Did Iowa prove us Option lovers wrong

[REDSTEEL]

If Iowa proved that the option doesn't work, then did Alabama prove last night, that a power running game can still take you to the National Championship game and win it? They had no problem running it down the throat of the Number 1 rush defense.

 

Yes. They proved that the best teams are still the ones that can line up, go hat on a hat, and run the ball down your throat.

 

People tend to forget that Nebraska was a Power I team that used the option.

[HANC]

cdteacher - good points, I don't believe that the option is dead, I am actually an option fan if you were able to read all of the posts on this tpic. I threw the topic out there for discussion.

 

Once thing to remember though, is that Navy played Mizzou, who doesnt have a good defense. Their defense gave up a lot of points to some teams that shouldn't have scored nearly as much as MU gave, and the fact that they didnt want to be there could have played a part in the Navy debacle.

 

* I love the option, I just think that with given time, and athletes with speed, a good defense (Iowa/Nebraska) can shut it down........with the "triple option" that GT runs.

 

The offense that NU did run.....power I , with triple option mixed in was difficult to stop, especially if your QB could throw decently.

 

And, basically, the zone read from shotgun is "option" football....not basically, it is option football, just from different look. Just hope that we get a little more speed at QB in future.

[junior4949]

If Iowa proved that the option doesn't work, then did Alabama prove last night, that a power running game can still take you to the National Championship game and win it? They had no problem running it down the throat of the Number 1 rush defense.

 

 

Exactly. Alabama's QB is average, yet he's never lost a game. They have two stud RB's, and a good/great OL. To me, this is what Nebraska has got to get back to. We don't need a game changer at QB where if he goes down so does the season. We need 2 to 3 very capable RB's. We need 6-8 great OL. Put this together with what Bo has built for a D, and we'll be in the title hunt.

[Enhance]

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.

I don't know if anybody touched on this cause I don't have time to read all of the posts, but you have to consider one thing.

 

Nebraska didn't always win or win big with the option offense. There were many times that Osborne just got flat out out-coached and beat by 20 or more points. Sometimes, an opponent just comes ready to play and is able to sniff out the option and shut it down. It doesn't mean it is a bad system nor that it could not work any more.

 

Sometimes, you just get beat. Nebraska didn't always have the best athletes on the field. Heck, in 1995, Kansas State had the number 1 rushing defense in the nation when they came to Lincoln to play us. That didn't stop us from putting up 45 though.

 

Any system can work if players execute, but like I have said, sometimes you just get beat.

[Enhance]

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.

I don't know if anybody touched on this cause I don't have time to read all of the posts, but you have to consider one thing.

 

Nebraska didn't always win or win big with the option offense. There were many times that Osborne just got flat out out-coached and beat by 20 or more points. Sometimes, an opponent just comes ready to play and is able to sniff out the option and shut it down. It doesn't mean it is a bad system nor that it could not work any more.

 

Sometimes, you just get beat. Nebraska didn't always have the best athletes on the field. Heck, in 1995, Kansas State had the number 1 rushing defense in the nation when they came to Lincoln to play us. That didn't stop us from putting up 45 though.

 

Any system can work if players execute, but like I have said, sometimes you just get beat.

[REDSTEEL]

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...

 

Good point.

 

PJ in his 2nd year at GT loses his bowl game which proves to many the option doesn't work.

 

Of course, for four years Bill Callahan's wco at NU was 0 - 19 when down at halftime and this year SW rode the wco to 102nd total offense. So yeah, it's a damn good thing we dumped the power/option offense.

 

 

1st time we've had a bad offense. The 0-19 had nothing to do with Cally's offense, everything to do with the lack of defense. Kinda hard to say we ran a "true" WCO this year also... We did a lot of different things. Had we ran the power/option offense that you were sarcastically thankful for dumping, we STILL would of been 0-19 when down at halftime. And probably worse, because we wouldnt have had a lead at half.. EVER.

Think you need to look at the scores of those games (last 5 years) and how they occured before just blaming the defense. A lot of those are because of Int (for td's) or lack of any production from the stat happy Callahan offense against teams that had good to better defenses.

 

Not saying the option was a scoring machine and didn't have it problems, but most of lack of scoring you bring up was against teams that finished in the top 5 IE Miami, Florida State, Colorado and Georgia Tech and Nebraska was the underdog in almost all of those games.

 

Now would I rather run a offense that even when not running on all cylinders can score against good defense and when running at it's full potential is a bastard to handle no matter the defense,

 

or

 

would I rather have a Offense that puts up mega yards and points against the sunbelt teams when running at it's full potential and can't score against good to better offenses even at it's peak. Course some will say that fans have never seen this offense in it's full potential because they havent gotten that great wr and qb to run it yet.

 

The problem with that is every school is trying to get those players and the southern schools have a hell of a better vantage of getting those kind of players. Nebraska had a nitche where they could go after the best ath/qb and usualy get him and high caliber rb(Never understood how people decided that a rb wouldn't want to be in a offense that showed him as the main option and probable thousand yard year because he wouldn't get a look from NFL scouts?. WTF?)

 

Nebraska advantage in recruiting would be better suited to the power game playaction scramble type of players then the drop back pro potential everyone else is looking for. By the way when those high caliber players do look at Nebraska how impressed are they by the never throw the ball downfield more then twice a game and all those bubble screens Watson and Callahan were obsessed with.

[Paul in WI]

If Iowa proved that the option doesn't work, then did Alabama prove last night, that a power running game can still take you to the National Championship game and win it? They had no problem running it down the throat of the Number 1 rush defense.

 

 

Exactly. Alabama's QB is average, yet he's never lost a game. They have two stud RB's, and a good/great OL. To me, this is what Nebraska has got to get back to. We don't need a game changer at QB where if he goes down so does the season. We need 2 to 3 very capable RB's. We need 6-8 great OL. Put this together with what Bo has built for a D, and we'll be in the title hunt.

Thank you thank you thank you. I don't want the type of team built around one or two players where our entire season rests on them staying healthy every single game. I agree 100%.

[bshirt]

If Iowa proved that the option doesn't work, then did Alabama prove last night, that a power running game can still take you to the National Championship game and win it? They had no problem running it down the throat of the Number 1 rush defense.

 

 

Exactly. Alabama's QB is average, yet he's never lost a game. They have two stud RB's, and a good/great OL. To me, this is what Nebraska has got to get back to. We don't need a game changer at QB where if he goes down so does the season. We need 2 to 3 very capable RB's. We need 6-8 great OL. Put this together with what Bo has built for a D, and we'll be in the title hunt.

Thank you thank you thank you. I don't want the type of team built around one or two players where our entire season rests on them staying healthy every single game. I agree 100%.

 

The very finest music to my ears.....yes!!

 

The sooner we get rid of fluffball and return to power running the sooner we're back in the hunt!