The Backwards Plan at RB

[Blackshirt_Revival]

 

Ozigbo and Jano need to be running the ball exclusively now. Just wish the coaches were a little more committed to the ground game.

 

Um...add Tommy to this list, and I'm down.

 

There is no denying what Ozigbo did in a close game. And Janovich has shown he can be a formidable player as well.

 

I think we all agree on the boards here. Unfortunately, unless the coaches have a Huskerboard account, no one on the coaching staff appears to believe this...and that's just damn pathetic.

 

It is, and I wonder if they ever really will or can commit to the run.

 

Maybe we'll get lucky, though, and see what consistently chucking the ball 35-40 times a game in Minneapolis, Madison, Iowa City, Evanston, East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Columbus, and State College looks like in October-November.

[benjibean1]

I believe there will be a little more attention paid to the running game beginning with Wisconsin. Armstrong didn't look good at all throwing and the WR's didn't help matters.

 

There is no denying what Ozigbo did in a close game. And Janovich has shown he can be a formidable player as well.

You have too much faith in this staff. You will see their Clown-a-han stubbornness come out in this game.

[lo country]

Here is some good incite into our running game. It is comments from Langs......

 

As Langsdorf said, the Huskers struggled on first down, which is a recurring issue so far this year. However, they complicated the situation by abandoning the run too often on second down. The Huskers ran it on consecutive plays only six times all game before they attempted to run out the clock prior to the final Illinois touchdown.

“We were trying to get some rhythm going,” Langsdorf said. “It was hard to go run, run, pass, so we were trying to mix some passes in there and had a hard time with it. Whether it was a route or a throw, I thought we had some guys open at times and we couldn’t get to them. I think the protection overall was pretty good. We ran the ball pretty well. We did not do enough in the passing game to make some plays.”

Im not rally sure they know how to get the running game going. As mentioned above, it seems like a novelty instead of a definitive part of a game plan.

http://hailvarsity.com/news/commentary/run-the-ball/2015/10/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=2015_10_05_Runtheball_3&inf_contact_key=13b766c933cbdf1485a3c0d310bad588f1f426ac8db7a496e0c4e3870c27dafb

[Scratchtown]

Well here's something to consider.

 

Nebraska is actually fairly close to 50/50 run/pass. Im curious to see who thinks it should be higher or lower, and by how much.

 

There examples:

 

3 division one schools

 

Georgia Tech, Baylor, and Oregon.

 

All 3 are in the top 4 in rushing yards on the season. 2 of then can barely throw the ball with much effectiveness at this point in time. GT 2-3, Oregon is 3-2. Baylor is 5-0.

 

Gotta do both well...no matter the opponent.

[ndobney]

You can't have running back by committee. You need to pick one Newby doesn't look good, I'm not sure why Reiley hasn't figured that out. If I could give Reiley just one piece of advice it would be if you want to make the West Coast Offense work at Nebraska you need to be 60/40 run. The type of players Nebraska can recruit and attract and better suited for that. So that has got to change. I am looking at the recruits right now, and I am not that impressed. The talents alright but its not going to win us conference championships with any type of consistency. Reiley needs to find a balance between what works at Nebraska and his system.

[Husker-Joe]

Well, since we play Wisconsin on Saturday... does anyone believe Riley might pull the redshirt off of a certain freshman running back?

[StPaulHusker]

Well, since we play Wisconsin on Saturday... does anyone believe Riley might pull the redshirt off of a certain freshman running back?

If Stevenson wasn't good enough to get reps against the first 5 opponents, I doubt he puts him in against the #14 rushing defense.

[StPaulHusker]

 

I believe there will be a little more attention paid to the running game beginning with Wisconsin. Armstrong didn't look good at all throwing and the WR's didn't help matters.

 

There is no denying what Ozigbo did in a close game. And Janovich has shown he can be a formidable player as well.

You have too much faith in this staff. You will see their Clown-a-han stubbornness come out in this game.

 

#hottake

[Undone]

Well here's something to consider.

 

Nebraska is actually fairly close to 50/50 run/pass. Im curious to see who thinks it should be higher or lower, and by how much.

 

There examples:

 

3 division one schools

 

Georgia Tech, Baylor, and Oregon.

 

I like your examples to a degree, but I think it's pretty fair to say that Big 10 football is a different animal than the conferences that Baylor & Oregon play in. College football is college football, but by in large I think that Big 10 football is still very defense-oriented, where games are ground down by playing field position. A lot of games go like the one we played on Saturday.

 

Maintaining time of possession is pretty important, especially when your defense has been struggling. I really think it's more than fair to say that Mike needs to re-examine his first down approach in order to establish the run. We'll see this play out in big ways this Saturday.

[RADAR]

I think the coaches are finding out as they go that it is the young guys that can help the team and have the most upside and I would also include the unused guys like our fullback that got zero carries over the last 3 years. It takes time to find out what you got in game situations. Weber and Freedom on defense seem to fit that mold as well. A clear sign that recruiting was a cluster over the last several years. More young guys playing then most anyone can ever remember.

[Igetbored216]

I'm not sure how to embed YouTube videos on here, or if that's even possible, but I figured out how the coaches decide which RB to use:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz-PtEJEaqY

[Husker-Joe]

 

Well, since we play Wisconsin on Saturday... does anyone believe Riley might pull the redshirt off of a certain freshman running back?

 

If Stevenson wasn't good enough to get reps against the first 5 opponents, I doubt he puts him in against the #14 rushing defense.

Mike Riley, if you are reading my posts... pulling the redshirt off of Jordan was sarcasm!! LOL

 

However, I guess it was the logical progression as outlined in the original post. Twilight zone stuff.

[huskernation13]

As far as Wilbon, I thought the coaches said that when he got his off the field issues settled he'd be on the field. Maybe I misunderstood that. Anyway the problem with putting him in just for running plays is opposing teams will pickup on that quick. In other words when Wilbon is in it's a run, then the running game would be less effective.

[huskernation13]

 

 

Well, since we play Wisconsin on Saturday... does anyone believe Riley might pull the redshirt off of a certain freshman running back?

If Stevenson wasn't good enough to get reps against the first 5 opponents, I doubt he puts him in against the #14 rushing defense.

Mike Riley, if you are reading my posts... pulling the redshirt off of Jordan was sarcasm!! LOL

 

However, I guess it was the logical progression as outlined in the original post. Twilight zone stuff.

 

I hate to burn his shirt, but I do understand it. We rank 107th in kick return yardage so were trying to boost that. If we want to win this year it may be necessary. Think about how much having DPE helped in the punt return game last year. He sparked the comeback win against Iowa and almost Mich st. DPE didn't really start helping on offense till about mid season last year. Maybe stevenson can help the offense later in the year. Just my two cents.

[Hayseed]

So maybe you fine folks at Huskerboard, with your calm approach and obviously HUGE brains, can explain this whole RB situation to me because it seems to be the opposite of how I thought it would go.

 

So coming into the year we knew we had a battle at RB for the starting spot. I figured non-conference schedule would be a great time to spread some carries throughout the top 3-4 guys, let's see who establishes themselves as the real front runner. By the time Big Ten play rolled around, we should be set with who THE GUY is.

 

So we start the year with Newby as number one, he's getting plenty of touches, but Wilbon and Cross are getting a few too. I don't remember Ozigbo being involved much.

 

Suddenly, Wilbon, who I thought looks like the most talented of the bunch, disappears completely. The excuse is that he can't pass block. An excuse I don't altogether buy. When we call run, in running situations, there's no reason Wilbon couldn't be carrying the ball. No we don't always audible to pass, even when the defense is showing run blitz.

 

Regardless, Newby maintained carries, Wilbon is gone, Cross is getting a few here and there and I still don't remember Ozigbo doing much if anything.

 

Game 3 I believe it was, suddenly Newby is the only RB on the roster. He gets every carry in the game. Nobody else does anything. It left me thinking, well they've settled on their guy, though I'm not all too impressed with his running style, he's supposedly a good pass blocker, sadly I don't see it as a positive if that's the best thing you can say about your RB, but whatever. They fed Newby the ball, and I've assumed this is the direction we are headed.

 

Cross fades away, has a terrible fumble on one of his lone carries. Wilbon is gone. We hear grumbling about Ozigbo, but haven't seen a ton.

 

Big Ten play opens up and Ozigbo explodes, but the coaches refuse to keep feeding him the rock. Newby is in and out. But as we leave the Big Ten opener, I'm thinking.....hell, I'm more confused about the RB situation than I ever was.

 

Why did I see this playing out in the completely opposite way? Was I wrong in how I thought they should approach it? It seems like six games into the year, as a coaching staff they should kind of be done with some of the "experimenting". Isn't that what the non-conference schedule is for?

I wish one of our local sports media geniuses would read this to Coach Riley word for word.

 

My take is this is a West Coast passing offense that's only designed for a pass-catching scat back....Newby...and the other power running backs are only seeing the field to keep the wolves at bay. This staff knows passing pretty good, but calling what we have a running game is bound to be a stretch. Traditional Husker fans are going to be disappointed for a couple reasons....we don't have your standard 3-step passing QB that would make us be more patient from a few good performances against quality teams.....the running game is an unsophisticated mess of sporadic plays with guys going in and out for no apparent reason other than to say they tried something....nothing like TO's options. Plus, is it just me or does the running/blocking style look like flag football?