Colorado Game Thoughts...Seriously
10 comments so far
November 30, 2007 by
Following Nebraska's season-ending loss to Colorado, I didn't offer any post-game reaction. There wasn't much of a point, since all of the attention was on the coaching being fired the next morning. But, I just finished re-watching parts of the CU game. (I know...I have an illness.) But, seriously, there were a few things from that game worth noting - gimmick uniforms, the read option out of the spread formation, and our crappy defense.
All White?
NU played the Buffs in all-white uniforms, mixing their road jerseys with their home-game pants. I really dislike gimmick uniforms. If you have to resort to that kind of stuff, you are already in trouble. When NU wore all red at home against OU in the 1980s, they lost. When they wore all white against Georgia Tech in the Citrus Bowl, they lost. And, I'm not counting any of the 2002 all white road uniformed season, because those were their actual designated road uniforms.
Gimmick jerseys tend to do poorly at other schools, too. When Notre Dame busts out the green uniforms, look out Irish fans. Clemson plays as bad as they look in their specialty purple uniforms. The problem is that when you break out those kinds of things, it is because you are playing a very good opponent, a team that quite frankly should beat you. And, if you have to use uniform color to get fired up, you are in big trouble.
One caveat - I like throwback jerseys. I love when the NFL uses them. And I liked when OU used throwbacks to pay homage to a former title team. If NU came out for one game wearing circa 1972 uniforms with the awesome piping on the shoulders, that would be cool. Just please do it against a weak team you are favored to beat.
A Typical End for Cosgrove and Co.
How in the world can we score 51 points and still manage to lose by two touchdowns? It is still just un-freaking-believable how bad the "blackshirts" got this year.
It’s surreal, really. What a typical and almost fitting way for them to end a season of the worst defense ever played by NU. And, when CU players took off their pads to reveal t-shirts that said "The Real Blackshirts", the horror was complete.
Reading in to the Read Option...
NU's practices were closed leading up to the Colorado game. There are plenty of reasons to speculate as to why. The most obvious one is that they were installing some new schemes for the CU game. That became crystal clear when NU came out in the spread formation - shotgun, wider splits by the linemen, three wide receivers - and ran the vaunted "read option" plays.
It worked. Both Lucky and Ganz scored on long runs out of that formation. And, NU hasn't been able to defend that stuff all year. If you can't beat 'em, join em? Maybe. But the conspiracy theorist in me thinks there was another motivation.
Based on Osborne’s comments following the game, it is clear that Callahan and company knew they were not likely to be employed at game's end. And, both Osborne and potential head coach Bo Pelini have expressed interest in exploring the spread, option attack as an offense. So....maybe, just maybe, Callahan was giving his offensive coordinator an opening to demonstrate that he could employ such an attack if given an opportunity, helping Watson position himself for a legit interview for next season.
It is just a notion, I know. Maybe it is grounded in my belief that Watson is a good football coach who might be worth keeping around. But, in any case, it is as good a reason as any I have heard for why NU would deviate so drastically from the scheme they have installed over the last four years.
And we can't exactly ask Bill Callahan about it.
Did you enjoy this article?
Get Husker news by email
Follow us on Twitter
Related Stories: Colorado
Post a comment
doombob Nov 30 07
Whoever the next coach is has to spend half the off season implementing a defensive strategy to stop the spread. Everyone is going to start running it unless it gets stopped. Watch a lot of this years Oklahoma game film. Look at the mid-late '90s Huskers. You have to have one of the fastest defenses in the country, or everyone has to be in the right spot at the right time. Speed or excellent positional execution along with good tackling. A good way to get your defense prepared for it? Run the spread offense in practice.
Scott Nov 30 07
Leave it up to the Buffs to manage a 6-6 season, give up 51 points, and consider themselves the real Blackshirts. I know we weren't a very good football team, but that tells me that CU might be "the dumbest team in America."
See ya at the Spring Game.
Husker in UGA country Nov 30 07
Coach Richt would disagree about your gimmick uniform assesment
Darren Nov 30 07
Doombob - There has yet to be an offense created that can't be stopped by GOOD TACKLING.
And, tackling (and yes, speed) are at a premium when having to make plays in space. Job one - tackle better.
Scott - Yep. One more reason to hate the Buffs.
Husker in UGA - Ah...I hadn't considered the dawgs. Good call out. Can you give me some details over what they wore, and who they played?
James Moore Nov 30 07
Scott said it best. I couldn't agree more.
Bill in Iowa Nov 30 07
Darren, I have to agree with your conspiracy theory. You have to wonder who was really calling the plays when they ran a very successfully executed spread option attack during the first half. But even more interesting, I was scrathing my head during the 2nd half wondering why they resorted to constantly dropping Ganz in the pocket?
doombob Nov 30 07
I swear to everything that is good in the world - it was like someone just told Ganz at halftime to never, ever run for the rest of the game. He had multiple open lanes that could have been first downs but instead he threw the ball.
Is there a missed tackles statistic we could be looking at? Are these the causes of bad tackling: conditioning, practice, strength training, execution? Only one of those really falls on the Onus of the player. There's a reason they tell you to wrap up.
ze bop Nov 30 07
I love most uniform variations and I like the whole white look vs the Puffs. I like the white and red shoes alot, too, and think white shoes make guys look faster.
Players like to have some uniform switches every now and then for fun, but no team needs 50 or whatever combo deals like the Quack Attack. When you lose with such a fashionable emphasis, it makes you look really stupid.
I think NE should have a black jersey and pants option that they could throw in the mix every now and then.
GA wore black jerseys vs AU, I think, it looked great.
Greg Morrow Nov 30 07
Excellent point about time invested in that offense, Darren. Virtually all the offensive recruits these last 4 years enrolled specifically to run this offense. Now, to trot out something different, would be grounds for some high profile transfer outs. Too much overall talent on offense, to let that happen. Unless the kids welcome the spread offense. (Like they have a say)
ze bop Nov 30 07
Gabbert's going to Mizzou which runs the spread, so as long as NE does something similar I don't worry too much about the recruits.
p.s., I think Ganz was injured a bit(ribs?) in the first half which is maybe why he didn't run much in the 2nd half.