NU v. FAU Recap

[Enhance]

Positive win for Husker nation last night. I saw quite a few things I liked, and a few didn't. I narrowed it down to three (from each category) I felt was most important.

Things I liked

1) Zac Lee can play, and Helu can shine. For putting up 152 yards on 16 carries, one has to be impressed. Now, if they can both just stay healthy, then this season can be something to brag about.

2) The secondary. With the exception of that blown coverage assignment of FAU's fullback leading to a 38 yard pass, the secondary looked very impressive. They were flying to the ball, creating multiple turnovers, and really playing great coverage for most of the game. They bent, but never broke, and that was something reassuring to see for Husker faithful.

3) Turnovers. We got 3 of them, and could have had 5. If Matt O'Hanlon's first interception wasn't negated by a Jared Crick penalty and if Larry Asante had held onto the ball he caught, we could have had one of the most impressive Husker turnover performances in a long time. But, those 3 turnovers were still very helpful, and 2 of 3 led to touchdowns.

Things I didn't like

1) Dropped passes. I counted four in the first half alone, which really showcased the knock we took once Swift and Pederson left. It was only the first game, and Zac Lee did have a couple of wayward throws on some of those dropped passes, but if you get your hands on it that's all on you. 2 of the 4 dropped passes I counted were great throws that were just dropped.

2) D-Line pass rush. Thought to be a strength, they really didn't perform as I think many of us expected them too. Some of that was due to Rusty Smith, of course. Even if he didn't have a great game statistically, he still knows how to run the offense in a productive way allowing him to get off clean throws like it is second nature to him. But, I really thought I would see more pressure from the front four defensively on passing plays. Bo did admit his game plan didn't call for a lot of blitzing, so it is possible a lot of favorable matchups just didn't happen because of that.

3) The "pipeline" had some difficulties. In the first quarter alone, it seemed like every pass play that didn't intend for Zac Lee to roll out, ended up making him roll out. It appeared that he was running for his life on quite a few throws during the game. The protection is going to need to get better if they want to be successful in running the ball and protecting Zac Lee this year.

So that is that. Hopefully we can expand on the good things we did for next week's game and fix the problems that were most noticeable.

 

[nemajordude]

I did not watch but I did listen, and this with two kids in the house. So I did not get a real feel for how things went. I'll wait for the Bo Show tonight to see extended highlights. If it's true, that Zac spent a lot of time on the run, then I think our O-line needs to get a lot better before VT and definitely before conference play. If he can throw on the run and have the kind of game he had, that's a good thing. That said, if we can run with the big boys the way we ran last night, I like our chances.

 

[Husker_x]

The lack of pressure was expected. They were in max protect a lot of the time. If we're sitting at 0 sacks after non-con play, then we're worried. O-line picked it up in the second half.

Good post, though.

 

[EbylHusker]

2) D-Line pass rush. Thought to be a strength, they really didn't perform as I think many of us expected them too. Some of that was due to Rusty Smith, of course. Even if he didn't have a great game statistically, he still knows how to run the offense in a productive way allowing him to get off clean throws like it is second nature to him. But, I really thought I would see more pressure from the front four defensively on passing plays. Bo did admit his game plan didn't call for a lot of blitzing, so it is possible a lot of favorable matchups just didn't happen because of that.

Yeah, as was already stated, FAU was running a heavy protection scheme so there wasn't a lot to expect from a four man pass rush.

I would add for the dislikes the D had a few problems with missed assignments/losing containment. Penalties were also a bit of a problem. But both of those are not uncommon for a first game.

 

[Enhance]

2) D-Line pass rush. Thought to be a strength, they really didn't perform as I think many of us expected them too. Some of that was due to Rusty Smith, of course. Even if he didn't have a great game statistically, he still knows how to run the offense in a productive way allowing him to get off clean throws like it is second nature to him. But, I really thought I would see more pressure from the front four defensively on passing plays. Bo did admit his game plan didn't call for a lot of blitzing, so it is possible a lot of favorable matchups just didn't happen because of that.

Yeah, as was already stated, FAU was running a heavy protection scheme so there wasn't a lot to expect from a four man pass rush.

I would add for the dislikes the D had a few problems with missed assignments/losing containment. Penalties were also a bit of a problem. But both of those are not uncommon for a first game.

For sure. Penalties were a concern, and the false starts definitely need to be shored up. There will always been some first game issues though, like you said. I'm just glad we didn't get any personal fouls called against last night.

 

[Husker_x]

2) D-Line pass rush. Thought to be a strength, they really didn't perform as I think many of us expected them too. Some of that was due to Rusty Smith, of course. Even if he didn't have a great game statistically, he still knows how to run the offense in a productive way allowing him to get off clean throws like it is second nature to him. But, I really thought I would see more pressure from the front four defensively on passing plays. Bo did admit his game plan didn't call for a lot of blitzing, so it is possible a lot of favorable matchups just didn't happen because of that.

Yeah, as was already stated, FAU was running a heavy protection scheme so there wasn't a lot to expect from a four man pass rush.

I would add for the dislikes the D had a few problems with missed assignments/losing containment. Penalties were also a bit of a problem. But both of those are not uncommon for a first game.

For sure. Penalties were a concern, and the false starts definitely need to be shored up. There will always been some first game issues though, like you said. I'm just glad we didn't get any personal fouls called against last night.

Martin got one towards the end, but it was such a dumb penalty I'm surprised the ground didn't open up and swallow the ref.

 

[dawhuskerkc]

2) D-Line pass rush. Thought to be a strength, they really didn't perform as I think many of us expected them too. Some of that was due to Rusty Smith, of course. Even if he didn't have a great game statistically, he still knows how to run the offense in a productive way allowing him to get off clean throws like it is second nature to him. But, I really thought I would see more pressure from the front four defensively on passing plays. Bo did admit his game plan didn't call for a lot of blitzing, so it is possible a lot of favorable matchups just didn't happen because of that.

Yeah, as was already stated, FAU was running a heavy protection scheme so there wasn't a lot to expect from a four man pass rush.

I would add for the dislikes the D had a few problems with missed assignments/losing containment. Penalties were also a bit of a problem. But both of those are not uncommon for a first game.

For sure. Penalties were a concern, and the false starts definitely need to be shored up. There will always been some first game issues though, like you said. I'm just glad we didn't get any personal fouls called against last night.

Martin got one towards the end, but it was such a dumb penalty I'm surprised the ground didn't open up and swallow the ref.

Martin plays with his hair on fire, that is for sure. He will likely get some penalties out of sheer being there all the time. He was also part of the coach sideline knock down...The Ole coach is tough, brushed it off pretty well, hoping he OK today.

Thanarse on coverage was superb, PJ Smith was there also, and Ohanlon had two forced fumbles that we didnt recover.

 

[Fuzzy]

There was the personal foul on Crick for roughing the passer that took away O'Hanlon's INT.

Overall i agree with Enhance89, on what i liked and what i disliked out of this first game.

QB - Zac Lee performed very well, he looked very good in the pocket, calm, relaxed, and confident after the first series when they went 3 and out. I saw no mental mistakes from him at all, he knew when to run, and he knew when to throw it away (and not get a penatly for intentional grouding). We saw his speed, which is very fast. Zac Lee did not get sacked that entire game. Cody Green played in the 4th and did very well, that 49 yd run was an exhibition of how fast he is. Though he did not pass very much, he still looked very good in the pocket.

RB/FB - Need i say very much? Helu tore it up after the first quarter and along with Burkhead who came in earlier than i thought he would, they both performed very well. I knew that Helu was fast and agile, and i knew Burkhead was also fast and agile, but like it was said before. Could Burkhead be able to hang onto the ball running through traffic and moving around as a true freshman back? The answer was yes, he could. Very nice job for both of them.

WR/TE - A little disappointed in them really, more so McNeill, who i blame for first game jitters, it seemed as if most of the False Start penalties were lined at him, and even with that there were a few missed passes that he dropped. Dropped passes were a big thing in this game, it seemed as if every WR and TE atleast dropped 1 pass that was thrown to them. With the exception of the underthrown pass from Lee that was INT, most passes should have been caught.

OL - I think they did a great job protecting Lee, picking up the blitz, and making holes for Helu and Burkhead to run through. The stats from the game show that OL was doing their job. Lee made good decisions, ran for good yardage, and made great passes. Helu was a little ancy at first with his reads, but later on, he was able to tear it up, thanks to the OL.

DL - They can say that FAU was running more pass protection than expected all they want, but it was FAU. With the hype of how good our DL was suppose to be, it just didnt show during this game. No sacks, and 122 yds rushing. I was expecting to keep FAU under 100 yards, maybe under 75 yards, and a few sacks out there. Penetrating the front line was key this game and it didnt show, at all. The DL did good, but it could have done a lot better.

LB - They were as good as they were last year. Which is saying a lot because mostly new LB's played. I was expecting to see more of Koehler, Dillard, and Lawerence playing in the game, but it was all Compton, Fisher and May. And they did an outstanding job of plugging up the line when the DL couldnt, and handle the few blown assignments that the coverage let by. They were truly the strength of the defense against FAU.

CB/S - Ill just go ahead and say it, there shouldve have been 4 INT against FAU. O'Hanlon got one called back, and Asante drops one of the easiest picks ive seen in a long time. Coverage was good, there were a few blown assignments, thankfully, the one in the endzone was ruled incomplete, and the other big one was overthrown by his finger tips in the 3rd quarter. But other than that, they played well, the read the eyes of the WR/TE to knock the ball away, Lance Thorell. It showed that they have made some improvements.

Offense - A

Defense - B

Overall - A-

I expected a win against FAU, but just like the coaches and fans i was looking at how the team played rather than the score. I think everybody played good, a few people played better and a few people played below average. I hope that by the time we play Arkansas State, the jitters and the penalties are gone, and we can see more improvement from the Huskers.

 

[Fuzzy]

Thenarse on coverage was superb, PJ Smith was there also, and Ohanlon had two forced fumbles that we didnt recover.

Actually that was Thenarse who had the second FF, O'Hanlon caused the first one that was picked up by Meredith.

 

[HuskerMack]

We got caught in a few Blitz packages which they gashed us for a few big run plays that is where most of there run yards came from. Bo and Carl will have to be a little more carefull but we ran a pretty basic d package and and pretty basic offense package so over all I dont have a problem with there play.

 

[Overland Park Husker]

There was the personal foul on Crick for roughing the passer that took away O'Hanlon's INT.

Overall i agree with Enhance89, on what i liked and what i disliked out of this first game.

QB - Zac Lee performed very well, he looked very good in the pocket, calm, relaxed, and confident after the first series when they went 3 and out. I saw no mental mistakes from him at all, he knew when to run, and he knew when to throw it away (and not get a penatly for intentional grouding). We saw his speed, which is very fast. Zac Lee did not get sacked that entire game. Cody Green played in the 4th and did very well, that 49 yd run was an exhibition of how fast he is. Though he did not pass very much, he still looked very good in the pocket.

RB/FB - Need i say very much? Helu tore it up after the first quarter and along with Burkhead who came in earlier than i thought he would, they both performed very well. I knew that Helu was fast and agile, and i knew Burkhead was also fast and agile, but like it was said before. Could Burkhead be able to hang onto the ball running through traffic and moving around as a true freshman back? The answer was yes, he could. Very nice job for both of them.

WR/TE - A little disappointed in them really, more so McNeill, who i blame for first game jitters, it seemed as if most of the False Start penalties were lined at him, and even with that there were a few missed passes that he dropped. Dropped passes were a big thing in this game, it seemed as if every WR and TE atleast dropped 1 pass that was thrown to them. With the exception of the underthrown pass from Lee that was INT, most passes should have been caught.

OL - I think they did a great job protecting Lee, picking up the blitz, and making holes for Helu and Burkhead to run through. The stats from the game show that OL was doing their job. Lee made good decisions, ran for good yardage, and made great passes. Helu was a little ancy at first with his reads, but later on, he was able to tear it up, thanks to the OL.

DL - They can say that FAU was running more pass protection than expected all they want, but it was FAU. With the hype of how good our DL was suppose to be, it just didnt show during this game. No sacks, and 122 yds rushing. I was expecting to keep FAU under 100 yards, maybe under 75 yards, and a few sacks out there. Penetrating the front line was key this game and it didnt show, at all. The DL did good, but it could have done a lot better.

LB - They were as good as they were last year. Which is saying a lot because mostly new LB's played. I was expecting to see more of Koehler, Dillard, and Lawerence playing in the game, but it was all Compton, Fisher and May. And they did an outstanding job of plugging up the line when the DL couldnt, and handle the few blown assignments that the coverage let by. They were truly the strength of the defense against FAU.

CB/S - Ill just go ahead and say it, there shouldve have been 4 INT against FAU. O'Hanlon got one called back, and Asante drops one of the easiest picks ive seen in a long time. Coverage was good, there were a few blown assignments, thankfully, the one in the endzone was ruled incomplete, and the other big one was overthrown by his finger tips in the 3rd quarter. But other than that, they played well, the read the eyes of the WR/TE to knock the ball away, Lance Thorell. It showed that they have made some improvements.

Offense - A

Defense - B

Overall - A-

I expected a win against FAU, but just like the coaches and fans i was looking at how the team played rather than the score. I think everybody played good, a few people played better and a few people played below average. I hope that by the time we play Arkansas State, the jitters and the penalties are gone, and we can see more improvement from the Huskers.

Both Keith Williams and May were knicked up. Williams didn't play, so we were using a semi patched O-line that did a pretty decent job. May got a "stinger" on a kickoff and hardly played. Lawerence was in for almost the entire game.

Also, T. Moore had turf toe, so thats why he didn't see the field.

 

[BigWillie]

The lack of pressure was expected. They were in max protect a lot of the time. If we're sitting at 0 sacks after non-con play, then we're worried. O-line picked it up in the second half.

Good post, though.

Not to mention we basically went with a straight rush for 98% of the game. Our gameplan was as vanilla as humanly possible upfront.

 

[Blackshirtsguru]

The lack of pressure was expected. They were in max protect a lot of the time. If we're sitting at 0 sacks after non-con play, then we're worried. O-line picked it up in the second half.

Good post, though.

Not to mention we basically went with a straight rush for 98% of the game. Our gameplan was as vanilla as humanly possible upfront.

I agree...Bo and his staff are not going to tip their hat to FAU when they got Va Tech coming up in 2 weeks.

 

[Husker_x]

The lack of pressure was expected. They were in max protect a lot of the time. If we're sitting at 0 sacks after non-con play, then we're worried. O-line picked it up in the second half.

Good post, though.

Not to mention we basically went with a straight rush for 98% of the game. Our gameplan was as vanilla as humanly possible upfront.

I agree...Bo and his staff are not going to tip their hat to FAU when they got Va Tech coming up in 2 weeks.

Imagine the look on Tyrod Taylor's face when he finds out we can rush the passer.

 

[lilred]

I get it, the joke's on them