What Kind of Offense Are We Really Trying to Run?

[Elf]

 

 

 

 

 

So Osborne had 25 superior line classes in a row? I'll agree that once the defense came around we were the most dominate team in college football but for 20 years Osborne managed to win at least 9 games a year with a very average defense. If you are trying to tell me that teams now days can't do that Guy are 100% dead wrong. Go back and watch Baylors last 2 games from last season.

If you go by All-Conference, All-Americans and Lombardi and Outland Award winners than yeah, Osborne had a pretty good run with dominating offensive lines. It also showed in their dominating run offense, which was not achieved simply by running the ball a lot, but by recruiting specifically for a rushing offense. Nebraska was a destination for offensive linemen. But it hardly happened overnight. Really not sure what you're disagreeing with here.

 

And "average defense?" Don't know about that, either. Nebraska's defense made a huge difference during our 40 year run of excellence. I'm not sure what teams you are choosing to remember, but great Nebraska defenses gave up only 8.0 points a game while the lesser Nebraska defenses still gave up only 14 points a game. Compare that to the 26+ ppg Nebraska defenses have given up in recent years and you can appreciate the difference that makes in the offense you run and the games you don't win.

 

Guy to many people don't recall when Osborne's teams struggled. They only remember when his teams were doing well. I admit, there is a lot of good to remember but it wasn't all roses all the time either.

 

Osborne finished on an incredible 5-year run. Fans tend to forget the 7-consecutive bowl losses and the offense struggling or getting shutdown by good teams through the late 80's and early nineties.

 

All they have to do is watch the 1990 Fiesta Bowl vs Florida St. 41-10 final score.

 

I'll up the ante with the 1992 Orange Bowl, a 22-0 loss.

 

9 first downs

38 rushes for 82 yards (2.2 ypc)

7/19 passing for 89 yards (4.7 ypa)

57 plays for 171 total yards (3.0 ypp)

 

Yep, that was another serious ass kicking.

[Elf]

 

 

How old are you Elf? I watched the games from the 70's and 80's and to say we were a primarily option team is beyond uninformed. It's laughable! And to say that Frank let the program slide from the most dominant run in college football history. Well duh! Did you think we were just going to win 20 titles in a row? You could say the same about Osborne taking over for Devaney. Did he let the program slide for 20 years?

I'm probably older than you are, I've been a fan for over 50 years. In the 70's we ran a pro-style offense. I think it was '81 when Osborne went to the option offense.

 

Osborne never had a 7-7 season.

 

 

Osborne never had crippling scholarship limits either and played only 10 games a season with 7 conference games.

 

 

It was a different time, a different era, and thus really can't apply to winning in today's college football. Too much has changed in the past 20 years to really compare it at all.

 

Osborne never had crippling scholarship limits either. There is this false narrative that Osborne didn't have to deal with scholarship limits. In 73 the NCAA set the initial scholarship limits at 105, in '78 that number was reduced to 95 and in '92 it was reduced again to its current limit of 85. And I really don't think even 85 is a crippling limit, I mean, its not like it has crippled anyone else.

[Elf]

 

 

 

 

How old are you Elf? I watched the games from the 70's and 80's and to say we were a primarily option team is beyond uninformed. It's laughable! And to say that Frank let the program slide from the most dominant run in college football history. Well duh! Did you think we were just going to win 20 titles in a row? You could say the same about Osborne taking over for Devaney. Did he let the program slide for 20 years?

I'm probably older than you are, I've been a fan for over 50 years. In the 70's we ran a pro-style offense. I think it was '81 when Osborne went to the option offense.

 

Osborne never had a 7-7 season.

 

 

Osborne never had crippling scholarship limits either and played only 10 games a season with 7 conference games.

 

 

It was a different time, a different era, and thus really can't apply to winning in today's college football. Too much has changed in the past 20 years to really compare it at all.

 

Osborne never had crippling scholarship limits either. There is this false narrative that Osborne didn't have to deal with scholarship limits. In 73 the NCAA set the initial scholarship limits at 105, in '78 that number was reduced to 95 and in '92 it was reduced again to its current limit of 85. And I really don't think even 85 is a crippling limit, I mean, its not like it has crippled anyone else.

 

 

 

Fine, you object to the word crippling. Remove it from the equation.

 

 

 

Rephrased: Osborne never had the scholarship limits that we have today.

 

Yes he did. He had the same limits we have today from 92 -97. And from 78-91 his limit was only 10 higher than it is today. And get this, Osborne's teams never played less than 12 games a year.

 

*Edit* I'm not sure how the information from this chart is going to paste over....this could be ugly!

 

 

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°

Nebraska Cornhuskers (Big Eight Conference) (1973–1995)ci

1973 Nebraska 9–2–1 4–2–1 T–2nd W Cotton 11T 7

1974 Nebraska 9–3 5–2 T–2nd W Sugar 9 8

1975 Nebraska 10–2 6–1 T–1st L Fiesta 9 9

1976 Nebraska 9–3–1 4–3 T–4th W Bluebonnet 7 9

1977 Nebraska 9–3 5–2 T–2nd W Liberty 10 12

1978 Nebraska 9–3 6–1 T–1st L Orange 8 8

1979 Nebraska 10–2 6–1 2nd L Cotton 7 9

1980 Nebraska 10–2 6–1 2nd W Sun 7 7

1981 Nebraska 9–3 7–0 1st L Orange 9 11

1982 Nebraska 12–1 7–0 1st W Orange 3 3

1983 Nebraska 12–1 7–0 1st L Orange 2 2

1984 Nebraska 10–2 6–1 T–1st W Sugar 3 4

1985 Nebraska 9–3 6–1 2nd L Fiesta 10 11

1986 Nebraska 10–2 5–2 3rd W Sugar 4 5

1987 Nebraska 10–2 6–1 2nd L Fiesta 6 6

1988 Nebraska 11–2 7–0 1st L Orange 10 10

1989 Nebraska 10–2 6–1 2nd L Fiesta 12 11

1990 Nebraska 9–3 5–2 3rd L Florida Citrus 17T 24

1991 Nebraska 9–2–1 6–0–1 T–1st L Orange 16 15

1992 Nebraska 9–3 6–1 1st L Orange† 14 14

1993 Nebraska 11–1 7–0 1st L Orange† 3 3

1994 Nebraska 13–0 7–0 1st W Orange† 1 1

1995 Nebraska 12–0 7–0 1st W Fiesta† 1 1

Nebraska Cornhuskers (Big 12 Conference) (1996–1997)

1996 Nebraska 11–2 8–0 1st (North) W Orange† 6 6

1997 Nebraska 13–0 8–0 1st (North) W Orange† 1 2

Nebraska: 255–49–3 160–23–2

Total: 255–49–3

[BRV920]

Maybe you're getting the old timers then because I can pull upa article where Osborne himself states that we were always a power running team and that 25 to 30% was option based out of the I formation. Is he misremembering?

 

Yeah Frank had a 7-7 season and followed it up with a 9 win regular season. It's amazing to me that you are willing to give Riley a pass for last season but try to blame Frank for the last 15. Makes no sense.

 

What are your expectations for Riley over the next 5 years Elf?

[Elf]

Maybe you're getting the old timers then because I can pull upa article where Osborne himself states that we were always a power running team and that 25 to 30% was option based out of the I formation. Is he misremembering?

 

Yeah Frank had a 7-7 season and followed it up with a 9 win regular season. It's amazing to me that you are willing to give Riley a pass for last season but try to blame Frank for the last 15. Makes no sense.

 

What are your expectations for Riley over the next 5 years Elf?

How am I blaming Frank for the last 15 years? lol

 

When Frank got fired he was done screwing things up at Nebraska.

 

Osborne always had power running in his offense to one extent or another but that doesn't mean we weren't known as an option team during the 80s. It's like saying Oklahoma wasn't an option team during the 80s. Oklahoma didn't run an option play every single down either but no one would argue they weren't an option team during the 80s.

 

In fact, I think this is the first time I've ever seen anyone try to argue that NU wasn't an option team. Usually it's the other way around, folks try to claim we were still an option team in the 90s when we were winning national titles.

[84HuskerLaw]

Let's all just agree on a couple basic truths:

 

1. Frank Solich was a good coach (not great by any means) but was at best a mediocre recruiter. In his tenure, he took the BEST, DEEPEST, most talent rich team in the country and by the fifth year it was being outclassed by other national powers. (Miami embarrassed us in the Rose Bowl and that was just the 4th year). We could have won ten games in the 2002 schedule (Frank won 7) with the third string from '97.

 

2. Riley did not inherit a team with nearly as much talent as Frank did. This is not debatable.

 

3. This year's team has some good players on it - without a doubt. The problem is we don't have nearly enough to be even in the discussion in national terms. I think there is a long long shot that with no injuries and lots of good fortune and prayers, we can win 10 or more games.

[BIG ERN]

Let's all just agree on a couple basic truths:

 

1. Frank Solich was a good coach (not great by any means) but was at best a mediocre recruiter. In his tenure, he took the BEST, DEEPEST, most talent rich team in the country and by the fifth year it was being outclassed by other national powers. (Miami embarrassed us in the Rose Bowl and that was just the 4th year). We could have won ten games in the 2002 schedule (Frank won 7) with the third string from '97.

 

2. Riley did not inherit a team with nearly as much talent as Frank did. This is not debatable.

 

3. This year's team has some good players on it - without a doubt. The problem is we don't have nearly enough to be even in the discussion in national terms. I think there is a long long shot that with no injuries and lots of good fortune and prayers, we can win 10 or more games.

 

To be fair that 01' Miami team is a top 5 team all-time, and we didn't really deserve to play in that game.

 

In regards to good players this year, I agree. We might have some guys break out but we only have 2 players I would call 'great' at this point.

[BRV920]

You stated in a reply to me that we could blame the last 15 years on Frank. Secondly Elf you stated that we went away from a option attack to a power running attack when we went on our dominate run in the 90's. If you want me to pull up both statements I'd be more than happy too.

[Elf]

You stated in a reply to me that we could blame the last 15 years on Frank. Secondly Elf you stated that we went away from a option attack to a power running attack when we went on our dominate run in the 90's. If you want me to pull up both statements I'd be more than happy too.

Go ahead and pull up the statement where I said the last 15 years was Franks fault. I'll wait patiently.

 

And we did go away from the option to primarily a power run offense. That isn't even debatable. I'm not saying we never ran an option play during those years, that would be silly but it was no longer our identity. I stand by this. Heck, this has been discussed ad nauseum on this board and others.

[BRV920]

So Osborne doesn't know what kind of offense he was running but you do? Did you forget to take your meds today?

[BRV920]

 

What I would say to you Elf is that we made it to the Fiesta bowl and lost to FSU. Something we haven't achieved since we went away from a run based attack.

So are you implying that Nebraska can't achieve greatness again w/o Osborne's offense or something similar?

 

But yeah, we made it to the Fiesta Bowl to play a team that curbstomped us. 41-10. There is a reason Osborne made changes to his team on both sides of the ball. Once all those changes were in place we went 60-3 over 5 years and that is what people pine for, the 5 glory years. Well we all want the glory years to return and I believe they will. Whether that happens with a run first offense, balanced offense or an air raid attack remains to be seen. Personally, I'll enjoy watching Nebraska's offense no matter what style it is. Other people can choose to be miserable/sad/pissed....or whatever, if we aren't running their offense of choice, but that's a choice on their part.

 

*Edit* Solich hadn't gone away from the run heavy offense but very few people will argue that his offense was doing as well as Osborne's had been. Our slide into mediocrity and away from competing for championships started while we were a run heavy team. Thank Frank for that.

[BRV920]

Right there at the bottom. Do I need to explain what you said to you?

[Elf]

Right there at the bottom. Do I need to explain what you said to you?

No where did I blame Frank for 15 years of football.

 

However, it is not debatable that our slide into mediocrity started on his watch. Callahan and Pelini had the opportunity to change that slide and didn't. Their failures are on them and not on Frank. Frank is only responsible for what he did. I can't help it if you want to read more into it than that.

[BRV920]

So me needing to thank Frank for our slide into mediocrity isn't blaming him? But just so I'm clear. Osborne does know what offense he ran and you have no clue what you are talking about? Not agreeing that point anymore so I'm assuming you agree.

 

Now please just stop. You are so far behind you think you are first.

[Elf]

So me needing to thank Frank for our slide into mediocrity isn't blaming him? But just so I'm clear. Osborne does know what offense he ran and you have no clue what you are talking about? Not agreeing that point anymore so I'm assuming you agree.

 

Now please just stop. You are so far behind you think you are first.

Just because I stopped arguing a point does not mean I agree with you. How do you make these leaps of logic? Maybe it's just not worth arguing?

 

You can thank Frank for starting the slide, you can also thank Bill and Bo for not reversing it. And, sometime in the future we may or may not be able to thank Riley for not reversing it as well.