This May Be Bo's Plan

I am no football expert. I played in high school a LONG time ago, but our playbook was about 10 pages stapled together and copied off a mimeograph machine. That was the offense. Defense was 4 pages, showing a 5-man front, 4-man front, and a couple D-line and linebacker stunts. That was it. But, there was enough going on that I've been interested in strategy ever since.
That musing led me to thinking about the challenges that Coach Bo Pelini faces this year in fixing the Husker D. We all know--and want to forget--what happened last year. I mean, when Mark May---MARK FREAKING MAY---starts acting sympathetic toward the Husker defense (like he did upon seeing that KU hung up 76 points on our guys last fall), you know it's bad.

(Oh--and by the way---it took KU the entire stretch of time during Coach Devaney's tenure in the 1960s to score 76 points. Between 1962 and 1969, KU managed to score 78 total!! Yeesh. )

But I digress---this year, who will we face who runs the spread? We'll see at least five--Western Michigan, Mizzou, Texas Tech, KU and Colorado. VA Tech I'm not sure of--but probably at least a modified version. But that's enough. Suffice it to say, Bo was brought in to at least control the spread--something that Kevin Cosgrove could never figure out.

Now, how do you stop it? Again--I'm no expert, but check this link out and I think you may find some pretty interesting details:

http://www.ohsfca.org/Defend_Spread.htm

Several things are of interest here. They start out with the networking side. First---the coach, Kerry Coombs, is an Ohio guy. I think he and Bo may have crossed paths at some point. Second--Coach Coombs is now working at Cincinnati--where Brian Kelly is head coach (former rumored candidate for the NU job after Bill C got let go).

But it gets better. Coombs's philosophy strongly encourages having a versatile defense, so that the offense cannot assume anything. This includes no specialty positions (a la Cosgrove's "base" and "open" D-end positions, which drove me absolutely crackers.)

Second, Coombs has a strategy for slowing down the on-field signal calling. This features both the willingness to use timeouts to break up the offensive rhythm, AND a very well-developed defense communcation system--so that the players on the field can make the defensive calls if they have to.

Third, Coombs emphasizes speed and being able to run. (Which, of course, all Husker fans know and can recite in their sleep after seeing the defenses of the mid-90s.)

And, reading between the lines, this seems to be the type of strategy that Bo was putting into place this past spring---getting the communication lines going on the field. He was emphasizing conditioning in the football sense. And he is returning our guys to the idea of speed. (Say hallelujah!)

So--check this out. I think you'll like it. And I for one am looking forward to seeing these principles get put to use! I do not want Mark May's sympathy again!

Bryce