LAWRENCE, Kan. — He might be 12 years removed from his last coaching gig, but Tom Osborne still watches tape.
The Nebraska athletic director's keen eye helped spark the idea for a 45-yard pass that helped the Cornhuskers take back the lead during a 31-17 win against Kansas on Saturday.
On the play, quarterback Zac Lee took the snap and ran to the right with running back Roy Helu Jr. trailing him. The junior then stepped back, surveyed the field and found that wide receiver Niles Paul had shaken loose from his coverage. Lee's pass forced Paul to jump and turn back to the ball, but he caught it and then crashed to the turf.
Tight ends coach Ron Brown said the play worked because Paul sold his block so well and because the Kansas safeties got caught trying to move up to guard against the run. This allowed Paul to break free.
Brown said the play was executed perfectly – just like Osborne drew it up nearly two decades ago.
Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said that two weeks ago Osborne gave him a tape of option passes that the former head coach had used in the 1990s.
"Coach Osborne has been awesome. He understands. He gets it," Watson said. "He never forces anything on me. All he does is say, ‘Look, here are some things you may want to consider now that you are moving to this aspect of your game.'"
Watson's use of the option pass is another example of the coaching staff adapting to a season full of injuries and depth issues. The offensive game plan that Nebraska used to beat the Sun Belt has been scrapped.
Sure, the Huskers still run the zone-read option far more often than they should, but the personnel changes have been sweeping.
Wide receivers Menelik Holt and Curenski Gilleylen, who both scored in the opening game of the season, have been benched in favor of younger receivers and tight ends.
"We've had to simplify," Watson said. "When you simplify, you look for ways to attack the defense and move the ball. One of the ways is to get big and rely on our offensive line and tight ends and the little fullback guy."
Nebraska is lining up in more power running sets and running directly at opposing defenses instead of spreading them out.
The result has been 294 yards for Helu over the past two games. After only getting 12 carries against Baylor and Iowa State, the Huskers have turned to him 48 times in the past two weeks.
The success speaks for itself. Helu, a notoriously slow starter, finished with 86 yards in the final quarter that successfully gashed the KU defense and silenced the crowd as he ended any chances of a Todd Reesing comeback on senior day.
Coach Bo Pelini wants credit to go to all 11 offensive players who were on the field when the Huskers drove 74 yards on 12 plays to end the game.
"It wasn't just Roy, it was the offensive line, tight ends, the fullback," Pelini said. "That's just the way you fin ish, and that's the way you come out and are able to the put the game away – with the drive and the finish."
Nebraska's newfound running success shouldn't come as a surprise. The possibility of it was always there, but Watson fell in love with moving the ball from sideline to sideline. He thought, and still thinks, that the Huskers have the capability to spread teams out and then attack with quick passing an d zone-reads.
That offense worked great for former quarterback Joe Ganz because he was good at throwing on the move and had receivers like Todd Peterson and Nate Swift who were reliable third-down targets. Lee doesn't have that yet, and he may never have it. Even in victory, he still looks like a quarterback who throws better passes when they sail for more than 15 yards downfield.
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