Offensive Changes

[walksalone]

 

I'm not sure Helu was one of the most dangerous. I think a better description might be hard working. That kid didn't give up the rock at all, if i'm not mistaken. I can't call him the most dangerous though, the 40 plus yards he had against Texas might not strengthen your arguement.

 

Surely you don't mean that Helu never fumbled, because he was a fumbling machine. Killer fumble against Texas, lost the ball against Iowa State, horrible fumble against Oklahoma, fumbled at Texas A&M, etc.

 

Then sir, I am mistaken...

 

Sorry, my mind was clouded with the multitude of fumbles...

 

Which hopefully that problem is rectified

[krill]

Other than the ridiculous number of fumbles we had this year, I think what killed us the most was how little reception production we got out of our tight ends and backs. An inexperienced QB should be making a living off those guys...not to mention Helu was possibly the most dangerous back in all of college football in space this year.

 

 

Uh Kyler Reed anyone? He lead the team in TD receptions. He was basically our only consistent receiving threat.

 

Helu is straight-line fast in space, I'll give you that. As far as possibly being the most dangerous back in all of CFB? Please. I'd take about 10 other guys before I'd take him. Not a knock on Helu at all. More of a knock on your hyperbolic statement.

 

Reed had 395 total receiving yards and 8 TDs...a good year but not wowzers good in yardage. 200 total yards between Rex and Helu.

 

And correct me if I'm wrong, but Helu led the nation in 20+ yard runs this year. Obviously he's struggled with fumbling in traffic his entire career but shouldn't that have been another reason to get him involved with the short passing game? Maybe he's a terrible route runner or has frying pan hands, but it seems to me his abilities were underused in 3rd & medium / long passing situations where a short pass with yards after catch was a much higher % throw for Taylor than deeper routes that never got separation or he didn't have time to throw.

[robsker]

Besides staff, what do you think needs to change with the play calling, Taylor Martinez(assuming he will start next year), and the rest of the Offense?

 

If I were the coach here are things in the off season I would address:

 

1) the offensive lineman carry way too much body fat and lack of quickness is the result --- they need to drop 20 pounds or more of fat each --- diet and weight training

 

2) the offensive line burst strength is not where it needs to be --- some of that has to do with being fat and with less than ideal conditioning --- but also has to do with lack of lower body drive and power

 

3) the whole receiving corps must go through massive repetition on catching the ball and an array of drills must be designed, implemented and practiced over-and-over-and-over again --- too many dropped passes

 

4) the whole receiving/RB/QB corps must go through massive repetition on holding on to the ball and an array of drills must be designed, implemented and practiced over-and-over-and-over again --- too many fumbles

 

5) our QBs have inexcusable mechanics issues that even decent High School coaches would diagnose and correct --- terrible mechanics

 

6) someone needs to teach our QB's that it is legal to throw the ball away so as to avoid a sack --- I swear, in High School my coach would have benched me if I did what Martinez does and just eat the ball --- over-and-over-and-over-and over again w/o even attempting to avoid the sack by throwing the ball away.

 

 

Finally... and this is the biggest thing --- but speculative --- NU may be having some internal discord on the team. When I coached, we had a great D and a pathetic O (just like the Huskers) --- and sure it was at a low level and with kids (Jr. High School) --- but the principle is the same. Our defensive guys ended up hating the Offensive players and the O coaches --- for making the team lose so often even when the D was the best in the league. My point... there may be discord between O and D players and even between the O and D coaches --- and there may be a sense of player lack of respect for some of the coaches. Who knows... certainly the stimuli for such is there. I was at the game in San Diego and NU would have lost to anyone that day... anyone... they where lifeless, without heart... and interestingly... very cold, quiet and non-interactive on the sidelines before after and during the game. So.... NU must work on getting the team unified.

 

This coaching staff does not prepare the players well --- you can get a pumped team, a dead team or anything in between --- when this is happening in a team then almost always discord on the team is an issue.

 

Teams that consistently win are teams that are consistently focused --- NU does not consistently win because they are not consistently focused --- this needs to be addressed --- especially on offense --- if not discord, then whatever --- why is it that the NU offense can be flat, lifeless, or stoked --- focused or not focused? Adress this and that may be the best move that can be made.

[gratefullred]

I want to see accountability. If you are consistently causing penalties or putting the ball on the ground you're on the bench. I believe there is depth at just about all positions. Next man up. You earn playing time.

[da skers]

I think they need to bring the refs back in for practice to throw flags.

[da skers]

I think I'd also like us to dumb down the play book and make the terminology simple. I think it might be a bit much trying to run a zone read offense with west coast concepts. Some of the best offenses have a dozen plays but they run them in different formations.

 

In the event that Wats stays we need to make the blocking schemes similar for both systems (the west coast and zone read) which I understand the techniques are very different. Some guys have one down pretty good and others the other schemes.Right now we're kind of trying to make apple butter with oranges. Ok . .we got some orange marmalade out of it but it wasn't what we were looking for. My educated guess would be that we see very few west coast schemes being taught this spring and we'll see the wide splits (that seemed to vanish as the year went on mostly because our linemen were so banged up they couldn't move fast)come back that work well in the zone reads.

[The Dude]

Don't fumble.

[corncraze]

Don't fumble.

YES!

[Enhance]

I'm sure people mentioned this, and if they did then they are right.

 

Here's what I think needs to change.

 

1) Understanding of offensive direction with a guy who can COACH it. Bo apparently has an offensive ideal, an ideal that Watson doesn't know (he's a West Coast guy) and an idea that Cotton doesn't know very well either considering he's an i-formation guy.

 

2) Play-calling. We have a guy calling plays for an offense that he himself is not a master of. I'm sure Watson could call great plays if he had his own West Coast offense in full implementation, but the problem is that he couldn't get it done here with the athletes at hand and he couldn't teach them consistency and execution.

 

3) An extension of number one is just to hire a cohesive offensive staff to fit what Bo wants. His influence on Watson has not worked. He needs a guy that can run an offense close to what he wants with assistants that understand it as well, and he needs a guy who can teach consistency and discipline. Discipline is all over the defense, yet nowhere to be seen on the offense at times. Martinez' running ability masked the problems that are still on the offense from the 2009 season.