Official Why We Beat MSU Thread

[Loaded For Bear]

Their offense ranks 66th in total yards and 58th in scoring. Also, the zebras will be keeping an eye on Gholston for his cheap play. Add your own reasons why we win as well, or lose if you so feel that way.

 

GBR and there's gonna be a good one comin' on this Saturday.

[chamrocck]

Eh, hate this game and don't think we'll win. But MSU does play a bit dirty...maybe we can get some help if they continue that. I am more concerned about our D being able to stop them. If we don't get to Cousins it will be a long day.

[walksalone]

We've got a shot at winning, but there are quite a few things that will have to go our way.

 

We'll have to be able to run the ball, with consistently and regularly

 

More short passes

 

Fill the gaps, and keep pressure on Cousins

 

just to name a few things...

[JTrain]

1. Pull out the (other) trick plays

2. Beck, don't put Martinez in a position to beat us (e.g. Wisconsin)

3. Blitz Cousins more than we blitzed Wilson

4. Have Barrett Ruud suit up in place of Compton. Compton can take Ruud's spot in return... no one will watch the Colts-Titans game anyway.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

We'll beat Michigan State because I don't think their defense will be able to hang with us for four quarters and I think our defense will do just enough to keep them from scoring a whole lot. It will be close going into half time and if it is, we're going to wind up winning the football game. Excluding the Wisconsin game, we have outscored our opponents in the second half by the score of 125-68. We play really well in the second half for some reason, so if we're close against Michigan State or even ahead of them going into halftime, we're going to win the game.

[Enhance]

I haven't watched MSU play a lot this year. I watched most of the UW vs. MSU game, and a little of the Mich. vs. MSU game but that's it. If you're saying MSU plays dirty because one player obviously can't keep his emotions under control, that's a pretty unfounded statement. Ghoulston plays dirty, but I doubt the entire team does.

 

I think Nebraska is in a good position to win because there are a couple of things that work in Nebraska's favor. First, MSU has played a tough October and has just come off one of the most amazing/emotional wins in their school's history. It's real easy for players to lose focus after games like that, and it's even easier to be physically outmatched after playing a tough slate like they have. It's likely they have a lot of bumps and bruises, while Nebraska has essentially had the last two weeks off.

 

Second, Cousins is a good player, but they've struggled a lot offensively this year, specifically in losses to Notre Dame and a close win against tOSU. What Baker and their backfield does will go a long way to determine the outcome of this game, because I think our secondary matches up well against Cousins.

 

Lastly, they haven't seen a rushing attack like ours this year nor in years past. We utilize a lot of formations, have a lot of run variations and have a ton of speed in our backfield. MSU's strength is their defense, and they're the real deal, but if they don't control Nebraska early in the game we will most definitely wear them down by the third and fourth quarter. And again, going back to their tough schedule the last couple of weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if we wear them down early if we have a lot of running success.

[bshirt]

I've watched MSU three times (Notre Dame, Ohio St, Wisconsin). Of course that doesn't make me any kind of expert at all but nevertheless I think this is why we'll win.....

 

1. Cousins is a good but not even remotely the great NFL qb that so many project here. He's also "very" mistake prone and almost single-handedly lost the Ohio St game for them by repeatably choking with bizarre turnovers, dropped balls, etc (similar to our Tmart). He redeemed himself greatly with the Wisconsin game to be sure but he was hardly awesome in that game except the game ending hail Mary (99% luck imo).

 

Again he's good but not great. He also presents almost zero threat with his feet (the essential qb so many of my fellow NU fans desperately pine for). While obviously most NU fans strongly disagree, imo that's a HUGE asset for our defense.

 

2. Our defense has been a glaring failure this year but luckily the offense has picked up the pace and we're sitting at 6 - 1. There is a reasonably chance Bo gets them to playing to somewhere around the 2008 blackshirt standards now. Nothing great at all but approaching solid. A solid defense should be our goal for the game. It would be enough.

 

3. Our offense is a pleasant surprise this year and has totally bailed us out of three games so far. Even better, it appears to be on a somewhat linear line of improvement. SuperRex is super, Tmart is Tmart with all his liabilities and assets that we all know so well but three surprising things really are helping greatly....

 

a. The Oline, while nowhere near great is clearly improving. Especially it's run blocking. Still a project at work but the results are slowly getting better. I'm hoping they can come fairly close to playing MSU's Dline even. That's all we need. We could use more but that should suffice if they can hack it. I think they will.

 

b. Our Wrs, even with the Minnesota drops is a marvelous improvement we haven't seen in years. Young kids with speed coming out of their ears. They can't be ignored or MSU will pay dearly even with Tmart's marginal passing skills. Fisher deserves an ice cold 12 pack and a big raise.

 

c. Beck. Holy Moly.....1st year as OC here, never been an OC before, inexperienced to say the least......and a HUGE upgrade. No need to say more on a NU forum.

 

Without doubt as we're in the Legends division this game is a critical "must" win. Beck will have our offense ready with every weapon we have ready to go. We've got offensive weapons everywhere at the skill positions with lots of speed to burn. We'll see some mis-direction runs, Super-Rex hammering the middle, the triplets hitting the edges and some specially designed Tmart 40+ yd burners. For icing on the cake we'll see some Turner, Bell, Reed, etc bombs for big gains.

 

It's at Lincoln and as others say, it's "put up or shut-up" time. Bo & Beck won't back down and again the offense carries us.

 

NU 31

 

MSU 28

 

 

GBR!!

[AngryHusker88]

The battle that will decide the game, IMO, is our defensive line vs Michigan State's offensive line

[3rd and long]

I've watched MSU three times (Notre Dame, Ohio St, Wisconsin). Of course that doesn't make me any kind of expert at all but nevertheless I think this is why we'll win.....

 

1. Cousins is a good but not even remotely the great NFL qb that so many project here. He's also "very" mistake prone and almost single-handedly lost the Ohio St game for them by repeatably choking with bizarre turnovers, dropped balls, etc (similar to our Tmart). He redeemed himself greatly with the Wisconsin game to be sure but he was hardly awesome in that game except the game ending hail Mary (99% luck imo).

 

Again he's good but not great. He also presents almost zero threat with his feet (the essential qb so many of my fellow NU fans desperately pine for). While obviously most NU fans strongly disagree, imo that's a HUGE asset for our defense.

 

2. Our defense has been a glaring failure this year but luckily the offense has picked up the pace and we're sitting at 6 - 1. There is a reasonably chance Bo gets them to playing to somewhere around the 2008 blackshirt standards now. Nothing great at all but approaching solid. A solid defense should be our goal for the game. It would be enough.

 

3. Our offense is a pleasant surprise this year and has totally bailed us out of three games so far. Even better, it appears to be on a somewhat linear line of improvement. SuperRex is super, Tmart is Tmart with all his liabilities and assets that we all know so well but three surprising things really are helping greatly....

 

a. The Oline, while nowhere near great is clearly improving. Especially it's run blocking. Still a project at work but the results are slowly getting better. I'm hoping they can come fairly close to playing MSU's Dline even. That's all we need. We could use more but that should suffice if they can hack it. I think they will.

 

b. Our Wrs, even with the Minnesota drops is a marvelous improvement we haven't seen in years. Young kids with speed coming out of their ears. They can't be ignored or MSU will pay dearly even with Tmart's marginal passing skills. Fisher deserves an ice cold 12 pack and a big raise.

 

c. Beck. Holy Moly.....1st year as OC here, never been an OC before, inexperienced to say the least......and a HUGE upgrade. No need to say more on a NU forum.

 

Without doubt as we're in the Legends division this game is a critical "must" win. Beck will have our offense ready with every weapon we have ready to go. We've got offensive weapons everywhere at the skill positions with lots of speed to burn. We'll see some mis-direction runs, Super-Rex hammering the middle, the triplets hitting the edges and some specially designed Tmart 40+ yd burners. For icing on the cake we'll see some Turner, Bell, Reed, etc bombs for big gains.

 

It's at Lincoln and as others say, it's "put up or shut-up" time. Bo & Beck won't back down and again the offense carries us.

 

NU 31

 

MSU 28

 

 

GBR!!

 

I really like this post, lots of good facts. I think the fact that Cousins is not very mobile is a huge, huge advantage for us. We do such a poor job of collapsing the pocket inward on the QB that the running ones pop outside and run for big yardage against our man coverages. If we do bring blitze packages (please, please get after him like crazy), I think this might finally be the game we rack up a few sacks. If we don't pressure him though, they have a couple of receivers that look like they can do some serious damage.

 

On offense I'd like to see a steady diet of Rex, I would love to see him get 25 carries. And when they load the box (which we all know they will), play action for TM, not straight drop back. Also, I really hope they again emphasize the dump offs this week, and maybe a screen or two, usually pretty effective against good, aggressive defenses. Rex out in space equals good things. Also would really prefer not to see TM running the down the line option, he just doesn't seem comfortable there and we can't afford those wayward pitches. If we want him to have an option, I would rather see it out of the zone read.

I'm curiuous why we broke out the reverse against Minnesota, maybe to show MSU something else to work on, but I sure would have liked to have that one fresh for this week. I hope there is something else in the bag of tricks this week, maybe involving Turner. W/R's can't have bad drops this week, have to make the routine play every time, maybe last week there were some concentration lapses due to who we playing?

 

I think the biggest factor in our favor is something many have alluded to, MSU is coming off three huge wins against long-time conference rivals. No matter how you try and get kids up, this one may not carry the same weight with them as the last three. I look for something in the 31-27 range, I just don't know which way.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I think we'll win this game, but it's gonna be close. I don't think their offense is world beaters, but so far you haven't had to be a world beater to put points up on our defense, see OSU game. I do think our defensive line play has improved some over the past few games which is great along with our secondary play, minus Cassidy, he just can't seem to figure it out.

 

I think their defense is going to get tested by our offense because of our running ability. You can shut T-Mart down all you want, we have Burkhead, shut him down, we have Heard and Green, try and shut them down, the passing lanes open up. Oops! You forgot about T-Mart see ya, 60 yards later TD Nebraska. I think we can beat them, but our defense HAS to get pressure on Cousins and not blitzing isn't gonna get it done, that's why I think it's gonna be really close. I'm guessing 27-24 NU.

[robsker]

The battle that will decide the game, IMO, is our defensive line vs Michigan State's offensive line

 

I think you are correct. Our DL needs to get pressure on Cousins and do so w/o having to depend overly on the blitz --- that said, the NU DL has not been able to get pressure w/o blitzing against vastly inferior lines than the MSU line. So... I predict little success. Also, our blitzing has been basically non-productive as well. Also, the DL has allowed our opponents to run well against us.

 

The second factor... nearly as important as what you mentioned is our OL against their DL. Here, I think we may get some running yards (but then again, if we are behind early and by a wide margin we will be forced to pass often...problems). Can our OL protect TMart for him to complete some passes? I am not sure. If so... we may score some. If not... And that has been a problem... TMart has not had great protection in the past --- and that against lesser DL's than that at MSU.

 

Seems to me we will likely lose the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball... As such, I tend to think that the game will not be overly contested... but probably not a blowout either. Say... MSU scoring 28-34 or so points and NU scoring 7-17 points. I'll take a semi-middle road prediction and have it MSU 31, NU 13.

 

Now... since this is a "why I think we'll win" thread I will add this --- if Ameer gets the ball kicked to him several times and we get great field position multiple times (or, better still, he takes it to house once and gives us great field position the other times) AND we get a big offensive play or two AND MSU has say... two key turnovers preventing them from scoring (or giving us a short field) --- then we will win.

[Treand3]

Great post bshirt! Obviously there can be no turnovers and only a few penalties. Beck certainly needs to use Sparty's aggressiveness against them, because we all know their D is super blitz heavy. Hopefully, Beck doesn't go into a mid second quarter Wisky mindset, if we stay commited to the run and make timely passes it should reduce our chances to turnover the ball. Another thing to consider is our offensive tempo, as good as Jerel Worthy and his DL brethren are I have a feeling our tempo will wear them out in the second half, imo. I'm glad our D will finally get to face a QB with little mobility, because if you were to look at all the QBs our D went up against they've all been mobile to super mobile. Not so much this week. I will say that Special teams will need to play well, cause Sparty's blocked punt was huge.

[husker_99]

We could easily lose this game. MSU has a good defense. They can put up points. Hell i don't even know on the OSU game if Miller stays in we even win that game. T-mart is getting shut down in the run game. so that's not a factor anymore. Let's not get all pass happy and we have a shot at winning.

[3rd and long]

The battle that will decide the game, IMO, is our defensive line vs Michigan State's offensive line

 

I think you are correct. Our DL needs to get pressure on Cousins and do so w/o having to depend overly on the blitz --- that said, the NU DL has not been able to get pressure w/o blitzing against vastly inferior lines than the MSU line. So... I predict little success. Also, our blitzing has been basically non-productive as well. Also, the DL has allowed our opponents to run well against us.

 

The second factor... nearly as important as what you mentioned is our OL against their DL. Here, I think we may get some running yards (but then again, if we are behind early and by a wide margin we will be forced to pass often...problems). Can our OL protect TMart for him to complete some passes? I am not sure. If so... we may score some. If not... And that has been a problem... TMart has not had great protection in the past --- and that against lesser DL's than that at MSU.

 

Seems to me we will likely lose the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball... As such, I tend to think that the game will not be overly contested... but probably not a blowout either. Say... MSU scoring 28-34 or so points and NU scoring 7-17 points. I'll take a semi-middle road prediction and have it MSU 31, NU 13.

 

Now... since this is a "why I think we'll win" thread I will add this --- if Ameer gets the ball kicked to him several times and we get great field position multiple times (or, better still, he takes it to house once and gives us great field position the other times) AND we get a big offensive play or two AND MSU has say... two key turnovers preventing them from scoring (or giving us a short field) --- then we will win.

 

I think we've shown we cannot get consistent pressure on the QB with just our front four, and with no pressure Cousins will pick us apart. We have to blitz him, but somehow have to do it more efficently. Using Compton or Fisher doesn't work because they're not fast enough to get there. I think our packages have to include the secondary guys or David, someone who's fast enough to either get there or at least disrupt Cousins timing. And does it seem like when we do blitz, if there is a blocker they seem to run directly into them instead of trying to skirt the block or make a move to go past? Stafford seems to me to be the guy who could be usefull coming off the corner, he's fast enough and if he does get there once at full speed, Cousins will be looking for him the rest of the game.

[Stumpy1]

If we can pick up their blitzes, we have a very good chance. MSU LOVES to blitzes and that could be a bad deal for us given that Martinez gets rattled and jumpy while in the pocket. If he can keep his composure and get the ball out fast, we could really do some damage.