What did we learn? NIU Edition

[Mavric]

[No message]

 

[thexyz]

NIU isn't particularly good. Especially offensively. Haarberg demonstrated what he could do though it wasn't a strong test. We won pretty soundly which was a welcome change. There were throws that will result in a much different against stronger competition. Still, it was a good showing. Perhaps it will be a catalyst for Sims improving. We likely haven't seen the best of either quarterback. I'd like to see what Chubba Purdy can do as well. Coach White has been doing a mighty fine job installing his defense and developing his unit. 

 

[I am I]

21 runs by the QB isn’t sustainable. But it was effective tonight. Little by little I think he could grow into the position. He’s been patient and waiting  for 2+ yrs. Glad to see him take advantage of that. 
 

from now on this season we should beat the teams we “should” best and be competitive against the others. 
 

our defense is very salty and physical. Our offense is physical too, at least at the point of attack. We lack downfield threat but at least we bombed it down the field a couple times to test.  

 

[BigRedBuster]

Honestly, this game is hard to form any kind of opinon on.  Glad we did win and win convincingly.  I do have a question:  Can our base defense contain anyone, or do we have to blitz or apply pressure to get things done?  What I mean is it seems as if we have to bring some heat to make things happen.  That concerns me to a point.  We now have game film on us and our defense.  Will stronger opposing teams have all they need to scheme against us knowing our defense is a one trick pony.  As long as our D can make the pressure work, its no big deal.  We will find out against Michigan.

Ummm….that’s the way I understand this defense works. And….it seems to be working so far. 

 

[RedDenver]

NIU isn't particularly good. Especially offensively. Haarberg demonstrated what he could do though it wasn't a strong test. We won pretty soundly which was a welcome change. There were throws that will result in a much different against stronger competition. Still, it was a good showing. Perhaps it will be a catalyst for Sims improving. We likely haven't seen the best of either quarterback. I'd like to see what Chubba Purdy can do as well. Coach White has been doing a mighty fine job installing his defense and developing his unit. 

Great post.

 

[Hilltop]

But this is the first time in a few years where the weak opponent didn't leave Lincoln with a W or lose in a nail biter.  That credit goes to coaching 

No it isn't.   We comfortably beat Buffalo in 2021 and North Dakota in 2022 and the fan base had almost identical reactions.  I do agree it was a well coached game and am not trying to do anything other than point out that our fan base overreacts to all highs and lows.    

 

[Danimal]

It hasn't quite been 24 hours yet, but there has been plenty of time since the game ended to form some real thoughts about the game.

Was very happy to see the Huskers win

Was very happy for the team to experience a win

Northern Illinois had the least talented, and least athletic offense I have seen since we played Fordham and North Dakota.  

Their QB was awful, and their receivers were terrible.  Their running game was pathetic.  Their scheme was flat and played like Fordham and North Dakota.  

The Blackshirts shut them down pretty much, which is what a good defense does.  So that was great to see.  We all loved that.  The Blackshirts were aggressive and did what they should do to a s#!tty opponent.  And I do mean s#!tty.

The offense made some plays, and I'm sure everyone was happy to clap for those 3-6 yard QB runs.  Haarberg ran hard with the ball.  Played physical.  So did Ervin and Grant.  It was old fashion 2000's style football.  And he made some nice throws too.  

I'm glad when the Huskers can prove they can win these type of games.  You know they can, but you want to see it happen to believe it.  And it wasn't sloppy either, which is a bonus.  One turnover isn't terrible when the offense runs 60-75 plays.  

Overall, I'd say the Huskers did everything pretty well to beat a s#!tty Northern Illinois team.  Will be interesting to see if they can win two in a row.  

Our goal of getting 6 wins and a bowl game is still alive and on the table.  This was a really good dominating win.  Now we can look at our schedule for 5 more wins.  One at a time, but LaTech, NW, Illinois and Purdue look more winnable now then ever.  Just got to take care of business and get it done.  The 6th win would be impressive.

And finally, Matt Rhule must have been eating salty sunflower seeds and pretzels between plays.  WTF was that?  And if you are a coach or AD, talk to him about it.  And remind him that if the team can change, he can change too and stop the tongue thing too.  

A couple of weeks ago I'd have said there's little chance of a bowl coming out of our first four games 2-2. But the BIG West sucks and MSU has gone to hell. Our defense is good enough that if we can do what we did against NIU, field a mediocre O that doesn't turn the rock over, we can win enough to get to six wins. That's a mark we haven't reached in a long time.  Shows progress to the team, NIL-funding fanbase, and recruits/transfers while also giving us extra practice time. 

 

[The Dude]

Considering this time last year we were being beat by teams like Northwestern and freaking Georgia Southern and going life and death with North Dakota,  it's insane people are taking a dominant victory over any team for granted.  Let alone one that upset Boston College.   :dunno  

 

[MyBloodIsRed16]

NIU isn't particularly good. Especially offensively. Haarberg demonstrated what he could do though it wasn't a strong test. We won pretty soundly which was a welcome change. There were throws that will result in a much different against stronger competition. Still, it was a good showing. Perhaps it will be a catalyst for Sims improving. We likely haven't seen the best of either quarterback. I'd like to see what Chubba Purdy can do as well. Coach White has been doing a mighty fine job installing his defense and developing his unit. 

This was my thought as well reading all the comments about how much better HH decision making was than Sims.  I didn't hear a peep about the one he literally threw right to a NIU player.  But that guy dropped it.  The throw across his body to Fidone was not smart and D probably should have picked that one.  He played good but due to the team he was playing against I'm not sure what type of conclusion you can draw.  

 

[Undone]

Honestly, this game is hard to form any kind of opinon on.  Glad we did win and win convincingly.  I do have a question:  Can our base defense contain anyone, or do we have to blitz or apply pressure to get things done?  What I mean is it seems as if we have to bring some heat to make things happen.  That concerns me to a point.  We now have game film on us and our defense.  Will stronger opposing teams have all they need to scheme against us knowing our defense is a one trick pony.  As long as our D can make the pressure work, its no big deal.  We will find out against Michigan.

Those are good concerns. I think the answer is that this is just kind of how it goes with these 3-3-5 schemes that are so popular now.

The scheme got popular probably because of how many teams are running spread offenses with 4 or 5 receivers. One thing that really helps with getting pressure in Tony White's defense is how strong & athletic the "Jack" linebacker is.

In our case, the guys we're rolling out in that position are playing good right now and also have a really high ceiling for where they could be by the time we get into the thick of the winnable B1G games on our schedule.

 

[Red Five]

Good win.  Took care of business, something we haven't done too many times recently.  Now just hope this isn't our "one night game of the season where we destroy the other team" like we saw with NW in 21 and Indiana in 22.

HH played a fine game.  Nothing flashy, but better than what we saw from Sims (albeit probably against worse defenses).  Don't think he is the answer long term, but might have to be for this season.  Although if he keeps playing and running 15+ times/game we will see Sims or Purdy again.

Not sure what else needs to be said about the D.  It was a dominant performance.

I think I am done with seeing Tommi Hill at WR.  And probably CB too if we're being honest (not that he did anything wrong this week, but him letting the CU WR get past him is still on my mind).

 

[Enhance]

I do have a question:  Can our base defense contain anyone, or do we have to blitz or apply pressure to get things done?  What I mean is it seems as if we have to bring some heat to make things happen.  That concerns me to a point.  We now have game film on us and our defense.  Will stronger opposing teams have all they need to scheme against us knowing our defense is a one trick pony.  As long as our D can make the pressure work, its no big deal.  We will find out against Michigan.

I think @Undone just had a really good post on this, but it's my understanding that one of greatest strengths of the 3-3-5 is it allows you to create nearly endless blitz packages, but then also allows you to put 8 into coverage in obvious passing situations out of what is effectively your "base defense." But, it is pretty dependent on those blitz packages creating pressure and confusion. Without it, you get the 3-3-5's weakness, which is the creation of passing lanes and gaps in the defense, potentially allowing for some big chunk plays.

I think Nebraska's defense has done a pretty good job of creating pressure this season and playing pretty decent coverage. This may not be statistically accurate, but it feels like they're doing a better job of controlling the LOS and creating pressure than in some previous seasons.

Urban Meyer had a segment about Nebraska's defense last week on BTN. I think this is the correct clip but can't watch it at the moment to confirm.

 

[presidentjlh]

Yes, it was Northern Illinois. Obviously that is a caveat. But right now, Haarberg should obviously be the starter until his play shows otherwise. Quite simply, he did not produce needless, unforced turnovers at the same rate as Sims. Yes, there was that one throw. I'm not going to say "MY GOSH THIS MAN'S A WORLDBEATER!" But, frankly, with him, we probably get the win over Minnesota because he turns it over at least one less time.

Again, I want to clarify, I am not saying he's the real deal. But, I think it'd be madness to go with Sims right now because Sims has done nothing but show an inability to maintain possession at a level I have never seen.

 

[Mavric]

Honestly, this game is hard to form any kind of opinon on.  Glad we did win and win convincingly.  I do have a question:  Can our base defense contain anyone, or do we have to blitz or apply pressure to get things done?  What I mean is it seems as if we have to bring some heat to make things happen.  That concerns me to a point.  We now have game film on us and our defense.  Will stronger opposing teams have all they need to scheme against us knowing our defense is a one trick pony.  As long as our D can make the pressure work, its no big deal.  We will find out against Michigan.

Some of that is the semantics of what you consider a "blitz".  For the most part, a four-man rush is considered standard and if more than four are rushing it's considered a blitz.  But in a 3-3-5, you would have to be rushing one LB just to have the standard four-man pass rush.  You'd have to be rushing two LBs to really have a "blitz".  But often times people see a linebacker rushing an assume it's a "blitz."  

I think the stats our DL is putting up shows pretty well that they are creating a lot of issues themselves.

 

[Undone]

I've tried to make the case many times though since the Minnesota game that two major interceptions Sims threw probably wouldn't have even been passing plays that would have happened if other players around him hadn't screwed up badly first.

I don't really think I can say that the Minnesota game turns out differently if Haarberg had been the starter. I think we win that game without some really dumb false starts and the fumble by Grant.