Throw the ball to Goodson when he is wide open

U

uihawk82

Well-Known Member
Goodson is the best ball carrier we have. He was wide open by 10-20 yards on several occasions against Illinois and Nate either declined to get him the ball or didnt see him. Not calling out Nate as maybe the primary receivers are downfield but from a coaching point of view it seems that any time Goodson is that wide open he needs to catch a pass quickly to he can get up field, make one guy miss, and get as many yards as possible.

When the defense brings a guy up to cover Goodson then someone else has to be more open.

How many of you saw this last week and do you think we should really focus on getting Goodson the ball in the passing game?
 
uihawk82 said:
Goodson is the best ball carrier we have. He was wide open by 10-20 yards on several occasions against Illinois and Nate either declined to get him the ball or didnt see him. Not calling out Nate as maybe the primary receivers are downfield but from a coaching point of view it seems that any time Goodson is that wide open he needs to catch a pass quickly to he can get up field, make one guy miss, and get as many yards as possible.

When the defense brings a guy up to cover Goodson then someone else has to be more open.

How many of you saw this last week and do you think we should really focus on getting Goodson the ball in the passing game?
Click to expand...
Didn’t see it.

I was too excited to see them actually intentionally attacking the field vertically.

Had to be the game plan because that’s what Nate was looking to do.

Nate does what he is told to do - at times goes out of his way to do what he is told to do.
 
I don’t remember the specific plays you are talking about, but I do know earlier in the year Goodson was leading B1G Runningbacks in receptions. It seems like the last few weeks we’ve gone away from that, which is dumb. Given his current size he’s really not a 20 carry guy right now, but we want to find ways to get him the ball in space.
 
NikeHawk21 said:
I don’t remember the specific plays you are talking about, but I do know earlier in the year Goodson was leading B1G Runningbacks in receptions. It seems like the last few weeks we’ve gone away from that, which is dumb. Given his current size he’s really not a 20 carry guy right now, but we want to find ways to get him the ball in space.
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His reception are down now because he is the lead back now and the staff utilizes him as such. This is one of the huge glaring issues that this Coaching staff has, being able to adjust!
 
uihawk82 said:
Goodson is the best ball carrier we have. He was wide open by 10-20 yards on several occasions against Illinois and Nate either declined to get him the ball or didnt see him. Not calling out Nate as maybe the primary receivers are downfield but from a coaching point of view it seems that any time Goodson is that wide open he needs to catch a pass quickly to he can get up field, make one guy miss, and get as many yards as possible.

When the defense brings a guy up to cover Goodson then someone else has to be more open.

How many of you saw this last week and do you think we should really focus on getting Goodson the ball in the passing game?
Click to expand...


I'm with ya. I think they could legit get him 7-10 passes a game if they wanted him to. The key is to get him in space which with his quickness and speed shouldn't be too hard.

It'd be nice to see Iowa slip him behind the linebackers for a pass down the middle on occasion.

I'd also REALLY like to see more quick pitches to him to the outside. Just get him a head start in space and let him do his thing. I love pitches. They are relatively safe if the QB actually runs the play consistently. For some reason, pitches seem to be going away in football.
 
DDThompson said:
Didn’t see it.

I was too excited to see them actually intentionally attacking the field vertically.

Had to be the game plan because that’s what Nate was looking to do.

Nate does what he is told to do - at times goes out of his way to do what he is told to do.
Click to expand...

This! I don't think he believes in his own ability to do otherwise.
 
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uihawk82 said:
Goodson is the best ball carrier we have. He was wide open by 10-20 yards on several occasions against Illinois and Nate either declined to get him the ball or didnt see him. Not calling out Nate as maybe the primary receivers are downfield but from a coaching point of view it seems that any time Goodson is that wide open he needs to catch a pass quickly to he can get up field, make one guy miss, and get as many yards as possible.

When the defense brings a guy up to cover Goodson then someone else has to be more open.

How many of you saw this last week and do you think we should really focus on getting Goodson the ball in the passing game?
Click to expand...

He looked open, but not really. He was in the flats, 5 yards behind the LOS. Hawks were facing a cover 2,with a flat defender and LB sitting at 10 yards deep with eyes on QB. If he checks down, that is a long pass, and those 2 defenders are screaming forward the instant his hips turn in that direction. By the time he catches it, they are 5 yards away and closing. I am all for giving him opportunities to be one on one in space, but that wouldn't even be the case here. In short, it was exactly the pass Illinois wanted Iowa to take, but Iowa kept trying to force the ball deep, which was probably the right choice.

Iowa did a lot of 4-verts, which is a great cover-2 beater, and they were effective in attacking the obvious weakspots of C-2 (the deep corners, and the space behind the LBs and in front of the safeties). If Stanley had only been able to deliver some of those intermediate routes more effectively (that is a deceptively tough throw to get it over the LBs and in front of the safeties, but good QBs should make it), it would have been a rout.

I am not sure what Nebraska likes to do with coverages, but if they show lots of man, I would expect Goodson to get some opportunities out of the backfield. Sargent had a TD catch vs. them last year.
 
The thing is all of their backs are criminally under utilized in the passing game. How many games have we gone without seeing a screen pass this year? Especially with how we have picked up the blitz at times and constantly have more than we can block rushing it makes no sense.

One of the easiest match-ups to scheme for offensively is a RB against a LB in the pass game and the only time we have really ever done that is when we had Wadley and he was very successful at it. I know part of it is they have had to keep backs in to protect but there are other ways to get the ball to them. With BF coming from New England where they basically treat the backs like extra WRs it is really bizarre.
 
kameltoez102 said:
The thing is all of their backs are criminally under utilized in the passing game. How many games have we gone without seeing a screen pass this year? Especially with how we have picked up the blitz at times and constantly have more than we can block rushing it makes no sense.

One of the easiest match-ups to scheme for offensively is a RB against a LB in the pass game and the only time we have really ever done that is when we had Wadley and he was very successful at it. I know part of it is they have had to keep backs in to protect but there are other ways to get the ball to them. With BF coming from New England where they basically treat the backs like extra WRs it is really bizarre.
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Also, like to see Goodson on a wheelroute on occasion.
 
HawkPrdatr40 said:
His reception are down now because he is the lead back now and the staff utilizes him as such. This is one of the huge glaring issues that this Coaching staff has, being able to adjust!
Click to expand...

The game plan against Illinois was good, and it worked. The plan was to throw the ball downfield.

As you noted multiple times, Stanley missed on a few some of those throws, which would have resulted in at least one more touchdown. He hit other big pass plays that helped lead them to the win. The running game was, of course, nowhere. We had over 300 yards in passing and it could've been 400 if Stanley hit some open guys.
 
NS seems to not have any time to look around. They are going to bring the heat, so Goodson/Young/Sargent will be busy as F dealing with LB's/corners, etc. I like the OP's thinking though. Get the backs the ball and keep Nebbie honest at least. A screen, wheel route, something out of BF's brain that's at least unimaginable to us viewers would be awesome to see. I'm hoping our O-line can maintain and create holes that my grandma with no legs could run through.
 
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