Is it possible D.Langs suffers from a touch of 'Callahan'?

[DCBloodRed]

By which I mean, getting immersed in a "down and distance" chart like so many from the NFL love to use like a Bible, and not just use the situation or flow or "hot hand" in the game to dictate what play should be called at what time? I get at this level, coaches like to have a certain number scripted plays, and that's fine, but given some of the almost baffling calls that have been unsuccessful on 3rd down in particular this season, I keep going back to his NFL pedigree.

That or the fact our RB's seem to have ZERO idea how to follow a block and hit the appropriate running lane.....but hey, perhaps I'm incorrect, just a thought.

 

[Tulsa Tom]

You are at least partially incorrect. On third and fourth and three yards or less the right call is to use your big back. We are 7 for 7 in when we do so. We are 0 for 7 when we use a wideout, qb, or small back. We need to stop trying to outsmart people.

 

[hubcapone]

how quickly we forget how pass happy Beck was the last few years. See ohio st now to refresh your memories

 

[Shocker_Fan]

Herman is off to a good start at Houston at 5-0.

 

[StrongArm517]

I feel there's a little Nfl mentality there too.

 

[siegsker]

From a touch of fielding productive offenses with underwhelming QB and WR talent? Wouldn't mind that.

 

[AndyHanline]

I don't understand the NFL pedigree stance. DL has spent more time coaching college than the pros. I think his shortcomings are the result of trying to make TA into a pro style qb.

 

[Mtnhusker]

I was concerned but went back and looked at a bunch of plays that I thought were bad calls. Also some of the RRS posters have broken down game fill showing other plays. I have to say that I blame the players for execution, not DL. Imani Cross could have run for days on the 2nd and 7 play at the end of the Wisc game if he followed hos blocking FB. The OT interception was a great play call but Armstrong underthrew the ball. I was originally mad that he went for an endzone shot on the first play especially since he did not have his best receiver Westerkamp in there. I was furious. Then later I heard the play explained and realized Langsdorf has probably forgotten more about football than I will ever know. They set up Miami by running out of that formation earlier in the game a few times and noticed how Miami defended it. Basically we had 2 receivers and only 1 person to cover them. Great call because Miami was expecting the run. Unfortunately Tommy underthrew the wide open receiver by 10 yards and the ball was picked.

We really need to stop over-analyzing everything and give these coaches a chance to coach their own players, or at least a healthy team. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this roster has some serious personnel holes in it, like DE, LB and QB. As Shanle said "the coaches are cooking with someone else's groceries". I think given time we are going to be very happy with Riley and his staff. And more importantly we are not only going to look good on the field but also have a staff that properly reflects the great state of Nebraska. Riley is so respected in the football world and the Huskers don't need the rest of the country laughing at our coach. Lets see how his teams look at the end of next season before we hang and quarter them

 

[Mtnhusker]

Whoops, double post

 

[dinglefritz]

I was concerned but went back and looked at a bunch of plays that I thought were bad calls. Also some of the RRS posters have broken down game fill showing other plays. I have to say that I blame the players for execution, not DL. Imani Cross could have run for days on the 2nd and 7 play at the end of the Wisc game if he followed hos blocking FB. The OT interception was a great play call but Armstrong underthrew the ball. I was originally mad that he went for an endzone shot on the first play especially since he did not have his best receiver Westerkamp in there. I was furious. Then later I heard the play explained and realized Langsdorf has probably forgotten more about football than I will ever know. They set up Miami by running out of that formation earlier in the game a few times and noticed how Miami defended it. Basically we had 2 receivers and only 1 person to cover them. Great call because Miami was expecting the run. Unfortunately Tommy underthrew the wide open receiver by 10 yards and the ball was picked.

We really need to stop over-analyzing everything and give these coaches a chance to coach their own players, or at least a healthy team. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this roster has some serious personnel holes in it, like DE, LB and QB. As Shanle said "the coaches are cooking with someone else's groceries". I think given time we are going to be very happy with Riley and his staff. And more importantly we are not only going to look good on the field but also have a staff that properly reflects the great state of Nebraska. Riley is so respected in the football world and the Huskers don't need the rest of the country laughing at our coach. Lets see how his teams look at the end of next season before we hang and quarter them

POTW. Post of the week. Players that make plays make play calls good. TA has had his fair share of struggles and I don't really think its because they are asking too much of him. He made the same mistakes last year and maybe is a little better this year but he definitely reverts back to some old bad habits when under pressure. Vison or lack there of is the biggest problem we have with our RBs hence the Imani Cross mistake. When in doubt, put your hand on your fullback's back and plow ahead. Unfortunately we have too many guys that want to make the big play instead of the play we need.

 

[Hskerhd]

I think there is a little Callahan in DL, but I think there are some differences too. I think that "NFL/Pro-style" (whatever you want to classify it) coaches believe that every pass play should be successful meaning - there is always an open man.
"We had some throws we thought were there," Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. "It's obvious to everybody who watched the game today that there were receivers wide-open down the field. We just overthrew a few of them. But those plays were there."
This was after Neb attempted a then school record 43 passing attempts on a windy day against Iowa St in 2004. Dailey completed 18-42 while our running game averaging 5.6 ypc ran 35 times. Reading the recap was eerily familiar to the ILL aftermath. This sounds pretty similar to what we've heard from Langsdorf
I do get the impression that DL is a bit more in love with passing the ball than BC & Callahan running game was a bit more physical. I assume that is the reason we heard throughout pre-season practice that 70% of practice was spent throwing the ball. So when everyone says that DL passes so much because we can't run the ball, remember that is by design.

 

[TruHusker]

There is a big difference between seeing what is available and taking advantage of what is available. Every D that plays us would be stupid to not force Tommy to throw the ball. Stop or slow down the running game and you play into our weakness. Any O coach and see match ups, coverages that are favorable and just plain "I dare you" defense. I guarantee you that Tom saw those things but he kept running the ball no matter what. I use to be so frustrated just seeing that teams would give us the short passing game but we didn't bite. So what the majority of coaches do IF they have the people to pull it off is to take what is presented. That is all these coaches are doing. The view we get on TV is terrible for seeing the entire play. We see Tommy going back and him throwing it a mile into double coverage. We don't see the corner rotation and the WR running free underneath the coverage that Tommy just plain missed. I think Tom wanted to take that entire decision making out of the QB's hands and just run the darn thing no matter what and take your shots when you have the advantage, in other words throw when you want to and not when you have to.

I have never had a problem seeing what Callahan, Beck or Langsdorf are doing but our execution of that has been awful. We are not good enough up front to challenge teams to take our running game completely away. So we have to play the percentages and take what is available and teams give us more throwing opportunities than normal. These aren't bad play calls for the most part when you look at a film, they are bad reads, bad execution, bad blocking, etc. The play call is just a small part of it.

In the NFL you definitely cannot impose your will on the other team no matter how bad they are. You have to read the D, make adjustments and take what is there. The teams are too strong even if they are not very good. That does translate over the the college game I think. You see the safety creep up in the middle of the field trying to take a slant away and the corner is backing off playing inside tech so why not throw to the outside where there is no safety help and the corner can't get there. Alas, you QB can't get the ball there and throws it another 20 yards downfield because he sees a flash of your color.

Let's face it, Nebraska fans have complained about Watson, Beck, Callahan, and now Langs as offensive coordinators and play callers. They can't all be that bad can they? These guys know more about football than everyone on the board combined. Spend some time with a college coach in a film room, you will hear terms and things that will have your head dizzy before you leave.

IMHO when we get a better O line, solid RB's and a QB that can make the plays the play calling will magically improve. Until then, teams will impose their will and we will not be able to respond.

 

[Tulsa Tom]

There is a big difference between seeing what is available and taking advantage of what is available. Every D that plays us would be stupid to not force Tommy to throw the ball. Stop or slow down the running game and you play into our weakness. Any O coach and see match ups, coverages that are favorable and just plain "I dare you" defense. I guarantee you that Tom saw those things but he kept running the ball no matter what. I use to be so frustrated just seeing that teams would give us the short passing game but we didn't bite. So what the majority of coaches do IF they have the people to pull it off is to take what is presented. That is all these coaches are doing. The view we get on TV is terrible for seeing the entire play. We see Tommy going back and him throwing it a mile into double coverage. We don't see the corner rotation and the WR running free underneath the coverage that Tommy just plain missed. I think Tom wanted to take that entire decision making out of the QB's hands and just run the darn thing no matter what and take your shots when you have the advantage, in other words throw when you want to and not when you have to.

I have never had a problem seeing what Callahan, Beck or Langsdorf are doing but our execution of that has been awful. We are not good enough up front to challenge teams to take our running game completely away. So we have to play the percentages and take what is available and teams give us more throwing opportunities than normal. These aren't bad play calls for the most part when you look at a film, they are bad reads, bad execution, bad blocking, etc. The play call is just a small part of it.

In the NFL you definitely cannot impose your will on the other team no matter how bad they are. You have to read the D, make adjustments and take what is there. The teams are too strong even if they are not very good. That does translate over the the college game I think. You see the safety creep up in the middle of the field trying to take a slant away and the corner is backing off playing inside tech so why not throw to the outside where there is no safety help and the corner can't get there. Alas, you QB can't get the ball there and throws it another 20 yards downfield because he sees a flash of your color.

Let's face it, Nebraska fans have complained about Watson, Beck, Callahan, and now Langs as offensive coordinators and play callers. They can't all be that bad can they? These guys know more about football than everyone on the board combined. Spend some time with a college coach in a film room, you will hear terms and things that will have your head dizzy before you leave.

IMHO when we get a better O line, solid RB's and a QB that can make the plays the play calling will magically improve. Until then, teams will impose their will and we will not be able to respond.

I will keep saying it. We run the ball pretty stinking well especially for being in a running conference. We are second in the Big Ten in yards per carry. Only Ohio State is better. (The problem is that we are 11th in rushing attempts...and some of those are quarterback scrambles off of pass plays so we probably are more like 13th in called running plays.) We are 19th nationally in yards per carry.

And we have a better average this year than last year when we had Ameer. This whole idea that we can't run the ball is crazy talk.

 

[TruHusker]

I will keep saying it. We run the ball pretty stinking well especially for being in a running conference. We are second in the Big Ten in yards per carry. Only Ohio State is better. (The problem is that we are 11th in rushing attempts...and some of those are quarterback scrambles off of pass plays so we probably are more like 13th in called running plays.) We are 19th nationally in yards per carry.

And we have a better average this year than last year when we had Ameer. This whole idea that we can't run the ball is crazy talk.

There is no guarantee that if you carry 20 times a game and average 5.8 that you will up it to 30 carries and still maintain the average. There are thing that happen in between that come into play like backing off safeties, corners and backers.

 

[Tulsa Tom]

There is no guarantee that if you carry 20 times a game and average 5.8 that you will up it to 30 carries and still maintain the average. There are thing that happen in between that come into play like backing off safeties, corners and backers.

Of course there is no guarantee. No one can predict the future. Stats are simply indicative of what has happened in the past. However, it is absolutely true that the best indicator of future performance is what one has done in the past. This isn't rocket science. If we have tended to run the ball well, why not keep doing it instead of thinking, "But we might not be able to keep doing so well if we run it more."

 

[jflores]

Of course there is no guarantee. No one can predict the future. Stats are simply indicative of what has happened in the past. However, it is absolutely true that the best indicator of future performance is what one has done in the past. This isn't rocket science. If we have tended to run the ball well, why not keep doing it instead of thinking, "But we might not be able to keep doing so well if we run it more."

I think we run pretty well. But we don't run as well as the stats seem to indicate although I've not delved in the numbers deeply. I don't know that this team is going to make hay having Janovich go 1,3,1,5,0, 65 most games or something like that. Great average hides the fact the Janovich running the ball on a given play, is not expected to give you much output. Its why averages are of limited use.

All that said, if I had to roll a dice and figure out am I going to get luckier handing off to one of six backs or having TA be on his game for 60%, I'd say handing it off 40 times a game would probably be the best way to go.

 

[Tulsa Tom]

We are not talking one person in these averages but the whole team. The fact is we are not getting giant chunks like we used to with tmart or Ameer. Before last week we were dead last in the Big Ten in longest run from scrimmage...maybe still are. Thus to think our averages are inflated over other teams seems absurd. I don't know why we work to dismiss the numbers.