Nebraska vs Northwestern: The Condensed Version 10 18 2014

[tom12983]

Thanks for posting again! So I watched one play. The first play from scrimmage for the Huskers, and I instantly had a question of why we were running what we were running. To me it doesn't make sense but I thought it was clear that Abdullah ignored where he was suppose to go, and decided to cut back into the teeth of the defense without using his vision. It doesn't look to me like he even looked at the gap we were trying to attack on the IZR. So I took a few snapshots of the play in progression. Maybe some of you have some answers, but I know that I would have done things differently on this play call.

NUvsNW Play1.1.png

NUvsNW Play1.2.png

NUvsNW Play1.3.png

In this picture below, the defender is still looking in the backfield for the ball but has already started to break toward the line of scrimmage. I honestly question the play design, if Westy cracks on that guy and Abdullah hits the gap that is open (where the play is/was designed to be run) he may STILL be running due to the one on one block my the top receiver. Leaving Abdullah to make a move on the safety.

NUvsNW Play1.4.png

NUvsNW Play1.5.png

NUvsNW Play1.6.png

This is top notch analysis IMO. Bravo!!! This is great for those of us that want to be students of the game, learn more visually about the defensive/offensive minds behind the methods we see on the field and (my personal favorite) identifying who is performing NOW and who is showing positional improvement week-in and week-out.

I would like to continue to trim the film, if we have any one else out there with related technical experience, maybe we could do something semi-organized...it's up to you guys. If this is working well and you don't want to fix something that's not broke, I'll do my best to keep posting the trimmed version and you can do what you will with it. I hope to get faster at trimming it down so I can get it out by Tuesday or by some miracle Monday Night. Everybody is busy though!

Our high school season is over after tomorrow night so I will have more free time to watch film on Nebraska. I'm actually excited. I'll be watching more film today looking for some more things that did well, and things we didn't do so well (head scratchers).

I have actually been working on the first half of this game and I'm almost done. Not saying I know what I'm talking about or good at analysis, but this will be my first attempt at it. It will not be the quality that you provided, however, it has been fun but it takes SOOO much time.

 

[FrankWheeler]

The fake bubble screen is designed to hold the attention of the nickel covering him, it didn't work in this instance but if he would have bit on it and Abdullah would have hit the right hole he would have been one on one with a safety.

 

[GSG]

Ameer lost a nice run at 1:06 because Moore(?) at the top of the screen wasn't on the line. That and following play calls pretty much ended that drive because the next play (1st & 15) was a swing pass to Ameer that was knocked down. 2nd & 15 was option where TA got 7 yards. 3rd & 8 was the same swing pass to Ameer for -4 yards.

Without that illegal formation penalty, we might have had a field goal or even a TD

 

[FrankWheeler]

Ameer lost a nice run at 1:06 because Moore(?) at the top of the screen wasn't on the line. That and following play calls pretty much ended that drive because the next play (1st & 15) was a swing pass to Ameer that was knocked down. 2nd & 15 was option where TA got 7 yards. 3rd & 8 was the same swing pass to Ameer for -4 yards.

Without that illegal formation penalty, we might have had a field goal or even a TD

That was also one of the few times in the game that they lined up in the I formation away from the goal line. Sometimes wonder why they don't go back to that - what happened to the toss sweeps that were often called in years past? Its like that play has been taken out of the playbook and it was pretty successful.

Also noticed that during the long TD drive in the second half they did a lot of faking of the jet sweep to open up the middle more (same concept they used on the lost run you mentioned above).

 

[GSG]

Thanks for posting again! So I watched one play. The first play from scrimmage for the Huskers, and I instantly had a question of why we were running what we were running. To me it doesn't make sense but I thought it was clear that Abdullah ignored where he was suppose to go, and decided to cut back into the teeth of the defense without using his vision. It doesn't look to me like he even looked at the gap we were trying to attack on the IZR. So I took a few snapshots of the play in progression. Maybe some of you have some answers, but I know that I would have done things differently on this play call.

NUvsNW Play1.1.png

NUvsNW Play1.2.png

NUvsNW Play1.3.png

In this picture below, the defender is still looking in the backfield for the ball but has already started to break toward the line of scrimmage. I honestly question the play design, if Westy cracks on that guy and Abdullah hits the gap that is open (where the play is/was designed to be run) he may STILL be running due to the one on one block my the top receiver. Leaving Abdullah to make a move on the safety.

NUvsNW Play1.4.png

NUvsNW Play1.5.png

NUvsNW Play1.6.png

I just noticed we ran this same play later in the first quarter and Ameer again ran away from the hole that opened on the right. I don't that the blocking was as good, but there was still a hole

 

[FrankWheeler]

GSG, I also see a lot of missed holes by Ameer. I'm going to keep re-iterating that the line played much better than was given credit to them during the game thread and some of the threads that popped up immediately after.

 

[Mavric]

Ameer lost a nice run at 1:06 because Moore(?) at the top of the screen wasn't on the line. That and following play calls pretty much ended that drive because the next play (1st & 15) was a swing pass to Ameer that was knocked down. 2nd & 15 was option where TA got 7 yards. 3rd & 8 was the same swing pass to Ameer for -4 yards.

Without that illegal formation penalty, we might have had a field goal or even a TD

Nonsense. I have it on good authority that it's always the coach's fault. Of course, I'm sure they didn't coach them to line up well enough.

 

[tom12983]

GSG, I also see a lot of missed holes by Ameer. I'm going to keep re-iterating that the line played much better than was given credit to them during the game thread and some of the threads that popped up immediately after.

Ameer lost a nice run at 1:06 because Moore(?) at the top of the screen wasn't on the line. That and following play calls pretty much ended that drive because the next play (1st & 15) was a swing pass to Ameer that was knocked down. 2nd & 15 was option where TA got 7 yards. 3rd & 8 was the same swing pass to Ameer for -4 yards.

Without that illegal formation penalty, we might have had a field goal or even a TD

Nonsense. I have it on good authority that it's always the coach's fault. Of course, I'm sure they didn't coach them to line up well enough.

And this is why this process that has involved Coach Power'T and some others here has been such an eye opener!!! I am speaking to the process of taking the game film, trimming it down and analyzing Exactly what is going on, on the field and seperating that from what is going on in my (and maybe yours too) head! Because let's be honest, when you let the game set for a day or two, you see it differently...am I right? And if you're like me, you see it MMMUUUCCCHHHHHH different after a day or two.

I too have been making these snap judgments during games and/or shortly after and for what?!?! What is the logical explanation for being so cynical/critical during the game and shortly after on Social Media and Forums across the Cornhusker Landscape???

Honestly, I gotta say, it's -------> Emotion. When I watch the Huskers play, I get fired up and I have this vision of how good I want my team to be, how good I think they should be NOW, how good I think they will be and a complete blindness to the fact that they are in a (should I dare say it???) process! *Insert Pelini's voice here* "I see some good things out there, some things not so good", but...and I am not exagerrating here, the more I trimmed this game film down, the more I saw the excellent play of the team as a whole. Seriously!

Were there some mistakes made? Yes we are not dumb. Were there some missed tackles? Of course! Was there some EXCELLENT play on both sides of the ball that your naked eye missed during live action? You betch yer eyesight there was! What perhaps impressed me the most, and I've said this somewhere on this thread, is that visualizing the offensive/defensive minds that have drawn up this plays (and not at random) and placed them into a comlete package is astounding!!!

 

[ZRod]

Is that really a read play? They blocked the end man on the line, and doubled to the linebackers. Why would you run a read on the safety who is 6 yards deep and would have enough time to make the correct choice no matter who gets the ball?

Looks like Ameer may have determined his cut back pre-snap since he had numbers to that side, the hole hadn't developed by the time he looked away.

 

[Mavric]

No, it's not. Like you said, we didn't leave anyone unblocked. Thus, it's a zone read look but it's a designed give to AA.

 

[Haspula]

zone read to abdullah

pitch it back to armstrong

Should have tried an option pitch right there, after the zone read to abdullah. Zone read to abdullah, then abdullah pitches it back to armstrong since the defender was locked onto abdullah.

 

[Scratchtown]

No, it's not. Like you said, we didn't leave anyone unblocked. Thus, it's a zone read look but it's a designed give to AA.

Maybe the H back was supposed to climb instead of cave the end inside.

Oregon runs a ton of ZR where they read the defenders at linebacker depth instead of the guy they CAN seal on the edge. Making the next level guy the read.

Zone read isn't always just the d end being read, even though NCAA 2014 would have you believe.

 

[ZRod]

No, it's not. Like you said, we didn't leave anyone unblocked. Thus, it's a zone read look but it's a designed give to AA.

Maybe the H back was supposed to climb instead of cave the end inside.

Oregon runs a ton of ZR where they read the defenders at linebacker depth instead of the guy they CAN seal on the edge. Making the next level guy the read.

Zone read isn't always just the d end being read, even though NCAA 2014 would have you believe.

We realize that, but they also blocked every linebacker. While the DB is cheated up, he's still deeper than the LBs. Unless Cotton had a massive brain fart he was supposed to block the end (let the family jokes ensure), he goes to engage him immediately and that's the only guy he looks for at the snap. Sterup's technique is interesting, he uses it again for the quick pass on the ensuing play. Something I've always loved about our scheme is showing similar blocking for both run and pass, I've seen it mostly with pulling linemen in the past.

NCAA 14 has reads off of ends, backer, tackles and DBs.

 

[tom12983]

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[maskershake]

I did it again this week. I would should have uploaded this a day ago, but I was trying to be fancy, so I said forget it and I just uploaded this. It's trimmed down the best I could do. I hope that it helps some of you with your analysis and game study.

You should do these with pop up quotes from the Huskerboard Gamethread. Could be pretty funny!