TO talks about the option

[junior4949]

I thought JL was a good running. His game in 02 against Texas was crazy...until he had to throw the ball.

I seem to remember Frank Solich being asked early in his head coaching tenure about not passing the ball much in a game they won big. He replied "there wasn't any need" or something like that. That was the biggest issue I had with him. Too one dimensional.

GeorgiaTechFAn I love watching that triple option and cannot find myself rooting against GT now that they use it.

Lord was great at running. However, his QB talent was lacking. Whenever he audibled, I can't remember a time when it wasn't an option and he didn't end up running the ball. Teams just had to stop Lord, and they stopped the entire Nebraska offense dead in their tracks. It was painfully obvious in 2002 he was in way over his head. I'd be willing to bet we had the most 3 and outs in 2002 than any other year dating back to 1962. Bohl may not have been a very good defensive coordinator, but Lord made him look awful. When we played any team with a pulse, the defense was sure to be on the field 3 out of the 4 quarters.

It's kind of ironic that defense lost Clownahan his job while offense lost Solich his job. There's absolutely nothing wrong with running the triple option. In fact, it can be argued that it spreads the defense out as much if not more than the spread option because of all the variables it posesses. Didn't Johnny Mitchell score like 7 TD's on his first 8 catches as a tight end? This is what the triple option can do. It also can do to a tired team what Schlesinger did to Miami during the 94' NC game.

 

[REDSTEEL]

I thought JL was a good running. His game in 02 against Texas was crazy...until he had to throw the ball.

I seem to remember Frank Solich being asked early in his head coaching tenure about not passing the ball much in a game they won big. He replied "there wasn't any need" or something like that. That was the biggest issue I had with him. Too one dimensional.

GeorgiaTechFAn I love watching that triple option and cannot find myself rooting against GT now that they use it.

Lord was great at running. However, his QB talent was lacking. Whenever he audibled, I can't remember a time when it wasn't an option and he didn't end up running the ball. Teams just had to stop Lord, and they stopped the entire Nebraska offense dead in their tracks. It was painfully obvious in 2002 he was in way over his head. I'd be willing to bet we had the most 3 and outs in 2002 than any other year dating back to 1962. Bohl may not have been a very good defensive coordinator, but Lord made him look awful. When we played any team with a pulse, the defense was sure to be on the field 3 out of the 4 quarters.

It's kind of ironic that defense lost Clownahan his job while offense lost Solich his job. There's absolutely nothing wrong with running the triple option. In fact, it can be argued that it spreads the defense out as much if not more than the spread option because of all the variables it posesses. Didn't Johnny Mitchell score like 7 TD's on his first 8 catches as a tight end? This is what the triple option can do. It also can do to a tired team what Schlesinger did to Miami during the 94' NC game.

No DEFENSE is what lost Solich his job. Do you think were having this conversation if NU defense stops Colorados run 2001. Instead of fixing the defense everyone decide to throw the baby out with the water.

What I miss is lining up in the I and pounding at least 5 yards on first down even though they put 8 men in the box. Husker Power has been gone about 10 years now.

 

[junior4949]

Instead of fixing the defense? Isn't this why Bohl was fired and Pelini was hired in 2003? My point was that the 2002 defense wasn't nearly as bad as the statistics made them look because they were on the field 3 out of 4 quarters because of all the 3 and outs committed by the offense. I like the option and smash mouth football as much as the next guy. However, it's hard to run when there's 8 in the box on D and we send everyone else out except for the 5 interior linemen. Back when we ran smash mouth football, we typically had a dominating fullback that either ran the ball or picked up a defender and two RB's with a tight end as a down lineman. You can run on a stacked box, but you can't with the offensive formations we were using against Mizzou.

 

[skersfan]

Georgia Tech is fun to watch at times, but if I remember correctly some 1a team shut them down last year.

I love to watch the option, but it depends on where you play.

The acc is a passing first run later conference, as all are tending to get. They do not see it, except when they play Tech, good offense but currently more of gimmick offense, niche maybe a better word.

We play in the Big 12, where if we were to bring back the option we would see teams capable of stopping it on a regular basis, if they knew they had to face it. Speed kills the option normally it seems. And no matter all the coments when we played the option we had very very good athletes running it.

The next problem is the talent to play it. Those players that would be good at it are still the same that the top programs want.

Liinemen do not hang around 4-5 years if they are pro type players anymore.

It is about teaching them something that will get them to the next level and knowing how to play at the next level. We had kids that lived breathed Nebraska, we do not recruit those type of kids anymore.

We had an advantage when we ran it. Our kids were under the best strength and conditioning program inthe country had the best facilities, had a coach that had coached it for years and years. Today the kids have the same conditioning programs throughout the nation, most have equal or superior facilities.

I think it would be hard to recruit the players to Nebraska, just as we are seeing in our recruiting now.

It is gone, and I seriously doubt it will ever come back. We lost that chance when we did not hire their coach.

And I sat and watched Coach Osbornes teams get run over and never came back many times. If you have the bigger stronger, faster athletes you win with the option, same as with the spread, the WCO. It is the talent that matters at the end.

Tech will do fine until they hit the upper level of college football, most likely this weekend we will see it shut down. Top defensive teams will handle them. But there is always that break in coverage that is truly amazing to watch.

And I like the rest of you truly miss watching it. I will be watching the Georgia Tech game this weekend with keen interest, hoping they prove me wrong.

 

[Paul in WI]

The first problem that we had after Osborne retired is that Solich didn't know how to be his own man. He tried to be a clone of Osborne. Heck, he even tried to mimic his demeanor. I can almost hear him thinking on the sidelines "What would Tom call on the next play? " instead of using his own noodle.

However, the real nail in the coffin was in 1999 when Charlie Macbride retired at the end of the season. After that, our defense began to frankly......"suck" (by our standards). Bo's hiring at DC was too late to have the impact needed to save Frank's job. He didn't have the time in one season to restore the defense, and frankly our offense had also slipped some under Solich. Solich was not the recruiter nor the play caller that Osborne was.

That's when the baby went out with the bath water. Two babies actually: 1. Our wonderful offense and 2. Bo Pelini. Fortunately we got Bo back. I wish we'd get the other back too, but I don't know who would be qualified to replace an Osborne in that type of system. As for our current OC, I don't care for his style of football. If I knew we had an Osborne-caliber OC to reinstate the old offense, not only would I toss Watson under the bus, I'd be the first guy to slam it in reverse too. Don't get me wrong--I'm sure he's a great coach, but his style of football makes me throw up in my mouth a little :wacko: . We need a lot more skilled players to run a Watson offense on an elite level than we do to run an Osborne-style offense on an elite level. Besides, it'd probably be easy to load up on awesome running backs since nobody wants to use them anymore!

Contrary to the naysayers, I firmly believe that if we could take 20 years off of Osborne and have him call the plays today, he'd prove it to be just as successful as we were in the mid 90's when he perfected his system and then retired on top of his game. The problem is finding an offensive guy that can replace him.... Just remember this: By the time Osborne retired, he perfected it to where nobody could shut down his offense. With the right guy at the helm, it is practically unstoppable (and not really affected by rain ).

 

[junior4949]

I think you could be right when considering the amount of time it took TO to perfect it. However, I disagree that it had to do with calling the plays. Rather, I believe it had to do with learning what type of QB he needed to run it. The QB's between Gill and Frazier were poor. TO brought in Frazier, was lucky having Berringer, and got Scott Frost to come home. I have no idea whether or not when he recruited Crouch and Newcombe whether or not he was retiring, but these two especially Crouch were a very good follow up. The Frankie London recruit at QB was questionable. I guess it comes down to whether or not TO got lucky with some recruits or figured out what type of QB he needed to make his offensive machine run.

 

[skersfan]

I do not think it was just the QB play.

We had top running backs behind Frazier. We had a defense that shortened the field for the offense. It was a team effort, one of the best of all time.

Again those days were full of top athletes, not just athletes that Nebraska wanted, most wanted them.

 

[Pedro Guerrero]

If you put a Red #5 jersey on the GT QB he could easily be mistaken for Jammal Lord. Miami handled the GT option this year although they did get ran all over last year.

As far as the WCO goes USC and Alabama have done a decent job in recent years winning games using it.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

If you put a Red #5 jersey on the GT QB he could easily be mistaken for Jammal Lord. Miami handled the GT option this year although they did get ran all over last year.

As far as the WCO goes USC and Alabama have done a decent job in recent years winning games using it.

Bama runs a power running game, I would hardly call them a WCO offense team anymore. USC might be the only team left in the top 10 that runs a real WCO.

 

[junior4949]

I do not think it was just the QB play.

We had top running backs behind Frazier. We had a defense that shortened the field for the offense. It was a team effort, one of the best of all time.

Again those days were full of top athletes, not just athletes that Nebraska wanted, most wanted them.

We had some pretty decent backs behind the QB's between Gill and Frazier like Calvin Jones #7 all time Husker RB, Derek Brown #6, and Ken Clark #4. However, you are right about the defense. When TO and McBride went away from the big slow defenders to the smaller faster defenders, it showed up big time. It became painfully clear after the 7 bowl losses in a row getting blasted by speedier teams like the Florida schools we needed speed. Once we had speed in the secondary and at the LB positions, we began our run to dominance.

 

[Twodocs]

The thing aboujt TO is his grasp of offenses. I would hope that Watson and BO would sit down with him once a week and just talk over the last week and the next week. I do not think there is anyone alive as good as he is at offense and forensic analyusis of offenses. I would love to hear the conversation between Watson TO and BO with Coach Cotton an Brown!

 

[rkhufu7]

Washington Huskies and CU gottem also.

 

[REDSTEEL]

I think you could be right when considering the amount of time it took TO to perfect it. However, I disagree that it had to do with calling the plays. Rather, I believe it had to do with learning what type of QB he needed to run it. The QB's between Gill and Frazier were poor. TO brought in Frazier, was lucky having Berringer, and got Scott Frost to come home. I have no idea whether or not when he recruited Crouch and Newcombe whether or not he was retiring, but these two especially Crouch were a very good follow up. The Frankie London recruit at QB was questionable. I guess it comes down to whether or not TO got lucky with some recruits or figured out what type of QB he needed to make his offensive machine run.

I'll have to disagree about the QB's in between Gill and Frazier being poor. I Would take Gerry Gdowski, Keithen McCant over any Nebraska QB that Nu has in the last 8 years. The problems with the teams those guys were on was what someone already stated were big and slow defenses. Steve Taylor while not my favorite qb wasnt that bad.

 

[caveman99]

I think you could be right when considering the amount of time it took TO to perfect it. However, I disagree that it had to do with calling the plays. Rather, I believe it had to do with learning what type of QB he needed to run it. The QB's between Gill and Frazier were poor. TO brought in Frazier, was lucky having Berringer, and got Scott Frost to come home. I have no idea whether or not when he recruited Crouch and Newcombe whether or not he was retiring, but these two especially Crouch were a very good follow up. The Frankie London recruit at QB was questionable. I guess it comes down to whether or not TO got lucky with some recruits or figured out what type of QB he needed to make his offensive machine run.

I'll have to disagree about the QB's in between Gill and Frazier being poor. I Would take Gerry Gdowski, Keithen McCant over any Nebraska QB that Nu has in the last 8 years. The problems with the teams those guys were on was what someone already stated were big and slow defenses. Steve Taylor while not my favorite qb wasnt that bad.

Well considering that one of the QB's in the last 8 years was Big XII Offensive Player of the Year I would respectfully disagree with you on that and I was a huge Gdowski fan.

 

[ssfranny]

The option is one of the most entertaining offenses to watch, and it is just as explosive as any other type of offense. I love it, and when it is rolling, you just wear down the D and force your will on the other team. Anyone who thinks you cannot make a comeback with the option or that it is just a bunch of 2-3 yard gains obviously has no clue what they are talking about. No better feeling than when the quarterback makes a pitch to the A-back and all there is in front of him is green grass all the way to the end zone...and that is not that uncommon of an occurrence considering most teams do not know what they are doing against the option.

I'm sooooo jealous of GT. I would give almost anything for P. Johnson to be running our offense. Please Bo, give our offense the greatness it deserves. Some smashmouth option is precisely what we need.

Someone needs to tell Watson to put some option plays in the playbook. Lee has some wheels and him and Helu would be dangerous.