Lincoln Riley wins Broyles Award

[Tulsa Tom]

Lincoln Riley won the Broyles award for the best assistant coach in the nation. He brought his Air Raid offense to OU only to see that the way he was implementing it simply didn't work with OU's personnel. So he made some changes...he began to focus on the run game...he took into account his personnel. Early in the year they didn't focus on the run and only had 67 yards rushing against Texas. After that game they made some changes to their scheme. Here's what happened.

"After the Texas loss, the Sooners averaged 299.9 yards rushing in their next seven games, all wins. Riley's offenses at East Carolina ran for at least 230 yards five times in 64 games from 2010-2014. The Sooners have done that in seven straight games this season.​

"He came in here, and it's kind of different personnel," Mayfield said. "He's adapted to it. I appreciate the way he's handled it. We have running backs that no one else has. He's adapted to that, and to our personnel very well, and he handles it. We're seeing as we go along — it's getting better and better with our matchups. I'm comfortable with it."​

After the Texas loss they retooled, starting focusing upon the run (and even the qb run), and averaged 300 yards rushing a game. And now they are in the college football playoff.

 

[TruHusker]

And the point is they have the personnel to run. Of course having a threat like Mayfield throwing the ball wouldn't make much difference.

I see the point you are making but it comes down to personnel at any level.

 

[seattle-sker]

Lincoln Riley won the Broyles award for the best assistant coach in the nation. He brought his Air Raid offense to OU only to see that the way he was implementing it simply didn't work with OU's personnel. So he made some changes...he began to focus on the run game...he took into account his personnel. Early in the year they didn't focus on the run and only had 67 yards rushing against Texas. After that game they made some changes to their scheme. Here's what happened.

"After the Texas loss, the Sooners averaged 299.9 yards rushing in their next seven games, all wins. Riley's offenses at East Carolina ran for at least 230 yards five times in 64 games from 2010-2014. The Sooners have done that in seven straight games this season.​

"He came in here, and it's kind of different personnel," Mayfield said. "He's adapted to it. I appreciate the way he's handled it. We have running backs that no one else has. He's adapted to that, and to our personnel very well, and he handles it. We're seeing as we go along — it's getting better and better with our matchups. I'm comfortable with it."​

After the Texas loss they retooled, starting focusing upon the run (and even the qb run), and averaged 300 yards rushing a game. And now they are in the college football playoff.

He's lucky he came in to a situation that afforded him the opportunity to revamp his philosophy in favor of the run game.

 

[Tulsa Tom]

He's lucky he came in to a situation that afforded him the opportunity to revamp his philosophy in favor of the run game.

I think the issue is that he was willing to do it. Baker Mayfield is anything but your proto-typical air raid quarterback. Riley soon realized he had to take the gloves off Mayfield and let him use his legs and then involve their running backs. It almost cost them the TCU game because Mayfield was hurt early on and Trevor Knight was pathetic. But I am doubtful they would be in the playoff if they didn't unleash him. Riley learned he couldn't fit a square peg in a round hole.

 

[seattle-sker]

I think the issue is that he was willing to do it. Baker Mayfield is anything but your proto-typical air raid quarterback. Riley soon realized he had to take the gloves off Mayfield and let him use his legs and then involve their running backs. It almost cost them the TCU game because Mayfield was hurt early on and Trevor Knight was pathetic. But I am doubtful they would be in the playoff if they didn't unleash him. Riley learned he couldn't fit a square peg in a round hole.

...but more importantly, he had the personnel to make the change. It's easy to change your philosophy when you have the pieces to do so.

To get to your actual point.. Tommy is only averaging 3 less rush attempts per game this year versus last year so it's not like our coaches are not letting him get out of the pocket and run.

 

[nebcountry]

I think the issue is that he was willing to do it. Baker Mayfield is anything but your proto-typical air raid quarterback. Riley soon realized he had to take the gloves off Mayfield and let him use his legs and then involve their running backs. It almost cost them the TCU game because Mayfield was hurt early on and Trevor Knight was pathetic. But I am doubtful they would be in the playoff if they didn't unleash him. Riley learned he couldn't fit a square peg in a round hole.

Using a first name in this case might be appropriate.

So, are you suggesting that Lincoln Riley adapted to achieve success?

We had success, we are going to a bowl game.

 

[Tulsa Tom]

...but more importantly, he had the personnel to make the change. It's easy to change your philosophy when you have the pieces to do so.

To get to your actual point.. Tommy is only averaging 3 less rush attempts per game this year versus last year so it's not like our coaches are not letting him get out of the pocket and run.

With one game to go, he still has less than 50% of the yards he had last year on 40% fewer attempts. Plus, many of his "rushes" this year are scrambles/sacks. We will never knew the exact numbers, but it is pretty clear his number isn't getting called on running plays like it was the year before. (Plus...with an all-american running back last year, one would think that would have decreased Tommy's numbers last year...but we see the opposite.)

 

[seattle-sker]

With one game to go, he still has less than 50% of the yards he had last year on 40% fewer attempts. Plus, many of his "rushes" this year are scrambles/sacks. We will never knew the exact numbers, but it is pretty clear his number isn't getting called on running plays like it was the year before. (Plus...with an all-american running back last year, one would think that would have decreased Tommy's numbers last year...but we see the opposite.)

I don't think you can just assume that having an All American running back decreased his numbers. We ran a lot of zone read last year and having Ameer at running back allowed Tommy a lot of one on one match ups in the running game.

Without Ameer in the backfield, Tommy hasn't been as effective in the running game when his number has been called this year. He is averaging over 1 yard less per attempt because defenses are able to key on him. You can't just blame that on sacks either because he was sacked last year too . Are you suggesting that running him more would make defenses key on him less? That doesn't seem right.

The fact of the matter is that our run game hasn't been as effective this year because we are lacking a legitimate Big 10 starting RB. Riley is not opposed to running the ball. Look at his teams in Corvallis. When he had the personnel to be run heavy, he was run heavy. Everyone asking why we don't run more should look at our RB stable. We don't have the guy back there to lean on. I have high hopes for Ozigbo but he has to take a step forward in the offseason.

 

[Tulsa Tom]

Riley is not opposed to running the ball. Look at his teams in Corvallis.

How many years did the Corvallis Crew run the quarterback in a significant manner? If we run Tommy we have more wins.

 

[seattle-sker]

How many years did the Corvallis Crew run the quarterback in a significant manner? If we run Tommy we have more wins.

Possibly. Or maybe we have less with Fyfe starting more than one game. See how cool hypotheticals are?

The fact of the matter is we are a team in transition. OU is not. We had a complete coaching change because the old coach was an f-ing nut job. OU and NU shouldn't be compared on any level this year.

We have a fraction of the fanbase clamoring for us to run the ball while conceding that we have no one we can trust running the ball.

I'm not happy with the results this year but you can't guarantee they would have been better if we had our coaching staff trying to call QB keepers all season to appease a fraction of the fans.

You said it yourself, Riley has never had a QB run oriented offense. You had to have known we wouldn't run a ton with the QB this year when he was hired. Did you call for a QB running offense in the offseason or just wait until after the disappointing season to whine about it?

 

[BigRedPimp]

If Lincoln Riley isn't a Nebraska native then he's probably not very good. Would not want

 

[spinner4]

How many years did the Corvallis Crew run the quarterback in a significant manner? If we run Tommy we have more wins.

Has anyone ever asked Mike Riley why he abandoned his orginal plan as to stick with the teams strengths vs what he was comfortable with? I know McKewon has stated this but wonder if it's been confronted. Cause Mike lied straight face to all of us when he said he'd run his team based of off the teams strengths. Didn't do that on ANY side of the ball. Lost a lot of respect I had for the man after that.

 

[HuskerO]

Cause Mike lied straight face to all of us when he said he'd run his team based of off the teams strengths. Didn't do that on ANY side of the ball. Lost a lot of respect I had for the man after that.

Really? Lied straight to your face? Boo hoo you big baby.

 

[arf_man]

Maybe Riley and Langsdorf were just afraid of what was available if Tommy got hurt being a running quarterback. Just a theory, probably ridiculous. Maybe in their view, they did merge their style with the offense that we had to their best ability, as opposed to a bold faced lie as some posters have stated. Also, just my theory, probably also false.

 

[Tulsa Tom]

Maybe Riley and Langsdorf were just afraid of what was available if Tommy got hurt being a running quarterback. Just a theory, probably ridiculous. Maybe in their view, they did merge their style with the offense that we had to their best ability, as opposed to a bold faced lie as some posters have stated. Also, just my theory, probably also false.

And decisions like those are precisely the problem. The good thing is that this can be changed if they would simply listen to wise counsel. There's a guy still bopping about Lincoln that knows a thing or two about football. Next time they go to lunch Riley needs to take a pad and pencil.

 

[littlebos]

We had Cross and Newby and they had mixon and Perine. Thats a big diference in talent at RB