Article on front page and Langsdorf

[SnohomishRed]

Here is a quote from Riley :

Part of it was a game plan to do with what we thought we can do, the other part of it was what we really wanted to do,” Riley said. “I made it a point earlier that next year what we want to do is be in the top three of the league at running the football. When you can do that, life goes better everywhere. We didn’t necessarily have to wait until next year to start that idea.”

My question is does Riley call the plays next year if its Langsdorf I have no confidence this happens. This year in one of our best outings Minn - Riley also alluded to the running game - Langsdorf followed up Minn with NW and Purdue both games with 48 passes and two losses - then wins where we were run heavy against MSU and Rutgers to again follow that up with a loss to Iowa where we threw 45 passes

I want to believe this statement from Riley but I am skeptical because of Langsdorf

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

Here is a quote from Riley :

Part of it was a game plan to do with what we thought we can do, the other part of it was what we really wanted to do,” Riley said. “I made it a point earlier that next year what we want to do is be in the top three of the league at running the football. When you can do that, life goes better everywhere. We didn’t necessarily have to wait until next year to start that idea.”

My question is does Riley call the plays next year if its Langsdorf I have no confidence this happens. This year in one of our best outings Minn - Riley also alluded to the running game - Langsdorf followed up Minn with NW and Purdue both games with 48 passes and two losses - then wins where we were run heavy against MSU and Rutgers to again follow that up with a loss to Iowa where we threw 45 passes

I want to believe this statement from Riley but I am skeptical because of Langsdorf

Oh well if YOU say so

 

[KingBlackshirt]

The OLine must not have been ready to do that during this year? Or a philosophy shift?

 

[SnohomishRed]

The OLine must not have been ready to do that during this year? Or a philosophy shift?

That's what I am wondering is this actually a philosophy shift or was this just because UCLA has a small defense

 

[RealHusker]

Throwing the football 40+ times per game makes perfect sense if you have the personnel to do it well. NU doesn't. It's great that NU saw that UCLA was vulnerable to the run - not that it was a big secret - and exploited it. There were more victories to be had this year had NU employed a similar approach.

Old habits die hard, though. The 3rd and 1 call inside the 5 yard-line in the 3rd quarter begged for another hand-off, yet NU threw the ball and had to settle for a FG. There were also a couple of plays in the 4th quarter where I found myself screaming "Why are you throwing it!!!"

 

[nebcountry]

We'll have to wait 9 months to see what this means, if anything.

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

We'll have to wait 9 months to see what this means, if anything.

In the meantime, at least you guys get to be miserable and throw hissy fits. Hello offseason!

 

[dinglefritz]

Throwing the football 40+ times per game makes perfect sense if you have the personnel to do it well. NU doesn't. It's great that NU saw that UCLA was vulnerable to the run - not that it was a big secret - and exploited it. There were more victories to be had this year had NU employed a similar approach.

Old habits die hard, though. The 3rd and 1 call inside the 5 yard-line in the 3rd quarter begged for another hand-off, yet NU threw the ball and had to settle for a FG. There were also a couple of plays in the 4th quarter where I found myself screaming "Why are you throwing it!!!"

We very well may have won more games had we tried to do this all year but every opponent's defense is different. We had the WRs to run a more pass oriented offense and they are probably our best offensive weapons. Unfortunately our QB proved that he couldn't be trusted with that much responsibility.

 

[Redscarlet]

In the meantime, at least you guys get to be miserable and throw hissy fits. Hello offseason!

You mean constructive discussions.

 

[Ewooc]

Throwing the football 40+ times per game makes perfect sense if you have the personnel to do it well. NU doesn't. It's great that NU saw that UCLA was vulnerable to the run - not that it was a big secret - and exploited it. There were more victories to be had this year had NU employed a similar approach.

Old habits die hard, though. The 3rd and 1 call inside the 5 yard-line in the 3rd quarter begged for another hand-off, yet NU threw the ball and had to settle for a FG. There were also a couple of plays in the 4th quarter where I found myself screaming "Why are you throwing it!!!"

Yep, agree 100%. I think the problem this year was these coaches were out of their element, offense especially. Riley spent most of his time at Oregon St, in the PAC12. They are build their teams on trim, speed guys. They build their offense on pass first run second. Langs has spent much of his time as QB coach/ nfl type offensive guy. Which again is geared towards pass first mindset.
This is the BIG10, which for the most part is built on the run and having big guys to push others around. Nebraska was built for the run. Riley and Lang came in here, and for most of the year insisted we be a pass first team. As the coaches have always done. As we have seen pass heavy doesn't work well in the BIG10. YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO RUN! Now don't get me wrong, if we had the personnel to run a pass heavy offense I do think we would do well. This year it was obvious we did not. So we struggled. I really hope these coaches are finally figuring out that they need to focus on the run first.
Get a good accurate passing QB in here, center on the run game. Sprinkle in some play action passes, and we have a great chance to be a top 10 team in a couple years. Maybe even national contender in 3-5.

 

[redwine65]

I've never subscribed to the pass happy crowd, because I think NU has a disadvantage in recruiting getting the pass happy qb and pass happy o-line, plus pass happy doesn't let you develope road grinders at o-line as much (3 of the 5 o-lineman on the 95 team grew up within 50 miles of lincoln). pass happy also is not good for clock control, and pass happy leaves your defense on the field longer.

that said, riley is pass happy, and the skybox crowd is pass happy. and riley is here because the skybox crowd is pass happy. (thats how that works)
(and riley is not a ego maniac either)

armstrong's talent is not pass happy, armstrong talent is run happy. so we will not have a successful team if we are trying to do a pass happy offense with a run happy qb.

in other words if our qb is pass sad, our pass happy offense will turn into a pass sad offense.

maybe riley figured it out? and just got a lil pass happy to keep the ucla defense honest, but proceeded to be run happy. and if the definition of run happy needs to be demonstrated, I would point one to the 3rd quarter of the contest last night.

the third quarter of the contest last night showed why I am run happy, and I believe Nebraska football will always be happier when they are run happy. you just need to be pass happy enough to keep a defense honest.

and armstrong has just enough pass happy in him to do that. if he is used properly.
by that I mean, use run happy armstrong over and over till all the defense creeps up, then bam, go pass happy on them for a play or two..then they back off and it's back to run happy.

Dr. Tom was like a master of masters of run happy. if fact watching the 3rd quarter last night almost seemed like a Dr.Tom run happy team.

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

You mean constructive discussions.

Oh yes, "constructive".

 

[Redscarlet]

For us to become a better running team we need young players to grow into their potential naming players Jalin Barnett,Michael Decker, Christian Gaylord and Junior's David Knevel and Zach Hannon and Sophomore Tanner Farmer.

 

[dinglefritz]

I've never subscribed to the pass happy crowd, because I think NU has a disadvantage in recruiting getting the pass happy qb and pass happy o-line, plus pass happy doesn't let you develope road grinders at o-line as much (3 of the 5 o-lineman on the 95 team grew up within 50 miles of lincoln). pass happy also is not good for clock control, and pass happy leaves your defense on the field longer.

that said, riley is pass happy, and the skybox crowd is pass happy. and riley is here because the skybox crowd is pass happy. (thats how that works)
(and riley is not a ego maniac either)

armstrong's talent is not pass happy, armstrong talent is run happy. so we will not have a successful team if we are trying to do a pass happy offense with a run happy qb.

in other words if our qb is pass sad, our pass happy offense will turn into a pass sad offense.

maybe riley figured it out? and just got a lil pass happy to keep the ucla defense honest, but proceeded to be run happy. and if the definition of run happy needs to be demonstrated, I would point one to the 3rd quarter of the contest last night.

the third quarter of the contest last night showed why I am run happy, and I believe Nebraska football will always be happier when they are run happy. you just need to be pass happy enough to keep a defense honest.

and armstrong has just enough pass happy in him to do that. if he is used properly.
by that I mean, use run happy armstrong over and over till all the defense creeps up, then bam, go pass happy on them for a play or two..then they back off and it's back to run happy.

Dr. Tom was like a master of masters of run happy. if fact watching the 3rd quarter last night almost seemed like a Dr.Tom run happy team.

For us to become a better running team we need young players to grow into their potential naming players Jalin Barnett,Michael Decker, Christian Gaylord and Junior's David Knevel and Zach Hannon and Sophomore Tanner Farmer.

You do realize that Tom was an NFL WRer that came in with a pro-style offense. It only took him about a decade to morph in to what he did for the next couple of decades. At least Riley and DL seemed to be quicker learners.

 

[SnohomishRed]

You do realize that Tom was an NFL WRer that came in with a pro-style offense. It only took him about a decade to morph in to what he did for the next couple of decades. At least Riley and DL seemed to be quicker learners.

Lets hope that is the case, but I think what we saw last night was more Riley than Langsdorf which is why I would prefer Riley call the plays

 

[dinglefritz]

Lets hope that is the case, but I think what we saw last night was more Riley than Langsdorf which is why I would prefer Riley call the plays

You think but you don't know. Riley is always involved in the game planning and Riley was not calling plays. Unlike Bo and Callahan before him, Riley is not deaf to public sentiment. Just enjoy the win.

 

[brandon2589]

I'm excited by these quotes and hope that it is just a matter of coaches that have been in the biz for along time that are willing to learn and adapt. Did it take too long?? Perhaps longer than most of us fans would like. But they'll be able to look at the facts from the games we won this year and find the common denominator. These guys are professionals and want to win more than we do.

Pry drinking koolaid on this offseason December sunday afternoon but I'm already excited for '16.

 

[SnohomishRed]

You think but you don't know. Riley is always involved in the game planning and Riley was not calling plays. Unlike Bo and Callahan before him, Riley is not deaf to public sentiment. Just enjoy the win.

This is an opinion board and I am stating my opinion that is correct.I enjoyed the win read my posts, the topic is a valid and does not have to degenerate into a pro or con Riley argument. I do believe Riley is more power run oriented than Langsdorf

The discussion was about has there been a philosophical change when it comes to running ball.

 

[meo1960]

Here is a quote from Riley :

Part of it was a game plan to do with what we thought we can do, the other part of it was what we really wanted to do,” Riley said. “I made it a point earlier that next year what we want to do is be in the top three of the league at running the football. When you can do that, life goes better everywhere. We didn’t necessarily have to wait until next year to start that idea.”

My question is does Riley call the plays next year if its Langsdorf I have no confidence this happens. This year in one of our best outings Minn - Riley also alluded to the running game - Langsdorf followed up Minn with NW and Purdue both games with 48 passes and two losses - then wins where we were run heavy against MSU and Rutgers to again follow that up with a loss to Iowa where we threw 45 passes

I want to believe this statement from Riley but I am skeptical because of Langsdorf

iirc, the question was something along the lines of "how did you determine the game plan for UCLA". Riley, in classic Political fashion, didn't really answer why or what they saw in UCLA that determined the gameplan they chose.

 

[nebcountry]

In the meantime, at least you guys get to be miserable and throw hissy fits. Hello offseason!

A little hissy fit every now and then is good for the soul. I was making matter-of-fact type statement. Not a challenge, a troll attempt, not even trying to be negative.

It's all a bunch of "who knows" stuff. Did Riley have an "aha" moment. Is our offense going to be the same, or undergo a reconstruction? What are Langsdorf's marching orders moving forward? Would we be better off long term staying in the coaches' wheelhouse? Who knows?

We won the bowl game. A win is always better than a loss. And I'm for the most part a win-is-win kinda guy. We'll just wait 9 months to see if anything changes.

BTW, I consider myself a mostly positive person and try to remain objective. There might be some that would consider that laughable. I think about some of my posts and I think it's laughable. Oh well, it'll make a good New Year's resolution.

 

[TFrazier_rivals269992]

Based on what we experienced in the 2015 season and told how the offensive coaching staff would create game plans based on the current roster...Riley's comments are simply words until we see the results next season. With that being said, I want Riley to be successful at Nebraska. Winking

 

[barney44]

You do realize that Tom was an NFL WRer that came in with a pro-style offense. It only took him about a decade to morph in to what he did for the next couple of decades. At least Riley and DL seemed to be quicker learners.

Pro style is so generic when talking offense. I see no problem with pro style as long as it suits the college game. Run the ball to set up the pass rather than that west coast pass to set up the run crap. The WCO type philosophy has never been wildly successful at the college level, IMO it's too demanding to the college player. Osborne didn't stray too far with his switch as they weren't exactly "pass happy" or pass first in philosophy.

 

[chicolby]

I love when posters state the obvious as though the guys who have been coaching for 30 years don't get it. OF COURSE Riley and Langs know a successful ground game is key to winning games. You are not stating something insightful here.

For reasons that only they know, what they see in practice or in live games, they don't think pounding will set up Nebraska for a win. I trust them. But for the last time, these guys know quite well what a ground game can do and they certainly want to have it.

 

[jeans15]

Running needs to be our identity, not what works for the week.

 

[chicolby]

Running needs to be our identity, not what works for the week.

Once again, simply wanting to have a power running game does not mean the team can successfully execute on this plan against more stout defenses. There will be games when Nebraska plays against stout defenses or teams that stack the box to stop the run. This is why a sophisticated pass game needs to compliment. I 100% agree that the team needs to have an attitude and identity, but they also need to have the ability to pass to stay unpredictable.

 

[barney44]

Once again, simply wanting to have a power running game does not mean the team can successfully execute on this plan against more stout defenses. There will be games when Nebraska plays against stout defenses or teams that stack the box to stop the run. This is why a sophisticated pass game needs to compliment. I 100% agree that the team needs to have an attitude and identity, but they also need to have the ability to pass to stay unpredictable.

We don't need a sophisticated passing offense, we just need an efficient one.

 

[Coach Jon]

Once again, simply wanting to have a power running game does not mean the team can successfully execute on this plan against more stout defenses. There will be games when Nebraska plays against stout defenses or teams that stack the box to stop the run. This is why a sophisticated pass game needs to compliment. I 100% agree that the team needs to have an attitude and identity, but they also need to have the ability to pass to stay unpredictable.

We need an offense that has answers to what defenses do...specifically blitzes. In the 90's we used the option to combat blitzes.

We are not going to do that so you need a quick/hot passing game to take advantage of one on one situations. In the end football is a big math problem. Exploit teams where you have numbers. When all is equal you go to what your best at and hope your athletes are better prepared to win those battles.

 

[SnohomishRed]

Once again, simply wanting to have a power running game does not mean the team can successfully execute on this plan against more stout defenses. There will be games when Nebraska plays against stout defenses or teams that stack the box to stop the run. This is why a sophisticated pass game needs to compliment. I 100% agree that the team needs to have an attitude and identity, but they also need to have the ability to pass to stay unpredictable.

Of course they do the question is one of balance. I personally think our proper balance is what we saw I this game. Run 60% to more and pass 40 -- 30%. This fits the Bog10 and especially fits our goal to win the West each year - this of course needs to be coupled with strong defense

I do not think the proper balance is 50/50 -

 

[NikkiSixx_rivals269993]

Hard to know if this is really a philosophy shift or not.

However, the way they ran the ball against UCLA, they did do it, they put it on film.

It's an interesting narrative going into spring ball, and it would mean TA keeps his job.

That stats didn't really show a dominant performance by the running backs, but rather by Tommy himself. It is what he is good at, and I thought this last game was the first time this year they played to his strengths.

But a wholesale philosophy shift? I'm not buying it. It just means the true passing attack will have to wait until 2017.

 

[dinglefritz]

Pro style is so generic when talking offense. I see no problem with pro style as long as it suits the college game. Run the ball to set up the pass rather than that west coast pass to set up the run crap. The WCO type philosophy has never been wildly successful at the college level, IMO it's too demanding to the college player. Osborne didn't stray too far with his switch as they weren't exactly "pass happy" or pass first in philosophy.

Ummmm I would have noted that Tom came from a WCO background but THAT is such a generic term in reality because WCO from one coach to the next can be almost an entirely different system. Tom in fact did come from a WCO philosophy. You don't think that there have been successful WCO based passing games in the college game? Good heavens what did Andrew Luck run at Stanford? What did Pete Carroll run at USC? What do you think Harbaugh is going to run at Michigan, etc etc etc? Their passing games were/are all based on WCO principles. Bill Callahan gave the WCO a bad name here but in fact his offenses put up very good offensive numbers. Stanford has proved that you can be a downhill power run team and still use WCO offensive principles very effectively.

 

[SnohomishRed]

Ummmm I would have noted that Tom came from a WCO background but THAT is such a generic term in reality because WCO from one coach to the next can be almost an entirely different system. Tom in fact did come from a WCO philosophy. You don't think that there have been successful WCO based passing games in the college game? Good heavens what did Andrew Luck run at Stanford? What did Pete Carroll run at USC? What do you think Harbaugh is going to run at Michigan, etc etc etc? Their passing games were/are all based on WCO principles. Bill Callahan gave the WCO a bad name here but in fact his offenses put up very good offensive numbers. Stanford has proved that you can be a downhill power run team and still use WCO offensive principles very effectively.

I do not believe people care if its WCO or option offense, I think people care that we are a power run/first team. Of course you need to pass and have some balance. NU was always a power run first offense under TO even before he went to the option

 

[TheBeav815]

Where they were MUCH better on Sat was in using run game adjustments to a stacked box of 8 guys. Was still a little sparing for my taste, but better some than none.

Before, 8-man box = pass. Can't run, gotta pass. No, 8-man box means misdirect them and hit the edges. Don't let them commit to clogging between the tackles.

They got a big gain out of the jet sweep because UCLA was stacking and reacting to how they'd been hurt between the tackles.

You saw that the drive after NU pissed away their 1st and goal with the pass calls. They got back down there and Tommy kept on zone-read for a TD. I had been screaming for a keep off that for 2 quarters.

The other was the TE reverse to Cethan to seal the game. Fake it inside, get the D sealed in there, and hit them around the edge.

Just because a team jams up the middle on you doesn't mean you *must* pass. It means you need to be smarter and know how to run some counter, fakes, end around, etc.

 

[regionsdoc]

Where they were MUCH better on Sat was in using run game adjustments to a stacked box of 8 guys. Was still a little sparing for my taste, but better some than none.

Before, 8-man box = pass. Can't run, gotta pass. No, 8-man box means misdirect them and hit the edges. Don't let them commit to clogging between the tackles.

They got a big gain out of the jet sweep because UCLA was stacking and reacting to how they'd been hurt between the tackles.

You saw that the drive after NU pissed away their 1st and goal with the pass calls. They got back down there and Tommy kept on zone-read for a TD. I had been screaming for a keep off that for 2 quarters.

The other was the TE reverse to Cethan to seal the game. Fake it inside, get the D sealed in there, and hit them around the edge.

Just because a team jams up the middle on you doesn't mean you *must* pass. It means you need to be smarter and know how to run some counter, fakes, end around, etc.

Great take.

 

[SnohomishRed]

New day. Same crap from you. Day after day. Week after week. Same crap. Great game plan. Great win and all you can do is spin it in a negative way.

How is this negative - unless of course you think anything that does not agree with you is negative - same old BS from you day in day out - You believe you are the keeper of the husker fan keys" its a little old that you cannot hold a logical conversation

 

[73 Red I]

Throwing the football 40+ times per game makes perfect sense if you have the personnel to do it well. NU doesn't. It's great that NU saw that UCLA was vulnerable to the run - not that it was a big secret - and exploited it. There were more victories to be had this year had NU employed a similar approach.

Old habits die hard, though. The 3rd and 1 call inside the 5 yard-line in the 3rd quarter begged for another hand-off, yet NU threw the ball and had to settle for a FG. There were also a couple of plays in the 4th quarter where I found myself screaming "Why are you throwing it!!!"

Not all hand offs result in touch downs or first downs. If you review the regular season, our o line got man handled on several occasions. UCLA line was not physical.

 

[barney44]

Ummmm I would have noted that Tom came from a WCO background but THAT is such a generic term in reality because WCO from one coach to the next can be almost an entirely different system. Tom in fact did come from a WCO philosophy. You don't think that there have been successful WCO based passing games in the college game? Good heavens what did Andrew Luck run at Stanford? What did Pete Carroll run at USC? What do you think Harbaugh is going to run at Michigan, etc etc etc? Their passing games were/are all based on WCO principles. Bill Callahan gave the WCO a bad name here but in fact his offenses put up very good offensive numbers. Stanford has proved that you can be a downhill power run team and still use WCO offensive principles very effectively.

Stanford has no national titles with Luck, Harbaugh has no national titles and Pete could run anything he wanted to run and be successful with the talent they pulled in. I also question how Tom supposedly came from that sort of background when a system like that didn't even really come about until about the mid 70's or so at BYU, it wasn't exactly the WCO as it's known today but I believe the idea originated there. Tom was old school run to set up the pass, not pass to set up the run. It simply would not be a WCO style system if you use the run to set up the pass. I also never said you cant run in a WCO system considering the idea of it all is to open up running lanes for the backs to get through. There are counters, etc. (power plays) run from the WCO all the time so you wont catch me saying they don't run power football out of WCO systems. Power is not a style of running, it's a difference in blocking and nothing more. Even Tom wasn't all power, there was plenty of zone blocking. Philosophy is all I'm talking here, not the plays chosen to be run.