1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - What is Nebraska's Offensive Identity? What is their Best Play? : October 23rd, 11:00am

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

What is Nebraska's Offensive Identity? What is their Best Play? Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-the-ticket and the ticketfm.com. Here is your host, Derek Pearson, brought to by Canopy Street Market. Thursday, living color. Cult of personality, boom. There's a reason. There's a thing we're doing on social media.

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You want us there. So you might as well do it. Might as well do it. It's going to be a busy hour. We're going to talk. Listen, it'd be a great weekend to put a stop to Nebraska on Nebraska football crime. That's the lead.

That's the headline. You know, all the things that we talk about, quite simply, let's not have Nebraska beat Nebraska. That's the conversation. We'll talk about the NFL and the opening eye of the NBA, opening nights, plural, and some stories leading there. Plenty to go on.

But first, before we do all that, we must, we must, we must. Bach, pay the bills. Pay the bills. Yes, today, of course, the hour is sponsored by Hamilton Telecommunications, bringing the latest quality technology and communication services since 1901, whether it's residential or business, Hamilton has the answer. visit hamilton tell.com for more info today we really do need to send lin manual miranda a check just so that when we play that we can play them yelling

hamilton back you know just just just in the background i think that needs to be done whatever the check needs to be it just there just needs to be the hamilton chant they need to be the hamilton chorus um full things in play before we get into the depth of it Looking through in simplest form that Nebraska has the opportunity to do something pretty cool Saturday. And I think locking in on the focus simplifies the task. As a coach, I would always tell the players, focus in, don't worry about the big picture. The big picture is just the accumulation of a lot of small pixels. So you as an individual player focus on the simple task, right?

Whether it's knowing scheme, knowing formation, knowing your responsibility, knowing the key to carrying that out, whatever those things are, and however you isolate what your task is, what the big picture task is, is the key to greater success. And if the 11 that are out there at any given time, simply, simply know what the first task is. Keep the first thing first. And Nebraska football will be successful

when it keeps the first things first. Now, there's some problems that have popped up in that we may not know what the first thing is. Like we talked about culture and team identity, offensive identity, passing game identity, running game identity, defensive scheme, past pressure identity, past coverage identity.

But if you break them down individually that way, then it becomes a little bit easier to figure out what success would look like. There's some numbers that are in play. Northwestern comes into Lincoln with three runners, who all average four and a half yards per carry or more. That is their culture and identity.

run the football, run the football, pass, and be safe when you do so. Get 10 yards, repeat. If you can't do that, pun it, go play solid defense, run fit, run fit, make them take a chance throwing the football, get off the field, take the ball back, and run the ball again. Pretty simple. Pretty simple Northwestern football. Don't make mistakes.

Don't get yourself in trouble. Play in front of beat, you know, no chaos, no chaos. do not play in chaos. And if Nebraska understands that Minnesota talked about simplifying their game, getting back to the basics and the fundamentals, well, that's the fundamental nature for Nebraska. And then we have to figure out what that looks like or what it could look like or what it should like. But in your head, the identity of Nebraska's offense is what?

Dylan Royola, unfortunately. I mean, I wish there was a better answer than that, but I think that that's, especially coming off that past game, I think the thing might be easier or better place to be put it more the emphasis on him. And I know you're not talking about a player, but I wish there's not,

it's not like they have an old brown and pound offense or they're just an air raid. You know, so it appears to be kind of Dylan Riola, whether he's getting sack nine times, five times or one time, they're going to run it through him. I don't know that you're wrong. and maybe a bigger concern is maybe I'm not,

I don't know if you're right, that we don't know the identity of this Nebraska offense. We're seven weeks in. We're seven weeks in. There's only 12. Like there's only 12. This is, you're at the midway point, the identity of this team.

And you can tell me that it's fluid, right? That, you know, we want to be versatile. We want to be diverse. But at your core, at your core, when you get into a fight, you have to know what your best weapon is. Your most consistent, most reliable weapon. How do you get out of trouble? More importantly, what keeps you out of trouble?

What keeps Dillon Rail and the enemy protected? What keeps him, keeps the defense off balance? What gives him the most option? It's a solid run game. For Dylan to be able to line up and hand the ball to Emmett Johnson with some knowledge that they will, there will be productive. These will be plus plus plays. And plus plus, get the three.

First plus. Get the three. And then the second plus is what happens after you get the three. Can you break it? Can you make somebody miss a tackle? J. Foreman. Austin were talking about the ability. Nick and Austin were talking about the ability

and the responsibility running back to beat the first guy. But you got to make sure that the first guy is at three yards. Your first guy can't be at the line of scrimmage. So first thing, take control of the line of scrimmage. And at a greater detail, control the line of scrimmage at the point of attack. It's really cool to line up against the three front. and have the defensive ends clipped if you're, but if you're running up the middle and you don't win up the middle,

what have you done? You need to win the line of scrimmage at the point of attack. That's the first plus. Second plus, getting to the next level and being productive. Positive yardage and you handing the ball to the official after that play. Because sometimes the friction happens at the second level where one of those big nasties gets a face mask on you. and the bad things happen.

But those are Nebraska crimes. If Nebraska decides to win at the line of scrimmage at the point of attack, Bach, we now know how important that is. Because Dylan can't beat Dylan if you're behind the chains and you're not winning the line of scrimmage. Fair? Is that? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think it's fair. Right? That, that in past pro,

the first plus is winning the line of scrimbage. At snap of the ball, reestablish the line of scrimmage. Because at that point, defensive pass rushers are beyond the line of scrimmage. So pass protection. And I've had this debate several times with coaches. I'm not necessarily a fan of pass. protection. I like passing game aggression. If it's past protection, you're turning your bouncer into a dancer.

Passing game aggression means that you reestablish the line of scrimmage and then force them around you and put them at a standstill. great offensive lines in the passing game, reestablish the line of scrimmage at the line of scrimmage. Bach, if you try to walk in my door, I'm going to punch you in the chest. Does that reestablish the door? Right? Right?

Like, listen, if you're on one side of that door, the door's open and your wallet's on the table, and I'm walking through, are you going to backpedal towards your wallet? Are you going to, you know what? I need to stop this dude before you get the door. right? Is that fair? Yeah. Am I missing?

It makes some sense. Like I, I'm not going to let you in my house before I start to defend you. No. I'm going to punch you in the chest. Hey, man, what do you do it? And that's the attitude. That literally, in the run game, it is, I need the door protected, but I almost assume that, a massive man, I can control the door.

When I'm, when I'm being productive and effective, but I need to take a step on the other side of the door. Anthony likes to talk about the line behind you. I'm good with that if you put the line behind you at your heels because it means I have to fight forward. I'm only successful if I fight forward. And if I turn my 315 pound offensive linemen into dancers, where they're all doing a moonwalk to try to keep somebody from getting to Dylan

or a little, it makes more sense to have my 315 pound silverbacks punching people in the heart. Passive aggressive football can't be Nebraska football. It can't be. So in the lab this week, I hope there's some real aggression. As our boy, Cina would say, ruthless aggression. That's what I want from the bigs up front on both sides of the ball. Defensively, up front. First responsibility, Bach.

Interior defensive line, what's the first responsibility? Is it pressure on the quarterback or is it reestablishing the line of scrimmage? The reestablishing the line of scrimmage. Sir, say it, say it louder for the people in the back, Bach. Yeah, reestablish the Ryan of Simmons, when the point of attack is we talk about even on often. Right? And then that's the first plus, right?

First plus, we establish the line of scrimbages. Second plus, hey, Bach, now we get to do some things. We've established the line of scrimmage. Run fit. Gap control. Bach. There's one defender on the field at any time that has two gap responsibilities, middle of the field.

offensive ed boundary setter you got two spots to two holes to fill but guess what you have three four and five people behind you who will accept the responsibility of the gap you can't control so win the gap and then let your buddy win a gap but but the one that you can't do in ruthless aggression is be passive. Count the number. Go and watch Nebraska and Minnesota's second half and look at the number of times. One, where a Nebraska defensive lineman or linebacker

ended up on the ground. And I mean, ended up on the ground without the ball carrier or the football. Two, look at the number of times a defensive lineman or up, you know, front seven, ended up with their numbers staring over at the, at the sidelines. Because the moment your numbers turned to a sideline, Bach, you have failed.

It is a problem. It is a problem because you're, Bach, if I turn sideways to the door, I can't protect you. Ruthless aggression. Passive football cannot. That was the word. I was watched film last night.

Of course, it did the late night show, 12.30, I got home. First thing that pops up on YouTube is the highlight reel, right? The highlight from Minnesota. And Bach. Oh, a boy. Tendencies are set. Focuses are set. Standards are set on the first play of the game.

First drive of the game. But first play. Bach, in your mind, what is the priority? You're the offensive team. What is the, what are you going to call on the very first play of the game? What is, what are you going to call, Bach? Well, it depends. I mean, obviously get your game planning.

A lot of times these plays are scripted. But I think as with any first down, I'd like to like to establish the line of scrimmage, get four yards or more. And you're off to a good start. Hey, Bach. if you practice all week and the first play that you put in, the first statement that you're going to make, because as coaches and players, we're yelling first hit.

First hit sets the tone for the entire day. You can't finish right if you don't start right. Hey, Bob, how about this on your first play? Your most effective play. Your most reliable play. How about you run behind? your two best blockers and get the ball to your best offensive player. Because, I don't know, he's your best player.

And best player could be, he could be most important player, right? But if we want to protect Dillon Raola, what do we want to do? We need to establish a run game. So if you tell me, we're going to line up and send our two biggest, baddest, silverbacks to one place on the football field at the line of scrimmage with my best runner with the ball in his hand pretty high percentage that we're going to get plus yards right or we should because if we can't that can't be our first play and we got stuff we got other stuff to work up because then that lets me establish that oh they they're physical today

oh they're going to run the ball today they didn't come here today they came here to fight. But if I line up against you defensively in your first play, you turn into a dancer and you moonwalk, I kind of think, oh, he don't want to fight. He want to dance.

And if that's not the message you're trying to send, there's a conflict. There's a conflict. Best player, your two best linemen, point of attack. Now, fuck, who is the two best lines? offensive linens for Nebraska football. Who were they?

Uh, yeah. Right. I, you see, that is the, that is the exact response I thought I would get. Right. Help me.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know if you have a firm, great answer in that. Who are the best two linemen that play side by side? Because they, What you just said is, I don't know if we have a win a long look. Because as the officer coordinator, I need to look at the matchups, right?

Who's my best run blocker? Who is my most effective, reliable run blocker? And if it's Rocco Spindler, I'm okay with saying that. If it's Elijah Bridget, I'm okay with saying it. Whatever you're going to say, say it. And then you could say that, okay, if Spindler is a part of the. equation, whoever is next to Spindler on either side, who's the better of the two might be where I need to go.

Fair? Fair enough. It's funny that we don't necessarily know it. It's funny that we don't necessarily know it, but it's a statement, right? It's a statement that we have not clearly identified a reliable. source of plus yardage in this offense. Because then if you tell me, and it's okay if this is what you tell me, it's okay if you tell me, you know what, running the ball on the first down isn't our best option.

It is not the most reliable, effective way, trustworthy way for us to generate plus yardage on the first down of the game. You could tell me that on first down, Jacori Barney on a stop route is the highest level of success and efficiency. You could tell me, easy throw, quick throw, no pass pressure, right? Quick throw. You can tell me that it's Luke Lindemeyer using the old, old-fashioned Little League pop pass, right, where Dylan takes a step, takes one plant, one plant foot back, finds Lyndon Meyer on a release with his two fours staring Dylan in the face, right? And Dylan hits him between the fours, then we get positive yard and we move along.

you can tell me that it's it's dain key on a hitch or an isaiah hunt or on a on a on a slant in front of dillon you can tell me any of these things i'm open to here i'm open to here i'm open to the idea that those could be the best options but sir shouldn't we know in week eight shouldn't we know and i don't care if the opponent knows remember this This is about Nebraska. I don't care that Northwestern knows what my best play is. I don't care that they know who my best line, but offensive rush linemen and my two best combo block offensive linemen. I don't care that they know. I'm from D.C. I was raised in the ear that, you know what? Russ Graham and Joe Jacoby said,

we don't care if you know who are two best linemen side by side, and we don't care if you know that John Riggins is our most important player. The Bears didn't care that you knew Walter Payton was going to get the ball 30 times. They didn't care. You think the Cleveland Browns cared that everybody knew that Jim Brown was first playing the game. Here comes 32. There's a method to, there's a way to simplify it. But man, sir, fixable things, identifiable things.

drumstick, you know, this is the thing. It's baffling that this is from the tax line. Drumstick says, it's baffling, we don't have two O' linemen we can rely on. It should never be the case at Nebraska ever. And here's my thing. Dana Holgerson could have that in his head about who his best offensive run block lineman is,

and then he could have some idea about, the best, too. It could be that it's running behind a particular offensive lineman with Lindenmeyer as the hammer behind them. But I would also say there's some point of discussion to what if you had two reliable offensive linemen side by side and Lyndon Meyer as a hammer and then Emmett following behind them? And you did that on high reputation. Bach, if first play the game, I sent two blockers. at you. Are you having a good start to your night? No.

Bach, on the first two plays, so after they barrel you, just you. It doesn't matter what happens to your boy next to you. On the next play, I again, send two people at you, Bach. You having a good night? Getting frustrated. Hey, Bach, you know what? Let him cook. Let him cook.

Hey, Bob, here they come two more times again. You having a good night? I don't think so. I don't think so. my favorite thing in film study was finding the win. That was, there's a moment where you're in film study and you're watching high rep and you're watching tendencies down and distance,

personnel on the field. And then there's a moment on film where you hear the angel chorus. Because you see it. You see it. You know, there it is. That's our guy. That's our portal. That is where success lives.

That one player and that one gap is where forward progress lives. And then, Bach, we get to work. I just don't know. I just don't know that we've figured that out yet. And for Nebraska to be successful. not only against Northwestern, but against USC, against whoever it is, that when Nebraska identifies, and text line, I'm open to the idea.

Who's, y'all can tell me, if you know who the best run blocker is, tell me. If you tell me who the best combo blockers together. Now, it could be any offensive lineman and Lyndon Meyer. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't say it was an offensive line. and Heinrich Harvard. Bach, is that fair? That's probably fair. Right?

Okay. All right. We'll plant the flag there. We'll plant the flag there. We'll come back. We're going to simplify this, Bach. I just want to simplify. I want it to work, Bach. I want it to work. We'll be right back. Download our app by searching 93.7 a ticket in your app store.

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