Nebraska Offense Idea - The Ski-Gun Offense

[roundegotrip]

the play in the first video at :34 in....we ran that against S.C. and I thought it was AWESOME at the time. I think it was either Bell or Marlowe who motioned back toward the QB from the left side of the field, then was the pitch man with option going back to the left. There is already some of this in NU's offense....but more would be sweet!

We ran that play to the right with Turner way back in one of the noncon games and I've been wanting to see it again ever since.

 

[HotGrillonGrillAction]

the play in the first video at :34 in....we ran that against S.C. and I thought it was AWESOME at the time. I think it was either Bell or Marlowe who motioned back toward the QB from the left side of the field, then was the pitch man with option going back to the left. There is already some of this in NU's offense....but more would be sweet!

We ran that play to the right with Turner way back in one of the noncon games and I've been wanting to see it again ever since.

Yea...I remember that too. One of the best plays we have. Works out of the diamond, pistol, you name it.

 

[ZRod]

Like everybody has said that does look pretty similar to what we were doing this year. But the one thing that you could take away is the passing style, especially the short passing game. I think Beck (or it could be Taylor's choices) tends to get to vertical with the passing game when 5 or 10 yards would do just fine. What we need to do is recruit those receivers, every catch they make I can see our guy making the drop in my head from this season. And the QB reminds me of Frazier or Crouch with the way he runs the option.

Something I just thought of would be to run the triple option with Rex as the FB and Ameer or Green as the man in motion, talk about a headache there.

 

[SnowBigRed]

In high school, this is an "offense". In college, this is a "package". NU ran a little bit of this this year at times, and if i recall correctly, it worked fairly well. Running this kind of stuff a few plays per game would be worth while, but by no means should Nebraska try to run this somewhat exclusively (not sure if this was the OP's intent, but just wanted to get that out there).

 

[MasterPulverizer]

the play in the first video at :34 in....we ran that against S.C. and I thought it was AWESOME at the time. I think it was either Bell or Marlowe who motioned back toward the QB from the left side of the field, then was the pitch man with option going back to the left. There is already some of this in NU's offense....but more would be sweet!

We ran that play to the right with Turner way back in one of the noncon games and I've been wanting to see it again ever since.

I remember that. It made me think that we have 4 big time playmakers potentially involved on 1 play.

 

[Hercules]

This "ski-gun offense" and with the diamond formation both seem pretty similar to Osborne's old double wing package. Look at 3:23.

 

[BaytownHusker]

Can we get # 2 and # 3 to come to Neb.

 

[JJ Husker]

I like the offense in theory and see some similarities to things we are already doing. But, the defensive play in these videos is atrocious and would make what we currently do look high-powered too. They wouldn't get away with that many highlights against the likes of SC's or B1G defenses.

 

[JJ Husker]

This "ski-gun offense" and with the diamond formation both seem pretty similar to Osborne's old double wing package. Look at 3:23.

This is a little off subject but, does anybody see one player on this 97 team that you would not take in a heartbeat over anyone we suited up this season? Fonzie and David could hang with these guys and I thin Rex would be alright (prob not gonna replace Ahman tho) but anyone else? No, me either. And people wonder why some of us live with one foot in the past. this little clip didn't even highlight the beating our D put on Manning. .........................Sorry, I'm back to reality now.

 

[The Duke]

What strikes me most about those highlight videos is the way the O-line is knocking the defense off the ball. They are getting to the 2nd level quickly and throwing some hellacious blocks. Scheme isn't so important... fix our o-line and you fix our offense.

I agree with you about our offensive line. That is why I mentioned in my original post three rules must be in place to have a successful offensive team:

1) You're only as good as your offensive line. (At the end of the day, most games are won in the trenches).

2) You're only as good as your QB's decision making & accuracy.

3) Speed kills.

 

[The Duke]

In high school, this is an "offense". In college, this is a "package". NU ran a little bit of this this year at times, and if i recall correctly, it worked fairly well. Running this kind of stuff a few plays per game would be worth while, but by no means should Nebraska try to run this somewhat exclusively (not sure if this was the OP's intent, but just wanted to get that out there).

I think you have some merit with that statement. But at the same time look at what Oregon has been doing over the past several years. At other schools Oregon's offense would just be "a package," but at Oregon it is their offense....and it works.

The same was true with Nebraska and Tom Osborne during the 80's & 90's. We primarily ran out of different I-Formations. At other schools these would just be "a package," but at Nebraska Osborne turned into an offense that was almost unstoppable.

So can this "Ski-Gun" offense or package work at Nebraska? I don't know? But I do think it presents a lot of potential when you think about the talent that we have coming back next year.

 

[The Duke]

This "ski-gun offense" and with the diamond formation both seem pretty similar to Osborne's old double wing package. Look at 3:23.

The double wing formation at 3:23 in this video is basically the Flexbone-Normal formation. It is exactly one of the main formations that Paul Johnson uses at Georgia Tech. I couldn't tell from that video, but I think the one difference in the way Osborne used the double wing and how Paul Johnson uses it is that Johnson quickly brings one of the wing players in motion before the ball is snapped, essentially creating an I-Formation.

The Ski-Gun offense that I introduced above has elements of the flexbone or double wing formation with the difference being the QB is at a Pistol depth or 2-3 yards behind the Center.

 

[huskerjack23]

Malzahn and the guy at Clemson basically do this kind of stuff as well.

 

[dutch91701]

I like offenses like these, but they tend to end up as more of a gimmick than a winning offensive system. The option works when it is utilized like it was by Nebraska under TO. The option does not work well, however, when an option look, or option PA look, is the foundation of nearly every play like it is at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is one of those teams that runs the Flexbone-style option offense, but they cant make it work consistently. I understand the OP's suggested offense is technically the "Ski-Gun" offense, not the Flexbone, but for all intents and purposes, it is the Flexbone run out of the Pistol. The idea of getting all our speed involved every play is good in theory, but I don't think the athletes we have now could pull it off, especially with our sorry O-Line play. Going to this style of offense would temporarily win a couple more games for a season or two, but we would ultimately fall off after that (see Georgia Tech). Not to mention that we would be nothing more than a gimmick team that some bad guy (my friend) would use in NCAA Football 20__ just to screw with people, just because nobody uses them.

 

[Goal-line]

Option football requires offensive line blocking, which in turn requires athletes that can actually have the talent to do that, speed, agility, smart, and agressive. I recently watched some clips with the teams of the 90's. The simple difference between this current Husker offensive line and the line in the 90's is light years apart. None of the current players could have started on those teams. Football is a rather simple game. If you cannot block and you cannot tackle, you cannot win no matter what kind of super stars you have at the skill positions.