Good Ole Days

[Blackshirts42]

Here's a not so brief intro. I was born and raised in Ohio, I became a Husker fan as a 9 year old watching the 84 Orange Bowl(9 year olds always go for 2. I didn't know or for that matter even ever met another Husker fan until we had some neighbors move in from Nebraska a few years later, I fell in love but that's another story. With that being said I've always felt like a outsider, a Husker fan living in buckeye country, having no real ties to Husker Nation. So I would like to get the opinion of "real" Huskers on the way I feel about the program as a not normal fan.

One of our big advantages in the glory days was our strength program, we no longer have that advantage, everybody has a strength program. Another was our walk on program, something we are still proud of but not sure how big of an advantage it is anymore. What I think is and still could be a huge advantage is the option offense. It's hard for teams to prepare for if they hardly ever see it, back in the glory days from what I've read every high school in Nebraska ran the same system and we had a great feeder system because of it. Teams like Navy and Georgia Tech still run it and have decent success but don't get the talent Nebraska can get. Other than pro style qbs and wrs you can recruit 5 star recruits at every other position on both sides of the ball. So BRING BACK THE OPTION.

Thoughts?

 

[True2tRA]

I miss the option but I think more than anything Nebraska just suffers from lack of identity. The option would be an identity but there are other things as well that would be successful. Wisconsin has an identity.

To me, bend don't break defense is dead. It weakens the Blackshirt tradition and it's a soft style.

Offensively we are so multiple, or claim to be, but in reality we aren't any good at anything. Establishing what you do well helps build a program. In the option days, kids were recruited to fit the style and when a guy committed here or even looked at playing for Nebraska its because they knew what they were gonna get. They knew how their style would fit into what we do. The coaches had a p,an for their strengths as well.

How do we recruit now? Just find the best athlete we can and squeeze him on the roster somehow?

I agree the option would set us apart, and it would be great to have that identity, I just think any identity would be better than what we do now.

 

[Redux]

Proximity does not a fan make. The fact you are a Husker fan surrounded by fans of another strong program is remarkable. Welcome to the board.

We lack consistency. What made us so good back then was us being ahead of the rest in certain areas. The option and the s&c were huge factors. Oh how Id love to be ahead of the competition again.

 

[Hunter94]

everyone is ate up with the spread offense, but you can run out of the spread too, it's not all play action. honestly, we need a qb that can throw, running should be but an after thought.....dual threat means pass first, always, run 2nd.......6-18....get his a$$ off the field!

 

[The Duke]

The thing you have to remember about "the glory years" is that we didn't just run the option. We ran a Pro-Style Offense while also incorporating the Option. It was an absolutely brilliant, brilliant scheme by Tom Osborne. It's also a scheme that I do believe can still be run today. It can even be modernized to include the read-option.

If Nebraska should revert back to a similar style of offense someday, I would hope that the hurry-up no-huddle style would be scrapped. Having control of the clock while you are on offense is a huge bonus for your defense. A quick three & out, which hurry-up no huddle systems are prone to do can gas your defense quickly, and result in a game getting out of control when it didn't need to.

Going back to the option discussion, the one point that all option coaches would agree upon is that the option offense, or elements of the option is an equalizer. Again the option offense is an equalizer.

With that said, there are three non-option plays from our old offense that I would love to see make a return:

1) The Toss Sweep, otherwise known back then as 41/49 pitch:

2 & 3) The Counter Trap & Counter Sweep (Tom Osborne's version of Power Football):

NOTE-These could be run either from a two-back set or single back set by removing the fullback & adding the 2nd tight-end

Remember Nebraska's offenses back then were Multiple. Where the glory year's offenses differ from today's Nebraska offense is Tim Beck's offense is multiple in formations and simplistic in number of running plays. Osborne's & Frank Solich's offense were also multiple in formation, but also multiple in the number of different running schemes they would throw at a defense, and the number of different options of who would carry the football.

Whatever Nebraska decides to do next season they MUST find an identity again that allows them to be:

1. Physical (Seeing a return of a fullback & tight-ends would be preferred)
2. Consistent
3. Play with a style that is unique to Nebraska. (Let's face it...the spread is not the novelty it was even 10 years ago)
   

I'm confident Nebraska will find it's footing again. The fan base & big donors will not stand for embarrassing losses much longer. As a program let's find a way to grind-out the rest of this season, and then evaluate where & what changes need to be made going forward.

 

[LumberJackSker]

Georgia Tech can get just as good of athletes as Nebraska by their location alone. They are decent but no better off and Johnson has been there for a while now. Kids these days want to play some where that gets them pro ready and running a triple option out of the wishbone doesn't exactly do that, might scare recruits away before we even get a chance to recruit them. Someone posted an article about what Oregon does on offense and it incorporates a lot of the same principles, that's probably the closest you could get.

 

[T_O_Bull]

Here's a not so brief intro. I was born and raised in Ohio, I became a Husker fan as a 9 year old watching the 84 Orange Bowl(9 year olds always go for 2. I didn't know or for that matter even ever met another Husker fan until we had some neighbors move in from Nebraska a few years later, I fell in love but that's another story. With that being said I've always felt like a outsider, a Husker fan living in buckeye country, having no real ties to Husker Nation. So I would like to get the opinion of "real" Huskers on the way I feel about the program as a not normal fan.

One of our big advantages in the glory days was our strength program, we no longer have that advantage, everybody has a strength program. Another was our walk on program, something we are still proud of but not sure how big of an advantage it is anymore. What I think is and still could be a huge advantage is the option offense. It's hard for teams to prepare for if they hardly ever see it, back in the glory days from what I've read every high school in Nebraska ran the same system and we had a great feeder system because of it. Teams like Navy and Georgia Tech still run it and have decent success but don't get the talent Nebraska can get. Other than pro style qbs and wrs you can recruit 5 star recruits at every other position on both sides of the ball. So BRING BACK THE OPTION.

Thoughts?

One thing Navy and G. Tech have in common is Paul Johnson. We discussed him a lot 7 years ago.

T_O_B

 

[r06ue1]

Here's a not so brief intro. I was born and raised in Ohio, I became a Husker fan as a 9 year old watching the 84 Orange Bowl(9 year olds always go for 2. I didn't know or for that matter even ever met another Husker fan until we had some neighbors move in from Nebraska a few years later, I fell in love but that's another story. With that being said I've always felt like a outsider, a Husker fan living in buckeye country, having no real ties to Husker Nation. So I would like to get the opinion of "real" Huskers on the way I feel about the program as a not normal fan.

One of our big advantages in the glory days was our strength program, we no longer have that advantage, everybody has a strength program. Another was our walk on program, something we are still proud of but not sure how big of an advantage it is anymore. What I think is and still could be a huge advantage is the option offense. It's hard for teams to prepare for if they hardly ever see it, back in the glory days from what I've read every high school in Nebraska ran the same system and we had a great feeder system because of it. Teams like Navy and Georgia Tech still run it and have decent success but don't get the talent Nebraska can get. Other than pro style qbs and wrs you can recruit 5 star recruits at every other position on both sides of the ball. So BRING BACK THE OPTION.

Thoughts?

Welcome to the boards! I'm a Ohio Husker fan also. Fell in love with the Huskers watching them on TV in 1983 (what a great team that was!) when I was in 9th grade.

I too am a huge fan of the option and would love to see its return. I don't like the offense they run today, we aren't scaring anyone or wearing down opposing defenses with it like the "Nebraska I" (agree with The Duke, it was more of a pro-style option) did years ago. It seems that everyone is in love with the Spread Option these days but to me it just seems to be the fastest way to get your defense back on the field but I guess the fans today love seeing those high scoring games.

 

[MichiganDad3]

The thing you have to remember about "the glory years" is that we didn't just run the option. We ran a Pro-Style Offense while also incorporating the Option. It was an absolutely brilliant, brilliant scheme by Tom Osborne. It's also a scheme that I do believe can still be run today. It can even be modernized to include the read-option.

If Nebraska should revert back to a similar style of offense someday, I would hope that the hurry-up no-huddle style would be scrapped. Having control of the clock while you are on offense is a huge bonus for your defense. A quick three & out, which hurry-up no huddle systems are prone to do can gas your defense quickly, and result in a game getting out of control when it didn't need to.

Going back to the option discussion, the one point that all option coaches would agree upon is that the option offense, or elements of the option is an equalizer. Again the option offense is an equalizer.

With that said, there are three non-option plays from our old offense that I would love to see make a return:

1) The Toss Sweep, otherwise known back then as 41/49 pitch:

2 & 3) The Counter Trap & Counter Sweep (Tom Osborne's version of Power Football):

NOTE-These could be run either from a two-back set or single back set by removing the fullback & adding the 2nd tight-end

Remember Nebraska's offenses back then were Multiple. Where the glory year's offenses differ from today's Nebraska offense is Tim Beck's offense is multiple in formations and simplistic in number of running plays. Osborne's & Frank Solich's offense were also multiple in formation, but also multiple in the number of different running schemes they would throw at a defense, and the number of different options of who would carry the football.

Whatever Nebraska decides to do next season they MUST find an identity again that allows them to be:

1. Physical (Seeing a return of a fullback & tight-ends would be preferred)
2. Consistent
3. Play with a style that is unique to Nebraska. (Let's face it...the spread is not the novelty it was even 10 years ago)
   

I'm confident Nebraska will find it's footing again. The fan base & big donors will not stand for embarrassing losses much longer. As a program let's find a way to grind-out the rest of this season, and then evaluate where & what changes need to be made going forward.

TO was a master at hurry up too. When he was trying to wear out the opposition, the ball was routinely snapped with 15 to 20 seconds on the clock. I liked how he used receivers to bring in the play instead of having the team starring at the sidelines.

 

[The Duke]

The thing you have to remember about "the glory years" is that we didn't just run the option. We ran a Pro-Style Offense while also incorporating the Option. It was an absolutely brilliant, brilliant scheme by Tom Osborne. It's also a scheme that I do believe can still be run today. It can even be modernized to include the read-option.

If Nebraska should revert back to a similar style of offense someday, I would hope that the hurry-up no-huddle style would be scrapped. Having control of the clock while you are on offense is a huge bonus for your defense. A quick three & out, which hurry-up no huddle systems are prone to do can gas your defense quickly, and result in a game getting out of control when it didn't need to.

Going back to the option discussion, the one point that all option coaches would agree upon is that the option offense, or elements of the option is an equalizer. Again the option offense is an equalizer.

With that said, there are three non-option plays from our old offense that I would love to see make a return:

1) The Toss Sweep, otherwise known back then as 41/49 pitch:

2 & 3) The Counter Trap & Counter Sweep (Tom Osborne's version of Power Football):

NOTE-These could be run either from a two-back set or single back set by removing the fullback & adding the 2nd tight-end

Remember Nebraska's offenses back then were Multiple. Where the glory year's offenses differ from today's Nebraska offense is Tim Beck's offense is multiple in formations and simplistic in number of running plays. Osborne's & Frank Solich's offense were also multiple in formation, but also multiple in the number of different running schemes they would throw at a defense, and the number of different options of who would carry the football.

Whatever Nebraska decides to do next season they MUST find an identity again that allows them to be:

1. Physical (Seeing a return of a fullback & tight-ends would be preferred)
2. Consistent
3. Play with a style that is unique to Nebraska. (Let's face it...the spread is not the novelty it was even 10 years ago)
   

I'm confident Nebraska will find it's footing again. The fan base & big donors will not stand for embarrassing losses much longer. As a program let's find a way to grind-out the rest of this season, and then evaluate where & what changes need to be made going forward.

TO was a master at hurry up too. When he was trying to wear out the opposition, the ball was routinely snapped with 15 to 20 seconds on the clock. I liked how he used receivers to bring in the play instead of having the team starring at the sidelines.

Yes he was. I guess my point on scrapping the no huddle hurry up would be to stop using it as every down tool like you see Oregon or Auburn do.

You are absolutely correct in how Tom Osborne was a master at using the hurry up, and the way in which he went about using it. The key with the way Osborne applied the hurry up was that it was timely. When he knew he had a defense on the ropes or that they couldn't stop a certain series of plays, that is when he would routinely have his offense pick up the pace.

But he also knew when to slow the game down, and control the clock to Nebraska's advantage. Slowing the game down, and more importantly having the team huddle before every play would keep our defense off the field (giving them more time to catch their breath & make adjustments with the defensive coaches), it would also give the offense a few extra seconds to gain their composure if needed.

 

[knapplc]

A crucial component of Oregon's hurry-up offense is a QB who can hit his passes. Martinez was successful by the stats, but a poor passer overall. Armstrong is just not getting it done at all, and appears even further behind than Martinez was at any point in his career. In short, neither fit the mold of what we need at quarterback in this system. Ganz did... but he was working in Watson's modified West Coast system in 2008.

 

[Jason Sitoke]

I think there are bigger fish to fry right now than attacking the schematics of the offense.

This all seems to start and end with preparation. The players look lost on the field and don't execute basic fundamentals. Why do we have guys on defense who still don't know how to tackle? Why do we have offensive lineman that are good for 5-6 penalties a game? Blocking and tackling are not scheme issues. No matter the scheme, if you cannot do either of those, you will not win.

 

[knapplc]

At the risk of sounding like a Beck apologist (I'm not), the offense isn't the problem. We had this discussion last year as well and the sitch is the same - in nearly every one of our blowout losses, we've scored enough to win. We've suffered ten nine losses by 17 or more points under Pelini, and we've scored an average of 22 23 points in those losses. Not only should that be a competitive score, that should be enough to get a win in half of those games had we played defense.

But we haven't. We've given up novelty-sized amounts of points & yards in those losses. Each time it was the defense just collapsing, a game where everything the opponent does works to perfection. Wisconsin is responsible for three of those blowouts, all occurring over the last four seasons, and the last two the defense has given up historic numbers of yards and points, going back 120 years.

It's the defense. Bo's "specialty." That's the problem.

 

[The Duke]

A crucial component of Oregon's hurry-up offense is a QB who can hit his passes. Martinez was successful by the stats, but a poor passer overall. Armstrong is just not getting it done at all, and appears even further behind than Martinez was at any point in his career. In short, neither fit the mold of what we need at quarterback in this system. Ganz did... but he was working in Watson's modified West Coast system in 2008.

BINGO!

We either need a quarterback that fits the system (more specifically the passing routes) that Tim Beck wants to run OR Nebraska needs to adjust their current system to the quarterback talent they have on hand and to what their skill sets are.

If Tommy Armstrong is struggling with these 5-step drops and passing plays such as the deep fade, or deep post then if he truly is our best option at quarterback, then give the young man routes that he knows he can throw accurately on a consistent basis such as:

• Quick Slants
• 5 or 10 yard hitch
• I-Back Slip Screen
• WR Tunnel Screen
• 5 yard Shallow Crossing route

Give him plays to get rid of the ball quickly (which helps the offensive line to not have to block as long) and let the receivers talents take over once the ball is delivered to them, instead of going for these deep boom-or-bust plays which either lead to 3 & outs or a costly turnover.

 

[The Duke]

I think there are bigger fish to fry right now than attacking the schematics of the offense.

This all seems to start and end with preparation. The players look lost on the field and don't execute basic fundamentals. Why do we have guys on defense who still don't know how to tackle? Why do we have offensive lineman that are good for 5-6 penalties a game? Blocking and tackling are not scheme issues. No matter the scheme, if you cannot do either of those, you will not win.

This will have to wait until bowl practices & the offseason, but I do think the schemes on both the offense & defense need a complete & thorough evaluation / overhaul.

You are spot on, that across the board the players on both sides of the ball have not been executing basic, simple, fundamentals, which lead to clean, sound football....win or lose.