Option Football: The History and How it works

HUSKER 37

HUSKER 37

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NEBRASKA, UNDER TOM OSBORNE, STARTS TO SEE REAL SUCCESS FROM A WISHBONE AND I-FORMATION FUSION

Interesting read.. I've often wondered how we seemed to be better than we should be (Given our population base)...Thought it was mainly because we pioneered the Weight lifting and Nutrition programs, maybe along with creative use of Performance Enhancing Drugs...Or unlimited scholarships back in the day, so we could recruit most of our opponents' targets and sit them...Bob Devaney learning from Duffy Daugherty and being a pioneer in integrating a greater number than anyone in the South...

NEBRASKA, UNDER TOM OSBORNE, STARTS TO SEE REAL SUCCESS FROM A WISHBONE AND I-FORMATION FUSION


One blue blood zigs when others were zagging. Osborne, seeking to borrow some of what made Oklahoma’s Wishbone so successful without handicapping his downhill running, works Wishbone concepts into his patented Power I, thus remaining unique among option offenses.

The process starts in the late 1970s, but by the early 1980s, after the Cornhuskers beat out Oklahoma for Texan quarterback Turner Gill, things really take off. Osborne continues to upgrade his recruiting, and in an evolving landscape for college football offenses, his old-fashioned Power I dominates.

At its peak in the ‘90s, Nebraska fields some of the most successful offenses of all time, including a destruction of Steve Spurrier’s pass-first Gators in 1995’s title game. Nebraska slowly incorporates plays from Ace, Shotgun, and other formations, but the I remains the bread and butter.
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Wonder if we can create the ''Next Big Thing'' as Football hurtles toward Two Touch or eventually gets eliminated..

 
CoastalGeorgiaHusker said:
What is your opinion of the Army, Navy and Air Force staffs if given an opportunity like Nebraska?
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I feel like you hamstring yourself in recruiting - QBs want to go to the NFL, and the old school power with 10-15 passes a game doesn't do that for you. It's also a lot easier to make it work against non P5 teams. It's also not what we ran in the 90s, and I think the service academy triple option peaks at 8-9 wins a year in a good conference, like Georgia Tech. Maybe more if you get a couple freak athletes, but again they want to go to the next level and those offenses don't help that.

People also forget how much our offense was already changing, Osborne was pretty cutting edge and just hid it behind what look like basic plays. Frost's TDs against Washington came from the shotgun IIRC, and some of those shovel options TDs to Green were as well. I truly believe if he were still coaching, our offense would look more like this current one than the 90s version. Probably less passing still, but he used to be a relatively pass happy coach. But it's all about adjustments and getting your athletes in good positions, and the best ways to do that have changed.

 
CoastalGeorgiaHusker said:
What is your opinion of the Army, Navy and Air Force staffs if given an opportunity like Nebraska?
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Before Bo came here, I wanted Paul Johnson who was at Navy at the time - or he may have just gotten to GT. But we needed the D fixed so Tom went wt Bo.  Bo's D was on the right track until it wasn't - we move to the Big 10 and Bo's D wasn't made for the Big 10.  If the Army, Navy, AF staff had the intelligence and the ability to make adjustments like Tom did, no problem.  But if they were like some of our more recent OC, no way would they last.  a @Husker in WI mentions above, you need the right QB to run it and today's QB want to see a ticket to the NFL.  The NFL does now finally value running QBs but they need to be able to throw.  I think a 'TOM LIKE" coach would have more passing in the today's offense than what we needed in the 90s

 
Paul Johnson is exactly who I thought could have gotten it done. The perception that you need NFL QB’s to be great in college isn’t how I view this situation. I believe there are lots of QB’s that have tremendous talent for the option system, but will never fit the NFL. Seems that gives you an advantage in recruiting them to Nebraska. 

 
Personally, I don't think the 90s offense would work as well in today's game as some people think. The level of athlete in today's game is so elevated. You have a player like Chase Young who can cover the QB and pitch man because he's just a freak. Those guys were around in the 90s too, but the difference is Nebraska had them too and there are more of them now because of the emphasis on the youth game/training.

Also, Nebraska benefited from the level of athlete they had then. The offensive line was so dominate that it might not have mattered what you ran because they just ran you over. Plus you're talking about some of the greatest RBs of their time. I think the level of player combined with TO's brilliance in using them elevated the offense. Bringing it in now would likely be pretty disappointing.

 
TGHusker said:
Before Bo came here, I wanted Paul Johnson who was at Navy at the time - or he may have just gotten to GT. But we needed the D fixed so Tom went wt Bo.  Bo's D was on the right track until it wasn't - we move to the Big 10 and Bo's D wasn't made for the Big 10.  If the Army, Navy, AF staff had the intelligence and the ability to make adjustments like Tom did, no problem.  But if they were like some of our more recent OC, no way would they last.  a @Husker in WI mentions above, you need the right QB to run it and today's QB want to see a ticket to the NFL.  The NFL does now finally value running QBs but they need to be able to throw.  I think a 'TOM LIKE" coach would have more passing in the today's offense than what we needed in the 90s
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Bo wasn't given enough time to transition his defense, almost had it done by what players were drafted this year and previously along thre D Line.  Pelini recruiting the best players on the defense 5 years after he's gone. 

 
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