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Bo's Blowouts - analyzing the worst of the losses


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I can handle the number of blowouts if the number was trending down signifying improvement. Quick question. How many of those blowouts qualify because of situational end of the game turning the ball over in our end being very aggressive on defense trying to force a turnover allowing a pile on score type of thing. #apologiesfortherunonsentence

I think Iowa and MSU last year fall into that category.

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I can handle the number of blowouts if the number was trending down signifying improvement. Quick question. How many of those blowouts qualify because of situational end of the game turning the ball over in our end being very aggressive on defense trying to force a turnover allowing a pile on score type of thing. #apologiesfortherunonsentence

I think Iowa and MSU last year fall into that category.

 

I'd also add Michigan in 2011

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Good work and research knapp, and I pretty much agree with you except for your criteria of a blowout. Anything within two scores is not a blowout, in my eyes, and preferrably we could look at the context of each game since the most honest definition would be one centered around a lack of competitiveness. Looking at quick context through my own perspective, that list would look kind of like this:

 

Year - Opponent

2008 - Missouri - Blowout

2008 - Oklahoma - Blowout

2009 - Texas Tech - Blowout

2010 - Washington - Weren't going to win this one, but a repeat opponent and lack of motivation still resulted in a 12 point loss.

2011 - Wisconsin * - Blowout

2011 - Michigan - Blowout

2011 - South Carolina - Were on the verge of blowing this game open the opposite direction before a Hail Mary and a fumble on the one inch line.

2012 - Ohio State - Only down one score over halfway through the third quarter.

2012 - Wisconsin * - Travesty.

2012 - Georgia - Gave them all they could handle for 3.5 quarters and got beat by 5 NFL throws by Aaron Murray.

2013 - UCLA - Showed that we had the ability to take them to town, and then ?????

2013 - Minnesota - Were down 4 points until a garbage touchdown in the final minute.

2013 - Michigan State - Hung with them for three quarters despite 5 turnovers.

2013 - Iowa - Meh.

 

 

Maybe that's a positive slant, maybe not, but I think context is important. Even if we ignore context, though, I think a +17 point margin of victory is the absolute minimum in terms of being able to say a team blew another team out. WHich would make the list look like this:

 

 

 

The 13 teams that have beaten us by 10+ in the Pelini Era

Year - Opponent

2008 - Missouri

2008 - Oklahoma

2009 - Texas Tech

2010 - Washington

2011 - Wisconsin *

2011 - Michigan

2011 - South Carolina

2012 - Ohio State

2012 - Wisconsin *

2012 - Georgia

2013 - UCLA

2013 - Minnesota

2013 - Michigan State

2013 - Iowa

 

 

 

Not that any of that means anything. Just a different defining criteria.

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I do think there is a hangover effect after turnovers it seems.
You might be onto something sir...I feel turnovers on offense can really affect a team as a whole. However, it's up to the team to be mentally ready and resilient to turnover problems. I'd like to crunch some #'s sometime and find out a percentage of team's losses if they lose the turnover battle.
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I do think there is a hangover effect after turnovers it seems.
You might be onto something sir...I feel turnovers on offense can really affect a team as a whole. However, it's up to the team to be mentally ready and resilient to turnover problems. I'd like to crunch some #'s sometime and find out a percentage of team's losses if they lose the turnover battle.

 

Get Bye Bye Big XII on it.

 

What you will find, though, is that Nebraska is an insane statistical anomaly in that regard. If you showed someone our turnover margin numbers as a blind resume, they would be stunned that we have won as many games as we have.

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To piggy back onto where Landlord was headed, I too thought double digits didn't necessarily describe a blowout condition. It seems like 14 or 17 points is probably a better way to define blowout. So, I looked at the individual games and found 5 at 17 points or better. Sorry, but once you go past 17 points it matters little if you were in the game for 2 or 3 quarters or not, you still got your ass handed to you by the time it was over and that is a blowout folks.

 

2010 Washington bowl game 7-19 (12 pts) meh, who cares. We didn't care about that matchup as fans and it was no surprise that the team couldn't get up for it either.

 

2011 S. Carolina bowl game 13-30 (17 pts) I wouldn't classify this a blowout. That was a good team that we hung with longer than we should've.

 

2012 Georgia bowl game 31-45 (14 pts) I wouldn't call this one a blowout either. Hung in there better than I expected.

 

2013 Minnesota 23-34 (11 pts) I would call this a blowout, an embarrassment, and a huge failure on the part of the coaching staff. Plain and simple we got pushed around and out coached. I still don't know what the hell our Offense was trying to do with TM in there. Gut wrenching stupidity this one.

 

2013 Michigan State 28-41 (13 pts) I don't know about blowout but this is a game we could've and should've won. As disgusting as all those turnovers were, we were always within striking distance if we could've just forced a turnover or prevented 1 or 2 of our own. Sickening loss describes this better than blowout.

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I'd agree that 10 points is a bit kind. I'd put it at 3 scores (17 points), but there games that weren't nearly as close as the score indicated. Michigan State last year, for example. We could've beaten those guys, they weren't that much better than us. But thanks to our turnovers, the score was 41-21 until a garbage time touchdown with 10 seconds to go. Or say, a 16th ranked Nebraska team yielding 653 yards to NR UCLA (which would finish the season 9-5 and unranked); that game wasn't quite as close as it seems, either. Or in 2011, Nebraska clinches the game vs Fresno State with 2 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, and yields 444 yards. Or 465 to South Dakota State, 2013. Or 602 to Wyoming in a handy win-turned-last-minute-scare.

 

There's no easy, objectively pure way to condense the experience of several seasons into a few statistics, but we've all watched the games, and knapplc does as a good a job as possible with this breakdown, IMO. You look at the talent and think, that's easy, our defense is going to be way better this year. But then given the track record, you have to ask, "...but will it really?"

 

who cares. We didn't care about that matchup as fans and it was no surprise that the team couldn't get up for it either.

 

'10 bowl: that was a stunning poop laid on the field. If 'the players and staff just couldn't get up for the boring rematch' is really what happened, that's a huge indictment on the staff. '11 bowl, '12 bowl: I'd say they were blowouts. Like many other games in recent years, they were talented teams we proved we could hang with and even beat. But games are 60 minutes long, and we ended up getting worked over. 589 yards by Georgia.

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Well, a bunch of ugly numbers arent something any BoLiever wants to see. It's sobering to see the stats provided in the op. Even though I agree with Landlord about what classifies as a blowout, the numbers still arent pretty. Lets face it, we aren't exactly worrysome to anybodies national title aspirations and havent been since 2001.

 

With all that said I would like to respond to knapps question: "if it hasnt been fixed by now, why would it this year?"

 

Well quite frankly it has to. This is a year Bo cant afford to field a vanilla defense and a leaky offense. If he does, he is in trouble. We need a league title like theres no freaking tomorrow. That of course doesnt just grant us the rights to one though. So again why would this year be any different? We all watched the bowl game. The win meant more to some of us than it did to others and thats okay. But couple that with the strong strides in recruiting recently and its fair to say momentum is building.

 

Not enough? Like Bo or not its pretty clear we were young and banged up last year. We didnt want a rebuilding year but thats what we got. If you dont feel the rebuild will be successful then by all means pass on the koolaid. Me, I love what I saw from the team moving into 2014. Im getting my big gulp washed to fill it tilo the brim with some of that sweet stuff. I think the corner was turned and not many people noticed. Ill keep the nasty stats at a safe distance and remember that above all I support the team. Bo is coach and I support him. Go big red.

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