While former offensive coordinator Shawn Watson took the brunt of the criticism for Nebraska’s offensive struggles in 2009, and to a lesser degree in 2010, offensive line coach Barney Cotton was a close second.
Running backs coach Tim Beck has since replaced the departed Watson, who is now the quarterbacks coach at Louisville. Cotton remains the offensive line coach and associate head coach. John Garrison is the associate offensive line coach as well as tight ends coach.
Cotton took his share of lumps from Husker fans and while some of it was warranted, the amount of venom was pretty brutal. What one fails to take into account was that a huge reason for the offense’s struggles was the effort to marry too many different philosophies. The disparity in philosophies between Cotton and Watson really accelerated the waffling between power football and influence blocking, resulting in the total ineffectiveness that was witnessed last year up front. Cotton also had no control over the injuries that made a bad situation really ugly. I am in no way excusing his role but a segment of Nebraska fans lay it all of the blame at his feet. Was he part of the reason for the line’s problems? Yes. Entirely? No.
The problem is, too people have the IQ of a pea plant and think, “Well, the O-Line stinks, so Cotton stinks too.” True, the offensive line play has left something to be desired but if you have even a shade of football knowledge, poor line play can also be because of injuries, offensive coordinator, philosophy, bad talent or bad depth. The injuries Nebraska has had up front are a factor along with the lack of recruits present when head coach Bo Pelini and his staff arrived in 2008 along with Watson’s complex West Coast Offense that lent itself to players thinking more so than playing.
Since Watson is a West Coast Offense advocate while Cotton espouses a power running back, it’s fair to say that Cotton was trying to figure out what Watson wanted, and that he actually was like a player, studying the play book, trying to figure out what Watson wanted. Let’s face it, Cotton had a hard time teaching the Watson/Bill Callahan system.
Callahan has been a reputable offensive line coach in both college and the NFL but Cotton was a bad match for the system the Huskers were trying to run 2008-2010 with Watson and without Callahan and Dennis Wagner. It made sense to keep Watson after Callahan was dismissed at the end of the 2007 season and not go through another radical change the way they did in 2004. Bringing in Barney in Year No. 1 was probably one of the few mismatches (short term issues) for Pelini and he is still dealing with it.
So where are we at today? The line definitely needs more consistency considering the Huskers are looking at potentially starting a true freshman, a redshirt freshman, a true sophomore and a redshirt sophomore if Marcel Jones cannot go which is a distinct possibility. And maybe another true freshman will see playing time for Mike Caputo if Nebraska plays 3-4 defenses with a nose tackle that can take advantage of Caputo like Texas A&M did.
The offensive line will need to find its consistency especially in hostile Big 10 road environments like Wisconsin, Michigan and Penn State.
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