With new QB, will Huskers use strong running game?

[HuskerTrucker]

With new QB, will Huskers use strong running game?

 

BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star

Monday, Jan 12, 2009 - 12:15:26 am CST

 

Having joined the ‘in’ crowd of Big 12 Conference pass-happy offenses, Nebraska rediscovered over the final five games of the 2008 season an age-old formula about what it takes to win.

 

Have a strong running game.

 

Sure, the Huskers were grateful for all the real estate that came from Joe Ganz’s right arm. Without those large chunks of yardage, they probably wouldn’t have finished with six wins in their final seven games.

 

In four of the last five, though, NU also had a 100-yard rusher. And both of the players who achieved the feat — Roy Helu and Quentin Castille — will just be juniors this season.

 

“I can’t wait for spring ball,” said Castille, who turned momentum Nebraska’s way during the Huskers’ 26-21 Gator Bowl win against Clemson on Jan. 1.

 

Helu, who had three 100-yard games in the last four regular-season contests, missed the Gator Bowl because of a knee infection. Castille responded with a career-best 125 yards, 98 of which came on 12 second-half carries.

 

But the 6-foot-1, 245-pounder got his biggest workload only after senior Marlon Lucky couldn’t overcome a turf toe injury.

 

“I’ve said that all along — whatever we’ve kind of really needed, other teams dictate it,” Nebraska running backs coach Tim Beck said. Clemson was “really trying to pressure the back a lot, keeping him in protection, and ‘Q’ was stoning those guys, giving (Ganz) time to throw the ball.”

 

Obviously, Castille also made the Tigers’ 17th-ranked defense pay with his physical runs.

 

And with winter conditioning about to begin, followed by spring practice, there’s a huge question staring at the Huskers.

 

With a new starting quarterback, will they be moving toward a ground-based attack?

 

After the Gator Bowl, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson may have provided a clue.

 

“It wasn’t always pretty, but in games like this against a great defense, you’ve just got to keep pounding the rock,” he said.

 

That’s not true just of Nebraska.

 

Six of the seven bowl games involving Big 12 teams were won by the team that rushed for the most yards. The exception was Texas, which was forced into a hurry-up passing mode in order to get past Ohio State.

 

Other than that, teams’ ground games were money. The most striking examples came in the BCS Championship Game, when Florida outrushed Oklahoma 247 to 106; in the Holiday Bowl, where Oregon held a whopping 323-127 advantage over Oklahoma State; and in the Cotton Bowl, with Mississippi getting 243 yards to Texas Tech’s 105.

 

Nebraska got the best of Clemson on the ground, 125-4.

 

Besides Helu (who led NU with 803 yards, averaging 6.4 per carry) and Castille (467, 4.4), the Huskers also have Marcus Mendoza returning. He had just 15 carries during his redshirt freshman season, but in the next-to-last regular-season game, dinged Kansas State for 58 yards on 10 carries.

 

Others who could be in the mix include Lester Ward and Collins Okafor, both of whom redshirted as true freshmen.

 

Beck acknowledges that it’s hard to get more than three backs heavily involved in a game plan from week to week, but as the Gator Bowl illustrated, it’s a good thing to have at least that many ready to step up.

 

“I don’t hope to play, but sometimes it comes down to we have three wonderful backs, or actually four with Marcus, too,” Castille said of the situation in 2008. “They just told us to come out every week and just do what we can, and whoever’s on is going to get to play. Things just started unfolding for me.

 

“I told myself (against Clemson) no matter what happens, ‘Oh, well. Whatever I can do, on special teams, anything, just go out there and play.’”

 

Less than two weeks removed from that outing, Castille is already counting the days before he and the Huskers start gearing for next season.

 

“I could take it,” he said of getting a break from the daily pounding of conditioning and practice, “but there’s going to be football again. I feel good about next year.”

 

I would love to see us get the running game going with some sort of option type offense. I think we have several young QB's that could fit into this role.

[Enhance]

I don't know if we will see significant changes to the offense quite yet. At the same time, we might. New quarterbacks mean coaches are less willing to take chances down field and turn pass happy. This could open up the running game quite well if we rely on it more than the pass. I don't see us going back to the pure option attack of course, but I think we could see a split like 60% passing plays, 40% running or something like that. Next year, we probably won't be down as often as we were this year and have to rely on the passing game. I do expect to see the option filtered in a bit more, but I don't see that happening till maybe Cody Green.

[hskrpwr13]

Frankly, I'm for whatever is working. Too many times NU stuck with the running when it wasnt working and at times it appeared that NU shouldve been trying to run when they weren't.

[glm09]

Coaches talked a lot this year about how they adjusted our offense to fit our personnel. Wouldn't we expect that to happen next year as well?

 

And lets hope we use a strong running game. I think we will see the running game becoming the focal point more and more. In this conference, the passing game will be very important though.

[AR Husker Fan]

Whether we have a stronger running game won't be dictated by the return of Helu or Q - it'll depend on the development of the offensive line. The greatest backs in the world can't make a yard without that component...

[Enhance]

Whether we have a stronger running game won't be dictated by the return of Helu or Q - it'll depend on the development of the offensive line. The greatest backs in the world can't make a yard without that component...

 

So true. To be completely honest, even our Big 12 North Champ 2006 team didn't have that dominant of an o-line. We need to get back to the traditional, powerful Nebraska offensive lines even if we don't run the ball as much.

[gamecocks]

I look for us to rely on the run in the early part of the season as we break in a new quarterback. I see a lot of pounding the rock with mostly play action passes mixed in. As the season progresses, and the quarterback develops and gains confidence, then we may see the offense change to a more balanced attack all around.

[HuskerTrucker]

Yeah, the offensive line this year was kind of spotty...hopefully they will be a little better next year and will help the running game do a little bit better than what we had this year. It was really kind of disappointing - I want to see us be able to run at will again in the future.