Hail Varsity: Nebraska's Defense Will be Fine

marko polo said:
This this this ! their offense virtually moved the ball  at will!  damn people pull your heads out of yo as$$$s
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I certainly think there are some thing to be worried about. The lack of pressure defensively was disappointing. I can understand not wanting to give up the big play, but ASU virtually owned NU on the perimeter passing game and there wasn't much the defense could do to curb it. Allowing all the first downs put ASU in great scoring positions.

However, I do think there's a balance here. I think NU isn't where they want to be defensively and that showed, but I also think ASU has the players/talent to run the type of offense they ran and run it well. Time will tell throughout the season. If they tear through the Sun Belt and put up some gawdy numbers, it'll make this defensive performance a little easier to swallow.

 
Arkansas State improved off last year's numbers like any team should do. 

It's really hard to get pressure when the QB gets the ball out in 2, 3 seconds. Believe it or not, even Alabama wouldn't be able to pressure a QB releasing the ball that quickly. 

We could've stopped the bubble plays a lot better, but then we might've given up bigger plays. 

I'll give the scheme a pass on last night. 9 points shouldn't be credited to them and it was a lot of significant playing time for 3 corners.

Let's see what improvement happens between last night and next week.

 
brophog said:
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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I expect Oregon to be better.  I expect our defense to be a hell of a lot better too, though.

That was literally the whole entire reason for firing Banker and making Diaco the highest paid assistant coach in Nebraska football history.

 
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RedDenver said:
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.
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There was some, but he looked far too comfortable for too long. 

 
brophog said:
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.
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True. Oregon is also playing at home this year instead of on the road. Plus, their sophomore QB now is way better than the transfer QB that played in Lincoln last year. 

 
Did anyone notice if Avery Roberts got out on the field? The only two LB on the 2-deep I didn't see last night was Sedrick King and Roberts.

 
Fru said:
Their QB was sitting back in the pocket  cool as a cucumber. No pressure at all. 
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Of course, they had 5 blocking 3 all night.  In a 3-4,  the linemen take up space while the linebackers make plays.  We dropped our linebackers into coverage all night.  Combine that with no zone blitzing at all, and of course he was cool as a cucumber.  Damnest thing I've ever seen.  

 
southernoregonhusker said:
Buuuuuuut, they're playing with a new coaching staff.  
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That's also true. A coaching staff that frequently struggles in its first year. Willie Taggart went 2-10 in his first season as the head coach at both Western Kentucky and South Florida. It seems to be the whole take one step back to take three steps forward idea.

Either way, I expect next week to be a high-scoring affair. 

 
That HV article is some fancy rose-colored cheerleading. I don't recall their quarterback being compared to Joe Montana and he looked like crap under pressure the few times he got it. Play of the game goes to the sack by his own lineman.

Better tighten up the coverage and get somebody in the QB's face.

 
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