Fresno State fears the option

While Nebraska's 2011 version of the speed (and slot) option may not have had Husker fans conjuring images of Frazier, Rozier, Crouch or Green, it did produce the three longest plays of the day. Rex Burkhead had a career-long 52-yard run to set up the first TD and Taylor Martinez kept it on two more option carries for TDs of 43 and 47 yards. The experts at Option Spectator gave it an overall ranking of 78: Occasional hints of open field on the nose, muddy and confused mouthfeel, lacking sense of terroir typically associated with options of the region.

But it caught the attention of Fresno State coach Pat Hill who mentioned the option no fewer than three times at his press conference on Monday. 

Fresno State wasn't very impressive offensively in its 36-21 opening loss to Cal, but the Bulldogs were pretty tough against the run -- except against the option.

"I thought we did a very good job against the run game against Cal, except we did not do well on a couple option plays," Hill said Monday. "As far as their tailback, except for the one run of about 30 yards, which give them credit they executed that very well, but other than that I thought we did very well against the run game."

He's right. Take away Cal's two big runs of the day -- a 39- and 48-yarder -- and Fresno State held the Bears to 60 yards on 32 carries (1.88 ypc). Of course, if you take away Nebraska's three big option plays of the day you're left with 87 yards on 40 carries (2.18 ypc).

It's not entirely fair to do that in a pure option offense because that's sort of the plan. You run the play and repeatedly put the defense in a disadvantageous situation. A lot of the time they're still able to make a play but, as a coach, you're just waiting for that perfect symphony of a bad decision on their part, the right read on your part, and the eventual big play. Nebraska isn't pur option yet but they made a concerted effort to keep running it Saturday. Taking out these big plays is sort of like reviewing a movie based only on acts one and two. The climax is a pretty important part of the entire show.

Nevertheless, it's a point of emphasis for Fresno State this week. "We are going to get a huge, huge test this week, so we are going to need to play at a very high level," Hill said. "We have to be very disciplined with our eyes, especially on defense against the option."

Nebraska kept things simple against Chattanooga. Bo Pelini said Beck probably ran some plays he normally wouldn't have for the sake of evaluation and assessment which makes sense. Midway through the 2nd quarter it looked like Nebraska had a pretty good grip on things despite the lack of success running between the tackles against 8- and 9-man fronts.

You'll probably see that again on Saturday. Pat Hill saw that Nebraska's big play ability was all option derived last week. He also no doubt saw the struggles against a run-stopping front combined with the lack of rhythm in the passing game.

Now if his team can just avoid getting burned by the option we'll have ourselves a ballgame.