Mavric

Make five field goals in a half.

Whew. They said we made it.

UCLA is usually has a Top 20 recruiting class with a couple Top 10s here and there. The only year we were ahead of them was 2011 which I assume coincided with a coaching change on their part. Michigan is usually Top 20 and is a frequent visitor to the Top 10. Michigan State would be basically a toss-up with us over the last several years. A couple years we were ahead, a couple years they were. Not to nit-pick but if you're grouping by seasons, Georgia would be 2013. 2011 Ohio State would be another.

Apparently Elliott is the only OV this weekend. Sounds like the others ran into the same travel issues as McWilliams.

Have a great one!

I would guess it is a way to "narrow" the distance between the uprights so you have to be more accurate.

Well ......... Sam?

Need picks from QMany and 1Huskermom...

Yep, I'm with you here. I really wish I had time to go back through and see what our rushing average is on straight zone plays vs. all other rushing plays. That was kind of my plan with this thread but I didn't get very far. When you just run straight ahead - or straight to the side in this case - against 7 or 8 guys in the box, your chances of making many yards are just not that good - even if you block it perfectly. Not that it never works but against good teams you're going to have to do something a little different to slow them down a bit or give yourself a numbers advantage somewhere.

Why do people throw in how much $ a guy makes when they want to criticize him? Peanut Butter & Jealous? Yeah, that's always seemed odd to me as well. It's basically the going rate for the job. It's not a guarantee that everything will be perfect. And it's not like you can pay more to guarantee better results. Just ask Iowa.

Dang. I guess that's all I'm going to get done for tonight. I was hoping to get the entire first half but it's not going to happen. Have to start earlier next time.

Nebraska's sixth possession There is one defender in the middle - who is being blocked - but there is a HUGE hole for Newby to run through for a nice gain. He had to jump around the one lineman which killed his momentum or it could have been more. Not very good blocking but I'm not a fan of the play. We're in a double TE set so Miami can crowd the line. Then we run a straight give on an outside zone play so all the OL is running sideways. Just not putting our guys in a very good position. Excellent protection and TA throws a bullet that Hovey can't come up with. I'm not making any excuses for Hovey as we need our receivers to come up with catches like these but it would be nice for TA to help him out. It's a hard throw that Hovey has to drop to his knees and fall left to try to catch. For as open as Hovey is - and stationary, looking right at TA - and as good a pocket as TA has, this ball really needs to be delivered in the numbers (standing up, not sliding).

Miami's fifth possession Quick pass from Kaaya so no chance to get pressure. We're trying to cover their WR with Young and there is no one home in the middle to help so he runs a long ways. Another quick pass from Kaaya but Gerry dislodges the ball - incomplete. We bring a corner blitz but it's from Kaaya's right so he easily sees it and throws to the completely uncovered WR (where the blitzer just left) for 11 yards. Jones pays the price for this blitz. Good pressure from Collins but Kaaya is able to by some time with his feet and complete a pass for a first down. Miami probably did us a favor as Kaaya was really feeling it on this drive but they put in their Wildcat QB and run zone read. Dzrius is the unblocked lineman and he is easily beaten but Gerry bails us out. No pressure here but MRI makes a nice play to prevent the completion. Quick fade but Rose has really good coverage (Miami probably thinks too good) and they settle for a field goal.

Nebraska's fifth possession Lewis totally misses his block and they brought one more guy from the right than we can block. But somehow Newby gets 4 yards out of this. HUGE hole for Newby on the counter. We have much better success when we're a little more creative with our running game than when we just run it straight ahead. Another counter that is blocked pretty well other than Kondolo gets blown back and thus the play is blown up. All kinds of time for TA to throw but he tries to hit Reilly and throws it into double coverage and it should have been picked off. Would have been nice to take the check down to Newby who had lots of space to work with. Another screen play. We get it to Newby but the WR misses a block and Newby is tripped up. Not much to say one way or the other about the OL here. A little bit hot and cold from the OL on this drive. A great job blocking on the first counter and great pass blocking. The other two plays had one guy get blown up and it destroyed the play. But that's usually how it works.

Miami's fourth possession Not sure this is great play by the line as there is about five yards between our right DE and left DT with only Collins in between. But Young fills well and holds Miami to a short gain. Another example of how we get ourselves completely out of position. I have to think we have some sort of slant on as McMullen is almost on the far side of the QB from where he started. Not sure why we get all our DLine moving like that but MRI is there to tackle the RB on the cutback so it works out. Also an illegal formation penalty on Miami. Not much pressure here as the quick throw from Kaaya nets a 9 yard gain. Another quick throw from Kaaya although McMullen is just coming free. Incomplete pass and punt.

Nebraska's fourth possession Another play that I wouldn't call particularly good blocking overall but there is a nice hole for Cross who gets about 8 yards (plus a penalty on Miami) We tried to run a fake WR screen and come back to Newby on the screen the other way. I like the concept of the middle screen but we have been terrible executing it all year. The timing is always off. On this play, it didn't help that Newby was grabbed by a defensive lineman trying to get out but TA has no where to go with the ball when he wants to throw it and is already getting pressured. He eventually gets it to Newby but we lose a yard or so. I'm not sure if the blame is with the Line or the design of the play but the line has usually been releasing together so I don't think we are not practicing holding the blocks long enough to let the play develop. Pretty good protection for TA who hit Westy for a nice completion. But this is the play where Gates got flagged for not being on the line. A play-action, designed rollout for TA who hits Reilly with a laser throw. Not much to say about the OL here as TA had room on the designed roll but you can't block for very long when the defenders can run away from you. Completely baffling play call on third and one. We had a TE-wing formation so we had 7 guys to block 7 to gain a yard. But we go play-action and it fails miserably. Miami wasn't even crowding the line. Anyway, technically I have to blame Lewis for not adjusting his blocking on this one. Looks like he was supposed to block down with Carter to cover the edge but there were two rushers outside so Lewis should have adjusted back outside to help Carter. Not sure it would have helped the play but I'll give him the demerit anyway. Punt

I'm not saying the line couldn't improve as well, but when I said "results", I was talking about the overall result of the play and, as a whole, the game. The results of some of those plays was not great. But I didn't really find much the line could have done differently to improve the results. By and large, they did their job well. The blame for the lack of results lies elsewhere. But that's not what a lot of people - fans, media, etc. - have been saying. I've heard A LOT about how bad our line is. I wasn't giving them enough credit myself. But - at least in the first half against Miami - the offensive line was probably playing the best out of any position group we had.

Several interesting notes in this OWH article:

Bump ... in case anyone needs a refresher. Cheers.