We know something about playing smash mouth football in Nebraksa. We lost our way under Loserhan, but now we’re counting pancake blocks again and we’re toughening up the minds and bodies of our offensive line under the guidance of coach Barney Cotton.

According to the Omaha World Herald:

“We just want to be the most powerful we possibly can be,” offensive tackle Mike Smith said. “Even though it looks sometimes with the zone reads that it’s kind of like finesse, you still need to come off the ball and you need to get removal off the line of scrimmage. And that’s really what (offensive line coach Barney Cotton) preaches.”

“We just want to be like the old (Husker) teams, teams like ‘95, and how they came off the ball,” Smith said. “I think deep down every offensive lineman wants that kind of style of running.”

Yes, and it’s exactly that “style of running” that dominant teams are made of.

Cotton was all-state selection as a senior at Omaha Burke High School, and he played for Nebraska from 1975 to 1978, earning second team All Big Eight honors as a senior. It sure is nice to have someone who knows the value of coming off the ball strong leading our young men into battle.