Throttling Down in the 3rd Quarter

knapplc

knapplc

International Man of Mystery
Two games, two weak performances by the offense in the third quarter. Matt Farniok talked about it at today's presser:


Frost talked about this in his presser today:


Yes, it's a small sample size, and yes, there were extenuating circumstances for the USA third quarter, but through two games, Nebraska has a developing trend of lack of production on offense in the third quarter.

Here are the stats by quarter through two games:

FIRST QUARTER

Offensive Points:  14

Yards:  249

Plays:  29

Yards Per Play:  8.6

Possessions:  6

Time of Possession:  12:04

SECOND QUARTER

Offensive Points:  17

Yards:  228

Plays:  47

Yards Per Play:  6.8

Possessions:  5

Time of Possession:  19:12

THIRD QUARTER

Offensive Points:  0

Yards:  76

Plays:  27

Yards Per Play:  2.1

Possessions:  6

Time of Possession:  11:15

FOURTH QUARTER

Offensive Points:  14

Yards:  183

Plays:  27

Yards Per Play:  6.8

Possessions:  8

Time of Possession:  11:57

To some, this will mean the opponents are making halftime adjustments and our staff isn't. This isn't true - we've come out with new packages, new blitzes, and new plays after halftime both games.

To me, it boils down to the players' mentality. They let up, as Farniok's quote admits, and start coasting.

We were up 17 points on Colorado at halftime. They had 74 total yards and 0 points. We were up 21-7 against S Alabama early in the third quarter.

Both times the team let off the throttle.

 
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I kind of think that one has to back up the claim of "throttling down" by pointing out what specifically we did differently to actually throttle it down.

To me, "throttling down" usually entails just going with your most vanilla inside handoffs on 1st & 2nd down when you're up by 17 points. But that's not at all what we did. We actually didn't try to run and go with high percentage plays enough. 

 
knapplc said:
Two games, two weak performances by the offense in the third quarter. Matt Farniok talked about it at today's presser:


Frost talked about this in his presser today:


Yes, it's a small sample size, and yes, there were extenuating circumstances for the USA third quarter, but through two games, Nebraska has a developing trend of lack of production on offense in the third quarter.

Here are the stats by quarter through two games:

FIRST QUARTER

Offensive Points:  14

Yards:  249

Plays:  29

Yards Per Play:  11.8

Possessions:  6

Time of Possession:  12:04

SECOND QUARTER

Offensive Points:  17

Yards:  228

Plays:  47

Yards Per Play:  6.8

Possessions:  5

Time of Possession:  19:12

THIRD QUARTER

Offensive Points:  0

Yards:  76

Plays:  27

Yards Per Play:  2.1

Possessions:  6

Time of Possession:  11:15

FOURTH QUARTER

Offensive Points:  14

Yards:  183

Plays:  27

Yards Per Play:  6.8

Possessions:  8

Time of Possession:  11:57

To some, this will mean the opponents are making halftime adjustments and our staff isn't. This isn't true - we've come out with new packages, new blitzes, and new plays after halftime both games.

To me, it boils down to the players' mentality. They let up, as Farniok's quote admits, and start coasting.

We were up 17 points on Colorado at halftime. They had 74 total yards and 0 points. We were up 21-7 against S Alabama early in the third quarter.

Both times the team let off the throttle.
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Amazing how this mentality is still an issue.

This team hasn't earned a f#&%ing thing. Colorado was never just going to roll over for them. Going 4-8 in back to back seasons and then taking your foot off the gas after a 17 point lead is how you go 4-8 again. 

 
The Maudfather said:
Amazing how this mentality is still an issue.

This team hasn't earned a f#&%ing thing. Colorado was never just going to roll over for them. Going 4-8 in back to back seasons and then taking your foot off the gas after a 17 point lead is how you go 4-8 again. 
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I think the killer instinct is one of the hardest things to develop in a team, and we definitely don't have it yet. Even when we were winning last year we didn't, we let teams like Illinois and Minnesota have a little life before finally slamming the door.

 
The Maudfather said:
Amazing how this mentality is still an issue.

This team hasn't earned a f#&%ing thing. Colorado was never just going to roll over for them. Going 4-8 in back to back seasons and then taking your foot off the gas after a 17 point lead is how you go 4-8 again. 
Click to expand...


They are drunk on thinking "We are Nebraska," and the Nebraska they think they are, that they are told they are, that all the wall art in all the athletic facilities tells them they are, is the 1980s & 1990s teams that won conference & national championships.

They have GOT to stop thinking that way. None of this will get better until they do.

Undone said:
I kind of think that one has to back up the claim of "throttling down" by pointing out what specifically we did differently to actually throttle it down.

To me, "throttling down" usually entails just going with your most vanilla inside handoffs on 1st & 2nd down when you're up by 17 points. But that's not at all what we did. We actually didn't try to run and go with high percentage plays enough.  
Click to expand...


This is to imply that it's a play-calling issue, when clearly, to me, it's an effort issue. They're getting beat on routes, getting beat on the line, getting chased down while running the ball.

The team's mentality switches to "we've got this" instead of "we have to keep going 30 more minutes."

 
I can tell you that if Nebraska scored in the 3rd to make it 24-0. The rout is on. I was in the section near the students and they were all in agreement that if Nebraska scored they were heading out. Some did at half. What an absolute meltdown. I wasn't in love with the play calling in the 3rd. Our defense let up big plays. Such a failed game with Nebraska's fans taking over Boulder. 

 
knapplc said:
This is to imply that it's a play-calling issue, when clearly, to me, it's an effort issue. They're getting beat on routes, getting beat on the line, getting chased down while running the ball.
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I personally am in fact going with it being a play-calling issue because of the two specific series on two specific possessions in the 3rd quarter that I've pointed out in other threads where we've got 2nd & 5 and then we're asking Martinez to stand in the pocket in a five wide set instead of going high percentage with an inside run or a quick screen.

That to me is the coaches actually going too far in the direction of putting the petal to the floor instead of looking for high percentage plays to move the sticks and I was out-of-my-mind pissed about it on Saturday.

 
knapplc said:
They are drunk on thinking "We are Nebraska," and the Nebraska they think they are, that they are told they are, that all the wall art in all the athletic facilities tells them they are, is the 1980s & 1990s teams that won conference & national championships.

They have GOT to stop thinking that way. None of this will get better until they do.
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I agree with this comment and that makes me sick to my stomach. 

 
I noticed a couple concering lines postgame:

1. Frost thinking that going up 24-0 wouldve emptied the stands and started the blowout.

2. Barry thinking they had it in the bag at half. That they thought they were going to win.

I don't like that today Frost doubled down on the idea that they needed just one more score. It's like they are trying to pick the right time to be able to stop trying hard. Just keep playing. If the other team quits, go harder. That's the fun time. There should never be any 'oh we're up by enough we can screw around' fun time. That's not how you win.

 
Also to the oddness of the 3Q in the USA game, the best drive of the 2nd half was the first drive of the 3Q. So we may have been off rhythm due to the picks/punt return, but that drive was by far the best drive we had in the 2nd half.

 
Undone said:
I personally am in fact going with it being a play-calling issue because of the two specific series on two specific possessions in the 3rd quarter that I've pointed out in other threads where we've got 2nd & 5 and then we're asking Martinez to stand in the pocket in a five wide set instead of going high percentage with an inside run or a quick screen.

That to me is the coaches actually going too far in the direction of putting the petal to the floor instead of looking for high percentage plays to move the sticks and I was out-of-my-mind pissed about it on Saturday.
Click to expand...


I am not of the opinion that this offense would be better if it ran more conservative plays with a lead.

 
The offense had a tendency to disappear for an entire quarter each game last year as well. I can't remember how often it was specifically in the 3rd quarter, but it sure seemed to be a consistent issue that even when the offense would look sharp for most of the game, there would be noticeable lulls.  

An entire offseason to solve the missing quarter dilemma, and now we've only seen two out of eight quarters all season to be happy about.

 
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