Keys To Beating Iowa

[3rd and long]

As an avowed hater of all things Hawkeye...I have prepared the following scouting reports. One based on my perspective and one based on a typical Iowa fan's perspective.

 

When Iowa Has The Ball:

 

Typical Iowa Fan: We'll give the ball the Coker and he will sprout tracks and a steel blade to bulldoze the Huskers into the ground for the first ten yards afterwhich he will put on his cape and do a flyby over the rest of the field to honor the troops before landing in the endzone for the first of many touchdowns. When we have to throw the ball, Vandenberg will engage the GPS tracker in his head which enables him to accurately throw perfect spiral after perfect spiral into the hands of McNutt who can do more magic with his hands than a drunk massage therapist. McNutt will vault over any Husker that stands in his way, duck low flying aircraft and land, like a cat, in the endzone scoring yet another record breaking TD. Our O-Line will all be carrying shovels in order to dig the Husker defense out of the ground after they plant them like corn with pancake blocks...

 

My Take: Vandenberg can't run so you won't have to worry about him scrambling to the outside like Robinson. He's just not very mobile. When it comes to throwing, his receivers bail him out quite a bit. McNutt is good but most of his circus catches were made simply because Vanderberg threw behind of over him. The more he gets smacked around, the more inaccurate he becomes. Coker is basically Burkhead with more carries because his QB can't run. Stuff him with run blitzes with Compton and David. Make him fumble and he'll lose confidence. There is no depth behind him. McNutt is basically the receiver corps. Iowa rarely uses the TE as a target. The line is young and prone to getting run over if they have too much to think about. They are okay but only because the play calling is so basic.

 

When Nebraska Has The Ball

 

Typical Iowa Fan: Martinez can't throw so we'll just stuff the box and smash Burkhead into a mushy spot on the turf. We are so fast that Martinez will not only never make it to the corner but he won't even get onto the sidewalk. Our guys may be a little undersized but we're fast! We're so fast we're in the backfield before the ball is. Our secondary sends player after player to the NFL so that should show you how good we are. We're so good we don't even have to run a Cover 2...we run a Cover 1 1/2. The way Nebraska catches, we can stuff the box with 10 guys and just let Prater cover all their receivers. Even if Martinez can manage to not bounce it off Caputo's helmet, if it actually gets to one of his stone hands receivers he'll drop it anyway....I smell a shut out.

 

My Take: Iowa is a horrible containment team. Do what you do with Martinez and the option outside and you'll rip off big chunks of yardage eventually. I say eventually because Iowa does put out quite a bit of effort for a quarter or two but as the game goes on, they run out of gas. The D-line is light and it should be easy to open up holes for Burkhead. The LB's are all young and bite on a lot of misdirection. The secondary doesn't like to take on big lineman. The way to beat this team is to just pummel them into submission because they can't hold up. If I were coaching, I would not pass unless Iowa has proven it can stop my running attack.

 

Intangibles:

 

Typical Iowa Fan: Am I going to Lincoln? Heck no...it might be cold and stuff. I'll watch it on TV after I'm done getting drunk or something.

 

My Take: Since most Iowa fans think Nebraska starts a couple miles west of Waukee, I would be surprised if many of them make the trip to Lincoln. Most of them will get lost or distracted by Omaha and forget there is a football game going on. The ones that do make it are probably going to end up being the most die-hard Hawkeye fans out there...in other words, the biggest idiots our state has to offer. If one approaches you, first hide your livestock and alcohol and then, for safety sake, give them a hard kick in the crotch. If they didn't do anything to deserve it at that exact moment, they probably have in the past so you're doing the rest of society a big favor...and they're Hawkeye fans so it all equals out.

 

There you go...to beat Iowa you just need to pound on them and keep pounding on them until they fold up like a house of cards...and then pound on their fans and have them all arrested while leaving Lincoln and sent to Colorado. Good Luck!

 

And it's just my opinion but if Nebraska had Herrman and Burnham as their coordinators, this would have been a great year for Nebraska.

 

Well crap, we blitz about as often as we run misdirection.

[Excel]

Score more points than they do.

I don't see your logic in that...

This. Badgerfan has no proof this will work

Sorry, shouldn't have gone public with my theories berore my research was finished. I'll wrap it up and tell you when I get published.

[N Sker]

Mike Daniels is a pretty good DT for Iowa, if he played for us he would probably be starting right now, other than him their DL is not too intimidating, Binns is a decent DE but nothing spectacular. Their LB's are not as athletic as some but they are pretty decent at the point of attack, I think we can expect to see more yards on the ground vs Iowa than we have in the last two games on the ground.

 

Thier secondary is led by a guy that should be our second lock down cb, but Callahan deemed him to be too short(Prater)but he is very good. Hyde is not quite as physical, but he has the ability to make plays as well, if they have an edge over us it might be here, as their safety play is also better than ours imo.

 

We need to run the ball a lot, so hopefully we rest Burkhead this week. Martinez needs to do more running, and make his decisions quicker than he has been on when to leave the pocket! This is our last game for over a month so if he takes a pounding he will have some time to rest, this game will set the tone for a rivalry for many years to come, we must play well IMO to win.

 

Huskers win a close one!

 

After last week, Rex should be well rested...

[HuskerTrucker]

Hopefully they will play Iowa with a little motivation to end the season on a high. If we lose this game, it will be a off season with nothing but talk about which coaches should have been fired, because I don't think Bo will fire anyone without it coming from Osborne.

[Duffman]

Iowa is going to try. force you to beat them through the air. They are going to try and make Martinez make consistently good decision s and accurate passes underneath two deep looks. Yes they have had issues with contain, particularly early, but they have also shut down scUM. Most importantly they are going to make you string 8+ play drives together to score. If you CJ do that consistently you can have a very good day against this team.

 

On offense everything runs through Coker. Our passing game is most effective when we utilize play action well. Mcnutt is a big play guy but its inaccurate to say he's the only threat. Davis on the otherside goes a solid 6-3 200+. He's very dangerous in his own right averaging over 14yards per reception. Both are Sunday players.

 

If you can get penetration and force Coker to make moves in the backfired you can really shut him down. If he gets to the los before contact he's getting 4 plus yards and there ain't a damn thing you can do abiut it. If you cant stop Coker w 7 in the box you could be in for a long day. If you can't break off some 15+ yard runos you could be in for a long day.

[Caven]

We must have success with our 3rd down conversions. 3 out of 13 just isn't going to cut it.

 

The key to good 3rd down conversions against Iowa is make sure you are in 3rd and long situations. If you are in 3rd and 4-5 we have a good chance of stopping you. However if it is 3rd and 7 or longer and your conversion rate should be something close to 90%. I don't get it at all - but that seems to be how we roll.

 

eta: Heya Duff. Welcome to Huskerboard!

[The Big Red Husker]

Iowa is going to try. force you to beat them through the air. They are going to try and make Martinez make consistently good decision s and accurate passes underneath two deep looks. Yes they have had issues with contain, particularly early, but they have also shut down scUM. Most importantly they are going to make you string 8+ play drives together to score. If you CJ do that consistently you can have a very good day against this team.

 

On offense everything runs through Coker. Our passing game is most effective when we utilize play action well. Mcnutt is a big play guy but its inaccurate to say he's the only threat. Davis on the otherside goes a solid 6-3 200+. He's very dangerous in his own right averaging over 14yards per reception. Both are Sunday players.

 

If you can get penetration and force Coker to make moves in the backfired you can really shut him down. If he gets to the los before contact he's getting 4 plus yards and there ain't a damn thing you can do abiut it. If you cant stop Coker w 7 in the box you could be in for a long day. If you can't break off some 15+ yard runos you could be in for a long day.

 

Stopping Coker will obviously be our first priority...Iowa has the 11th best running team in the conference, and their QB is definitely not a big threat to run the ball. If we can't stop Coker it will indeed be a long day, but with only one guy to focus on, that sure simplifies things for our defense.

 

Davis is solid, and he definitely benefits having a guy as talented as Mcnutt on the field at the same time, altho I am not sure he is a Sunday player, but he will get a lot of opportunities on Friday, hopefully we can slow him down. I am just glad Mcnutt is not your QB, if he was I would have little to no confidence.

 

Despite all that has been said this game is really a step down from importance than this fan thought it was going to be, and if we drop another home game against a team that has 1 win on the road in the last 1+ year in the conference.....well we better find a way to win, and I think we will.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Score more points than they do.

I don't see your logic in that...

This. Badgerfan has no proof this will work

Sorry, shouldn't have gone public with my theories berore my research was finished. I'll wrap it up and tell you when I get published.

:lol:

[FrankWheeler]

Thier secondary is led by a guy that should be our second lock down cb, but Callahan deemed him to be too short(Prater)but he is very good. Hyde is not quite as physical, but he has the ability to make plays as well, if they have an edge over us it might be here, as their safety play is also better than ours imo.

 

Are you kidding with this? They have the worst secondary in the Big 10, we are only allowing opposing QBs to complete 53% of their passes.

[billdozer15]

This game reminds me a lot of Michigan State as opposed to anyone else we've played recently. Maybe Penn State. Vandenburg ain't gonna go anywhere on us anytime soon. This is EXCELLENT for our chance because as bad as we look trying to shut down a QB that can even spell the word mobile, Bo's shown time and again he can shut down pocket passers. Coker is a pretty good running back, and you better believe Iowa's got the line to open up holes for him. They also have a damn dangerous wideout in DJK. I really feel like I should know more about this team, having a friend on the team and growing up in Iowa. But alas, while I was there and in the two years since I came to Nebraska for school, I fail to care less about any team that doesn't don the Scarlet and Cream on Saturdays. Ahh, a real football team... Can't really comment on their defense... just haven't paid close enough attention. They usually field a solid, if unspectacular, unit. I think if we find a way to shut down Coker (who is option 1, 2, and 3 in the running game, btw), we win the game. Can't let Johnson-Koulianos beat us deep either though.

 

uhhhhhhh. DJK doesnt go to school there anymore, he gradumacated.

 

If you want a good laugh, check out how he got booted from the team.

http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/35089/djk-situation-dumb-disappointing-and-sad

[PaulCrewe]

On Iowa's first possession of the game you will be able to tell if it is going to be a long day or not. If Ciante or Thorell is matched up with McNutt in the slot it will be a long one. That is the key to this game. Any smart OC is going to put their best receiver in the slot against one of those two momos. NW did it. Michigan made a living out of it on third down, and Wisky abused the slot defender as well. Honestly I'd love for Bo to tell Zo to just take him out of the game. Let Andrew match up with Davis and SJ-B line up as the other corner.

[The Big Red Husker]

Thier secondary is led by a guy that should be our second lock down cb, but Callahan deemed him to be too short(Prater)but he is very good. Hyde is not quite as physical, but he has the ability to make plays as well, if they have an edge over us it might be here, as their safety play is also better than ours imo.

 

Are you kidding with this? They have the worst secondary in the Big 10, we are only allowing opposing QBs to complete 53% of their passes.

 

They rank right below us in pass defense yes, but they are better against the run so teams have had to throw against them, whereas against us when you can get 5 yards a pop throwing is not as important....their top 2 CB are better than our top 2IMO...and their safety's are more athletic by far than our two starters combined...so NO I am not kidding...I live in Iowa and I know their team pretty well, even saw a few games in person. Trust me their issues are not their secondary.

[PaulCrewe]

 

They rank right below us in pass defense yes, but they are better against the run so teams have had to throw against them, whereas against us when you can get 5 yards a pop throwing is not as important....their top 2 CB are better than our top 2IMO...and their safety's are more athletic by far than our two starters combined...so NO I am not kidding...I live in Iowa and I know their team pretty well, even saw a few games in person. Trust me their issues are not their secondary.

Excuse me?!?!? You realize NU's top corner is better than their top two by himself. Zo and Green right now>>>than Prater and whom ever the other asshat is.

[The Big Red Husker]

 

They rank right below us in pass defense yes, but they are better against the run so teams have had to throw against them, whereas against us when you can get 5 yards a pop throwing is not as important....their top 2 CB are better than our top 2IMO...and their safety's are more athletic by far than our two starters combined...so NO I am not kidding...I live in Iowa and I know their team pretty well, even saw a few games in person. Trust me their issues are not their secondary.

Excuse me?!?!? You realize NU's top corner is better than their top two by himself. Zo and Green right now>>>than Prater and whom ever the other asshat is.

 

HMMMM you mean the other a$$ hat who won the bowl game for Iowa last year on a 65 yard pick six late in the 4th quarter? The guy who led the B1G Ten in Int for a time? Yea he is better than our number two corner....which is not saying a whole lot really as our corners opposite Dennard have struggled, and Yes of the 4.... Dennard is #1, Prater is easily #2, and Hyde is easily #3....yea there really are better players on teams other than NU, and Iowa has a few, Daniels would also start for NU IMO.

 

What I mean by your bolded part of my statement is in tandem their top 2 is better than our top two....if I am a QB I would prefer to throw against a team that had #17 out there vs #18 from Iowa...is my point. It takes two quality CB's to be dominant against the pass....we have had that when we were a truly good defense 2010 1994 1995 1999 etc...that has not been the case in 2011.

 

Bernstein was a player we wanted out of Lincoln High school in DSM, we actually wanted him as a RB or CB(4 star recruit I believe), but he is a very athletic safety (compared to #8 especially), but he has been hurt, although he is healthy now.

 

Again I know their team pretty well, this is not coming out of my A$$...but it is only my opinion...finally relax we will most likely win if we contain Coker but their weakness is NOT their secondary..if anything it is their depth along the front 7, they have wore down, and they have sustained losses, like we have along their DL.

[Duffman]

 

They rank right below us in pass defense yes, but they are better against the run so teams have had to throw against them, whereas against us when you can get 5 yards a pop throwing is not as important....their top 2 CB are better than our top 2IMO...and their safety's are more athletic by far than our two starters combined...so NO I am not kidding...I live in Iowa and I know their team pretty well, even saw a few games in person. Trust me their issues are not their secondary.

Excuse me?!?!? You realize NU's top corner is better than their top two by himself. Zo and Green right now>>>than Prater and whom ever the other asshat is.

 

HMMMM you mean the other a$$ hat who won the bowl game for Iowa last year on a 65 yard pick six late in the 4th quarter? The guy who led the B1G Ten in Int for a time? Yea he is better than our number two corner....which is not saying a whole lot really as our corners opposite Dennard have struggled, and Yes of the 4.... Dennard is #1, Prater is easily #2, and Hyde is easily #3....yea there really are better players on teams other than NU, and Iowa has a few, Daniels would also start for NU IMO.

 

What I mean by your bolded part of my statement is in tandem their top 2 is better than our top two....if I am a QB I would prefer to throw against a team that had #17 out there vs #18 from Iowa...is my point. It takes two quality CB's to be dominant against the pass....we have had that when we were a truly good defense 2010 1994 1995 1999 etc...that has not been the case in 2011.

 

Bernstein was a player we wanted out of Lincoln High school in DSM, we actually wanted him as a RB or CB(4 star recruit I believe), but he is a very athletic safety (compared to #8 especially), but he has been hurt, although he is healthy now.

 

Again I know their team pretty well, this is not coming out of my A$$...but it is only my opinion...finally relax we will most likely win if we contain Coker but their weakness is NOT their secondary..if anything it is their depth along the front 7, they have wore down, and they have sustained losses, like we have along their DL.

 

Bernstine would have been a corner for us but he suffered a pretty horrific ankle injury in his sophmore year. He lost a lot of lateral quickness and moved to safety this year as we lost two safeties to graduation and the NFL. He's very fast for a safety and plays much bigger than his listed size. When he hits people, they tend to go in the opposite direction they were going before. I've very interested to see some of the collisions between Bernstine and Martinez and Burkhead.