Nebraska ran 334 times last year and passed 229 times. It is therefore hard to argue Nebraska doesn't "run the ball". However, Martinez accounted for 91 of those rushes, many of them after getting flushed. Robinson rushed 46 times and McCaffrey 65 times. Mills rushed 84 times. The Mills rushes IMHO are more along the line of "running the ball" when we bitch NU needs to run the ball.
Power running takes commitment. The coaches can't wet their pants at the first couple 3 and outs. They have to trust the punt team (yes, that is hard lately) and the defense. If they fall behind on the scoreboard they can't panic and start flinging the ball around in desperation. Osborne used to start games off with the FB trap and ISOs going nowhere until I was damn near in tears. Then as the defense inched up there would be more wide runs and passes off the option until the other team was totally confused. It seems to my non-expert eyes our game plans are not really plans, but a hodge podge of plays rather than aiming toward a body of work. That's why the first quarters are usually pretty good, but when the 20 plays we put in for that game are figured out, we have trouble in the second half.
If the offense is tweaked to use the Oline talent we have been getting and Austin gets them playing mean, I'm thinking Scott or Ervin Jr will emerge and Yant will add firepower when needed. The smart money is on Scott, but I'd put my money on Ervin at longer odds. So to answer your question, after not seeing much from the running backs lately, I think we will be pleasantly surprised by both the playcalling and RB performance.
