Undone
All-American
Agree with the bold. The problem is when it's 3rd & long and a guy is open and you make a bad throw that then kills the drive.
What would you have done differently play calling-wise, specifically?
Offensive Play Discussion - 2020
- Thread starter Undone
- Start date
Agree with the bold. The problem is when it's 3rd & long and a guy is open and you make a bad throw that then kills the drive.
What would you have done differently play calling-wise, specifically?
Here's what I have complained about since Bo. And it's true today. What the hell is our offensive identity? I have no idea. It's another iteration of Beck, Wats, Langs....We do nothing well. It's square peg meet round hole. It's shifts and motions that do nothing but confuse our guys. It doesn't protect the D. It doesn't have any ebb or flow to the play calling. It's a complete and total crap show. And it starts at the top.
Exactly. When's the last time we had a RB have a 100 yd game? We don't lean on anything, there is no rhythm. We get into second and 2 and we don't take any shots. Martinez hit 80% of his passes in the first half and had a whopping 70 yards..... I don't know what the answer is but I know it's painful to watch.
With a game like this, I would have expected to win ugly. Minnesota would have got a healthy dose of downhill run. Once I establish the run I involve TEs in the short/intermediate passing game, and start putting the LBs in a conundrum of whether they should drop into coverage or support in the run. And I'll take our TEs over their LBs any day of the week.
gobiggergoredder
All-American
There are certainly some head scratching play calls, but 16 completions for 111 is 7 yards per play. That's the average. You take the 22 yard completion and that takes the average to 6 yards per completion average.
Teams are going to give us these 3-5 yards swing passes all day. Can't build an offense around that. He has to be able to make a completion beyond 15 yards to stretch the field. He simply hasn't shown he can do that.
That's where my philosophy is different than Frost. I'll take 7 yards a completion, to complement a proficient downhill running game, which we can have with Mills. Won't be glam, but Iowa and Wisconsin have made a lot of hay with that philosophy.
chamrocck
All-American
Ugh it’s just a lot of everything people are saying. No deep threat, no RB that can take over drives, inaccurate throws, inconsistent to poor OL play.
After what I saw today I think there is a strong chance we see Milton come here. He is a quick trigger up tempo accurate QB. Gets the ball out quick. Can scramble. Frost and Milton trust each other. Frost needs Milton to show his offense can work. Milton needs Frost to show he’s still got it. This deal should get done.
After what I saw today I think there is a strong chance we see Milton come here. He is a quick trigger up tempo accurate QB. Gets the ball out quick. Can scramble. Frost and Milton trust each other. Frost needs Milton to show his offense can work. Milton needs Frost to show he’s still got it. This deal should get done.
Decoy73
Starter
I think Adrian and Luke are great teammates and good leaders, but are they the answer?
I hate to bring up UCF 2017, but hear me out.
Did Frost appear to be a good play caller in 2017? Yes
Did UCF 2017 have an offense that hummed and almost scored at will? Yes
Would UCF have had the same level of success had M.Milton not been able to complete plus 10yrd passes? Duh, no.
Would UCF have had the same level of success without a good running back (Killins, I believe)? Duh, no
Does Nebraska have a QB who can reliably complete 10 plus yard passes with reasonable consistency? NO
Does Nebraska have a RB game comparable to UCF 2017? No way
I get that there are all kinds of other variables, like the B1G being a tougher conference, etc, but...
Get a new QB (I'm not saying Milton, just a grad transfer passer--please) and re-evaluate the RB room development. Then those play calls don't look so bad and our D will not be regularly put in bad positions.
I hate to bring up UCF 2017, but hear me out.
Did Frost appear to be a good play caller in 2017? Yes
Did UCF 2017 have an offense that hummed and almost scored at will? Yes
Would UCF have had the same level of success had M.Milton not been able to complete plus 10yrd passes? Duh, no.
Would UCF have had the same level of success without a good running back (Killins, I believe)? Duh, no
Does Nebraska have a QB who can reliably complete 10 plus yard passes with reasonable consistency? NO
Does Nebraska have a RB game comparable to UCF 2017? No way
I get that there are all kinds of other variables, like the B1G being a tougher conference, etc, but...
Get a new QB (I'm not saying Milton, just a grad transfer passer--please) and re-evaluate the RB room development. Then those play calls don't look so bad and our D will not be regularly put in bad positions.
gobiggergoredder
All-American
It's easy to say you'd take a 7 yard completion, but that's not how it works. When it's time to make a play via the air, AM just doesn't get it done. It's awesome you have a 10 yard completion at you're own 20 in the first quarter.
You can't miss open guys. You can't toss air balls on third down. You can't eat a sack or fumble. You can't hang on to the ball FOREVER.
You're right. But you have to develop consistency, and that comes with working with the talent you currently have, and talent you think you can consistently get in the future. We aren't likely to get Joe Montana year end and out, but we can get guys that can complete short passes, and let defenses know you if you load up the box we can effectively move the ball with our WRs. And who knows our WRs may develop the skillset to break tackles and get you more yards.
But the overall foundation has to be downhill running the ball, even when they know it is coming.
Held might be a great recruiter, but he'd be a coach looking for a new gig in 2021. No development at all IMHO. He and Verduzco could ride off together. And Austin....But to be fair, I think if he could truly call running plays he might be better. Between the tackles, straight ahead we did the job. Outside not so much. IIRC, he even said in the off season our strength Is straight ahead....So maybe even more of frost's issues. he doesn't let the "boots" on the ground really have any impact.
Last edited by a moderator:
Undone
All-American
I have to come back to this comment though.
Here's an example of when play calling bites you: Like when you know the defense has 8 guys crowding the line of scrimmage in between the hashes but you just keep calling inside zones into that mixing bowl over and over without success - that's just one example of what I'd call "bad play calling."
But when your best offensive player (Wan'Dale) gets open downfield, your offensive line pass blocks well, but then your QB overthrows the ball, I don't chalk that up to bad play calling. That's just your QB not executing.
I get an argument in this one that because it was close for the majority of the game you should just go with high percentage plays - like downhill runs by Mills. I get that. But, we haven't been good at that all year in terms of run blocking.
This is where I think having taller WRs will benefit. Love Wandale, but a 5'10" WR (maybe a little less if I'm being honest) should not be our deep threat WR. The completion rate on downfield passes is already less than shorter passes under perfect circumstances, but we add in a WR who doesn't have the biggest catch radius to boot.
Also, if you want consistent downfield passing in game, you need to develop an in game chemistry between the WRs and QB during the game. Again, the WTH substitution packages of subbing in different WRs for no logical reason hurts if downfield passing is an integral part of your game (e.g. why the hell did they target Martin when he has barely seen the field all season, let alone this game).