So...What Offense WILL We Run???

Isn't the spread kind of a hybrid of the triple option and WCO? The spread opens up the field by spreading out the receivers and or the running backs. This opens up the running lanes as well as the passing lanes. Florida's spread looked different with Leak at QB than it did with Tebow at QB. There are so many variances of both the WCO and the spread that I'm guessing we see a blend. There was a pretty significant difference between West Virginia's spread and Florida's spread last year.

 
Even though I know it was a long way from running a spread, the WCO had some option w/ Ganz last year that was nice to see. IMO the defense should be straightened out before we do anything to the offense, one monster at a time.

 
Syzygyone said:
huskerjock said:
Oh and Ar Husker Fan everytime I see your avatar picture I think to myself.......I bet he looks just like John Lennon in real life.
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Shhhh, don't blow his cover. That whole getting shot thing was so he could dump Yoko, move out of New York and have a normal life. It's sad though that instead of making it all the way to Nebraska, he got lost and hung up in Arkansas. ;)
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:lol:

Well, the "escape" didn't work - my wife is actually half-Japanese. The hair length is about the same, and I've been wearing Windsor glasses for most of my life - but you wouldn't recognize me these days even with those similarities - my hair color is lighter and my eyes are gray rather than brown.

Those changes seem to have done the job - people are spotting Elvis all the time, but nary a natter 'bout me since my "death"...

 
Our O was rolling under Ganz, no point in throwing that out the window. We'll just tweak it with a more physical running-game and some spread-option elements.

As long as one of the youngsters at wr can step-up as a big-play complement for Swift we should have a nasty offense in '08.

 
Our offense is going to keep going the way it was last year. Watson isn't going to change a ton of stuff up. Maybe a bit more I and Power I formations in short yardage situations, but the offense wasn't the problem last year.

 
AR Husker Fan said:
This isn't a question so much for this year, but...

Bo stated he wanted to run a spread option prior to being hired. As a defensive-minded coach, he has to believe that one way to "protect" a defense is with a strong running game. But all statements subsequent to Bo's hire is that we'll merely "tweak" the current offense.

What's it going to be? Are we going to go with a tweaked version of the West Coast offense? Are we going spread option? Either way, I would assume that the base of the offense will be a power running game.

Is next year going to be a kind of transition from a West Coast offense to the spread option? Are the quarterbacks that are being recruited better suited to one style or the other?

Just curious, more than anything, and thought I'd throw this out there to get the opinions of everyone...
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I don't think we will do radical changes next year. Keeping people comfortable with what they are doing is the most important thing. Take what we had toward the end, but add in more running and more consistent committment to the running game and some play action passing and you have what I expect for next year.

I think that Bo would sacrifice a few points for more consistency game-to-game with the offense and the ability to get the tough yards when they count on short yardage.

Longer term, I think a hybrid offense that fully utilizes a dual threat QB is where we are headed - a bit of power, a bit of option, a bit of spread and short passing to balance it out.

As others have hinted at, calling something a spread, or spread-option, or even WCO doesn't really describe what the team is doing anymore given that there are so many variants of those offenses.

 
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but the offense wasn't the problem last year.

Not entirely true. We had very little running game, the OL wasn't knocking people off the ball, and the offense often failed to answer when the defense gave up points. But I blame B.C. and Waggner for a lot of that. I never thought Wagner did such a hot job with the OL, and even though Watson got more involved at the end, it was still B.C.'s offense.

 
Whatever kind of offense it is, I hope it contains more of a "ball control" element. With last year's offense it was either "All the Way" or "3 and Out". Part of the reason the defense was such crap last year was they were on the field all the time...

A decent running game with a good power back would take care of some of that right away.

 
Something I've been wondering . . . do we KNOW that Watson helped out playcalling at the end of the season or are we just assuming?

 
Cy the Cyclone said:
Whatever kind of offense it is, I hope it contains more of a "ball control" element. With last year's offense it was either "All the Way" or "3 and Out". Part of the reason the defense was such crap last year was they were on the field all the time...

A decent running game with a good power back would take care of some of that right away.
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That, and they couldn't stop anyone. You have a kind of symbiotic relationship of suck between the two elements. We pass all the time so the clock stops, or we go three and out so the defense comes back on the field. In my humble opinion the running game should ALWAYS be favored in the game of football (except in situations where time is too much of a factor). Especially with a weak defense, you have to protect them by not only keeping them on the bench, but limiting the number of possible series they play.

I think Pelini knows this, and will do everything he can to protect the defense until we see a complete conversion to his system.

 
Just having a WCO with a mobile QB and using that ability is a good way to begin. Think of rolling the QB out and him having the option to pass or to run it if he sees and opening to extend a drive. That is what makes an offense tick. Just as Bo and Tom have said, having a mobile QB would make almost any offense tougher to defend. I think that is why in those last few games we scored alot of points...Ganz kept drives alive with his running, either by rolling out and passing or just scrambling for a 1st down or more time to throw.

If he or Zac Lee are our QB's (Spano and Witt too), we will be better suited to move the chains. It all begins and ends with mobility. Then you can really open up the options in the offense from doing an option now and then or a spread run/pass, to straight WCO...I think that's what Bo wants to do..be totally multiple so defenses won't know what to call our offense.

 
To be honest, I dont know why people are questioning whether or not Ganz will start at QB. He put up playstation like numbers in only 3 games, sure you can question the defenses he matched up against but if i am not mistaking he threw for 405 yds versus a kansas team that won the orange bowl. And as far as our offense goes.....IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT!!!

 
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