So how would you classify the offense

[Enhance]

The majority of this year it was pretty much up to Helu or Paul making a big play. If that didn't happen, we were sunk. I am hoping that Lee or Green can really pick it up in the offseason and come back with confidence and the basics to run an efficient offense. Because hoping that your defense can score is not an offense!

But I do have hope that each year from now on will be focused and our coaching staff will be able to recruit kids that will fit that model...not the other way around.

I will ask this again supposedly this offense hasn't changed in the last 5 years other then in the middle of this year. If Watson wasn't recruiting the kids he wanted for this offense then what has he been doing for the last 3 years?

I can't buy into the theory wait until he get the players he wants when he already was recruiting for the same offense in the last three years and Callahan two years before him.

Here is the problem I have with Wats.

The guy has proven that he can put up yards and points, first of all. He did it in 2008 with great success for the most part.

There are two problems I have with Wats however. First, we can't continue to go through up and down years offensively. Having one or two good years and then one or two down years doesn't fly well with any elite team. You need an offense that can be picked up easily by younger guys and they can begin to contribute efficiently early in their career.

This leads me to my second point, which is players learning the offense. Does it really need to take 3 or 4 years for players to start to contribute a lot? Niles Paul, a guy with amazing athletic ability and generally great hands, didn't see a lot of PT until this year. Guys like Holt, who spent a lot of time here, ended up getting demoted at one point. Quarterbacks can't run the offense effectively unless they have been here for nearly 4 years (a la Ganz), and even a guy with a 2 years in the system (Lee) had a lot of struggles this year, injury or no injury.

Naturally, Burkhead is the exception, but if you can pick up pass pro the RB position isn't an overly difficult position to learn.

 

[Vuren]

I was curious, too... Bo said "I know where I want to go with our offense" (paraphrased) but I haven't heard if there has been any elaboration. Has he talked about it any more?

a certain oc was told to scrap the WCO and make a power game and play action based offense with some qb runs..sounds familiar no?

 

[zoogs]

A more difficult question than classifying the offense, is wondering where the offense will be next year.

Wats says they are going back to the Spread. Pelini says he wants a 50/50 team with a lot of power football principles.

Even though they could technically use the spread 50% of the time and power principles another 50% of the time, I still don't believe that these two are on the same page offensively. Bo seems like the type of guy who doesn't like to trick you or confuse you with formations. Bo appears to be the guy who wants to line up and hit you in the mouth with a play, even if you know what that play is going to be. Wats on the other hand appears to be the guy who wants to out-scheme you, and "take what the defense gives us".

I don't think this is true. West Coast principles - there was a great article posted about it a while back - don't involve tricking you. And the Nebraska offense since the Bill Callahan era, has largely not been about it. It's taking what the defense gives us and it's scheming, but that's true in any offensive or defensive scheme ('scheme', right?)...that doesn't mean the idea is to trick people. It's not trying to be tricky, confusing, or whatever...I wish I could pull up that article again.

 

[kyle sibert]

If Lee is starting next year, the west coast is a terrible choice. Lee can be a good quarterback in his own right, ya know, a tough, smashmouth gamer. Not extremely talented, but wants to win. That being said, I don't think he wants to manage a game. The west coast only works if you can complete passes on a consistant basis.

I really don't care about stats if we win. What I love to see is Lee trucking through a safety for two extra yards. But picking apart a defense is not his game, and if Watson forces him to do that, he, for the most part, neutralizes Lee. The guy will win you games if you give him the chance.

 

[mitch7]

nonexistent

 

[bshirt]

The majority of this year it was pretty much up to Helu or Paul making a big play. If that didn't happen, we were sunk. I am hoping that Lee or Green can really pick it up in the offseason and come back with confidence and the basics to run an efficient offense. Because hoping that your defense can score is not an offense!

But I do have hope that each year from now on will be focused and our coaching staff will be able to recruit kids that will fit that model...not the other way around.

I will ask this again supposedly this offense hasn't changed in the last 5 years other then in the middle of this year. If Watson wasn't recruiting the kids he wanted for this offense then what has he been doing for the last 3 years?

I can't buy into the theory wait until he get the players he wants when he already was recruiting for the same offense in the last three years and Callahan two years before him.

Here is the problem I have with Wats.

The guy has proven that he can put up yards and points, first of all. He did it in 2008 with great success for the most part.

There are two problems I have with Wats however. First, we can't continue to go through up and down years offensively. Having one or two good years and then one or two down years doesn't fly well with any elite team. You need an offense that can be picked up easily by younger guys and they can begin to contribute efficiently early in their career.

This leads me to my second point, which is players learning the offense. Does it really need to take 3 or 4 years for players to start to contribute a lot? Niles Paul, a guy with amazing athletic ability and generally great hands, didn't see a lot of PT until this year. Guys like Holt, who spent a lot of time here, ended up getting demoted at one point. Quarterbacks can't run the offense effectively unless they have been here for nearly 4 years (a la Ganz), and even a guy with a 2 years in the system (Lee) had a lot of struggles this year, injury or no injury.

Naturally, Burkhead is the exception, but if you can pick up pass pro the RB position isn't an overly difficult position to learn.