Jeremy

Do we have or could we get a Matt Corral? Not saying Libby is a bad pick, but Corral makes that offense look good with a lot his own crazy ability.

Obviously, I'm a flexbone guy, but I would be fine with an Urban Meyer-style scheme. The problem is that we would need Urban Meyer to run it. I would say the Buckeyes have changed a good deal since Day took the helm. Another issue, though, is that we would need a QB that is, at the very least, moderately accurate with his passing. We haven't had a guy like that since...Joey Ganz?

Hey, we might get Willy Korn from Coastal. Now, what they do might not be solely considered a 'triple option' scheme per se, but they've certainly utilized Triple, Speed, Load, and Lead options quite a bit in their scheme. So that would be cool.

Oof. I like Frost, and I'm glad he was retained, but this is a poor decision. C'mon, Scott, can you seriously not see this?

What proof am I ignoring? Navy's 11 win season 2 years ago? Air Force's 11 wins the same year? Georgia Tech's 2 ACC championships and Orange Bowl berths? Army's 9 wins last year? That's a lot of success 'playing out' very recently against defenses that absolutely loaded the box over and over. And yet...they still couldn't stop it. Oh yeah, Army scored 56 points against Wake Forest, their loaded box, and all that ACC 'speed.'

Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech won the ACC TWICE, and won the Orange Bowl against Mississippi State, Dak Prescott, and all that $EC speed. That's pretty 'uber successful.' They didn't just beat them, they set the Orange Bowl RUSHING RECORD against all that speed. Georgia Tech and their high admission standards make their recruiting challenging, and yet, they still competed very well most years. Since Johnson retired, the Yellow Jackets have stunk it up trying to run spread stuff that everyone else is doing. Like us. Thank you for bringing up Navy. Navy won 11 games 2 years ago, so it doesn't work 'every once in a while.' Guess what kind of offense we ran the last time we won 11 games? How many games have we won trying what we're doing now? The fact that Navy could EVER beat a WAY more talented program like Notre Dame is a real testament to the Middies as a program, and I think this offense contributes a lot to that. They beat Kansas State and all their Big 12 speed, too. Navy is definitely rebuilding this year, but they did beat a very talented UCF squad. Army won 9 games last year. Air Force ALSO won 11 games in 2019. Don't TELL me it doesn't work. Every team the service academies play are way more talented than they are. I would argue that Frost's offensive scheme HAS been terrible. Sure it gained some yards, but we don't win with the most yards. We win with the most points. Frost has averaged a whopping 26 points per game against P5 competition. That's not nearly enough when our defense is out on the field for WAY more than half the game. Nebraska never won anything by caring what everyone else was doing. When the rest of the country started going to passing attacks, Osborne stuck to his guns and ran the ball even more. We've tried nearly every offense besides this for the last 18 years, and we have NOTHING to show for it. Literally, what do we have to lose?

There is literally no proof that this is what would happen. I can throw out predictions, too: If we keep doing the crap we're doing now, we'll keep winning 3-5 games a season.

I love Adrian - he's an absolute warrior and all around great kid. But he'll never be the guy that consistently fits passes in tight windows.

Rocket Toss.

You couldn't be more right.

If it's any consolation we have scoreboard forever over Iowa State, and even with Campbell, their best coach in...forever?, they've achieved basically nothing.

I agree with this. Here's where I'm at. Whether Trev fires Frost or not, we're in for a couple more struggle bus years, right? I mean, outside of a miracle, like Urban Meyer or Bobby Stoops ending up in Lincoln, the next staff has an uphill battle on their hands, probably another losing season at the least. I think we as fans ALWAYS have the 90s in the back of our minds, and Frost was a big part of that. So if we're going to be wading through some tough times, we'd rather do it with the true blue Nebraskan; a guy we KNOW is doing everything he can to right the ship. A guy that isn't looking for his next stop after Lincoln. To me, Frost kind of cemented this by taking the lower contract; somewhat of a sacrifice.

Did someone say Wishbone?

How do we know that? I don't get everyone's hate on a legitimate, effective offense. We've been trying spread/RPO stuff for 4 years, and average something like 26 points per game against P5 competition.

I have to say that really slow ride/RPO look is quite different, very interesting stuff. Not sure if it would translate against some of these B1G defenses, though.

Hey, I'll give you that. If we were as efficient as our 2008 offense under Watson (man, what happened to him?), I think this coming game against Wisconsin would be for the B1G West. Joey Ganz as QB coach confirmed?

I guess the real question, then, is who is the quarterback whisperer that's going to swoop in here and turn our QB into Pat Mahomes?

Absolutely, there are reasons why only they run the Flexbone. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be effective here. Frost is 15-27 trying spread stuff. That in itself is proof that trying to be like everyone else is not a great idea. We need to be different.

This is a good point, but the Flexbone doesn't JUST feature a running quarterback. Sure, he may run the ball, but there are 3 OTHER guys that could get the ball on any given play. It's not all on the quarterback, and that's the main problem we've had the last several years. Also, like I said, the Flexbone is not the same as Osborne's offense, and there's absolutely no proof that B1G defenses would eat it alive. The only proof I have going for me is the fact that Army marched into Ann Arbor a few years ago and took them to overtime. Who is more talented - Army, or us?

I still haven't seen any cogent arguments as to why the Flexbone WOULDN'T work. Navy won 11 games 2 years ago. 11 games. The last time Nebraska won 11 games was 2001. I know, I know, Navy's competition was trash. 1)They beat Kansas State in the bowl game. Watch it, it was a thing of beauty. 2)Our level of recruiting is in a different galaxy than theirs. 3)If they can do it, so can we. I would argue that nearly every team they play has more talent on their roster than they do.

We never ran anything close to the Flexbone under Osborne. As many have pointed out, Osborne preferred to work the ball down the field with ISO, Pitch, and Counter. The option look was a change-up to break tendencies. He never had his quarterbacks actually read the defense - it was either a called give to the FB or a QB keep/pitch. In the Flexbone, the quarterback is reading a defender most plays. The 'B' back, or what we would call the fullback, dives straight ahead most plays, and either gets the ball, or he doesn't. A guy like Yant would be PERFECT for this. This stresses a defense right away, because they have to take away that immediate threat. Many times, if the B-Back can break a tackle, he gets yards quickly. After that, it's a matter of getting a hat on a hat. If the QB reads the end or tackle crashing, he pulls, and options out like we've seen so much. There is a very simple reason as to why it's hard to prepare for. Not only does no one else do it, almost every other defense is built to stop spread offenses, like ours right now. Most defenses, even in the B1G, need to have more defensive backs, more speed on the field, and this necessarily means less size. Also, as a coach, in every other game, you have to teach your players good habits and tendencies when reading twins, trips, Texas route concepts, defending mesh, Y-cross, run leverage against the zone read, and many other things to stop what USED to be new and innovative with the spread. But that's just it. The spread isn't new anymore. Defenses have caught up, and we all know that the red-zone is one of the main weaknesses of the spread. For instance, we gave up 3 field goals to Ohio State's spread on Saturday in the second half. Our defense is built to stop the spread. They aren't built to sustain blow after blow from a B-Back, working down the field at 4-7 yards a play. They aren't built to recognize if a slot-back is curl-blocking or actually running a route, and this is what leads to many good gains on the outside for the QB and pitch-back. It fits right into our recruiting wheel-house. I contend we can always recruit linemen and running backs. We could still get some receivers, but we wouldn't be wasting recruiting time and money trying to beat out the B1G's other heavy-hitters. We're not beating them now, so why play that game? Osborne understood this more than anyone. He recruited the best athletes he could for defense, and focused on linemen and running backs. He focused on development and repetition - the back-up could come in and do a serviceable job if the starter went down. This is a staple of the Flexbone, as well. A ball-control offense like this helps the defense by keeping it off the field. It moves the chains, works the clock, and gives the defense a breather. Normally. No offense is without its 3-and-outs, of course. I really could go on and on, but I don't get why everyone wants to keep doing more of the same, and then expect our offense to do better.

Bonehead mistakes? True. But why? There is a reason. The bonehead mistakes come from asking these kids to do things they just aren't capable of. Martinez is a great athlete, but he's not going to pass for 300+ every game, and we would need him to if we wanted to compete for the B1G West. He's definitely not going to light up the scoreboard with the offensive line that we have now. You say the solution isn't to switch up the offense, but that's EXACTLY what we're doing right now. We aren't scoring enough points. The defense is on the field too long. The Flexbone fixes at least one of those problems.

I contend that while our line is young and somewhat inexperienced, they can ABSOLUTELY run block. We haven't really asked them to really drive block very much. Most of it is outside zone scheme - doubling, moving up, reach-blocking, etc. This, to me, is finesse. We bagged on it back in the Callahan days because you actually don't want to knock defenders over at the line of scrimmage and pancake them because this decreases the number of running lanes for the running back. We haven't asked our guys to line up and take people on, 1-on-1. I think they can. Benhart, Corcoran, Jurgens, etc - these kids are huge, and have done work in the weight room. The flexbone simply asks the linemen to fire off and drive block a defender, low and hard. This is simple football. Who's going to beat a kid like Prochazka, 1 on 1? The flexbone is the opposite of 'finesse.' The stuff we've been trying to do, and failing at? THAT is finesse. Let's line up and drive some teams back.

Army's Flexbone and the offense Solich ran are two COMPLETELY different things. Army, Air Force, Navy, and Georgia Tech all had WAY more success running the Flexbone than we have in the last 5+ years trying pro and spread schemes. The Flexbone is not a perfect offense, but it absolutely fits a place like Lincoln. We aren't going to get All-American quarterbacks and receivers. Smith-Njigba, who just set the Ohio State record for single game receiving against us, was set to visit Lincoln a couple years ago. He didn't make it, because the Buckeyes offered him, and he took it on the spot. This happens OVER and OVER. We aren't going to beat Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State on the field while losing to them in recruiting kids from Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. The Flexbone is basic, smashmouth football. It wears defenses down during the course of the game. We have HUGE linemen, and I'd be willing to bet they can push most B1G defensive linemen around, 1-on-1. They haven't shown the ability to pass block the last 4 years, so why keep trying to do that? Why keep trying to run spread pass when we're throwing 4 picks and getting sacked 5 times? These are just a FEW reasons why we should go to the flexbone. I've been saying it for years. But Nebraska keeps doing this pro/spread crap. And we KEEP LOSING.