Sometimes football games plans work like they're suppose to. Sometimes they don't work. And, once in a while, they work in mysterious ways.
Against Notre Dame, Nebraska opened with an offense script that emphasized tight shifting and motion. The first three plays (and another in the second series) featured tight end Tracy Wistrom shifting from one side of the formation to the other. In three of the four occasions, it created unbalanced formations (more on that in a minute). Obviously, NU at least wanted to explore the idea that Notre Dame might have trouble getting lined up against such motion, even though the Huskers have shown it as part of their package since the Texas A&M and Kansas State games last year.
It was no surprise then, at half time, to hear ND Coach Bob Davie say that the Irish had not gotten themselves aligned correctly on Eric Crouch's 63-yard option keeper to open the game's scoring. Davie said that NU "swapped a tight end" and that the change confused the Irish.
When looking at the video tape though, it doesn't look like the TE shift on that play is a part of the NU game plan like the Wistrom shifts earlier had been. First of all, the TE who shifts is Aaron Golliday and not Wistrom. Secondly, the shift takes an Unbalanced Right formation and makes it a balanced Wide Right; remember, several of the earlier shifts had created the opposite effect. Finally, the reactions of Crouch and fullback Judd Davies show this more as serendipity than plan. Davies is on camera and about to get in his stance when a surprised look crosses his face and the camera angle changes to show Crouch walking down the line to physically tell Golliday to move to the other end of the Husker line. This is in contrast to the verbal signal that Crouch uses to move Wistrom both earlier in this game and in previous games. Golliday, also resets on the other side, whereas other tight ends that Nebraska has moved have stayed in motion and have not returned to the line-of-scrimmage.
I believe, but of course, can't prove that Golliday simply lined up on the right instead of the left, and an aware Crouch moved him to the correct spot. Though probably unintentional, this movement caused the same Irish confusion the Husker game plan was after, as the three ND linebackers didn't get set properly and when Crouch turned up on the belly option, the LB on that side over-runs the play and Crouch is gone.
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In looking at the Notre Dame tape again I also see a couple new things, some signs of changes in the Husker offense over the last four or five games and some signs of things that may be on the horizon.
There were two new plays (or variations of old plays, if you want) for Bobby Newcombe against the Irish. I know that some people were surprised that this game didn't expose more of the offense's package for Newcombe, but two new plays are about as many as NU is likely to debut at once.
1) The Huskers used Newcombe on a wingback counter sweep out of the Open Right formation. Newcombe was lined up in the slot and motioned across the formation to the left, then reversed on the snap and came around for the handoff. The FB and I-back faked a dive option to the left and Crouch opened that way before giving to Newcombe coming around behind the pulling guard and tackle. The play got outside for a gain of six. It is a nice variation for the Huskers as the counter sweep has not been as productive a play as its cousin the counter trap in the last year or two.
2) NU also ran an option with Newcombe as the pitch back. Again this play was run out of the Open formation. In this case Newcombe was lined up in the slot much nearer the tackle than he usually is in this set. In fact, I think NU may call this set Open Right Near in the huddle. This near alignment of Newcombe has been one key for which to watch when looking for Newcombe running plays. Nebraska has used the WB as the pitch back options since the days of Johnney Rodgers, but Coach Solich varied that play for Notre Dame. Instead of faking the FB and I-back in a playside iso, NU ran a wall option with the FB faking inside trap or smash. The I-back became a lead blocker instead of the man getting the QB's fake. This helped the timing of a play that has seemed a bit slow since it was revived a few years ago. Maybe this new variation will make it a bigger part of the offense.
Nebraska continued a couple trends that started at the end of last season.
1) The Cornhuskers ran the fullback inside on 34/36 Smash instead of 34/36 Trap. The backfield action is the same, but the line blocks straight ahead (either wedge or inside zone, I'm not sure) instead of trapping. This first showed up in the Big Twelve title game, I believe as a reaction to the play of Texas's big defensive tackles, and has remained in the game plan.
One change related to this is the QB bootleg that NU ran on the first qaurter failed fourth-and-four try. In the past on an inside trap, the QB and IB faked wall option after the handoff. Last year they also did this on the Smash. But, starting in the San Jose State game, NU has had the QB bootleg in the opposite direction, probably to take advantage of Crouch's speed.
2) Another 1999 innovation that NU is continuing is the counter trap lead. With the use of the off-set fullback toward the playcall, the Huskers can run counter trap with only the guard pulling, instead of the guard and tackle, and the fullback leading through the hole. The FB usually makes the guards kick-out block and the guard takes on the tackle's role of leading through the hole.
3) NU is using a lot of H-back TE motion to create different formations, often unbalanced. This is something that quite a few college teams have been running over the last couple years, Tennessee and Michigan, in particular. These teams run a lot of inside zone plays and counter traps from this action, and, of course, mix in some play-action passing.
I think that NU has adopted this motion with the idea of doing those things, and adding the Husker option threat to the mix. NU has long run option plays to unbalanced formations and, if teams over-shift, to the weakside of those sets. Shifting into those formations, instead of lining up in them, puts more pressure on the defense to get its alignment right.
I see this as another an extension to what Coach Osborne did in his final decade when he incorporated several wide-open passing formations into the Husker offense and ran his power, counter and option plays from them, as well as the passing plays for which other teams used them. When NU first started to run such 'passing' formations and still run its basic package from them, teams had trouble choosing the correct alignment and personnel to counter them. When Florida saw the five WR set in the Fiesta Bowl, they aligned to it like NU was some pass-happy SEC squad and Tommie Frazier sliced through them on a QB inside trap. I think in the last couple years we've seen defenses realize that NU in three or four wide receivers is a different animal, and they have made alignment and personnel adjustments to counter. Because of this, I think the offensive staff is looking for new offensive alignments to get the same mismatches that the open formations use to draw.
I think the Huskers have shown signs of a couple of things that we may see from the offense in the future:
1) Watch for variations of that FB Smash/QB bootleg action. The bootleg is naked and we have seen it as run only so far. Watch for a tight end or even a wingback to possibly slip out at give this a pass option. NU also sent a WB around behind Crouch's path in the opposite direction, so there may be a reverse possibility.
2) A pass to the FB off of the counter trap lead action, with the FB through the hole first releasing into the pattern.
3) More uses of Newcombe. I know the process seems slow to those of us watching on TV (and maybe even to Bobby, himself), but there are, historically, a lot of ways to get Nebraska wingbacks the ball in the Husker playbook. I think we'll see one or two new ones in almost every game from now on.