Two gap or not two gap

It’s amazing how a phrase can convince anyone of anything.

Nebraska defensive line coach Rick Kaczenski said in an Omaha World Herald story that the coach staff is going away from the traditional read-and-react two-gap scheme but not because they don’t have that stud that can handle such a task. The purpose is more because they want to find him.

“We try not even to say two-gap anymore,” Kaczenski said. “A lot of two-gap philosophy is read and react. We’re going to attack. We want to go through the blocker and play from there. We don’t want him to react, sit on our heels.”

Kaczenski was hired away from Big Ten Conference foe Iowa after John Papuchis was promoted from defensive line coach to defensive coordinator after Carl Pelini took the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.

“You’re going to play against the best offensive lines around in this league,” Kaczenski said. “You can’t just have your guys line up with their hand on the ground in the same spot every time. You have to change things up, move people around, attack from different angles.”

Everyone may have their theories on why Nebraska might be going this route with its defensive lineman. I think it’s finally realizing that without a dominant force like Ndamukong Suh up front like 2009, or a blanket secondary like 2010, that this scheme without at least a dominant one or the other is just not going to get it to work. It finally took last year to realize that. Nebraska’s 2011 defense was far from Kevin Cosgrove’s 2007 sieve but the Husker defense certainly did not have the same sharp teeth as 2009 and 2010.

Kaszenski comes to the Husker staff highly recommended. Kaczenski built an impressive resume on Kirk Ferentz’s staff at Iowa. The performance of Kaczenski’s defensive lines played a key role in Iowa’s success the past five seasons. With Kaczenski as a member of the full-time coaching staff from 2007 to 2011, Iowa reached a bowl game in each of his final four seasons, including an appearance in the Orange Bowl following the 2009 season. His defensive lineman earned nine first- or second-team All-Big Ten awards from 2007 to 2011.

An attacking defensive line, mixed with an attacking secondary should make for a pretty salty defense. Having guys like Suh, Eric Haag, Prince Amukamara, Dejon Gomes, etc. really probably hid some issues in the two-gap scheme. I really hope to see this new approach translate into more sacks, hurries and stuffs (tackles for loss). It seems last year that Nebraska played too many games behind the 8-ball on third downs. I really hope that this new scheme unleashes the hounds.  

It also shows that head coach Bo Pelini, although stubborn, isn’t stupid. He has brought in a position coach from the Big Ten who has a proven track record of success and a defensive backs coach (Terry Joseph) who wants DBs to play like those who have won two National Champions the last three years (Alabama). Though I don’t think the SEC has invented football, Alabama is not a bad secondary to emulate.

However, I do not think the two-gap approach is going away entirely. It’s just been modified so we move forward to make the first contact rather than play to let the offensive line come to us and then try shed the block or force your angle to get to your assignment. It will seem more traditional in a sense because of that. The place I think we’ll see the difference is on the ends as it sounds like they’ve got a little more freedom from being able to be aggressive.

Armstrong's rise could make for an interesting decision

While Taylor Martinez remains Nebraska’s starting quarterback until further notice (despite what some Husker fans desire), reports out of fall camp indicate that true freshman Tommie Armstrong has thrust himself squarely in the mix for the No. 2 role.

Armstrong is competing with incumbents Brion Carnes and Ron Kellogg for the No. 2 job but Armstrong reportedly has been taking regular reps with the No. 2 offensive unit.

In an Omaha World Herald story on Monday, offensive coordinator Tom Beck and wide receiver Jamal Turner sang Armstrong’s praises.

“He's got a lot of the ‘it’ factor that you look for in a quarterback,” Beck said. “He’s picked up the offense much faster than I thought he would, he’s a student of the game and he’s a very talented young man. That combination has not only impressed myself but, I think, his teammates.”

Some of those teammates back that up, too.

“He came off kind of cocky at first, but once you get to know him it’s like, ‘No, this guy’s just a leader,’ ” Turner said. “He’s a really good guy. Really good quarterback.”

The newcomer from Cibolo, Texas, comes to Nebraska in highly touted fashion after leading his team to a 5A State Title. Quarterbacks named Tommie (as in Tommie Frazier) certainly bring a good omen for Husker fans as the last quarterback to don the scarlet and cream with such a name led Nebraska to back-to-back National Championships in 1994-1995 and came within a missed Bryon Bennett field of winning three straight in 1993. Frazier became Nebraska’s starter as a true freshman in Game Six in 1992.

So what should happen with Armstrong? You really can’t make any historical comparisons because what happened in 1992 will have no bearing on what happens in 2012 – and frankly it should not.

I have said before on this very website that unless a true freshman is going to make an immediate impact, the young man should redshirt. Think about it for just a moment, even though we live in this “now” culture.

The current NCAA rules state that an eligible athlete has five years to complete four seasons. Therefore, student-athletes may practice for a team but not play in a game for one season, not counting against his or her four seasons of eligibility. This is known as a redshirt. Fans don’t see their contributions in that they do not happen on gameday but the redshirt season is a valuable year in a system in that it provides shelter against some of the harsh realities of jumping to a new level of football.

You see, some highly-touted high school studs make their college choices in the recruiting process based on early playing time. Some coaches promise it or tell the youngster he has a fair chance to compete for playing time. Others will demand an automatic redshirt.

There are numerous reasons to redshirt freshmen. For starters, the college game moves a hell of a lot faster than high school, which means decisions have to be made faster. Therefore, the extra season working against starters in practice is a benefit.

Also, highly touted high school studs were often the stars of their team and their league. They were exponentially better than their high school peers. In college, everyone is at least as good if not better. That extra year of conditioning will give the youngster a better chance to handle the rigors of a 12-14 game college schedule.

The verbiage of a playbook (especially on offense) is also far greater in college than in high school as is the intricacy of reading the opposition. Some of that pressure can be alleviated during a redshirt season.

Then there is the whole matter of adjusting from high school to college away from the field. For some of these youngsters, it’s their first time away from home. All of the sudden cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and partying are a juggling act. Throw that in with trying to balance academics with athletics.

The temptation to put the best talent on the field is tough to overcome. The development of a successful program, however, is not about talent alone but it is about the development of an overall player and his maturity to handle the pressures and demands of being a great college football player.

So how does this tie in with what the Huskers should do with Armstrong? It’s a tricky situation with no easy solution. I think it’s very promising that Armstrong has made the strides he has already but I would much rather have three years of eligibility left when Martinez leaves. 

If he is going to get some meaningful snaps, then burn the shirt. If he is going to get 3-4 snaps in 2-3 games then no, keep the red shirt. The problem is how does one know if he can get enough snaps?

Personally, I would plan to redshirt him and burn the shirt only if Martinez goes down and Carnes is incapable.

If he’s the second best quarterback and you need him to win games, then you pull him out of a redshirt. If it’s garbage time, do not use him. He’ll have all next year to get garbage minutes.

I understand you can’t know if you’ll need him in Week Eight when you are contemplating garbage time in Week One but it’s not worth blowing a year to have him hand the ball off 10 times. Obviously getting a guy ready just in case isn’t a priority otherwise Carnes would have gotten some more playing time.

Let Carnes have the reps if available. With his time in the system he’s probably going to be serviceable (we hope) should Martinez go down briefly.

Balance means equally well, not equally often

In football, you hear coaches, fans and media members talking about a balanced offense as it pertains to running and passing the ball.

The question is, do they mean equally often or equally well?

When a football team relies on the run to gain yardage, some people like to assume that team is not adept at throwing the ball. The same holds true in reverse. It’s as if there’s no in-between.

My belief is that too many fans, at all levels of football —with a shallow knowledge of the game — see the idea of “balanced offense” as throwing the ball, say, 25 times as well as running 25 times or throwing for an equal number of yards (plus or minus a few) as rushing.

I would contend that being balanced is not about how often you do both (run and pass) or what is the yardage distribution between run and pass — it’s about how well or efficiently you do both.

For instance, let’s say a team runs 25 times for 130 yards. That’s five yards and change per carry. Let’s also say they threw 25 times and completed 10 passes — that’s under 50 percent. That’s not a balanced offense.

It means you were good at one but stunk at the other.

Example No. 2, let’s say a team rushes 50 times for 275 yards and completes 7 of 10 passes. Too me, that’s balanced because they did both well.

As Nebraska football has reported to fall camp, I am hearing a little too much with regard to “what is Nebraska’s identity?” It’s simple, they are a running team. Just because they pass from time-to-time does not make them a passing team as opposed to a running team.

Being “multiple” as head coach Bo Pelini and Tim Beck suggest they want to be does not mean they are confused or don’t have an identity. It just means their idea of balanced is both phases, run and pass, being effective weapons. The ability to force a defense to play you honestly (defend both run and pass) is the key to a successful offense. Teams with poor offensive showings usually have no balance and the defense loads up to stop one phase.  

Since the NFL has become so quarterback-driven, the idea of “run to set up the pass” is an outmoded idea. Are you listening, Mike Singletary?

At that level of football, the philosophy is centered on “pass to get the lead, run to seal the win.”

The college game, however, has more of a mixture of such philosophy because there are teams that run a pro-style offense with dropback passers, and there are teams that run offenses that involve the quarterback running the ball.

As for the high school game, the run sets up the pass because after all, a high school team running a West Coast Offense will be the exception not the norm.

So how does this pertain to Nebraska for 2012? The Huskers also have their best group of receivers and tight ends since the Bill Callahan days, and quarterback Taylor Martinez is supposedly better at decisions and accuracy but you also have an All-American starting at tailback in Rex Burkhead, with two quality backups (Ameer Abdullah ad Braylon Heard). The tiebreaker is this, of the first four games Nebraska plays, the average of last year’s defenses of those teams is ranked 69th in passing and 66th in rushing (Passing: 92nd Southern Mississippi, 87nd UCLA, 53rd Arkansas St, 44^th) On the running side (Southern Mississippi, 25th; UCLA 14^th; Arkansas St. 120th).

I’m not suggesting those to be games where you suddenly morph into the Don Coryell-era San Diego Chargers but use those games as a means of “pass to set up run.”

I don't think there is going to be a drastic change to the amount of passes thrown, but more receptions. It won’t be the 70% completion rate that Martinez has established as a goal but a better passing game with an already good ground game turns into points. There will be at least minimal improvement to the defense, and I still see a lot of running to run the clock out. I think the biggest change is the use of more running backs other than Burkhead.

How do you contain a mobile QB?

It has been said very frequently throughout the years that Nebraska defenses have struggled with mobile quarterbacks.

The proof was certainly in the pudding last season. In a 48-17 loss to Wisconsin, Russell Wilson torched the Huskers in going 14-of-20 for two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 32 more yards on six carries. In a 34-27 come-from-behind win over Ohio State, Braxton Miller gave the Huskers fits before leaving the game with an ankle injury. Miller completed 5-of-8 passes for 95 yards and a score. He also ran for 91 yards on 10 more carries.

In a 28-25 upset loss to Northwestern, Kane Colter completed 4-of-6 for one touchdown and 15 yards. He ran for 57 yards on 17 carries and a score. In a 45-17 loss to Michigan, Dennard Robinson completed 11-of-18 passes for two touchdowns and an interception for 180 yards. He also ran for 83 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns. Nebraska managed just five sacks combined against those mobile signal-callers.

Against the more classic, dropback quarterbacks, Nebraska had much more success. In a 24-3 win over Michigan State, Spartans quarterback Kirk Cousins completed just 11-of-24 passes for no touchdowns, one interception and 86 yards. He totaled zero yards rushing on six carries and was sacked four times.

In a 20-7 win over Iowa, Hawkeyes’ quarterback Jeff Vandenberg completed just 16-of-35 passes for 182 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. He was sacked just once but recorded just one yard rushing on one carry.

The question should be, what is the solution to slow down mobile quarterbacks? Some say use a defender as a “spy,” which means assign him specifically to the quarterback. I do not like that approach because it takes one defender away from everyone else.

Some would say, rush four, drop seven and make him “read” the defense. That approach is fine if you have a back seven with speed and can rely solely on your front four to bring pressure but how many defenses can do that? Plus, if you give any quarterback too much time to throw they will spot an open receiver at some point.

I believe in the approach of bring your front four (or three if you run a 3-4) but add one blitzer on every play. You may give up a big play every now and then, but getting in any quarterback’s head (especially a mobile one) is vital. If he is running for his life, he isn’t going through his reads.

However, they have to be delayed and disguised blitzes because straight blitzes will lead to open field for them to run through.

When I hear the term, “he is a mobile quarterback,” it usually means that he has success to some degree or another with most defenses. In the glory years of the 1990s, defensive coordinator Charlie McBride’s game plan was to attack the quarterback rather than just contain. I can remember many Defensive ends for Nebraska that got to the quarterback very quickly. He might dodge one, sometimes two rushers but often times he ducked right into the path of a runaway freight train. I remember many a quarterback back then who looked like he had gone through a meat grinder. Their heads were not totally focused at the task at hand.

It comes down to philosophies. McBride’s was old school aggression and Bo Pelini’s is all about outsmarting and confusion. At least that is how I see it.

Pelini not perfect but the right guy

With the start of the 2012 college football season upon us within the next four weeks, certain things tend to stand out. As I read various media outlets, message boards, etc., I can’t help but notice the semi-universal tone of some people asking, “Is Bo Pelini the guy for Nebraska?”

I could understand this question when the hiring process was going on in 2007. Let’s face it, Nebraska is not the kind of place where a coordinator (as Pelini had been for five years beforehand) cuts his teeth, and we’ve seen the results as Pelini (39-16 overall record) has taken some time to acclimate to the endless headaches head coaches endure.

There are a segment of Husker fans and former players from the mid-1990s (notably talk show host Jason Peter) who frequently go back to that time frame when Nebraska went 60-3 from 1993-1997 with three National Championships and four undefeated regular seasons. While I respect what Peter contributed as a player and he makes some good points, I am not one of these jock-sniffing Husker fans that says, “You tell ‘em, Jason!” every time he rants on the radio. You simply cannot compare the job Pelini currently has today to the mid-90s. Peter played under one of the greatest and most experienced football minds (Tom Osborne) in history with one of the most committed staffs beneath him.

Osborne’s system had been in place for multiple decades and they’d been in the same conference the entire time. The Huskers had a blend of experience, talent, and conditioning which enabled that run. Pelini, on the other hand, took over a program which had utterly collapsed. Not crumbled. Not slumped. Not leaned slightly to the left. Collapsed. He was given the job of rebuilding a program and taking it to a national championship, not just the second part. If not for a few hidden gems like Ndamukong Suh and Prince Amukamara the climb back up would have been that much steeper.   

Nine win seasons may not be as sexy as they used to be, but ask many powerhouse programs around who didn’t hit that mark in recent years. You want consistency? Well that’s a start. I’ll take that over seeing Nebraska become a coaching carousel, where even after you put in a few years with moderate success, you still have no job security. You think Nebraska football is not what it once was now, wait until you have to hire new talent in that atmosphere. See how far it gets you.

There is a segment of Nebraska fans take entitlement to levels that are absurd. So, it’s justifiable to be upset when the team melts in a bowl game, or gets their ears pinned back by programs like Michigan or Wisconsin. Hell, I was a little guilty of it after the 30-13 Capital One Bowl loss to South Carolina but in all seriousness, the starting quarterback for the 1997 team (Scott Frost) was booed at home. So nothing really surprises me about what certain people would say about this program considering this team could run the table and there would probably be people bitching about how they didn’t do it “correctly,” whatever that means.

My question would be, who better would you get to come here to be our head coach after firing a coach for winning nine or more games four straight years?

Everyone worth their salt knows it’s very hard to recruit to Nebraska. Urban Meyer has mentioned struggling at Ohio State (because he had it so good at Florida). Fan expectations are unreasonably high. Some of them, anyhow. The “but we are Nebraska” crap has got to stop, and a lot of people need to be more realistic. Nebraska will consistently win 9, 10, 11 games. It’s going to take a special season where both the offense and defense are at the top of the game in talent and experience. Look at the 2009 defense combined with a good offense (yet to be seen) and that will get us a National Championship run. In the mean time being consistently good is how it’s going to be. We can’t recruit well enough right now to just be able to reload, really Alabama, LSU and USC can do that right now.

We haven’t had both offense and defense in the same season yet. I think we are going to be really close this year, which will set us up for a run next year, but that will be dependent on how much quarterback Taylor Martinez improves this season.

The Nebraska entitlement thing is spot on in terms of recent success. We think of Osborne as this iconic figure who can do no wrong but how did he fare before 1993? He had Bill Callahan like back to back blowout losses to end 1990 (45-10 to Oklahoma and 45-21 to Georgia Tech). Before Nebraska became Top ten material, the Huskers lost seven straight bowl games from 1986-1993, most were not even competitive.

Pelini has had his work cut out for him, and the atmosphere of college football nowadays is remarkably different from what it was in the Osborne era. Pelini took over a decimated program, full of raw talent recruited by Callahan, who hired a terrible staff and tried to implement an NFL style offense into a team whose players were designed to run the option. Then athletic director Steve Pederson brought the program to a new low with his firing of Frank Solich (after a nine-win season), making Nebraska a less desireable place to coach. Why do you think Ohio State and Florida could land Urban Meyer and not Nebraska? Say what you will about Meyer’s arrogant personality but the man can coach. The “powerhouse” image had been destroyed at the end of the 2001 season in the Rose Bowl against Miami, and Nebraska officially entered its free-fall.

After the damage by Callahan, Kevin Cosgrove, and Pederson was done and they were ushered out of town, it was Osborne’s job as athletic director job to find the best replacement. Pelini was the best possible coach that could have come to Nebraska that year, and fans felt they wanted a familiar face after the program had been hijacked by Pederson and Co. Pelini is a good motivator, and with the talent pool left, he was able to produce an elite, championship caliber defense in year two. The only problem is our offense looked like a high school offense. The consistent defense continued into year three, only to let another conference championship slip through our fingers on account of bad game day coaching and a horrible offensive strategy against Oklahoma.

The 2011 defense was a shell of its former self, and was showed to be unprepared for the season, which is completely unacceptable. The embarrassment against Wisconsin on national TV was a game that could have been a close, competitive contest if the coaching and preparation had been able to keep the team in the game. Instead, Nebraska dug itself a hole it could not escape. Then after beating eventual Legends Divison champ Michigan State 24-3, the Huskers seemed destined for the Rose Bowl. They got a reality check the next week against Northwestern (28-25 loss), along with another shelling at Michigan (45-17 loss). The bowl performance was putrid, with every opportunity to put South Carolina away in that game slipping away in the first half, and the lack of effective halftime adjustments after South Carolina had taken the lead on an inexcusable Hail Mary.

Pelini now enters Year No. 5, which means these are all his players, his system has been in place for five years, and the offense is an experienced (even though inconsistent) unit entering year two of a system. There are no more excuses for the crucial mistakes, lackluster performances in big games, and the coaches not being able to get their team to perform consistently on a week to week basis. Without major improvements on both sides of the ball, we are not going to see a Big Ten championship. If Tim Beck can’t get Martinez to perform well as a passer, our offense will again struggle against top-tier defenses. If we can’t seem to get pressure with our front four, or have worsening linebacker play, and a leaky secondary, we’re going to struggle against explosive offenses and be put out of games. That will lead to another (hopefully) nine win season with a couple of embarrassments along the way.

I'll give him the next two years to win the conference title before I begin thinking Pelini is not the right guy for the job. He took a team that was simply atrocious and turned them into a 9-win-per-year team, which is not an easy task.

Preseason polls not worth the paper they are written on

The preseason college football polls are out for the 2012 season. Well, at least on the coaches’ side and Nebraska is tabbed No. 16 sandwiched between No. 15 Texas and No. 17 TCU.


What’s always interesting about preseason rankings is listening to talk shows, reading message boards, Twitter, Facebook, etc., is the reactions and banter that the rankings elicit. Just a gut feeling but No. 16 is perhaps the highest I would have imagined the Huskers being ranked and is not as surprising as one would think considering they went 9-4 last season. Though Husker head coach Bo Pelini has had a hot and cold relationship with local media and fans, he does have a lot of respect within the coaching profession. In addition, Nebraska has a third-year starter returning at quarterback in Taylor Martinez. Yes, he has been a polarizing figure among local media and fans but pollsters will normally boost a team higher if it returners experience at quarterback.  


The self-proclaimed gurus take into account who is coming back and how many upper classmen a team has for leadership purposes. Nebraska has more than it has had in a long time so such a rating is not unexpected. Running back Rex Burkhead and Martinez bring experience and there most likely won’t be any freshman starting this year. As for the coaches, it’s as much about tradition and respect as anything else at this juncture.


While everyone is entitled to think whether or not a team is ranked too low, too high or just about right, ratings at this time is nothing more than a popularity contest. It’s good to be rated and thought of highly, but it’s a matter of earning your keep when it’s all said and done. Playing the kind of schedule Nebraska has won’t hide any flaws and if the Huskers are worthy it won’t be a fluke come November. There is not a game on the schedule the Huskers cannot win but the slate also has its share of swing games. While the quality at the top of the Big 10 Conference is not presently as good as say the SEC, Big 12 or Pac 12, it could be argued that the quality in the middle is stronger than those conferences.


Preseason rankings should always be taken with a grain of salt and while college football will always have teams that surprise and disappoint, the college game is also much easier to predict before the season than the NFL. There is definitely more parity in the college game than in years past but not quite like the NFL. In college the 85-player scholarship limit works similarly to the NFL’s salary cap and while it’s not unusual to see college players transfer schools, you won’t see it happen within its own conference. It’s not like you would ever see Tim Tebow transfer from Florida to Alabama or Tommie Frazier go from Nebraska to Oklahoma. In the NFL, however, free agency runs rampant. Deion Sanders played for both the Cowboys and Redskins. Marcus Allen played for both the Raiders and Chiefs.


The last 15 or so years in the NFL, it is not uncommon for a team to go from 4-12 one year to say 13-3 the next. In college, however, such a turnaround is likely to be a 2-5 year process. That can also depend on the stature of your program. In 2007-2008, Nebraska went from 5-7 to 9-4. In 2010-2011, Michigan spiked from 7-6 to 11-2. Those are two programs that have enough name recognition that is such where they will have enough material to make a quick turnaround if they have a bad year. However, at a perennial loser program, going from 3-9 to 9-3 is more likely to take 2-5 years.


That said, college football preseason prognostications are more likely to be accurate than the NFL.

Examining the fine line of Burkhead's workload

The phrase uttered so often to maximizing an offense’s production is “get the ball into the hands of your best player.”

Though good things normally happen for the Nebraska offense when the ball is in running back Rex Burkhead’s hands, I actually think it’s a bad sign for the Husker offense if Burkhead puts up Heisman Trophy numbers. While Burkhead winning the Heisman is a longshot at best, giving him too many touches would actually mean the team is wasting other weapons it has at its disposal.

Burkhead had 284 carries and 21 receptions. He carried a school record 38 times in a 24-3 win over Michigan State. Granted, Burkhead held up well in spite of the workload but the following week had just 69 yards on 22 carries including a rare fumble in a 28-25 loss to Northwestern.

Nebraska offensive coordinator Tim Beck has talked openly about reducing Burkhead’s workload a) to keep him fresh and b) to utilize other weapons the Husker offense has. However, you can also give Burkhead a similar number touches but have more of them become pass receptions because he can be dangerous if you get him the ball in space.

The most puzzling aspect of the 2011 season as it pertained to the running back position was the fact that the Huskers burned redshirts on three players (Ameer Abdullah, Aaron Green and Braylon Heard). The threesome combined for just 91 carries and three receptions. Abdullah not redshirting was at least somewhat understandable because he was the primary kickoff and punt returner. However, it was readily apparent by midseason that either Green or Heard, probably the latter, should have redshirted. Heard has since moved to cornerback but is not back at running back as a result of Green transferring to TCU.

The question then becomes, how do you get Burkhead the touches he needs to make an impact but also integrate other weapons Nebraska has such as quarterback Taylor Martinez, tight end Kyler Reed and wide receivers Kenny Bell, Jamal Turner and Quincy Enunwa? Bell figures to be Nebraska’s biggest weapon not named Burkhead as he became Martinez’s go-to guy. Enunwa showed flashes of brilliance while Turner and Reed were like Claude Raines for most of the season – often times invisible. Utilizing those weapons will open up more space for Burkhead.

There’s a segment of Nebraska fans that believe pounding the ball down opponents throats with the running game is the way to go. You can still win with the ground game being your primary identity but the “run to set up the pass” motto is an outmoded idea. The pass can set up the run just as well if not better.

Burkhead has been described as “Superman” and “Legend” to go along with the obligatory “T-Rex.” The description of “Legend” is certainly saying something considering how many great Huskers have carried the ball such as Johnny Rodgers and Mike Rozier to name a couple. Well, Lawrence Phillips too. LP is a turd for disgracing the program off the field but I won’t take away from what he did on the field, regardless of whether or not he should have been there.

On one hand, you want Burkhead carrying the mail because 6 of 10 times he carries the ball the play is likely to result in a first down or a touchdown. Plus, Burkhead is very reliable in terms of ball security.