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

[Hujan]

So our offense in 2009/2010 was SLIGHTLY better than the worst, rock-bottom offensive performances in modern Nebraska history? Even then we didn't do much better than the the worst offensive performances in recent memory in the only category that matters: Points per game.

 

Ever take a statement a tad too literally, and in the process, lose the forest for the trees?

 

1973 – 25.5

1975 – 30.6

1977 – 26.3

2002 – 27.4

2003 – 24.8

2004 – 25.0

2005 – 24.7

2009 – 25.1

2010 – 30.9

 

Did I take that blanket statement to literally again?

 

Once in a blue moon

 

I make a mountain out of a molehill or I put all my eggs in one basket or I put the cart before the horse or I use a lot when a little will do or I have my head in the clouds or mud in my eye or I have an axe to grind or I’m dumb as dirt or I’m lost like a ball in high weeds

 

I don’t want to make waves or beat a dead horse or appear as sour as a green apple or be a stick in the mud or stir up an ant’s nest or have a cow or muddy the water

 

So I will nip it in the bud because there’s no time like the present to take time to smell the roses and come down to earth to find common ground because this argument is for the birds.

 

Have a nice day.

 

Well at least it was entertaining, but you are still missing my point. Sure, if you add up our scores in each game and divide by 13, the number isn't "the worst" or even nearly the worst in history. But such an average is inflated by us running the score up on defensive lightweights like WKI, K State, and Washington. What good is beating a terrible team by five TDs if you can't punch the ball in against Texas or Texas A&M?

 

Hell, we scored mega points in our non-cons on 2009 as well, then basically did nothing or next to nothing against big-time opponents.

 

I'm pretty sure that no matter what Beck puts out there, well still score 40-50 against weak teams. So even if Beck's offense fails to score a TD in big games, are we really any worse off that we were with Watson? That's the point that you are missing and which your numbers won't tell us.

[dubsker]

At the end of the day we weren't likely to win crap with a freshman QB. It rarely happens for a reason. Taylor has a ton of development ahead of him. Right now you can just see that there's so much going through his head in the passing game it isn't natural yet. He doesn't know what to do, freezes up, and eats a stupid sack. Much like a lot of the other Freshman QBs I watched last year. Cody had the same problem but seemed to get a lot more comfortable after Iowa St. I am of the opinion that if you threw all your eggs in Cody's basket he would probably become a pretty good QB, but as long as we move the chains I am happy.

 

But seriously, did we do any rollouts last year or did I just miss them? They seem tailored (no pun intended) to guys like Martinez and Green.

 

But hey what do I know. I'm of the opinion that even Milt would have looked like ass at the end of last year with NOTHING to stop d's from pinning their ears back and blowing up the run game. Without a bunch of 320lb road graders like Wiscy (and hell even they use a PA to loosen stuff up) it just doesn't happen that easily against quality D.

[zoogs]

I can hear you already: "The game plan at Texas was sound it just wasn't executed properly because our guys dropped a bunch of passes." Well, it's true we dropped a few key passes, but a few unfortunate drops does not excuse an offense from failing to get into the endzone at all. If dropped passes were the problem, why didn't we just throw more? Even if we were dropping every other ball we threw, why not throw twice as many and you'll end up the same?

 

I know (hope) you're kidding on that last one. It's like saying, we ran the ball 30 times a game and averaged 5ypc. Why not run it 60 times a game and get 300 yards on the ground?

 

It wasn't that Texas was weak against the pass and we just had to sling it around. It was that the gameplan would be to surprise Texas with these new route combinations and offensive looks, and hit 'em from time to time with strikes through the air. Texas was probably the best defensive we played all year, especially at that point before the team fell apart. And yet despite what we had on offense, the gameplan we took to them both in the 2009 CCG and in 2010, was one that gave us the chance to win.

 

Texas' plan on defense was simple as I recall. Load up and stop Taylor and dare him to hurt them through the air. When Lee went in, they started saying "They're gonna throw!" Taylor actually did expose them with his arm, against all odds, as we saw - only his receivers dropped the passes. How was Taylor able to expose the Longhorns defense to the point where they had to hold their breath and then say, "Wow, we got lucky" a couple times? Credit the scheme. And blame every coach for the lack of execution.

 

Sure, you could say "Watson is the OC". But Watson was the guy that installed the offense and installed the scheme that put us in the position of counting dropped touchdown passes in the first place. How much blame falls on the players? Or their positions coaches? I don't know the answer to this one, but food for thought. Helu fumbled on his own 20 yard line to give Texas a short field. Burkhead dropped one of the surest touchdown throws you'll ever see. Is that not Tim Beck's fault? (I tend not to think so, but you may disagree).

 

 

---

 

It all comes down to the standards by which we are evaluating our OC. You can call these excuses for Watson all you want. In my mind, they are explanations and reasons qualifying an otherwise superficial evaluation of the OC. Saying "We had these bad games on offense, therefore the OC is really awful" is not the forest and the trees.

 

Throw out Watson's name, because Beck's name is already in his place. If similar things happen next year on offense, I hope you guys are consistent and hold on to the same arguments when Beck is the guy being talked out. I will probably hold on to mine and throw out these same "excuses" in his defense, as long as I think they are there.

 

--

 

But seriously, did we do any rollouts last year or did I just miss them? They seem tailored (no pun intended) to guys like Martinez and Green.

 

No, they are not tailored to guys like Martinez (Green, not sure about but somewhat doubt). Throwing on the run is a whole different animal from throwing stationary, and Taylor had enough issues with his footwork/mechanics/decision-making while standing still. Contrary to popular belief, speed is hardly the key asset in rollout passes or even pocket mobility. We will see if Taylor makes strides in these areas this year.

[dubsker]

I can hear you already: "The game plan at Texas was sound it just wasn't executed properly because our guys dropped a bunch of passes." Well, it's true we dropped a few key passes, but a few unfortunate drops does not excuse an offense from failing to get into the endzone at all. If dropped passes were the problem, why didn't we just throw more? Even if we were dropping every other ball we threw, why not throw twice as many and you'll end up the same?

 

I know (hope) you're kidding on that last one. It's like saying, we ran the ball 30 times a game and averaged 5ypc. Why not run it 60 times a game and get 300 yards on the ground?

 

It wasn't that Texas was weak against the pass and we just had to sling it around. It was that the gameplan would be to surprise Texas with these new route combinations and offensive looks, and hit 'em from time to time with strikes through the air. Texas was probably the best defensive we played all year, especially at that point before the team fell apart. And yet despite what we had on offense, the gameplan we took to them both in the 2009 CCG and in 2010, was one that gave us the chance to win.

 

Texas' plan on defense was simple as I recall. Load up and stop Taylor and dare him to hurt them through the air. When Lee went in, they started saying "They're gonna throw!" Taylor actually did expose them with his arm, against all odds, as we saw - only his receivers dropped the passes. How was Taylor able to expose the Longhorns defense to the point where they had to hold their breath and then say, "Wow, we got lucky" a couple times? Credit the scheme. And blame every coach for the lack of execution.

 

Sure, you could say "Watson is the OC". But Watson was the guy that installed the offense and installed the scheme that put us in the position of counting dropped touchdown passes in the first place. How much blame falls on the players? Or their positions coaches? I don't know the answer to this one, but food for thought. Helu fumbled on his own 20 yard line to give Texas a short field. Burkhead dropped one of the surest touchdown throws you'll ever see. Is that not Tim Beck's fault? (I tend not to think so, but you may disagree).

 

 

---

 

It all comes down to the standards by which we are evaluating our OC. You can call these excuses for Watson all you want. In my mind, they are explanations and reasons qualifying an otherwise superficial evaluation of the OC. Saying "We had these bad games on offense, therefore the OC is really awful" is not the forest and the trees.

 

Throw out Watson's name, because Beck's name is already in his place. If similar things happen next year on offense, I hope you guys are consistent and hold on to the same arguments when Beck is the guy being talked out. I will probably hold on to mine and throw out these same "excuses" in his defense, as long as I think they are there.

 

--

 

But seriously, did we do any rollouts last year or did I just miss them? They seem tailored (no pun intended) to guys like Martinez and Green.

 

No, they are not tailored to guys like Martinez (Green, not sure about but somewhat doubt). Throwing on the run is a whole different animal from throwing stationary, and Taylor had enough issues with his footwork/mechanics/decision-making while standing still. Contrary to popular belief, speed is hardly the key asset in rollout passes or even pocket mobility. We will see if Taylor makes strides in these areas this year.

 

At the game I was thinking Wats should have just started airing it out. Acho with nothing to worry about but the run was just blowing stuff up. It doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot but I watch some other teams with less talent on O just start chucking the ball around when the D loads the box and sometimes it works. I'm not sure that's really Bo's mentality though.

 

Ah, I saw you reply. That's not really my point about the rollout. The point is to move the pocket and get him in space where you can use his athleticism. Dude, my middle schoolers execute nothing but rollout passes. It's going to be really hard to convince me you can't teach Taylor or Green. The drop back crap was getting really stupid towards the end. The D's were confusing Taylor and everyone in the whole damn football world knew that the next play was going to be a *drumroll* slant in!!?

[zoogs]

One difference is your middle schoolers aren't going up against a Will Muschamp defense (or any D1 defense).

 

I think we could have slung it around more, but Texas had a great secondary, so I donno.

[knapplc]

A healthy Martinez can outrun most anyone to the sideline - moving the pocket - and have time to set his feet to throw. If they're going to let him throw from the pocket, let him move the pocket, reset, then throw. Not rocket science.

 

Is it easy? Nope, but neither is anything else in D1 ball. If he's putting on the pads, let him try it. Couldn't have done much worse, and if you get him to one side of the formation you're making life difficult for the defenders on the other side. If nothing else, you wear them out chasing him down.

 

Sure, we can all speculate that Taylor couldn't roll out, but nobody knows. And since we never tried, it'll forever be an open point of debate. Kind of like the question of "Can Taylor throw an eight yard pass to a RB on a screen?" Nobody has ever said he can't, yet he didn't - for reasons that remain inexplicable to this day.

 

But whatever. That OC is gone and Beck is rewriting everything. Let's hope he can write up a screen pass.

[CornKing]

The list of people whose fault it is:

 

Bo Pelini

Barney Cotton

Taylor Martinez

The offensive line

The offensive players as a group

The defense

And the latest addition to the list: Tim Beck

 

The list of people whose fault it is NOT (and never has been):

Shawn Watso

 

 

 

That about sums it up, right zoogies?

 

[dubsker]

One difference is your middle schoolers aren't going up against a Will Muschamp defense (or any D1 defense).

 

I think we could have slung it around more, but Texas had a great secondary, so I donno.

 

Yea and the difference is my middle schoolers aren't D1 athletes. You're acting like moving the pocket is rocket science. It's not.

 

Edit: Ah, Knapp, didn't see your part about rocket science either.

[Hunter94]

most of the time, TM threw behind his receivers, rolling out would be worse.

[Hercules]

most of the time, TM threw behind his receivers, rolling out would be worse.

 

Well, they're planning on doing more of it, so I guess we'll find out.

[dubsker]

most of the time, TM threw behind his receivers, rolling out would be worse.

 

I'm not sure where you're getting that.

 

You know what's not hard. Shooting holes in everything and offering nothing.

[Hunter94]

most of the time, TM threw behind his receivers, rolling out would be worse.

 

I'm not sure where you're getting that.

 

You know what's not hard. Shooting holes in everything and offering nothing.

 

 

wow, i guess you didn't "watch" many games last season?.....i understand,hard to see on the radio...just a fact.

[bshirt]

most of the time, TM threw behind his receivers, rolling out would be worse.

 

Great point!

 

I guess those five TD passes vs Okie St must have been caught by wrs in helicopters. For the Texas game, maybe if he would have quit hitting our rbs/wrs in the hands they would have caught them? That didn't work for Z. Lee either.

 

We need to think of something that will work......

[dubsker]

most of the time, TM threw behind his receivers, rolling out would be worse.

 

I'm not sure where you're getting that.

 

You know what's not hard. Shooting holes in everything and offering nothing.

 

 

wow, i guess you didn't "watch" many games last season?.....i understand,hard to see on the radio...just a fact.

 

Statistics say you're full of it for every game except SDSU and the famous Texas "stonehands" fiasco. Seriously your definition of fact is pretty strange. As far how many games I was at, lol. Not even worth my time.

[zoogs]

Are you really disputing that Taylor threw the ball behind receivers consistently all year, sometimes embarrassingly so?