Will the Nebraska Option Return With Tom Osborne?
| 3
|
by Jdcane98
It looks like Tom is back in Nebraska. This news probably means Bill Callahan’s resume will be on Monster.com very soon, regardless of what his contract says. There’s five major questions that need to be asked with the return of the incomparable Osborne.
1) Will Callahan be fired? 2) Will the option come back to Nebraska 3) Will the defense wear/be the black-shirts again? 4) Will the new coach repair the lost relationships with in-state coaches? 5) Will Tom’s new hire return the Huskers to the national title game?
None of those questions have been answered yet, but, I decided with the Turner Gil rumors flying around to focus on the OLD Nebraska offense of the Osborne/Solich days which brought in three national titles between 1994-1997.
The formations They used a multitude of formations back then, but the two main formations I will always think of from those championship teams are the pro-I and the Power-I (Power Right here).
and
Nebraska QB’s were always required to run the option and thus, have the ability to run with the football. Tommie Frazier was a great passer, but was still more known for his legs than arm.
One of their base plays is the 44 Iso. It’s ran here out of the Power Right, and requires those big fullbacks like Cory Schlesinger from the 94-95 teams. It’s a regular Iso play with the wingback kicking the play side corner out.
This next play, 41 Pitch, looks a lot like student body right. The play side guard will pull and find the outside linebacker.
34 Trap should be a very familiar play to Hurricanes fans because it was the play that gave Nebraska the win versus Miami in the 1995 Orange Bowl for the 1994 national championship. The back side guard traps the play side DT and opens the door for the FB to run wild, like they did versus Miami a decade ago.
Saving the best for last, the options
This is a speed option called “Sprint” here. There is no fullback mesh, the only option responsibility is between the QB and I-Back.
11 Base Option has the mesh with the fullback, and this is another play that would allow the FB to break away downfield and make the triple option so hard to contain.
The last play we’ll investigate is the option pass. Frazier used this play to perfection during his tenure, and Crouch and Frost ran it as well. The QB can give to the FB if he doesn’t like the pre-snap read, he can check to the option as well, but it’s really designed as their version of a play action pass.
Hopefully this will give everyone a quick refresher on the good ol’ days of Nebraska option football. You can bet with Osborne’s return the option won’t be far away.
