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Play call: 34/36 QB Keep The 1997 Washington game was a coming out party for Scott Frost and the Quarterback Keep play. Frost scored the game's first touchdown on a 36 QB Keep as the befuddled Huskie defense converged on the trap fake to Joel Makovicka. On the QB Keep the backfield starts in the inside trap or wall option action (they are the same), but after the fullback fake to the middle, the I-back lead blocks through the off-tackle hole and the quarterback follows. The line blocks almost exactly like a trap, adding to the play's deception. This is an isolation play for the quarterback, though TV announcers constantly call it an option. Perhaps no Husker play causes more confusion in the broadcast booth. Some announcers and Husker fans have adopted the misnomer mid-line option. It seems that of the ABC and FOX announcers that typically call Nebraska games these days, only Gary Danielson of ABC gets this one right. In the 1999 Big XII title game, he featured the play, saying that "this looks like an option and quacks like an option, but it isn;t an option. Folks, it cant be an option if there is nobody to pitch to!" After the Notre Dame win Eric Crouch said, "That play is our bread and butter. We use it on the goal line and use it for big plays. There's no other option on that play but for me to run." Formations: Nebraska runs the quarterback keep out of any two-back set that they would run inside trap and wall option from. In the 2000 opener vs. San Jose State, the Huskers scored on a 36 QB Keep out of the three-back Power set. Judd Davies, the second fullback in the set, went in short motion to playside and then led through the off-tackle hole ahead of the I-back, creating a double-isolation play for quarterback Eric Crouch. Companion plays: Obviously the 34/36 Trap and the 11/19 Wall Option work well off of this play. The three plays together may be the Huskers' most confusing package of plays. |
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