The REAL truthabout our offense

[I Bleed RED]

I am tired of hearing how awesome our offense is. Yes we are a very solid passing team and I don't think we need any improvement there. Keller threw a great ball again today and he involved our receivers who stepped up quite a bit. Keller and the receivers are looking very good.....BUT

 

There are some things that need to be fixed fast. We struggle to answer a score wih a good drive too often. We have too many 3 and outs. This was Ball St. remember. And in the 2nd and 3rd quarter against USC we were non existant. Having said that the real issue we have is running the ball.

 

3.2 yds per rush against Ball St. That means that defenses with better athletes than BALL Freakin ST. will be able to strictly key on the passing game. Another big issue is that we had 4 of our first 7 posessions led to 4 plays or less before we punted or had a TO. We only scored on the first and last drive of the first half. Remember our offense only scored 35 pts, theirs scored 40. These are things to serioiusly consider.

 

This was Ball St. Thank goodness they drop passes.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Our offensive line needs to man the hell up!!!!

[motorboatjonesNU]

Our O-line, just like our D-line and LBs, seriously blows goats.

 

Nevada must be just terrible.

[I Bleed RED]

Our offensive line needs to man the hell up!!!!

 

I totally agree. There is no way Ball St. has ''Better Athletes" and since that is the reason we got manhandled last week I don't find this any way shape or form acceptable.

 

I wonder why all the offensive love. Their should only be praise for Keller and the receivers!

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Our offensive line needs to man the hell up!!!!

 

I totally agree. There is no way Ball St. has ''Better Athletes" and since that is the reason we got manhandled last week I don't find this any way shape of form acceptable.

 

I wonder why all the offensive love. Their should only be praise for Keller and the receivers

Well I think a lot of us including me tend to forget about the offensive line when we say the offense did well. The receivers and Keller did well and Lucky had a decent game. Our O-line should have been pancaking these guys all game!!!!

[I Bleed RED]

I think Lucky's game was mediocre considering the opponent. He had a few good runs but often times went down too easily. Remember there was a 30 yd rush in there so the average was not great. This would be a good game against a tough opponent

[HoustonHusker]

the offense won this football game, didn't it?

 

this wasn't K State all over again..... well, except for the defense.......

 

i don't think ANYone should be gagging on the offense.

 

we were not afforded the luxury to sit and throw all day.

 

i thought helu looked alright for his first chance to touch the ball in a game.

 

nate swift's td was great in both the catch and the throw.

 

the only thing i wish we would have done is challenge the two point conversion where they said peterson was out. i never saw one good replay.

 

the offensive line was tolerable on the run, but GREAT in pass protection. there was only one sack IMHO that wasn't caused by coverage.

 

granted, ball state didn't have horses, but at the same time, we were able to pass when they sold out to stop the run.

 

the play calling is seemingly better with watson, he seems to figure out that you may have to run a play or two to set up the defense down the road. (hill td pass comes to mind)

 

i can only remember one bad drop with erickson's drop in a wide open field.

 

callahan and watson had no choice but to trade scores with this team.

[I Bleed RED]

the offense won this football game, didn't it?

 

this wasn't K State all over again..... well, except for the defense.......

 

i don't think ANYone should be gagging on the offense.

 

we were not afforded the luxury to sit and throw all day.

 

i thought helu looked alright for his first chance to touch the ball in a game.

 

nate swift's td was great in both the catch and the throw.

 

the only thing i wish we would have done is challenge the two point conversion where they said peterson was out. i never saw one good replay.

 

the offensive line was tolerable on the run, but GREAT in pass protection. there was only one sack IMHO that wasn't caused by coverage.

 

granted, ball state didn't have horses, but at the same time, we were able to pass when they sold out to stop the run.

 

the play calling is seemingly better with watson, he seems to figure out that you may have to run a play or two to set up the defense down the road. (hill td pass comes to mind)

 

i can only remember one bad drop with erickson's drop in a wide open field.

 

callahan and watson had no choice but to trade scores with this team.

 

I am overall please with the offensive production but coming from being an offensive player in college I can guarantee these coaches have the same concerns. We only put up 20 on Wake, 10 on USC when the game mattered and we stalled 5 drives in the first 7 against Ball St. Including 4 times we ran 4 plays or less. Combine that with 3.2 yds per carry (yes it includes sacks but that gives you a better reading of how many sacks you took that cost you yards, it helps understand your O-Line blocking) Those are serious concerns going on the road or playing a good defensive team.

 

I think we will see a lot more short crossing routes and passes to Lucky to replace the run and try and keep the LB's back in coverage. Even though many people may not see it b/c of the score and great passing numbers there are legitimate concerns going into tough games. Keller and the receivers are doing great but they will be in trouble when teams develop the right blitz schemes to rush his timing and drop 8 back in coverage....which will happen.

[Husker_x]

I think Lucky is as sorry a RB as I've ever seen, personally. I agree with you about the running game. Our line is just abysmal compared to its sheer size, but worse than that is that every other play I had to hear the words, "Lucky, stopped/tripped up/stuffed/torn down behind the line. Watching him play is like watching an 8 year old asthmatic computer geek try to run the football. If he even gets the idea in his head that someone is going to try to tackle him, he falls all over the place. Best thing that can be said about him so far this season is that he hasn't fum-dumbled the damn ball all over, so at least Keller has a chance to make something happen on third down.

 

X

[RedDenver]

I'd like to point out that the opposing defense has a lot to do with how our O performs. WF, USC, and BState all played most of the game with 8 or 9 men in the box to stop our running game. And it's been effective from that stand point, but it has also opened up the passing game. Keller and the receivers weren't playing well against WF so stopping the run was a very good strategy, but our team played just well enough to win. USC simply manhandled our D so our offense really never had a chance, but we played well against them in stretches. BState obviously had watched our first 3 games and figured that they'd sellout to stop our running game and force us to beat them through the air - which we did.

 

I'm not saying our oline and running game don't need to improve, because they certainly do. But our offense is taking what the opposing D is giving and is doing a pretty good job exploiting the opposing schemes. Future opponents are going to have to play more balanced D schemes which will allow us to run more than we have. And being able to both run and pass can make an offense extremely difficult to defend.

[macroboy]

I think Lucky is as sorry a RB as I've ever seen, personally. I agree with you about the running game. Our line is just abysmal compared to its sheer size, but worse than that is that every other play I had to hear the words, "Lucky, stopped/tripped up/stuffed/torn down behind the line. Watching him play is like watching an 8 year old asthmatic computer geek try to run the football. If he even gets the idea in his head that someone is going to try to tackle him, he falls all over the place. Best thing that can be said about him so far this season is that he hasn't fum-dumbled the damn ball all over, so at least Keller has a chance to make something happen on third down.

 

X

 

I wouldn't go that far but Lucky is really just a 3rd down back. He's good cathcing passes out of the backfield but he can't really run through tackles.

[HuskerBCS]

the offense won this football game, didn't it?

 

this wasn't K State all over again..... well, except for the defense.......

 

i don't think ANYone should be gagging on the offense.

 

we were not afforded the luxury to sit and throw all day.

 

i thought helu looked alright for his first chance to touch the ball in a game.

 

nate swift's td was great in both the catch and the throw.

 

the only thing i wish we would have done is challenge the two point conversion where they said peterson was out. i never saw one good replay.

 

the offensive line was tolerable on the run, but GREAT in pass protection. there was only one sack IMHO that wasn't caused by coverage.

 

granted, ball state didn't have horses, but at the same time, we were able to pass when they sold out to stop the run.

 

the play calling is seemingly better with watson, he seems to figure out that you may have to run a play or two to set up the defense down the road. (hill td pass comes to mind)

 

i can only remember one bad drop with erickson's drop in a wide open field.

 

callahan and watson had no choice but to trade scores with this team.

 

Which game were you watching......LOL