Fun during this dead period

[TruHusker]

Go back and watch some games from the middle to late 90's and pay particular attention to the O line play. Their footwork was amazing. They fired off the ball hard and made that first punch contact and stayed engaged and then took a step to the ball side to cut off any pursuit. It was a like a perfectly choreographed dance. Run those plays over and over and just watch the O line play.

To me, this what I see missing in the past few years. The initial punch is made then we slide off and the guy makes the play. I realize sometimes guys are going to the second level after a chip block but this is different.

Another thing to watch for and compare is how pulling tackles, guards and centers picked people up in space in those days compared to now. Want a resurgence, it starts there and I don't care what O you are running, blocking is blocking.

 

[Jhollenbeck41]

Go back and watch some games from the middle to late 90's and pay particular attention to the O line play. Their footwork was amazing. They fired off the ball hard and made that first punch contact and stayed engaged and then took a step to the ball side to cut off any pursuit. It was a like a perfectly choreographed dance. Run those plays over and over and just watch the O line play.

To me, this what I see missing in the past few years. The initial punch is made then we slide off and the guy makes the play. I realize sometimes guys are going to the second level after a chip block but this is different.

Another thing to watch for and compare is how pulling tackles, guards and centers picked people up in space in those days compared to now. Want a resurgence, it starts there and I don't care what O you are running, blocking is blocking.

To me, that's all about a lineman's mentality. They either care about the little details and want to be great or they simply don't and let some technique slide. Coaches are going to coach but at the end of the day, the guys either want to be great and beat the hell out of opponents or they don't. All about mentality. I have the same thoughts about defense. Find guys that enjoy just going out there and knocking guy's helmets off when they hit them.

 

[TruHusker]

To me, that's all about a lineman's mentality. They either care about the little details and want to be great or they simply don't and let some technique slide. Coaches are going to coach but at the end of the day, the guys either want to be great and beat the hell out of opponents or they don't. All about mentality. I have the same thoughts about defense. Find guys that enjoy just going out there and knocking guy's helmets off when they hit them.

Ever watched an O line coach coaching the details? They know that a hand placement that is too low or two high or too narrow along with a step that is not wide enough or too wide will end a play. Its not all about size and mauling the person across from you. He has been taught technique to avoid the block as well. They better care about the details/technique or they won't play. Milt would have a fit!

 

[jflores]

The sad thing about the Eric crouch era IMO is that we weren't as good as we appeared to be. Which that Miami game sort of brought out in spades.

For whatever reason folks want to argue about now....we became one dimensional. It was the Eric crouch show. He was a very good dimension though.

 

[Ewooc]

I want to have fun with this one. I think a lot of solid opinions and foreshadowing can come from this. Let's just say we had a "developmental" full back on the roster right now, someone who could grow into that role if for some reason Frost decided to do it. Do we have the personnel right now to run Osborne's option playbook in 2020 or 2021? Forget the ****** beer virus, let's act like the world is normal. Obviously not at an elite level yet, but just clean execution and understanding. Could we do it with what we have right now?

To answer the question, I say no and many have already stated why. However, side note
Many have stated a key reason for the consistent success of the 90s was that almost all the major high schools in Nebraska ran the same/similar offense as Nebraska. So that way Nebraska could pick the top players in the state and the players already knew the major concepts of the offense and had already been running it for years.
Is this something we could see Omaha and Lincoln High schools start doing again? Maybe when it comes to skills positions we would need to go out of state to get top level talent, but as far as linemen ect it might be useful.

 

[Jhollenbeck41]

To answer the question, I say no and many have already stated why. However, side note
Many have stated a key reason for the consistent success of the 90s was that almost all the major high schools in Nebraska ran the same/similar offense as Nebraska. So that way Nebraska could pick the top players in the state and the players already knew the major concepts of the offense and had already been running it for years.
Is this something we could see Omaha and Lincoln High schools start doing again? Maybe when it comes to skills positions we would need to go out of state to get top level talent, but as far as linemen ect it might be useful.

Yeah you know I guess my point is I think they can be taught. And I don't think it would stray too far from what they've already been taught. Obviously it wouldn't be a thing where it was stellar under Martinez because it would basically be him re-starting and learning things under center for the next 2 years but it could really work under Luke and then Logan going forward. Almost feel like if it was going to happen it would need to be next off season at the latest. I think the same concepts apply as to why we need to be recruiting big bodies guys like Omar right now and also in that option system. Big bodies to block but also win those battles that Omar is supposed to win. Lineman are pretty self explanatory. Duval and Ellis will take care of that as long as they keep recruiting the bodies they're doing now.



Side note, I do think we'll see more of that stuff in 2020 as long as there is a football season. If you want to take it a step further and let's say there's no football this year, that gives a great amount of time to attempt to start perfecting those concepts if they did want to move towards more of that old school playbook. That's basically a year and a half of an off season.

 

[jflores]

Side note, I do think we'll see more of that stuff in 2020 as long as there is a football season. If you want to take it a step further and let's say there's no football this year, that gives a great amount of time to attempt to start perfecting those concepts if they did want to move towards more of that old school playbook. That's basically a year and a half of an off season.

I take it now you have morphed from "could we do it" to now "would we do it".

I think the answer is no. Frost doesn't seem to be moving that direction after having been given ample opportunity to sort of back track into that playbook with the local media in the past two years. The normal suspects like Jason Peter who have been yelling about doing things like the 90s for the last 20 years on the radio has been overall very apologetic of Frost's approach and not (at least to my knowledge) pushing him heavily into restructuring into the old offense. He's moved into the "this is really broken give him more time" camp that he's not really occupied before.

Given that lack of oomph in the inner circle...I'd say not. Specially not with Lubick now on board.