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Seeing how we typically don't bring in the extremely flashy, highly reviewed type (based on star ratings and such), is it safe to say that the star system of recruiting is irrelevant to what kind of team we actually have, and will have in the future? I used to get so caught up in the competition side of it, constantly being disappointed by what average star rating of recruits we were bringing in. Not so much anymore. Does it make a huge impact for Nebraska and our success during the season?

Nebraska (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) travels to West Lafayette Saturday to take on the Purdue Boilermakers (1-4, 0-1 Big Ten). Nebraska is coming off a 39-19 victory against Illinois. Purdue is coming off of a bye week but the last time we saw the Boilermakers they were demolished by Northern Illinois, 55-24. This is the first road game for the Huskers. There is a chance for some rain in West Lafayette on Saturday, but if rain does fall it will be toward the later half of the ball game. Otherwise temperatures will hover right around 70 with winds out of the South at 10mph. Nebraska's Defense and the Big Play Nebraska's defense went into their game against Illinois knowing that they had to get better. They had to be fundamentally better and they had to be mentally better. Coming into the Illinois game, the Husker D allowed 18.4% of the plays they had faced to be either rushes of 10 yards or passes of 15 yards (i.e. "big plays"). Worse yet, those 18.4 % of plays accounted for 61.7% of the total yards given up by the defense. People will point out that yards don't mean anything, but I'm a big believer that yards tell a big part of the story because you have to get yards to get points. Nebraska's young defensive group through 4 games of the season was highly susceptible to giving up the big play, and there was great concern that Illinois could exploit that and come away from Memorial Stadium with a victory. That fear was legitimate. Illinois's offense through their first 4 games of the season was indeed explosive. In fact, the numbers pointed to a potential doom and gloom picture for the Husker faithful. Heading into their game against Nebraska, Illinois's offensive numbers were: 1914 yards, 161 points, 285 plays = 6.71 YPP | Big Plays: 57 (20%), 1300 yards (67.9%) = 22.8 YPP | Adjusted = 228 plays, 614 yards = 2.69 YPP Those numbers pointed to the Illini offense being all about the big play. They had the talent and they had the scheme to exploit the defenses they played (yes, they even did so against Washington: don't let the low yardage total fool you, 238 of Illinois's 327 yards were results of big plays). With Nebraska's defense being highly vulnerable to getting busted open for big plays, Husker and Illini fans were both bracing for a high scoring battle. It didn't happen. Nebraska did much better against an explosive Illinois offense. I could ramble on and on about Afalava's play, the defensive line getting pressure, our tackling in the backfield, and our ability to be opportunistic, but I'll let the numbers do the talking. You have our defensive numbers above; here are the numbers from the Illinois game: 402 yards, 17 points, 80 plays = 5.03 YPP | Big Plays: 9 (11.2%), 154 yards (38.3%) = 17.11 YPP | Adjusted = 71 plays, 248 yards = 3.49 YPP The 5.03 YPP total was 1.68 YPP lower than Illinois's average and 1.41 YPP lower than Nebraska's defensive average. That's a huge improvement. Furthermore, When Illinois hit the big play, which was 8.8% less than their season average, it went for 5.7 YPP fewer. Nebraska's D turned Illinois into a team it was uncomfortable being. Without those big plays, Illinois didn't have the chance to finish off their drives. As a result, the Illini didn't get into the end zone until well into the 3rd quarter. It was definitely a step in the right direction for the young Nebraska defense, who dealt Illinois's offense its worst performance of the season. I know Bo Pelini looks at the film and is encouraged, but not content with what he sees. I am confident that the Nebraska defense worked their asses off this week to get ready for Purdue, and have no doubt that they'll be ready to play on Saturday. I'm not expecting a huge day from Purdue's offense, despite our defensive woes. Aside from their game against Northern Illinois, the Boilermaker offense has been the very definition of anemic: 1508 yards, 85 points, 335 plays = 4.5 YPP | Big Plays: 37 (11%), 731 yards (48.5%) = 19.76 YPP | Adjusted = 298 plays, 777 yards = 2.61 YPP Purdue's offense should play right into the strengths of Nebraska's defense. Their offense has just a hard of a time generating a big play as our defense does stopping a big play from happening. However, in both of their last games, Purdue's offense and Nebraska's defense showed great improvement from their averages. Purdue's offense was more explosive than normal, Nebraska's defense was stingier than normal. So it'll be interesting to see what will happen come Saturday. My bet is that the Husker defense makes another step forward, holding Purdue to their average and further improving those big play numbers. Football is obviously won on both sides of the ball, and Nebraska's offense and Purdue's defense will be the focus of my next entry.