Reading this thread is interesting.
What the heck is the "Oregon" offense? It is just a spread offense that almost everyone uses in some fashion today. It was designed to spread the field, get players in space and put pressure on the D by creating mismatches. What is so different from Frost's spread? Or for that matter, any spread that is used today?
Over and over I see the comment about going wide. I guess Osborne didn't really run a toss sweep did he? Or an option or a wingback reverse?
It was well documented that Oregon's O was unique at the time but no longer is. It was also documented that it worked until they came up against teams with great athletes on the D side. In today's world, the benefits of the "Oregon" spread O (whatever that really was) is no longer a big advantage. That's not to say the spread concepts are still not relevant, they are as many teams use them to an extent. Many D coordinators have gone to a 4-2-5 to combat the spread offense. It is part of the evolution of the game.
Some of us have lived long enough to see about every type of O there is. All have worked at one time or another, all have advantages and disadvantages. It really comes down to coaching at the lowest level to make it work. The comment about Jimmies and Joes is good to an extent. Jimmies and Joes who know what to do and can do it within the confines of the O you are working with makes a big difference.
Something is seriously wrong in Lincoln. We continue to recruit WR's that do not produce. I thought the addition of Mills was a signal to a more power running game and it is not turned out that way. Washington was the speed and allusive back Frost coveted and there are busts all over the place in recruiting. Something is seriously wrong in player development.
I am weary of reading the play calling complaints post after post. What is the definition of a good play call? One that gains 4 yards? Did the QB change the play at the LOS? Did he utilize the RPO in that situation? Did the QB just miss his target even though it was actually a good play call but execution was the problem?
EVERY offense is designed to fool the D. I guess running option football over and over and then running an option look only to have the QB drop back and pass has been forgotten by some on here.
I am also tired of reading that we need better players to compete with tOSU. That is a true statement but maybe we need to beat Minnesota, Iowa and Northwestern first. Do we have at least as good a talent base as most other teams in our division? On paper yes we do. Then what the heck is holding us back from competing with these teams. Oh, right, it is play calling I guess.
Well, there's really 4 main schools of the "Spread" offense. "Spread Offense" is a really vague term. Most casual fans will call it that because that's what they hear the color commentator call it. All it really explains is that the offense is using 3 to 5 wide receivers. The Spread as we know it today was initially developed by Lavell Edwards at BYU. Interestingly enough some of his pupils include Mike Holmgren, Andy Reid, Brian Billick, Steve Sarkisian, and Norm Chow. Mike Leach never played college football but guess where he got his undergrad degree from? you guessed it, BYU. Leach was also heavily influenced by Edwards offense.
One school of the spread that came out of Edwards scheme was the Air Raid, which Hal Mumme and Mike Leach as his assistant developed by taking a lot of Edwards ideas and fine tuning them into their own system at Iowa Wesleyan, Valdosta State, and finally Kentucky. Before Hal was fired for a recruiting violation by one of his assistants and Mike left to go be the OC at Oklahoma and later the HC at Texas Tech, Washington State, and Mississippi State. Leach and Mumme's former players and assistants include Kliff Kingsbury, Art Briles, Lincoln Riley, Dana Holgerson, Sonny Dykes, Neal Brown, and Josh Heupel.
Another school of the spread would be the Spread zone option. This was developed by a number of different coaches. Including Chip Kelly, Rich Rodriguez, and Urban Meyer. Chip explained the genesis of the offense from when he was at New Hampshire, his team was running out of full backs due to injuries. So they had to figure out a way to run the ball while still getting their best 11 on the field. Chip and Urban have a very long history of sharing ideas and bouncing ideas off one another going back to Chip's days at UNH. Urban hired Ryan Day as his offensive coordinator at Ohio State who is a former player and pupil of Chip's at New Hampshire. We all know Scott's history with Chip.
The third school of the spread would be what I call the smashmouth spread. There is a lot of overlap between each school but this probably has the most in common with the Spread Zone Option. Gus Malzahn is probably the most famous architect of this system, which he largely developed as a modern form of the Wing-T. Chad Morris, Dana Holgerson, Urban Meyer, and Art Briles also used a lot of the concepts when they were coaching.
The final school of the spread I would describe is the Pro Spread. The developers of this are Andy Reid and Mike Holmgren. When you see Patrick Mahomes ripping apart defenses on Sundays he's doing it was concepts that Andy learned from Edwards and has innovated throughout his time in the league. Lane Kiffin runs something pretty similar at Ole Miss now and Sarkisian also uses something I would classify as this.
Agree on lots of different things can work. No one offense is better than another. A great coach once told me you can run any offense you want. It doesn't matter if you're running Pro Style, Wing-T, Air Raid, Spread, West Coast, Maryland I, Wishbone, or Split Veer. It all comes down to execution.
The big problem in Lincoln right now is execution. Now what's to blame for that? Who knows. But it's probably a number of different things that people have already alluded to. Lack of players, poor coaching, penalties. I think Scott's a smart enough coach to work things out. I have a feeling he'll do some soul searching after this season and make some staff changes and do a better job finding the right kind of kid to bring to Lincoln.