Wait, this defense was even better than we thought

[Nexus]

Last week, I updated a post I originally did in the middle of the season looking at the top defensive performances at Nebraska since 1990 in relation to this year's Blackshirts.

 

As many of you noted, defensive totals--in this case the old standards of yards and points--didn't necessarily seem like the best basis for comparison given the offensive woes Nebraska experienced this season. Yards per play and points per play were the most popular requests.

 

We aim to please here, so now you have those numbers and, as you probably suspected, this 2009 defense comes out looking historically good.

 

The chart using the same Top 10 total defensive performances since 1990--the measure we used initially--is below, this time with the total number of plays each defense faced. Using that, you can see Nebraska's plays and yards per field goal (used three points rather than one because an offense never scores less than a field goal).

 

 

The results aren't very close given the sheer number of plays the Nebraska defense faced this season. On average, the Blackshirts forced teams to go 18.58 plays and 75.8 yards for every three points scored. How often do you see an 18 play drive? And that's just for a field goal. Touchdowns required over 36 plays on average. Just as a basis for comparison, Boise State--the top scoring offense in the country this season--scored three points every 4.67 plays. Houston--the top total offense in the nation--scored three points for every 39.68 yards gained.

 

Any further questions as to why Pelini wants a hard-nosed rushing attack that can control the clock? Many people noted in the comments how big of an advantage that was for Nebraska's defense in the 90s, and you can see it plainly in the numbers above. There was only one year in that decade where the Nebraska defense faced more than 800 plays. The '93 team, which of course narrowly lost in the national title game, gave up more yards than the '09 squad, in one fewer game, while facing 178 less plays on the season.

 

For the modern perspective, both Nebraska's plays and yards per FG were tops in the country this season. Teams needed 2.4 more plays to score against Nebraska than second-best Alabama, and over 5 more yards than it took teams to score three points on runner up Penn State. Of the top 20 total defenses in the country, only Texas has even come within 50 plays of the total Nebraska has faced through 13 games.

 

If Nebraska can maintain their top 10 defensive ranking after the Holiday Bowl they'll enter into some rare company by achieving that rank while defending over 900 plays. Only two other defenses have done it over the past six seasons. Virginia Tech in 2007 is one of them.

 

The other? Bo Pelini's 2007 LSU defense. Maybe that's the takeaway here. Based on his 2003 season as DC, many of us associated takeaways with "a Pelini defense." But after this season, and seeing that Pelini had done it once before, perhaps the image we should all be conjuring is that of a defense that simply answers the bell almost every time.

 

And I'll take that every time, too.

 

http://bigrednetwork.com/archives/2009/12/...s_even_bet.html

[Landlord]

They're not better than I thought

[Malth]

Yea, this defense is the real deal. It's nothing short of amazing at how successful they are at completely shutting down every offense they face.

 

 

Hopefully it will be just as good after we lose Suh

[huskerswrkhavoc]

How come there isn't any defenses from 2004-2007 on there? Surely this must be a typo!

[Husker66]

Coly McCoy says he will see a better defense against Alabama.......

 

Alabame is busy building the woodshed they are fixin to take TU behind.