Did Iowa prove us Option lovers wrong

[HANC]

I am posting this here only because this has been a topic that's been disussed at nausem (sp).....

 

I for one, love the option and miss the glory days of NU option football, but did Iowa show last night that the option offense might not be the greatest thing in the world. GT has great athletes, running a very sound system, yet, will finish somewhere near the bottom or outside the top 25.

 

Iowa's defense is very very good, but they made GT look horrible. Does this prove that anytime you give a good DC time to practice, that they will put a scheme together to beat the option....and show that today's athletes are fast enough to counter the option.

 

** I know that after watching last night that I still love the option, but I will really have a hard time defending it anymore.

[WVhuskerXX]

No...something we all need to realize is Johnson is running the option w/ players who were not recruited to run that offense..just wait till he gets his players...obviously Nesbitt is a running QB and the running back are very good..i mean more of the o-line...

[HANC]

I can buy that... the announcers did mention that last night...

[EbylHusker]

Anything that is "out of the ordinary" for what most teams face is going to suffer to some extent when those teams have extended periods to prepare for it.

 

That said, GT was just overmatched last night. Iowa's line was killing them on both sides of the ball. You really can't run any kind of option offense like GT tries unless you're winning battles in the trenches, getting your blocks, and then maintaining those blocks.

 

If anything, it's evidence (not proof, big difference) that teams can suffer if they limit themselves to being 1 dimensional. I have no problem with running an option offense, but I do not like (or ever want to go back to) a scheme where you can't reliably air the ball out when you need to. If GT had any legit passing game they might have been able to loosen up the run.

[mmmtodd]

gt's o-line couldnt sniff 90's husker practice squads. nesbitt looked like he was optioning in a vat of molasses, and his pitches looked like helium balloons.

[knapplc]

I almost posted this exact thing a while ago. Funny, Hanc.

 

I get that GA Tech's players aren't who they want them to be, but did that game remind anyone of pretty much every one of our losses in the 80s and 90s? Iowa stopped the run and GT was pretty much unable to move the ball.

 

I loved the Option back in the day. I loved the hard-nosed edge it gave our offense. But when our running game was taken away we were screwed because we couldn't pass. I don't want to go back to that.

[strigori]

I almost posted this exact thing a while ago. Funny, Hanc.

 

I get that GA Tech's players aren't who they want them to be, but did that game remind anyone of pretty much every one of our losses in the 80s and 90s? Iowa stopped the run and GT was pretty much unable to move the ball.

 

I loved the Option back in the day. I loved the hard-nosed edge it gave our offense. But when our running game was taken away we were screwed because we couldn't pass. I don't want to go back to that.

And with how the big 12 teams tend to score points, not being able to pass is a recipe for disaster. I think the number is right, that until this year, the largest comeback NU had ever had was 17 points. It gets back to the defenses are smarter and faster than they were in the past, and the triple option is largely a one trick pony. Take that trick away and it all falls apart.

[WVhuskerXX]

Anything that is "out of the ordinary" for what most teams face is going to suffer to some extent when those teams have extended periods to prepare for it.

 

Mizzou fans disagree

[clone]

I am posting this here only because this has been a topic that's been disussed at nausem (sp).....

 

I for one, love the option and miss the glory days of NU option football, but did Iowa show last night that the option offense might not be the greatest thing in the world. GT has great athletes, running a very sound system, yet, will finish somewhere near the bottom or outside the top 25.

 

Iowa's defense is very very good, but they made GT look horrible. Does this prove that anytime you give a good DC time to practice, that they will put a scheme together to beat the option....and show that today's athletes are fast enough to counter the option.

 

** I know that after watching last night that I still love the option, but I will really have a hard time defending it anymore.

 

It's only PJ's second year.

 

Gatech managed to win 11 games with the option and get a BCS bowl.

 

not too shabby.

[knapplc]

It's only PJ's second year.

 

Gatech managed to win 11 games with the option and get a BCS bowl.

 

not too shabby.

 

That's true, but even in Osborne's 20th year teams were shutting us down. And GA Tech had the same problem we had back then - when their run game was taken away, they couldn't pass effectively.

 

I'm not against Nebraska running the Option again, I just want us to be able to do both the Option and competent downfield passing. Those are two difficult things to mesh on a college team.

[MCAT800]

I am posting this here only because this has been a topic that's been disussed at nausem (sp).....

 

I for one, love the option and miss the glory days of NU option football, but did Iowa show last night that the option offense might not be the greatest thing in the world. GT has great athletes, running a very sound system, yet, will finish somewhere near the bottom or outside the top 25.

 

Iowa's defense is very very good, but they made GT look horrible. Does this prove that anytime you give a good DC time to practice, that they will put a scheme together to beat the option....and show that today's athletes are fast enough to counter the option.

 

** I know that after watching last night that I still love the option, but I will really have a hard time defending it anymore.

 

Lets look at this another way Hanc. How many teams running the spread offense lost their bowl game???

 

Just to name a few there was Oregon, Arizona, Okie St., Mizzou, Cincy.

Now does that mean that offense is a thing of the past and ineffective??

 

Why would you have a hard time defending the option??

That same offense run by the service acadamies which are severly mismatched in size and talent dismantled Mizzou and Houston.

 

Like any offense you have to execute......

[EbylHusker]

Anything that is "out of the ordinary" for what most teams face is going to suffer to some extent when those teams have extended periods to prepare for it.

 

Mizzou fans disagree

 

lol, so true.

[HANC]

MCAT800

 

damn it........ I was trying to make myself feel better about "loving the option" so much, and you ARE NOT HELPING. I was sooooo stoked to watch GT bury Iowa with the offense that I absolutely love, and it blew up in my face (not to say "yellow Jacket fan".....where is he by the way).

 

I hate Iowa and love the option, so I was really bummed, which led me to this topic. The first few responses made me feel better, but then the last number of posts, makes me still miss the option.

 

** Knapplc is correct.... I personally like to see the option as a basee with a great play-action game off it, but if you can't establish the run, play-action doesn't work very well.

 

Thanks for NOT HELPING

[clone]

I too love the option and enjoyed watching gatech and navy run it.

 

 

A great defense CAN stop it.

 

 

even in the old days, it happened occasionally.

 

just need that rare qb that can run AND throw.

[JTrain]

I personally think the whole "triple option is worthless when the opponent has a month to prepare" theory is complete nonsense. Iowa beat Georgia Tech because they completely dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides, not because of anything schematically brilliant. Look at what Navy and Air Force did in their bowls.

 

Regardless of what type of offense you run, you need a good defense. That's important. Georgia Tech's defense has been pretty bad this season. Also, Nesbitt is a flat-out bad passer. That isn't a given with the triple option offense. And just as others have said, the type of offensive lineman you need to run that offense are not there yet. Only one of PJ's recruits was starting this year.

 

For someone to come in, completely overhaul the offensive system, have very little defensive talent (outside of two players) and win the ACC in his second year... the triple option is completely fine.