Change Scheme or Change QB?

Riley will not change what he does...
Adding the TE reverse after Michigan State ran it against us worked pretty well.
That's putting in one play. It's not a complete overhaul of the offense.
...

“This is what this team has to do to be good: run the ball, be selective what you do in the passing game, make these isolated throws from the quarterback because you’re running the ball well.


I know that sounds late, but in our first year, we found out more about ourselves as we went. We ran the ball well against Michigan State. We’ve got to blame ourselves — look at the sequence of calling, how we call plays. We’ll take all the criticism. We get it."


[SIZE=15.0015px]Q: Does a running identity mean a Tommy Armstrong who runs more — or runs like he did in the bowl game (10 rushes, 76 yards)? With more quarterback depth, can you run Tommy more?[/SIZE]
A: “I really like the number of times, and how Tommy complemented the run game in the bowl game. The designated runs. There weren’t an overabundance of them, but boy, were they effective.
“I see glimpses of that in the NFL, with Russell Wilson. You don’t overdo it, but when you do run, it’s effective.”
[SIZE=15.0015px]Q: Why wait until the bowl game?[/SIZE]
A: “This quarterback run deal is new to us. We are discovering the subtleties in how to block it. We have so much evidence here, video across the country, our league opponents and also the teams they played. You can do a lot of (studying) here. That’s what our guys are doing right now.”
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/shatel-husker-coach-mike-riley-s-outlook-is-still-sunny/article_0f50b3de-31ce-526c-bdac-58960ea1658b.html

 
Riley also was more willing to rub Armstrong in the bowl game because there wasn't another game for 8 months. I'm sure Riley was afraid to have TA run a lot last year because there wasn't a reliable backup. I'm not sure there will be a reliable backup in 2016 either. So it will be interesting to see if TA runs a lot in 2016, and risk having to go to the backup for a week or two during the season.

 
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Why was Fulmer able to transition so easily? In 1998, not only did Tennessee lose Manning, Jamal Lewis (NFL running back) tore the lateral collateral ligament in his right knee in the 5th game. Even in the Orange bowl, Tennessee had a different look when Tee Martin came in the game. I know it was garbage time, but I thought the Husker D was still fighting for a National Championship, and did not want to surrender any garbage time points. I keep hearing how a coach needs to recruit their players, and it takes up to 4 years to implement their system. It seemed to easy for Tennessee to make the transition in 1998.

 
Tee Martin was recruited and grew up in that system. I'd argue Bo and Beck were recruiting athlete first at QB and Tommy has not spent years in this offense. Also, while Lewis was out, they had Travis Henry at RB and Shawn Bryson at FB who both went on to play RB in the NFL. Add to that they had Peerless Price at WR and I just don't think you can compare the two.

 
Outside of Game 2 (a blowout victory against South Alabama in which they were clearly avoiding exposing Tommy to injury), he averaged 8.9 carries per game last year. I think that's an abundantly reasonable number.

Nebraska WRs were a team strength, more so than the RBs. And that's why they pass. If they had a healthy Ameer, I suspect it would've been quite different.

 
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It really sinks in when halfway through a 6-whatever season you are watching your pro style loving HC have your average (not pro caliber) QB toss 25 yd outs on third- and- gotta havit. Then you remember watching the Beavers getting thrashed by ( insert Stanford, USC here) and the same coach asking his woefully unequipped QB to do the same thing. And you think gosh...thats us now.

 
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It really sinks in when halfway through a 7-5 season you are watching your pro style loving HC have your average (not pro caliber) QB toss 25 yd outs on third- and- gotta havit. Then you remember watching the Beavers getting thrashed by ( insert Stanford, USC here) and the same coach asking his woefully unequipped QB to do the same thing. And you think gosh...thats us now.
LMAO!!! wow.......

 
It seems that Fulmer was able to quickly adjust his system to his best athlete at QB. Is there any reason why Nebraska can't be like 1998 Tennessee for the 2016 season, and be like 1997 Tennessee for the 2017 season. If Fulmer can do it, why can't MR?
Because he's not Fulmer. Fulmer's teams, especially in the '90s, were crazy good. Fulmer was a phenomenal coach and had a great staff around him. Nothing in his past or present makes me say that about Riley.

 
Riley is pass first, but not pass only. In the WCO world and in the professional ranks, this is solid thinking. Pass schemes are required to establish leads and the run game comes in more significantly later when you are throwing the finishing punches in the fourth quarter.

In the end, I think you'll find that when the pass efficiency numbers improve, the pass attempts will drop and the run numbers will rise to meet them, creating what all coaches say they want, balance.

If T.A. could finish 20-of-25 through the air, I think we would run it 30 or so times.

As T.A. throws more and more incomplete passes, the attempts naturally rise because the missed throws put us in longer yardage situations, which then dictate more pass attempts.

 
any coach whose QB completes 20 of 25 (80%) is going to naturally feel compelled to throw the ball more as it is working great! But typically when teams complete 80% it is because, as in west coast offenses normally, there are many short passes, much like runs which should high percentage completions. IMO.

Not all coaches agree that 'balance' of about half run and half pass is the ideal or desired or optimum amoung. I believe a team must be excellent in running and at least good in passing to be successful (defined as winning about 75% or more of their games consistantly). I would expect that statistically speaking, the winningest teams in history have run the ball more than they have passed it, particularly in numbers of plays but more than likely in actual net yardage. Note: sack yards lost should be deducted from passing yards not rushing yards to be a true analysis). IMO

 
Tee Martin was recruited and grew up in that system. I'd argue Bo and Beck were recruiting athlete first at QB and Tommy has not spent years in this offense. Also, while Lewis was out, they had Travis Henry at RB and Shawn Bryson at FB who both went on to play RB in the NFL. Add to that they had Peerless Price at WR and I just don't think you can compare the two.
Tennessee won a MNC, I am not looking for that level of success. Tennessee had no drop off when they changed QB styles. Over and over I hear that we cannot run the MR offense unless MR has hi players. It seems to me that MR could learn from Fulmer and at least achieve what Bo did.

 
Tee Martin was recruited and grew up in that system. I'd argue Bo and Beck were recruiting athlete first at QB and Tommy has not spent years in this offense. Also, while Lewis was out, they had Travis Henry at RB and Shawn Bryson at FB who both went on to play RB in the NFL. Add to that they had Peerless Price at WR and I just don't think you can compare the two.
Tennessee won a MNC, I am not looking for that level of success. Tennessee had no drop off when they changed QB styles. Over and over I hear that we cannot run the MR offense unless MR has hi players. It seems to me that MR could learn from Fulmer and at least achieve what Bo did.
MD, the best coaches are able to adapt their system to the talent on hand. Riley said he was going to try more QB run game last year, but we saw that it wasn't an important feature to Riley/Langsdorf. I think most people want to give Riley an excuse for last year because he didn't have "his guys" on the team.

 
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