Fear Texas Tech

[bbhusker]

At least this time around in Lubbock we know that the D Cooridinator will be making adjustments DURING the game and not sticking to the same crap that got them beat 2 quarters ago.

[SOCALHUSKER]

The Magic 8 Ball says that we will beat Texas Tech this year!! It says that the Blackshirts will be the difference and the Red Raiders defense will return to form and fold like a lawn chair. I don't know about you guys but I never bet against the Magic 8 Ball or his good friend Sir Bo Pelini!! GBR!!

[Igetbored216]

I think there are two main keys to beating the spread:

1) Defensive speed

2) DL ability to put pressure on the QB

 

As we saw with Oklahoma vs. Mizzou last year, if the front four can put pressure on the QB by themselves, there are more bodies to cover the receiving corps. I think defensive pressure from the front four of Nebraska will be essential if they want to win some of these big games.

[AR Husker Fan]

I don't know, the comments about Osborne and the early 90's that trev alberts made might be somewhat correct in my opinion because osborne went for faster players in the early 90's to compete with miami / flordia and it seems as though bo is having every player cut weight to increase their speed.. If you are faster than the guy you're defending / running a route against you can make up for a few small mistakes in a play / technique because you're not going to get blown wide open. College still isn't the pros but it isn't high school, but speed can make up for a lot of mistakes, a buffer if you will.

SI had an article about defending the spread and mentioned speed on D as a critical factor (duh). Anyway, teams are going to smaller, faster DEs that can disrupt the QB's timing and pursue on the underneath stuff. Hopefully it will lead to fewer plays where it looked like the defenders were just watching guys run past them.

Funny how cyclical football can be. If enough teams go to the spread, most defenses will get faster - and smaller. Suddenly, someone's going to to go a PowerI/Option attack that simply wears out those small, fast defenders. Eventaully, defenses will bulk up. So offenses will spread the field...

 

Rinse and repeat.