No need to overreact.
I like looking at stats, but you should know as well as I do that the overall stats don't tell the whole story. It is fair to evaluate a defensive performance differently given how and when they allowed the stats they allowed. A defense which surrenders 500 yards, 245 of which came in one quarter should be evaluated differently than a defense that allowed 500 yards of which 125 yards of it came in each quarter.
So, I took a look at the drives against our defense by Wyoming, Southern Miss, UCLA, and South Dakota State as well as the overall yards and points allowed. Big Plays are runs that went for 10 or more yards and passes that went for 15 or more yards.
Wyoming
1st Quarter:
133 yards (22.1%), 7 points (20.6%), 21 plays = 6.33 yards per play (-1.8) | Big Plays = 2 (9.5%), 50 yards (37.6%) | Adjusted = 19 plays, 83 yards = 4.37 YPP
2nd Quarter:
152 yards (25.2%), 7 points (20.6%), 20 plays = 7.6 yards per play (-0.53) | Big Plays = 5 (25%), 106 yards (69.7%) | Adjusted = 15 plays, 46 yards = 3.07 YPP
3rd Quarter:
128 yards (21.2%), 7 points (20.6%), 15 plays = 8.53 yards per play (+0.40) | Big Plays = 2 (13.3%), 32 yards (25%) | Adjusted = 13 plays, 96 yards = 7.38 YPP
4th Quarter:
190 yards (31.5%), 13 points (38.2%), 18 plays = 10.55 yards per play (+2.42) | Big Plays = 7 (38.9%), 165 yards (86.8%) | Adjusted = 11 plays, 25 yards = 2.27 YPP
Total: 602 yards, 34 points, 74 plays = 8.13 yards per play | Big Plays = 16 (21.6%), 353 yards (58.6%) | Adjusted = 58 plays, 249 yards = 4.29 YPP
Southern Mississippi:
1st Quarter:
134 yards (47.2%), 3 points (23.1%), 25 plays = 5.36 yards per play (+0.92) | Big Plays = 3 (12%), 68 yards (50.7%) | Adjusted = 22 plays, 66 yards = 3.00 YPP
2nd Quarter:
20 yards (7%), 3 points (23.1%), 12 plays = 1.67 yards per play (-2.77) | Big Plays = 1 (8.3%), 18 yards (90%) | Adjusted = 11 plays, 2 yards = 0.18 YPP
3rd Quarter:
54 yards (19%), 7 points (53.8%), 11 plays = 4.91 yards per play (+0.47) | Big Plays = 1 (9.09%), 15 yards (27.8%) | Adjusted = 10 plays, 39 yards = 3.9 YPP
4th Quarter:
73 yards (25.7%), 0 points (0%) = 16 plays = 4.56 yards per play (+0.12) | Big Plays = 2 (12.5%), 34 yards (46.6%) | Adjusted = 14 plays, 39 yards = 2.78 YPP
Total: 284 yards, 13 points, 64 plays = 4.44 yards per play | Big Plays = 7 (10.9%), 135 yards (47.5%) | Adjusted = 57 plays, 149 yards = 2.61 YPP
UCLA:
1st Quarter:
99 yards (19.6%), 3 points (7.3%), 20 plays = 4.95 yards per play (-1.35) | Big Plays = 2 (10%), 72 yards (72.7%) | Adjusted = 18 plays, 27 yards = 1.50 YPP
2nd Quarter:
107 yards (21.2%), 7 points (17.1%), 20 plays = 5.35 yards per play (-0.95) | Big Plays = 4 (20%), 78 yards (72.9%) | Adjusted = 16 plays, 29 yards = 1.81 YPP
3rd Quarter:
243 yards (48.2%), 28 points (68.3%), 22 plays = 11.04 yards per play (+4.74) | Big Plays = 7 (31.8%), 164 yards (67.5%) | Adjusted = 15 plays, 79 yards = 5.27 YPP
4th Quarter:
93 yards (18.4%), 3 points (7.3%), 18 plays = 5.17 yards per play (-1.13) | Big Plays = 1 (5.55%), 18 yards (19.3%) | Adjusted = 17 plays, 75 yards = 4.41 YPP
Total: 504 yards, 41 points, 80 plays = 6.3 yards per play | Big Plays = 14 (17.5%), 332 yards (65.9%) | Adjusted = 66 plays, 172 yards = 2.61 YPP
South Dakota State:
1st Quarter:
170 yards (36.5%), 17 points (85%), 20 plays = 8.5 yards per play (+1.86) | Big Plays = 7 (35%), 162 yards (95.3%) | Adjusted = 13 plays, 8 yards = 0.61 YPP
2nd Quarter:
103 yards (22.1%), 0 points (0%), 16 plays = 6.44 yards per play (-0.20) | Big Plays = 3 (18.7%), 49 yards (47.6%) | Adjusted = 13 plays, 54 yards = 4.15 YPP
3rd Quarter:
158 yards (34%), 3 points (15%), 26 plays = 6.08 yards per play (-0.56) | Big Plays = 4 (15.4%), 62 yards (39.2%) | Adjusted = 22 plays, 96 yards = 4.36 YPP
4th Quarter:
42 yards (9%), 0 points (0%), 8 plays = 5.25 yards per play (-1.39) | Big Plays = 2 (25%), 52 yards (124%) | Adjusted = 6 plays, -10 yards = -1.67 YPP
Total: 465 yards, 20 points, 70 plays = 6.64 yards per play | Big Plays = 16 (22.9%), 325 yards (69.9%) | Adjusted = 54 plays, 140 yards = 2.59 YPP
OVERALL: 1855 yards, 108 points, 288 plays = 6.44 YPP | Big Plays = 53 (18.4%), 1145 yards (61.7%) | Adjusted = 235 plays, 710 yards = 3.02 YPP
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For fun, let's imagine if Nebraska was able to cut back on a quarter of the amount of big plays and yardage. Doing that would put Nebraska at:
OVERALL: 1569 yards, ?? points, 275 plays = 5.70 YPP | Big Plays = 40 (14.5%), 859 yards (54.7%) | Adjusted = 235 plays, 710 yards = 3.02 YPP
That's a little bit of rough math because cutting down on the big plays doesn't mean that those plays just don't happen. So, let's readjust the imagined numbers so that 6 of those plays are passes of 8 yards and the remaining 7 are rushes of 5 yards. That's an additional total of 83 yards, which will make the stat line look like:
OVERALL: 1652 yards, ?? points, 288 plays = 5.74 YPP | Big Plays = 40 (13.9%), 859 yards (52%) | Adjusted = 248 plays, 793 yards = 3.20 YPP
By comparison, that would put us at 78th in YPG allowed instead of the 108th place we currently hold. And that's just by reducing the amount of big plays by 25%, turning those into 5 yard rushes and 8 yard passes. What if we reduced the amount of big plays by 50 and 75%, respectively?
50%:
OVERALL: 1451 yards, ?? points, 288 plays = 5.04 YPP | Big Plays = 27 (9.37%), 572 yards (39.4%) | Adjusted = 261 plays, 879 yards = 3.37 YPP
Nebraska would jump to 45th in YPG allowed.
75%::
OVERALL: 1248 yards, ?? points, 288 plays = 4.33 YPP | Big Plays = 14 (4.86%), 286 yards (22.9%) | Adjusted = 274 plays, 962 yards = 3.51 YPP
Nebraska would jump to 28th in YPG allowed.
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With just a serviceable defense (cutting down the big plays by 25-50%), Nebraska's offense should have all the room it would need to breathe easy and we wouldn't continually suffer the embarrassing blowouts on the national stage. This has to be Pelini and his coaching staff's PRIMARY concern. How they go about it is up to them.