A look at Mike Riley's offense

[It'sNotAFakeID]

But weren't we supposed to have a monster O line coming back, so wouldn't we want to run the ball to move the chains to keep our "questionable" defense off of the field?

Just because you want a sustained drive rushing the ball doesn't mean the opposing defense is going to let you.

You can go three and out running the ball, too, especially if you announce your intention to do so.

When Armstrong burned Miami with a long ball early, Miami refused to commit to a run defense. So Nebraska ran wild that game.

Most coaches, yes, even Tim Beck, would love to run the ball and exhaust the defense, but good defenses adjust to that. And we don't have the Monster O that lets you exert your will, regardless.

At least if you go 3 and out rush the ball, your D will get a little more of a breather than going 3 and out with incompletions...

I thought the O line was going to be one of our strong points?

3 plays are just 3 plays. The only difference between 3 pass plays and 3 run plays is that the latter takes more time off the game clock, the time translating into the amount of time off the field had the offense completed 3 passes yet still went 3 and out.

 

[walksalone]

But weren't we supposed to have a monster O line coming back, so wouldn't we want to run the ball to move the chains to keep our "questionable" defense off of the field?

Just because you want a sustained drive rushing the ball doesn't mean the opposing defense is going to let you.

You can go three and out running the ball, too, especially if you announce your intention to do so.

When Armstrong burned Miami with a long ball early, Miami refused to commit to a run defense. So Nebraska ran wild that game.

Most coaches, yes, even Tim Beck, would love to run the ball and exhaust the defense, but good defenses adjust to that. And we don't have the Monster O that lets you exert your will, regardless.

At least if you go 3 and out rush the ball, your D will get a little more of a breather than going 3 and out with incompletions...

I thought the O line was going to be one of our strong points?

3 plays are just 3 plays. The only difference between 3 pass plays and 3 run plays is that the latter takes more time off the game clock, the time translating into the amount of time off the field had the offense completed 3 passes yet still went 3 and out.

sorry, i just remember several games where instead of running the ball we threw it 3 times, putting our D back out on the field, and getting hosed as a result of that...

 

[Landlord]

At least if you go 3 and out rush the ball, your D will get a little more of a breather than going 3 and out with incompletions...

I thought the O line was going to be one of our strong points?

I'm sorry but 3 run plays and 3 incomplete pass plays take the same amount of actual time, because the play clock doesn't change depending on what type of play you run. Now more time might come off of the game clock with runs, but the actual time from start to finish of a 3 and out doesn't really change by running instead of passing.

 

[walksalone]

At least if you go 3 and out rush the ball, your D will get a little more of a breather than going 3 and out with incompletions...

I thought the O line was going to be one of our strong points?

I'm sorry but 3 run plays and 3 incomplete pass plays take the same amount of actual time, because the play clock doesn't change depending on what type of play you run. Now more time might come off of the game clock with runs, but the actual time from start to finish of a 3 and out doesn't really change by running instead of passing.

ok, show me...

 

[Landlord]

At least if you go 3 and out rush the ball, your D will get a little more of a breather than going 3 and out with incompletions...

I thought the O line was going to be one of our strong points?

I'm sorry but 3 run plays and 3 incomplete pass plays take the same amount of actual time, because the play clock doesn't change depending on what type of play you run. Now more time might come off of the game clock with runs, but the actual time from start to finish of a 3 and out doesn't really change by running instead of passing.

ok, show me...

2014 Miami: Around 6 minutes into the first quarter, we ran three straight run plays and punted. From the snap of the first play to the blowing dead of the punt, it took 2 minutes and 1 second.

2014 Michigan State: Around 10 minutes into the second quarter, we ran three straight pass plays and punted. From the snap of the first play to the blowing dead of the punt, it took 2 minutes and 11 seconds.

 

[Mavric]

Zone Read Lives! (per LJS)

 

[Stumpy1]

At least if you go 3 and out rush the ball, your D will get a little more of a breather than going 3 and out with incompletions...

I thought the O line was going to be one of our strong points?

I'm sorry but 3 run plays and 3 incomplete pass plays take the same amount of actual time, because the play clock doesn't change depending on what type of play you run. Now more time might come off of the game clock with runs, but the actual time from start to finish of a 3 and out doesn't really change by running instead of passing.

ok, show me...

2014 Miami: Around 6 minutes into the first quarter, we ran three straight run plays and punted. From the snap of the first play to the blowing dead of the punt, it took 2 minutes and 1 second.

2014 Michigan State: Around 10 minutes into the second quarter, we ran three straight pass plays and punted. From the snap of the first play to the blowing dead of the punt, it took 2 minutes and 11 seconds.

At least if you go 3 and out rush the ball, your D will get a little more of a breather than going 3 and out with incompletions...

I thought the O line was going to be one of our strong points?

I'm sorry but 3 run plays and 3 incomplete pass plays take the same amount of actual time, because the play clock doesn't change depending on what type of play you run. Now more time might come off of the game clock with runs, but the actual time from start to finish of a 3 and out doesn't really change by running instead of passing.

It sure can make a difference. It depends on what yardage you gain on the runs, how fast the plays get called in or what routes receivers run.

 

[Mavric]

Riley said he's never used up-tempo offense but liked the looks of what Beck was doing. They are looking at ways to use it in a way that fits them.

 

[Mavric]

Word on the street is they had an entire session devoted to working on screen passes with the QBs, RBs and OL.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Zone Read Lives! (per LJS)

This made me laugh. Hard. Cuz i've been sayin since day one we will see read option used. Our personell is built to it and it's what all our guys are used to. Riley is not going to scrap it completely.

 

[Hunter94]

Riley said he's never used up-tempo offense but liked the looks of what Beck was doing. They are looking at ways to use it in a way that fits them.

i think the up tempo was not that big a deal.......Beck used it in a half a$$ way, occasionally.......he looked at Oregon and tried to emulate what they were doing.......we in no way had the personnel to make it work, our doughboy offensive linemen could never catch their breath. Oregon does speed work with their linemen, they prep their guys to make it work, Beck just had a wet dream.........a great wanna be coach.

 

[zoogs]

I don't think Beck used it in a half assed way. I think it was Beck's style, but not Bo's. Bo has a funny history of brilliant intervention in how the Husker offense operated over the years.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

But weren't we supposed to have a monster O line coming back, so wouldn't we want to run the ball to move the chains to keep our "questionable" defense off of the field?

Just because you want a sustained drive rushing the ball doesn't mean the opposing defense is going to let you.

You can go three and out running the ball, too, especially if you announce your intention to do so.

When Armstrong burned Miami with a long ball early, Miami refused to commit to a run defense. So Nebraska ran wild that game.

Most coaches, yes, even Tim Beck, would love to run the ball and exhaust the defense, but good defenses adjust to that. And we don't have the Monster O that lets you exert your will, regardless.

At least if you go 3 and out rush the ball, your D will get a little more of a breather than going 3 and out with incompletions...

I thought the O line was going to be one of our strong points?

3 plays are just 3 plays. The only difference between 3 pass plays and 3 run plays is that the latter takes more time off the game clock, the time translating into the amount of time off the field had the offense completed 3 passes yet still went 3 and out.

sorry, i just remember several games where instead of running the ball we threw it 3 times, putting our D back out on the field, and getting hosed as a result of that...

If there were "several" times we had three consecutive pass plays resulting in punts, I'd guess most of them came later in the game with Nebraska trying to come from behind and time was an issue.

Certainly not every time. We also passed in the second quarter of games where we were winning. I think Beck, like other coaches, sees a situation they really want to exploit and sometimes Armstrong and the recievers just couldn't connect. Nebraska had a 5:3 run to pass ratio. We never abandoned the run.

To be fair you'd have to compare the number of three and out passes to the number of three and outs running the ball. We had a few of those too, including two key sequences in the Miami game where Beck gave it three times to Abdullah, who got stuffed and we punted.

To keep your defense off the field the offense has to keep getting first downs. That's the priority of possession football. How many times do you see a team with a lead playing it safe on the ground in the fourth quarter? As soon as they announce their predicibility, they're toast.

 

[Hunter94]

I don't think Beck used it in a half assed way. I think it was Beck's style, but not Bo's. Bo has a funny history of brilliant intervention in how the Husker offense operated over the years.

my point here is Beck never conditioned or coached our kids to play like this......look at Oregon's line men, most of them are lean and they can move......if you are gonna run true up tempo, your linemen better be able to recover and be ready to execute, otherwise it is wasted play calling. speed training at all positions would help the whole team....Oregon is proof that 30 lbs. of blubber on your line men just to get to 300 lbs. is dead weight....speed, first step and leverage/technique is effective.......Oregon OL is built/coached/trained that way......they run 8-10 plays hurry up, we get to the line quickly and then d!(k around for 30 seconds, looking to the sideline for a play call........and we call that up tempo? that's bullsh#t and never was true up tempo, i was sick of watching that sh#t.....glad to see Riley sh#t can that pretend hurry up bullsh#t.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I don't think Beck used it in a half assed way. I think it was Beck's style, but not Bo's. Bo has a funny history of brilliant intervention in how the Husker offense operated over the years.

my point here is Beck never conditioned or coached our kids to play like this......look at Oregon's line men, most of them are lean and they can move......if you are gonna run true up tempo, your linemen better be able to recover and be ready to execute, otherwise it is wasted play calling. speed training at all positions would help the whole team....Oregon is proof that 30 lbs. of blubber on your line men just to get to 300 lbs. is dead weight....speed, first step and leverage/technique is effective.......Oregon OL is built/coached/trained that way......they run 8-10 plays hurry up, we get to the line quickly and then d!(k around for 30 seconds, looking to the sideline for a play call........and we call that up tempo? that's bullsh#t and never was true up tempo, i was sick of watching that sh#t.....glad to see Riley sh#t can that pretend hurry up bullsh#t.

The Nebraska offense averaged 63 plays a game during the regular season.

In the Holiday Bowl, the first and only game Tim Beck coached without Bo Pelini, we ran a legitimate hurry-up offense without the previous looking-to-the-sidelines rhtyhm-killing non-huddle.

That Tim Beck hurry up offense ran 94 plays for 525 yards, 42 points, a single turnover and minimal penalties. They even came out with a perfectly executed 2 point conversion before USC knew what hit them.

That means that in just four weeks, the same Nebraska team was not only conditioned to run a hurry-up multiple offense, they we able to execute it nearly error-free against some of the best athletes in the Pac 12.

The lesson? Trust your players.

Beck did. Bo didn't.