There isn’t a Husker fan out there that is more surprised than I am that Matt Rhule made Dana Holgorsen the offensive coordinator straight out of the gate. With the announcement of his hiring, I didn’t think he would be the OC and completely in charge until the Iowa game. But even then, I wasn’t convinced he would be given the offensive coordinator title this season. I looked for a transition process to occur. I can’t say why. When you stop and think about it, a slow transition would have been sloppy. Rhule just ripped the Band-Aid off and got it over with. That was needed. This staff and this team needed a slap in the face to wake them up.
Matt Rhule had no choice but to do that, and he knew it. Something had to change before it was too late. There were just too many things happening that resembled last season. Without this change, it was clear to see this team was headed for another 5-7 season. The players saw it coming and Rhule was about to lose them. There are too many older guys on this team that don’t know how to win. You can criticize them if you want, but they’ve been put down and told what a disappointment they have been throughout their time at Nebraska.
Sean Callahan of HuskerOnline reported Rhule had the fifth-and sixth-year guys leave the room after announcing Holgorsen was joining the staff. He wanted to speak to the younger guys about what was expected of them these last three games. It sounds strange, splitting the team up like that, but it makes sense. The old guys and the young guys are playing for different reasons at this point of the season. I remember as a sophomore in high school we lost our last game of the season. We were all upset, but one of my teammates, a junior, was distraught. I told him, “We’ll get them next year.” He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “That’s what we said last year.” I had no answer for that. Rhule may have told the young guys something similar. There is no next year.
Why Satterfield failed
Satterfield ran too many concepts. He was like a kid with a dirt pile and a box full of Hot Wheel cars. He tried to play with all of them at once, and in doing so, he lost most of them in the dirt pile.
If you’ve followed football for years like I have, you always hear people talk about running backs needing carries. They must find a feel for the game, and they often get stronger as the game goes on. The game may have changed, but there is still some truth in that statement. My only argument, it isn’t just the running backs. It’s everybody.
If you don’t believe that, tell me who found a rhythm under Satterfield. Could you name Banks, Neyor, Bonner, Lloyd, Dowdell, Emmett Johnson or even Raiola? Players never got enough reps under Satterfield to understand what the defense was doing to them. You might say the offensive line, but do you think all five starters would identify this offense the same? Are they a rushing offense or a passing offense?
Wide receivers were rotating out so often they never got an idea of how a defensive back was going to cover them. When I make this cut, he does this, when we run this formation, they cover it like this. They never got a feel for the game.
And as far as Raiola, Satterfield never concentrated on calling plays to set him up for early success and find a rhythm. His play calling was all over the board with different formations and different personnel. And often, the formation and personnel told the defense what play was coming. Even the most common of fans could recognize that. The offense never found an identity under Satterfield.
Holgorsen is Nebraska’s Osborne
If you ever read coach Bob Devaney’s book or listened to him speak, he once stated, Tom Osborne was a better play caller than he was. Tom was willing to take more risk. The kind of risk a head coach might not take. Osborne called more passes than Devany was comfortable with. But Devany had the insight to recognize his shortcomings and turned Osborne loose. His willingness to do so allowed Nebraska to win its first two national championships. Dana Holgorsen is Matt Rhule’s Osborne.
In fact, Rhule said, “the biggest thing when I played against Dana is he was always just a really aggressive play caller. I’m probably not a super aggressive person in that area, so I thought the best move for me was to bring in someone who was that way and push up field.”
Rhule will absolutely have to trust Holgorsen. Because he already knows Holgorsen will call plays he won’t always be comfortable with. Was he able to do that with Satterfield? Did he trust him or was he too involved. Giving Holgorsen the car keys is a huge step for Rhule. He’s the kind of coach that is involved in every decision made within his program. And I believe that was the hold up when Holgorsen was here last winter. He probably left Nebraska and told Rhule, “give me a call when you are ready to turn it over to me.”
So, what will Holgorsen do with his new responsibility? I’m sure he is already deep into the playbook with Garret McGuire. Rhule said McGuire would translate the plays into Holgorsen’s language. At this point it’s easier for one man to learn what the plays are called rather than the whole offense. And you can be sure Holgorsen has watched enough film to identify what players he wants on the field for what he wants to do. He may not know their names, but he’ll know their numbers. The names will come.
Holgorsen will identify what this team does well, pick out those plays and run them out of different formations. He’ll simplify the playbook and give the players enough reps to run them without thinking. By doing so, look for Nebraska’s offensive pace to pick up. Holgorsen will find guys that will allow this team to win. I don’t expect him to be all over the board with personnel. Because of that, there will be players unhappy with their playing time. But Rhule didn’t bring Holgorsen in to appease the players. He brought him in to give this team a shot at winning and making the post season.
While unexpected, I’m happy with what Rhule has done. In fact, I’m both hopeful and excited. I’ve been saying all along Rhule needed an elite X’s and O’s guy. We have that now, in fact I’ll go so far as to say, Nebraska hasn’t had a play caller the caliber of Holgorsen since Tom Osborne.
Good things are about to happen.
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