Special Teams

[MichiganDad3]

TO's teams were known for discipline. Almost always near the best in penalties, and always great in special teams. How much is poor or lack of great special teams play hurting BP's teams? I remember the 1996 Michigan State game where the Huskers seemed to dominate with a 55-14 win. But the Huskers only rushed for 184 yards and scored on a punt return and had two interceptions for touchdowns. BP has had a great kicker every year, but the rest of the special teams play seems bad to me; poor coverage, lack of blocked kicks and little threat of a kick return. I thought the Michigan game last year was fairly even, but the Huskers got killed on special teams. Is this a concern to anyone else? Is poor special teams play related to other lack of detail problems like penalties?

[Decked]

Nebraska has had some good punt/kick returners over the years so I don't see what you mean there.. And we have the best punter/kicker in the B1G. Nebraska only gave up one punt/kick return all year... Not bad in my book.

[jgmdub]

disagree I think we're real dangerous on special teams, both ways

[mrandyk]

Kick returns won't exist anymore and punt returns hardly ever get a chance to go beyond the fair catch.

[Moiraine]

You mentioned blocked kicks. During TO's era, teams didn't set up 2-3 players right in front of the punter like they do now. I don't have the stats, but I'm guessing blocked kicks are way down since they started doing that.

 

Also, we were spoiled with Miles.

[Nebula]

Atta boy, Decked! Bringing logic!

 

Yeah, this is an area I feel strong about, aside from one quibble: our coverage on kickoffs/punts has been a little dicey at times. If we can shore that up, we'll have a strong unit on that proverbial cliched 1/3 of the game.

 

Meanwhile, all conference kickers continue to magically appear for us. After losing Alex, I was pretty concerned about a significant drop off in performance. Then Brent Maher comes out of nowhere. Seriously, lost in the shuffle is the fact that NU has kind of become Place Kicker U going back to '95. It's unreal when you think about how many PKs and punters we've put in the league.

 

Abdullah tailed off a little at the end last year (and had a touch of the yips fielding the ball cleanly) but we've seen what he's capable of. He can be a real weapon. I'd love to see Turner back there with him. That's a lot of quickness and speed. A special teams lightning bolt touchdown can change an entire game. (I'm talking to Nebraska football fans. That last sentence was like telling a personal assistant that it's important to keep an organized day planner.)

[ADS]

Atta boy, Decked! Bringing logic!

 

Yeah, this is an area I feel strong about, aside from one quibble: our coverage on kickoffs/punts has been a little dicey at times. If we can shore that up, we'll have a strong unit on that proverbial cliched 1/3 of the game.

 

Meanwhile, all conference kickers continue to magically appear for us. After losing Alex, I was pretty concerned about a significant drop off in performance. Then Brent Maher comes out of nowhere. Seriously, lost in the shuffle is the fact that NU has kind of become Place Kicker U going back to '95. It's unreal when you think about how many PKs and punters we've put in the league.

 

Abdullah tailed off a little at the end last year (and had a touch of the yips fielding the ball cleanly) but we've seen what he's capable of. He can be a real weapon. I'd love to see Turner back there with him. That's a lot of quickness and speed. A special teams lightning bolt touchdown can change an entire game. (I'm talking to Nebraska football fans. That last sentence was like telling a personal assistant that it's important to keep an organized day planner.)

Easy, lets not get carried away here.

 

Ameer at the beginning of the season was the most dangerous returner in the country and still have some solid numbers even though he slumped in confrence play. Maher of course is just an all around weapon, we couldnt have asked for a better follow up kicker to Henery.

[Nebula]

Easy, lets not get carried away here.

 

Ameer at the beginning of the season was the most dangerous returner in the country and still have some solid numbers even though he slumped in confrence play. Maher of course is just an all around weapon, we couldnt have asked for a better follow up kicker to Henery.

[MichiganDad3]

Kick off return for a TD. This is what I was talking about. NU has the best place kicker in CFB, and one of the best punters. NU returners are above average. NU is below average at blocking kicks and awful at kick return coverage.