Imani Cross.........

[Guy Chamberlin]

Well you can go by the good games Newby had, and his 5.7 yard per carry average, the bad games Cross has had, running with force but unable to improvise, or the good game Imani had Saturday.

 

I'm not sure anything is that obvious in hindsight. Cross was the same mix of risk and reward the past two seasons. I really want him to go out in style, but I don't think he was particularly misused by two different coaching staffs.

 

We also forget that the decision to pound the rock is often met by opposing defensive coordinators making adjustments. The MSU game shows that this offense can and should get the ball to Cross, Newby and Janovich, and Westerkamp, Rieley, Carter and Moore in equal measure, as they all make deserving and different threats for DCs to consider.

 

There's no bigger beast in college football than Heisman front-runner Leonard Fournette. So LSU had a pretty simple pound-the-rock gameplan. So Alabama simply put 8 men in the box and shut his ass down cold. 31 yards on 19 carries for the best running back in football. There is no indication that simply running him more in the second half would have changed things.

 

Sometimes that's Nebraska's situation, too. We have to do a lot of things well, like most offenses.

[Hunter94]

I need to rewatch the game but I wonder if having Sterup move to guard was a factor in Cross and Jano's improved running inside.

[Hunter94]

It was, but cudos to Imani, bout time Riley let this kid loose!

[Hunter94]

Well you can go by the good games Newby had, and his 5.7 yard per carry average, the bad games Cross has had, running with force but unable to improvise, or the good game Imani had Saturday.

 

I'm not sure anything is that obvious in hindsight. Cross was the same mix of risk and reward the past two seasons. I really want him to go out in style, but I don't think he was particularly misused by two different coaching staffs.

 

We also forget that the decision to pound the rock is often met by opposing defensive coordinators making adjustments. The MSU game shows that this offense can and should get the ball to Cross, Newby and Janovich, and Westerkamp, Rieley, Carter and Moore in equal measure, as they all make deserving and different threats for DCs to consider.

 

There's no bigger beast in college football than Heisman front-runner Leonard Fournette. So LSU had a pretty simple pound-the-rock gameplan. So Alabama simply put 8 men in the box and shut his ass down cold. 31 yards on 19 carries for the best running back in football. There is no indication that simply running him more in the second half would have changed things.

 

Sometimes that's Nebraska's situation, too. We have to do a lot of things well, like most offenses.

[Hunter94]

Say what you want, the results were there, Cross kicked ass and they didnt stop him.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Hey, I hope Imani gets more carries and continues to do well.

 

But the results confirm that Newby averages 5.3 yards a carry, Cross averages 4.3 yards a carry, and Janovich averages 6.7 yards a carry.

 

Janovich is gonna deserve some of the carries in the situations given to Cross.

 

And someone needs to check if the offensive line is doing anything different.

 

But there was something very appealing about seeing Cross and Janovich in the same backfield.

 

The notion that a Cross/Janovich backfield shoulda been obvious to the coaching staff earlier isn't that obvious.

[Enhance]

Say what you want, the results were there, Cross kicked ass and they didnt stop him.

I'll refer to Guy's post directly above mine because he pretty much hit the nail on the head. I'll just add that, in my opinion, there's been very little consistency this year when it comes to who is seeing carries. Newby saw 18 carries against So. Miss. and then 5 at Illinois. Jano has completely disappeared at times to the point they don't even call designed carries. Ozigbo was nowhere to be seen after averaging 10 YPC against Illinois and Mikale Wilbon feels almost like an illusion.

 

I'm not 100% sure what the identity or theme is with our rushing attack other than there appears to not be one, outside of trying to get the ball to whoever has the hot hand. I still think Newby has the best all around skill set for what this offense wants to do, but as we saw Saturday, Cross was the superior option for getting a victory. Nothing is ever cut and dry with our running back situation. Cross could have 5 carries for 10 yards next week and that wouldn't surprise me one bit given the way this year has gone.

[xlbder]

Hey, I hope Imani gets more carries and continues to do well.

 

 

The notion that a Cross/Janovich backfield shoulda been obvious to the coaching staff earlier isn't that obvious.

 

Mavric thought Cross "just wasn't that good," but some of us were calling for this backfield months ago.

 

Posted 12 October 2015 - 02:16 PM

I too am a fan of the power running game. Alas, we are not going to see it this season. I wanted to see a lot of Cross and Jano with Armstrong under center and a TE on half the plays. But we have the rink-a-dink schizoid offensive game plan. Maybe we will confuse a few opponents.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

There have been several times the past three seasons where we attempt to feature Imani Cross in a power running game and he "just wasn't that good."

 

He was our short yardage back. Not our every down back. He still looks powerful, but not very savvy. Fumbling has been an issue. Stats don't tell the whole story, but 4.3 yards per carry tells us something. He's been a touchdown machine in his limited carries, and I think he's going to be well remembered around here. NFL teams will give him a look.

 

Imani had a great game Saturday when we really needed him -- and didn't have much choice -- but it doesn't mean you can go back in time and make Imani Cross better than he was when given the chance. And he's been given the chance.

But he's been a great guy and a hard worker, and I see no reason not to let him supplant Newby and have the two seniors, Cross and Janovich, take us out of this season in more bruising fashion. Riley and Langsdorf may not be your power running dream team, but they did pull Janovich out of his three season purgatory, and appear to be giving Cross the carries many would have given to Ozigbo and Wilbon.

[Guy Chamberlin]

One thing that has been pretty cut and dried with our running backs is that Terrell Newby is the #1 running back.

 

He's not a worthy heir to our Helu/Burkhead/Abdullah pipeline, but when healthy he's had roughly the same ypc and zero fumbles, and I can't imagine things being dramatically different with any of the other backs in his place.

[zoogs]

Yeah, it doesn't really matter if Cross doesn't fit the prototype. He can work. They can use him. That running game that has been hard to rely on all year, now they've found a way if Cross & co can keep it up.

 

You see pro teams work with "big backs" and "passing backs" in the same offense. If that's what we have now with Cross (L.Blount) and Newby (D.Lewis), let's use them that way.

[xlbder]

I'd like to see Tommy as our number one running back. That sweep with Jano and Cross lead blocking for Tommy looks hard to defend. That would be in the regular playbook, not just a goal line play.

[xlbder]

One thing that has been pretty cut and dried with our running backs is that Terrell Newby is the #1 running back.

 

He's not a worthy heir to our Helu/Burkhead/Abdullah pipeline, but when healthy he's had roughly the same ypc and zero fumbles, and I can't imagine things being dramatically different with any of the other backs in his place.

 

That might have been cut and dry with the coaching staff, but many of us on this board don't think it was so obvious. Prior to this Season, Cross had high ypc than Newby. This year Newby has the higher YPC, but he got his most carries against Southern Alabama. Give Cross those carries and give Newby the MSU carries and the situation would be reversed.

[Hunter94]

Newby lacks toughness and field vision........Cross is a bit slower, we don't have a go to back right now.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

One thing that has been pretty cut and dried with our running backs is that Terrell Newby is the #1 running back.

 

He's not a worthy heir to our Helu/Burkhead/Abdullah pipeline, but when healthy he's had roughly the same ypc and zero fumbles, and I can't imagine things being dramatically different with any of the other backs in his place.

 

That might have been cut and dry with the coaching staff, but many of us on this board don't think it was so obvious. Prior to this Season, Cross had high ypc than Newby. This year Newby has the higher YPC, but he got his most carries against Southern Alabama. Give Cross those carries and give Newby the MSU carries and the situation would be reversed.

 

 

If the situation was reversed, Nebraska would still have a competent if not dynamic running back, with a running style not suited to certain game situations.

 

Prior to this season, a completely different coaching staff used Imani Cross much the same way.

 

Imani has great physical skills and work ethic, but people who watch the game closer than I do think he's missing some critical running back instincts.

 

Newby has slightly better instincts. Janovich is actually the whole package.

 

Imani has shown real joy the past couple weeks when given the chance to help the team. I hope he builds on that. But I honestly don't see a "what if Imani had played more?" storyline here.