple" BS (marginal at everything & masters of nothing), pick a core set we'll use and practice running it over & over. Live or die with it. As Uncle Milt used to say "Repetitions are everything".

 

[n.e.husker]

Use the tight ends!!!!!!

http://huskerextra.com/sports/huskers/football/article_028ad775-5c49-5bb3-92ea-06ef1de993cb.html

There were many football coaches that could have been picked to speak at the Nebraska coaches clinic last week.

The guy this year, though, was New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

And maybe, just maybe, something the Husker coaches saw or heard while meeting with Belichick will help tight ends such as Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton get more chances to make plays in Year 2 of Tim Beck's offense. That, along with the improved health of both Reed and Cotton heading into their senior seasons.

 

[n.e.husker]

More tight ends haha.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120316/BIGRED/703179925/-1#nu-may-use-healthy-reed-ben-cotton-together

"And we didn't have a game where we were both 100 percent," Reed said of himself and Cotton, both of whom are fifth-year seniors.

Now they are. Reed's up to 230 pounds. Cotton looks trimmer. Both view themselves as leaders — Cotton vocal and out front, Reed quiet and intense — with a shot at putting up a big season.

And that recent trip from New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick could help.

"He was talking with our staff," Reed said. "They use their two tight ends a lot. Some of our coaches may spend some time up there. We're still trying to get used to it. We're not trying to force catches — just play within the offense."

 

[huskerhandy35]

A major offensive strategy that wasn't utilized last year nearly enough is misdirection plays!! I can't count how many times last year the D's we faced keyed in on our offense and basically shut us down after the first quarter of play. The D's adjusted and we wouldn't and it was painful to watch! That's why we had alot of success early in games just to lose it all appraoching halftime or in the second half of games. I remember the glory days when we'd see Tommy Frazier take the snap, roll out to his right (or left) and draw the D the way he was heading, and meanwhile Lawrence Phillips would quietly slip left and Frazier would suddenly turn around the throw the ball to Phillips across the field back left and Phillips would have wide open field to run with! It worked in the N.C. game for a TD and was so effective, but Osborne was the master at adjusting in game and whether or not Beck can do some ofr the same things is unknown?

 

[kchusker_chris]

Good posts in here Enhance. I think I +1'd most of them.

What we do not need is more gadget plays and personnel groupings . . . what we need is some good old fashioned execution. Make the critical blocks. Hold on to the football. Play smart. Catch passes. Etc.

Agreed the "last" thing we need is more gimmick plays.

We desperately need to dump this tragic "multiple" BS (marginal at everything & masters of nothing), pick a core set we'll use and practice running it over & over. Live or die with it. As Uncle Milt used to say "Repetitions are everything".

ummm....i'm 100% agreeing w/ bshirt. crap. my day just went to sh1t.

 

[bshirt]

Good posts in here Enhance. I think I +1'd most of them.

What we do not need is more gadget plays and personnel groupings . . . what we need is some good old fashioned execution. Make the critical blocks. Hold on to the football. Play smart. Catch passes. Etc.

Agreed the "last" thing we need is more gimmick plays.

We desperately need to dump this tragic "multiple" BS (marginal at everything & masters of nothing), pick a core set we'll use and practice running it over & over. Live or die with it. As Uncle Milt used to say "Repetitions are everything".

ummm....i'm 100% agreeing w/ bshirt. crap. my day just went to sh1t.

See, there's hope for you yet!

 

['SkersRule]

Multiple means being able to run every play 4 or 5 different ways nothing more. Nebraska under Tom Osborne was multiple because when he ran an Iso play it could be blocked 4, 5 or even 6 different ways. It was this approach that always kept opposing teams guessing what was coming next despite not throwing the ball much. Defenses key in on blocking schemes and use that to quickly diagnose the play. But if you can run a play and block it 4 or 5 different ways then it becomes much harder to key into. That's what Bo means when he says multiple.

 

[akita]

I just hope the team does this to the oppents and has no mercy on them. Then we will like ths scores on the scorebored. That is what is needed in change of the Husker nation attitude. Beat them down hard and win the game dominating!

 

[Hunter94]

that's a tough crew working at that mickey d's!