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Mark Whipple Rushing Stats

If this is the hire, I kinda see it as a more melding of concepts. And NU could definitely get better at the passing game. I see Whipple and Frost melding ideas during the week and Frost allowing Whipple to call those concepts as he sees fit on gamedays. Therefore allowing Frost to take a more CEO position on Saturdays.

My biggest question is: If Whipple is OC, Joseph is WR, and Riaola is OL, does that mean no ST's coach in lieu of a RB coach? Or does Raiola take TE over and slide Beckton over to RB?

If there is no ST's coordinator color me as completely baffled.
 



We weren’t particularly great at run blocking either.

I don’t care how they move the ball, just that they do so. If the plan is to sling it around, better have a plan for who the trigger man is going to be.
I'm guessing they do have a trigger man in mind and it was a big reason 2AM is in the transfer portal.
 
“During his three seasons at Pitt, Mark Whipple was a great asset for our entire football program. He did a tremendous job transitioning us from a heavy run attack to one of the best passing games in the entire country,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said in a statement.


I churned out some numbers to see how effective Pitt is at running (with a comparison to Nebraska). Whipple has been Pitt's OC since 2019.

Included are the national ranks.

View attachment 74140

It's very clear, Whipple loves to pass, and the run game is secondary. Given we already have Mickey Joseph, an accomplished WR coach (and passing game coordinator) seems clear the plan is to create an offense that relies on the passing game to be effective.

Remember, our offensive line grades were among the worst in the nation in pass blocking (better at run blocking).

Sounds like a potential significant overhaul of the offense. And we need a quality QB for it to have a chance.

Again, this is assuming all of the smoke from today leads to Whipple being hired as OC.
Thank you. I've tried to tell people today I've seen that going back to 2000 when I started watching his games in person. But whatevs. I'll sit back and watch the mental gymnastics from afar. He's a good coach. Is his philosophy suited for DONU? We will soon find out.
 
Like several others have said, I just want to see more “W” and less “L”.

If the philosophy/strategy is going to be pass-first and run-second, that’s fine IF IT YIELDS WINS.

At the end of the day we’re going to need to do BOTH effectively… as well as be effective in Special Teams, but that’s for another thread… to win more games.

My concern with pass-first strategy is that you rely on having a great QB year end and year out. A simply good QB may not cut it… kind of like when Frost stated that half the playbook was gone due to the unexpected front the Defense came out in. Will half the playbook be gone if all we could recruit was a “good” QB?

My hope is that the new staff do an exponentially better job at developing and utilizing players’ strengths, building depth (especially at QB), instilling discipline and demanding excellence and attention to detail.

A pass-first approach is fine, BUT great offenses have a effective ground game so as not to be too one-dimensional. An effective ground game will also help to score TDs (versus FGs) in the red zone… and control clock when necessary.

Bottom line… just friggin’ win!

GBR!!
 
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Like several others have said, I just want to see more “W” and less “L”.

If the philosophy/strategy is going to be pass-first and run-second, that’s fine IF IT YIELDS WINS.

At the end of the day we’re going to need to do BOTH effectively… as well as be effective in Special Teams, but that’s for another thread… to win more games.

My concern with pass-first strategy is that you rely on having a great QB year end and year out. A simply good QB may not cut it… kind of like when Frost stated that half the playbook was gone due to the unexpected front the Defense came out in. Will half the playbook be gone if all we could recruit was a “good” QB?

My hope is that the new staff do an exponentially better job at developing and utilizing players’ strengths, building depth (especially at QB), instilling discipline and demanding excellence and attention to detail.

A pass-first approach is fine, BUT great offenses have a effective ground game so as not to be too one-dimensional. An effective ground game will also help to score TDs (versus FGs) in the red zone… and control clock when necessary.

Bottom line… just friggin’ win!

GBR!!
FGs in the red zone would be an improvement at this point.
 
I think the reality is somewhere in the middle.

They could run the ball when they actually tried and didn't create a bad down and distance situation.

HIO is right to an extent. They wouldn't stay with it, even if it worked. Seemed to bail on it the first time they didn't get the result they wanted.
Benning hammering a bit on this as well. "If you keep saying you want to be a downhill running team than you should actually try running that" type quotes. Just a refusal to stick with it and it's frustrating.
 
Take 2AM scrambles out and see what the difference is then. Our o line is miserable
 
Like several others have said, I just want to see more “W” and less “L”.

If the philosophy/strategy is going to be pass-first and run-second, that’s fine IF IT YIELDS WINS.

At the end of the day we’re going to need to do BOTH effectively… as well as be effective in Special Teams, but that’s for another thread… to win more games.

My concern with pass-first strategy is that you rely on having a great QB year end and year out. A simply good QB may not cut it… kind of like when Frost stated that half the playbook was gone due to the unexpected front the Defense came out in. Will half the playbook be gone if all we could recruit was a “good” QB?

My hope is that the new staff do an exponentially better job at developing and utilizing players’ strengths, building depth (especially at QB), instilling discipline and demanding excellence and attention to detail.

A pass-first approach is fine, BUT great offenses have a effective ground game so as not to be too one-dimensional. An effective ground game will also help to score TDs (versus FGs) in the red zone… and control clock when necessary.

Bottom line… just friggin’ win!

GBR!!
Agree with nearly everything in this post. I was hoping we'd evolve to an offense that wasn't so centered on one guy - the QB. An offense needs to be adaptive enough that if that one guy is having a less-than-stellar day, they can still sustain drives, manage the clock, and keep the defense off the field. Who cares how pretty it looks...the main objective is to win games, pretty or ugly. I remember Scott issuing almost a warning before one of the games - "It's gonna be ugly" he said, and his reasoning was that the game plan diminished the passing role of the QB - we were going to run the ball. Doesn't that give us some insight into what Scott's fundamental belief of his "ideal" offense is?

In the B1G - no team will survive the season with a one-dimensional offense, however great it may look at times. Sweet baby Jesus in Heaven, please tell me that this fundamental truth will be used in the evolution of our offense.
 



Benning hammering a bit on this as well. "If you keep saying you want to be a downhill running team than you should actually try running that" type quotes. Just a refusal to stick with it and it's frustrating.

We had stretches in every game that it worked. Bad O line coach, tall lineman and all.

Then we’d get cute, greedy or step on our collective manhood with a false start, holding etc. and our ‘Run Game’ toy goes back in the closet.
 
“During his three seasons at Pitt, Mark Whipple was a great asset for our entire football program. He did a tremendous job transitioning us from a heavy run attack to one of the best passing games in the entire country,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said in a statement.


I churned out some numbers to see how effective Pitt is at running (with a comparison to Nebraska). Whipple has been Pitt's OC since 2019.

Included are the national ranks.

View attachment 74140

It's very clear, Whipple loves to pass, and the run game is secondary. Given we already have Mickey Joseph, an accomplished WR coach (and passing game coordinator) seems clear the plan is to create an offense that relies on the passing game to be effective.

Remember, our offensive line grades were among the worst in the nation in pass blocking (better at run blocking).

Sounds like a potential significant overhaul of the offense. And we need a quality QB for it to have a chance.

Again, this is assuming all of the smoke from today leads to Whipple being hired as OC.
From a play calling perspective, Whipple has generally been 50/50 run vs. pass (at Pitt and Miami) [Far from Air Raid levels of throwing]. This past year we were 60/40 run vs. pass on play calls. Granted, we had some pass plays that turned into run plays because AM was running for his life. Pitt's lack of productivity probably has more to do with the situations they chose to run and the personnel they had, rather than a concerted effort to focus on the pass.

I think at Nebraska you have to be able to run the ball effectively. However, as has been mentioned, our OL hasn't been great at blocking in either facet. While I'd like to see us get to the point where we can run the ball down people's throats again, I'm not sure that scheme is something we can do effectively right now. If we go head to head with Wisconsin in a game where we just see who can run on the other better, we are going to lose. We need to be able to run, but that can't be the only thing we do.

That being said, Whipple's balanced play calling is probably a good thing. My bigger concern with him is how much of what he accomplished at Pitt is flash in the pan, and how much is showcasing that he will be a great OC?
 

We had stretches in every game that it worked. Bad O line coach, tall lineman and all.

Then we’d get cute, greedy or step on our collective manhood with a false start, holding etc. and our ‘Run Game’ toy goes back in the closet.

We also had stretches where Frost stuck to the run even when it wasn't working, and was accused of being too conservative. So there's that.
 

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