Tim Beck" You can't be afraid to start over and junk everything."

[Hujan]

So pumped for Beck to take over. I really think he's been dying the last couple of seasons watching this offense struggle, all the while knowing he could do better. I really love everything I'm hearing: Starting from scratch, simple schemes, run-first offense, being aggressive, and relying on coaches to call audibles (simplifying the QB's responsibility).

 

For those of you who are worried about next season, keep two things in mind:

 

1) Our offense honestly could not get much worse than it was last season. We were basically at rock bottom, particularly the latter half of the season.

 

2) Our offense wouldn't need to be much better for us to be a formidable team. Excepting the Holiday Bowl, we had lost three games by an average of 5.67 points, and didn't score a single offensive TD in two of those three games. An extra TD in each game (actually, just a single TD in the Texas and Texas A&M games) and we had a good chance of going 13-0.

 

If you keep these things in mind, it should be clear that even if we field just a mediocre offense next year, we'll remain competitive so long as Pelini's defenses does its thing. And I strongly suspect that Beck's offense is going to be significantly better than mediocre, even in it's first year. I'll say it again: The future is bright for dear old NU!

[mmmtodd]

im all for the "junk it" and begin fresh mentality. The whole problem with Watson and his offense was the fact his playbook was a junkyard, scraps of everything all mishmash-ed together with no easily identifiable purpose.

[Fuzzy]

I thought Watson's problem was that he tried to tweak the playbook from the West Coast offense to something that fit the talent on the offensive side of the ball, rather than starting over with a new philosophy.

[walksalone]

So pumped for Beck to take over. I really think he's been dying the last couple of seasons watching this offense struggle, all the while knowing he could do better. I really love everything I'm hearing: Starting from scratch, simple schemes, run-first offense, being aggressive, and relying on coaches to call audibles (simplifying the QB's responsibility).

 

For those of you who are worried about next season, keep two things in mind:

 

1) Our offense honestly could not get much worse than it was last season. We were basically at rock bottom, particularly the latter half of the season.

 

2) Our offense wouldn't need to be much better for us to be a formidable team. Excepting the Holiday Bowl, we had lost three games by an average of 5.67 points, and didn't score a single offensive TD in two of those three games. An extra TD in each game (actually, just a single TD in the Texas and Texas A&M games) and we had a good chance of going 13-0.

If you keep these things in mind, it should be clear that even if we field just a mediocre offense next year, we'll remain competitive so long as Pelini's defenses does its thing. And I strongly suspect that Beck's offense is going to be significantly better than mediocre, even in it's first year. I'll say it again: The future is bright for dear old NU!

 

13 points away from being undefeated, then who knows what.

 

The more simplified things are, generally speaking, the less there is to mess up.

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

I've believed all along T-Mart would be the starter again, but Beck's emphasis on leadership has me suddenly rethinking this...

I agree, and honestly, that statement excites Mr more than any in the article. Tmart was not a leader last season. Maybe he will grow over the off season, but at least it seems like beck won't send out a guy that won't sacrifice himself for everyone around him. Let's hope bo can see past flashy.

[The Dude]

It was a good interview. Nothing wrong with trying to make them forget everything Watson taught them.

[Pedro Guerrero]

1) Our offense honestly could not get much worse than it was last season. We were basically at rock bottom, particularly the latter half of the season.

 

It honestly cannot get worse.

 

It could and has been worse. The last two combined seasons under Solich/Barney and the first two combined seasons of Billy C were worse then the last two years combined.

 

2009/2010

28.0 PPG

360.4 YPG

 

2002/2003

26.1 PPG

359.5 YPG

 

2004/2005

24.8 PPG

340.8 YPG

 

Barneys offense in 2003 averaged less points but more yards then that crappy offense we threw out there in 2009 and Billy C. in 2005 averaged less points and less yards then that offense.

 

'How do I get to the best play?'

 

Players win games. It's not about plays.

 

[fishnfrank]

So pumped for Beck to take over. I really think he's been dying the last couple of seasons watching this offense struggle, all the while knowing he could do better. I really love everything I'm hearing: Starting from scratch, simple schemes, run-first offense, being aggressive, and relying on coaches to call audibles (simplifying the QB's responsibility).

 

For those of you who are worried about next season, keep two things in mind:

 

1) Our offense honestly could not get much worse than it was last season. We were basically at rock bottom, particularly the latter half of the season.

 

2) Our offense wouldn't need to be much better for us to be a formidable team. Excepting the Holiday Bowl, we had lost three games by an average of 5.67 points, and didn't score a single offensive TD in two of those three games. An extra TD in each game (actually, just a single TD in the Texas and Texas A&M games) and we had a good chance of going 13-0.

 

If you keep these things in mind, it should be clear that even if we field just a mediocre offense next year, we'll remain competitive so long as Pelini's defenses does its thing. And I strongly suspect that Beck's offense is going to be significantly better than mediocre, even in it's first year. I'll say it again: The future is bright for dear old NU!

 

I very much agree sir. I am so excited for this season to start.

[zoogs]

All this is, is feel-good stuff.

 

We are trying to look at it and identify superior philosophies or whatever. There's none of it, it's just coachspeak, and it's well done, which is good. Just, let's not try to make more of it than it is. I know we are all intensely curious about what our offense will be like though. But these are just platitudes. Laying a foundation, gas pedal to the floor, etc. Fans expecting a newfound commitment to the run, may be shocked to discover that we ran the ball 70% of the time in 2010, and I'd bet that number probably goes down, not up. (Another surprising fact is that I don't think we've ever been a pass-happy team, at least not in the past twenty years).

 

In the end, I think Tim Beck's a smart capable guy who is going to mesh better with Bo than Watson did, and he has a bright future ahead of him as OC. I think we have better pieces on offense, we're surely due for some better injuries luck, and the changeup on the staff could provide the kind of spark that's needed to jumpstart a unit out of its funk. But none of that means things are going to be fundamentally or even substantially different. Different flavors, different strokes, but I suspect we will soon discover that OCs in football are all the same: probably the most hated and unfairly maligned guys in the business. For every positive platitude you could throw out about them, there's an equally recycled negative line. "Can't call plays." "Can't make halftime adjustments." "Can't adapt to the talent." "Adapts to the talent." "Is too dumb." "Is too smart." "Dares to ever throw the ball." "Isn't playing to win." "Gets too cute." "Where's the trick plays and creativity??" "Playbook too complex." "Where are the _____s, _____s, and ____ plays?"

 

This sort of reminds me of Cotton's grand homecoming as OLs coach, where he got some pump 'em up press about his style of coaching aggression and passion, basically drawing the same huge contrast to the previous staff. IIRC, he trashed Callahan's methods basically. As if out of the darkness, into the light. When really, Cotton was just not a good OLs coach at all and we are devoting another spot on the staff to an OL technician to shore up the deficiencies we've seen in previous years. Meanwhile Callahan can enjoy his reputation as still one of the best offensive line coaches in the game. Harrison Beck even mentioned this in his (interesting...) interview, "The guy coaches OL like you've never seen." But back then, even the players welcomed that new attitude with open arms. What player wouldn't? Unfortunately, if it was a spark, it was a substance-less and aimless one. I hope that is not the case with Beck, who, after this little honeymoon celebrating the fact that he isn't Shawn Watson, is over, will have to face the same standards of judgment any OC does.

 

Anyway, I will probably be defending Beck the same way I defended Watson, before long, is what I'm thinking.

[knapplc]

Sipple made an interesting observation about Beck's interview last night:

 

 

Maybe I'm trying too hard to read between the lines. Maybe I ought to relax. But listening to Beck, it was pretty clear that the Nebraska quarterback race once again will be wide open. Guess that's not a surprise because that's the Bo Pelini way, so to speak, even at the QB position. In some programs, it would be a returning starter's "job to lose." Bottom line, Martinez once again will have to win the job. Nothing wrong with daily competition, right?

 

LINK

 

I like to hear this. While it makes me a little nervous to think that we may start 2011 with yet another first-year starter, the bottom line is we HAVE TO put the best guy out there. Nobody is handing Martinez the job at this point, and that's great. He'll have to earn it again, and (apparently) leadership in the huddle/locker room is going to factor into that.

 

I understand that Martinez may be naturally shy, and there's no harm in that. But if the job description of the starting QB at Nebraska includes having the respect of your teammates and being a leader on the field and in the locker room, then that's what you're going to have to be. Talent only gets you so far. We saw what happened last year when talent got thrown out the window due to injuries. The huddle collapsed, and confidence and productivity went along with it. You just cannot have that.

[okaive]

Personally I don't care if we win 10 games this year. Get our foundation set this year so we can trash them the rest of the years after that.

[Hercules]

I think Beck saying that the QB race is wide open and that the guy who gets the job needs to be a leader is just a not-so-cryptic message to Martinez. There's still really no reason to think that anybody will beat out Martinez, but they want him to step up in different ways, and those will probably be the things we hear about in the press.

 

Beck reminds me in this article of how Pelini is with the press. It's less about talking to the press or the fans and more about talking to his players. I like it.

[HotGrillonGrillAction]

 

Anyway, I will probably be defending Beck the same way I defended Watson, before long, is what I'm thinking.

 

I was getting ready to draw up a very similar post to all your comments......but I won't even waste my time because you nailed it. Beck as OC has seemed like a no brainer on here to some and a question mark to the rest....no he's in and everyone is mega-stoked.

 

I'll be 7 bucks we'll be here in November arguing over something he's done wrong....and Barney and John and Rich, etc, etc.

[kchusker_chris]

^ And we'll probably be on here in September when we're playing the fluffs arguing over whether Beck will go down as one of the greatest OC's in NU history because he just hung 600 yards on Chattanooga or Wyoming.

 

Ultimately the hire will be judged, not based on a few games or even a single season - but the next 3 years...just like Watson was.

 

Until then...we gripe about playcalling and praise new schemes/players. That's what we do on Huskerboard right?

[Landlord]

im all for the "junk it" and begin fresh mentality. The whole problem with Watson and his offense was the fact his playbook was a junkyard, scraps of everything all mishmash-ed together with no easily identifiable purpose.

 

 

And how on Earth do you know that?