Building an offense
Earlier this week, I bumped into Wyoming athletics director Tom Burman (figuratively) while going to Cowgirl basketball coach Joe Legerski’s weekly media teleconference. I congratulated Burman on his choice for head football coach (Dave Christensen) and told him everyone seems excited about it.
“Now we just have to win,” Burman said.
After thinking about things, he is exactly right. As much as it appears that Christensen is a very popular choice, his tenure and popularity at Wyoming will come down to one thing: Winning.
Like it or not, in this day and age of collegiate athletics, that is what it is all about. Ask Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame. He’s skating on thin ice these days because the Irish aren’t making a lot of progress.
It’s no secret that one of the top priorities for Burman in bringing in Christensen is his offensive mind. Burman was asked earlier this week if a more potent and innovative offense will help bringing in more fans.
His response was that if the Cowboys won 13-10 each week, the fans would still come. That is true, but chances are, winning 34-20 will bring a little extra level of excitement to the program.
For those who remember the Paul Roach and Joe Tiller days, the offenses were exciting and at times hard to stop. Win or lose in those days, Cowboy fans liked seeing points put on the scoreboard. It at least gave you a feeling that if the team fell behind, it had a chance to catch up. When you can’t score, those chances are almost nonexistent.
It will be interesting to see what Christensen brings to the table offensively, as well as who he brings in his initial campaign. Like they say, “Rome wasn’t built overnight,” and neither will be the new Cowboy offense.
“I think first of all, you have to look at the personnel that you have,” Christensen said earlier in the week in a teleconference. “We’re going to run the scheme that we run at Missouri. We’re going to be a fast tempo, no huddle, spread offense.”
Probably the biggest question mark coming into next season will be who, meaning the quarterback, will run the new Wyoming offense. You can add redshirt freshman quarterback Adam Berry into the mix with sophomore Chris Stutzriem, junior Dax Crum and senior Karsten Sween. Now, with that being said, there’s a chance that one, two or all three of quarterbacks will not be the team once spring drills begin. Or, they can all be in the nix. That remains to be seen. Christensen said he doesn’t always like going the junior college route, but early on his tenure, that could be an option as well.
Christensen was asked if his quarterback at Wyoming had to be athletic to run his offense. Speaking of his past experiences at Missouri, he basically said yes and no.
“In my first years, we had a quarterback named Brad Smith, who was a tremendous athletic, a tremendous runner,” he said. “We utilized him for more running of the football and not throwing it quite as much as we do now. Chase Daniel (current QB) is an unbelievable passer, and a year ago was a Heisman Trophy candidate. We now rely more on a passing game. What we will do is lean on the strengths of our personnel and will have the scheme based upon personnel strength.”
Regardless, there’s no reason to not get excited about the possibilities. With the way things have gone the last two years offensively, you have to think that it can only get better.
“Now we just have to win,” Burman said.
After thinking about things, he is exactly right. As much as it appears that Christensen is a very popular choice, his tenure and popularity at Wyoming will come down to one thing: Winning.
Like it or not, in this day and age of collegiate athletics, that is what it is all about. Ask Charlie Weiss at Notre Dame. He’s skating on thin ice these days because the Irish aren’t making a lot of progress.
It’s no secret that one of the top priorities for Burman in bringing in Christensen is his offensive mind. Burman was asked earlier this week if a more potent and innovative offense will help bringing in more fans.
His response was that if the Cowboys won 13-10 each week, the fans would still come. That is true, but chances are, winning 34-20 will bring a little extra level of excitement to the program.
For those who remember the Paul Roach and Joe Tiller days, the offenses were exciting and at times hard to stop. Win or lose in those days, Cowboy fans liked seeing points put on the scoreboard. It at least gave you a feeling that if the team fell behind, it had a chance to catch up. When you can’t score, those chances are almost nonexistent.
It will be interesting to see what Christensen brings to the table offensively, as well as who he brings in his initial campaign. Like they say, “Rome wasn’t built overnight,” and neither will be the new Cowboy offense.
“I think first of all, you have to look at the personnel that you have,” Christensen said earlier in the week in a teleconference. “We’re going to run the scheme that we run at Missouri. We’re going to be a fast tempo, no huddle, spread offense.”
Probably the biggest question mark coming into next season will be who, meaning the quarterback, will run the new Wyoming offense. You can add redshirt freshman quarterback Adam Berry into the mix with sophomore Chris Stutzriem, junior Dax Crum and senior Karsten Sween. Now, with that being said, there’s a chance that one, two or all three of quarterbacks will not be the team once spring drills begin. Or, they can all be in the nix. That remains to be seen. Christensen said he doesn’t always like going the junior college route, but early on his tenure, that could be an option as well.
Christensen was asked if his quarterback at Wyoming had to be athletic to run his offense. Speaking of his past experiences at Missouri, he basically said yes and no.
“In my first years, we had a quarterback named Brad Smith, who was a tremendous athletic, a tremendous runner,” he said. “We utilized him for more running of the football and not throwing it quite as much as we do now. Chase Daniel (current QB) is an unbelievable passer, and a year ago was a Heisman Trophy candidate. We now rely more on a passing game. What we will do is lean on the strengths of our personnel and will have the scheme based upon personnel strength.”
Regardless, there’s no reason to not get excited about the possibilities. With the way things have gone the last two years offensively, you have to think that it can only get better.
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