Hail Varsity: Nebraska's Defense Will be Fine

Saunders

Saunders

Heisman Trophy Winner
Look, 497 yards of offense is a lot. It feels even larger than the actual number after an offseason of hearing nothing but good things about defensive coordinator Bob Diaco’s new Nebraska defense.

The state might wake up Sunday morning and feel hoodwinked. Mark Banker’s bad defense – the 2015 one – only gave up 400 yards per game, and his decent one allowed about 364.  Wasn’t enough for him to keep his job.

So what should Husker fans do with 497?

Forget it. Here’s why.

https://hailvarsity.com/s/2054/nebraskas-defense-will-be-fine
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I actually agree with this.  I'm literally seeing nothing about the savage blocking the ASU receivers did.

i do think the defense looked a little deer in headlights, but I think this performance was more about match ups and experience.  

The ASU group executed their offense very well while Nebraska struggled.  I think this combination made it look real bad.

 
There's also no mention of the penalties that kept ASU's offense on the field (including the bogus Roughing penalty). 

Honestly, HV is gonna do what they can to calm fears, to an extent, this early in the season. Personally, I'm not convinced until we can take this defense to Oregon and not get boatraced right out of their stadium.

There's a week to get things fixed--like last night's second half, let's see what adjustments are made before we gnash teeth.

 
Next week will be a good litmus test for how fine it is.

If Banker can hold Oregon to 32, Diaco should be able to keep them under 24 or so.

Probably played vanilla and such.

 
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Last night I was pissed and shocked at how it all went, but this morning, I feel like they sat back and took it (for lack of a better way to say it). Stayed pretty vanilla and did just enough to win. 

There were moments where you could see the difference in coaching....when Diaco dialed up pressure it seemed to work pretty well. The dline had some good things and I am pretty excited about Thomas...he seemed explosive and was able to get some pressure.

Oregon will definitely prove the theory of staying vanilla or having some glaring issues. I trust the coaches and really hope they play better!

 
They were 9 yards from tieing.  I worried and am.  The "bubble screens" didn't hurt us got them 36 points, 497 yards and almost won.  They threw the ball at will with only penalties and their own drops hurting them.  We got absolutely no pressure against their front.  They replaced their entire front OL this year. They averaged 219 yards per games last year.  Hanson completed 57% of passes last year. Last night over 67%.....

Don't worry?  My a$$.

 
lo country said:
They were 9 yards from tieing.  I worried and am.  The "bubble screens" didn't hurt us got them 36 points, 497 yards and almost won.  They threw the ball at will with only penalties and their own drops hurting them.  We got absolutely no pressure against their front.  They replaced their entire front OL this year. They averaged 219 yards per games last year.  Hanson completed 57% of passes last year. Last night over 67%.....

Don't worry?  My a$$.
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This this this ! their offense virtually moved the ball  at will!  damn people pull your heads out of yo as$$$s

 
Here's the reason HV is saying this wasn't as bad as it looked:

Arkansas State ran 89 plays, yet Nebraska held a 4-minute edge in time of possession. Those 89 plays gained an average of 5.6 yards. The average FBS offense gained 5.8 yards per play in 2016. The average through the first 44 games of 2017? Also 5.8. This is the new normal.
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Basically, ASU ran a TON of plays with that uptempo offense, so comparing the total yards isn't a good measuring stick. If you look at the yards per play (ypp), then you'll see our defense looked average to slightly above average. Diaco's defense is bend but don't break, so we should expect to get red zone stops; towards the end of that article:

Nebraska gave up an average number of yards on a per-play basis. It made Arkansas State drive the ball to find the end zone. The average Red Wolves’ touchdown drive took more than 10 plays. The Blackshirts came up with two red-zone stops on five trips, and held Arkansas State to a field goal once, nearly as good as a stop. (Meanwhile Nebraska’s offense went 4-for-4 in the red zone with three touchdowns.) The Huskers managed five quarterback hurries and a sack. Arkansas State’s vaunted pass rush had two and one. The 36 points allowed? Nine of them don’t go on the defense’s tab.
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Their QB was sitting back in the pocket  cool as a cucumber. No pressure at all. 

 
Fru said:
Their QB was sitting back in the pocket  cool as a cucumber. No pressure at all. 
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I thought we were getting some push, but that their passing game was so quick no amount of pressure would have mattered. I'd be interested to know how often they threw quick passes as opposed to how often the QB actually held the ball.

 
You don't pressure this offense.  We tried a couple times but you lose a player in the screens game.  Gotta beat blocks and make plays which we didn't do.   Panic... No.  Concerned.... yes

 
The Dude said:
Next week will be a good litmus test for how fine it is.

If Banker can hold Oregon to 32, Diaco should be able to keep them under 24 or so.

Probably played vanilla and such.
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I don't think last year is a good comparison. That was a quite poor Oregon team last year. They were likely to bounce back this year, at least to some degree. While we don't know by how much, early expectations were much higher. 77 points and 9 rushing TDs is formidable, even against low tier opposition.

Thats what is scary. For all the hassle Arky St gave us, they really played very poorly on offense. Their execution was, at best, mediocre and their play structure abysmal. Passionate Arky St fans should be livid at losing this game because, offensively, they didn't package plays together to take advantage of that screen game. That's what Oregon does well. All of those times we have 5 in the box, where Arky St couldn't take advantage of us, Oregon will. They put so much pressure on that OLB that gets flexed and we were appalling last night at that position. You can find good and bad at times in the coverage and defensive line, but that's one spot that was consistently very poor.

Frankly, unless this is somehow a really low possession game or they go apesh#t with turnovers , I feel good holding them under 40. 

 
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