UCLA: A look back, a look forward

[zoogs]

I’ve been meaning to sit down and gather some of my thoughts about the game since about midway through the first half. This was one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen in a while - and I mean that. It was 60 minutes of awesome back-and-forth. A good, competitive match.

 

It was also very defining. It told us a lot about where things were, and for Nebraska fans, certainly a disconnect between that nd the hopes we had ridden in on. So, two games into the season, where do we stand?

 

Bo & the Defensive Scheme

 

Bo is our defensive coordinator, no question about this. So when he gets outschemed, it’s concerning. And that was the case last Saturday night.

 

In many ways, I don’t consider the UCLA game to be as bad as most people do. It was a barn-burner. When teams trade scores, the yards pile up. When one team can't hang onto the ball, the yards pile up some more. UCLA ran over 90 plays! Besides, the Nebraska defense won their share of battles. They made their stops, with the game on the line. They had a solid bounce-back going on for much of Half 2.

 

It’s just that when they failed, they failed spectacularly. And that is frightfully alarming. Going to credit a user from another message board here for these numbers: 82% of UCLA’s plays resulted in just 2.92 ypp. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the remaining seventeen plays, which averaged 25+ypp and totaled 428 yards.

 

This is half “jimmy & joes” stuff - all those missed tackles, the lack of fundamentals. It speaks to talent and recruiting issues I cannot really take Bo to task for. While early apathy hurt us, this staff has turned a corner in recruiting, in a huge way. We’ve had strong classes of late, and this current class is Bo’s best effort yet, by a large margin.

 

But another part of it is straight-up getting outmanuevered by the UCLA OC. The number of times UCLA was able to get the ball to any player in space in the flats, and have no Nebraska defender in the same zip code (blocked or not!) Such as that play where Compton couldn’t stay with his slot man - hardly Compton’s fault. He’s a MLB covering a slot receiver running a drag route across the field. The problem was there was no Nebraska zone for over ten yards downfield after that RB/WR got a step on Compton, something which is bound to happen in these 1-on-1 mismatch-ups.

 

 

We were never able to adapt to what they were doing, and they made a complete killing of it. Over and over. The defense was not defeated all day in the X’s and O’s chessmatch, not by a long shot. But when they were, we watched them burn.

 

The worst of it all was the story we were told about UCLA’s final touchdown. Bo panicked. According to Dirk Chatelain of the OWH, Bo drew up that play in the sand on the sidelines, sending everybody on an all-out, 8-man blitz. He was clearly frustrated with our lack of pressure, but such a drastic reaction is just unbecoming of our veteran, defensive mastermind of a head coach. UCLA had either twins or trips right, and Hundley, in the shotgun, calmly took the snap and flipped it over to his RB on a swing pass. Easy TD.

 

Beck & the Offensive Scheme

 

Beck panicked, too. That second half was a mild disaster, and his panic was exemplified by that drive, 7 minutes to go in the 4th with a nearly tied game. Beck called that drive like we had 50 seconds to go. He aired it out when he had no ability to do so.

 

Beck has pulled his weight and more for years on this staff. I love the guy. He’s a creative mind, and a good recruiting asset to the staff. But he has to be grow into that OC role very fast. The panicky play-calling was a big, big reason for our loss. You have to be able to trade score for score to keep up in a shootout. Our offense was without life! It's a small wonder we didn't see UCLA run away with it in the second half - and for that, I have to give credit to the defense.

 

Beck has two big calls riding on his shoulders, in particular. We all know what they are - the one that resulted in a safety, and the one that resulted in an interception. Both of these led straight to UCLA points - before which, the game was tied.

 

Taylor

 

No discussion of the offense is complete without Taylor. Taylor bears responsibility on each of those plays as well, whether or not you disagree with Beck’s call. A correct read spares us the safety, which put us down 2. Almost any reasonable throw spares us that critical interception, which put the game out of reach.

 

Taylor has improved so much this year, that can’t be stressed enough. The dude has worked hard in this offseason. Very happy about our QB situation with Taylor, but that said....

 

He's still got his limitations. Nebraska went away from the run game for one reason or another in the second half, but this offense doesn't have that ability. Taylor's effectiveness as a passer hinges completely on the run game, and forcing defenses to respect the run. If defenses can afford to do focus on it, they can still dismantle our passing attack, because Taylor won't be sitting back, picking apart coverages, and throwing every down with success.

 

He's also got to cut down on those freshman mistakes. On at least two occasions, it was scary as hell. When Taylor goes down next, I hope he tucks that ball in and accepts the bad play. A sack, and a safety, could easily have become an interception, and a touchdown. Live to play another down.

 

Defensive Players

 

I think this team has some good talent on this defense. How about that Josh Mitchell guy, eh? Blanked his receivers, really a fantastiic job. Plenty of young talent. Curry, Williams at DT, both freshmen. A whole slew of young, talented LBs yet to be unwrapped. The future of the D is plenty exciting.

 

The present is a bit of another story. I lay this firmly at the feet of the DL. If we can’t win the battle in the trenches, we are going to suffer, no matter what else happens. We’re still not seeing anyone show up and really take command of that line. The DL needs to be an impact position group, which they aren't right now.

 

I’m also a bit uncertain about our safeties. Harvey Jackson gave up a huuuuuuge play in UCLA’s early touchdown. He let that guy get behind him, can’t have that. Damion Stafford has a reputation as a tackler, but struggled in coverage last year. Wonder if that’s been resolved yet. Also, in years past we've had very reliable Nickel/Dime sets. This year and last, I think we've seen a big drop-off in this area.

 

If we can bring together a solid #2 or #3 LB, we might be seeing a heavy dosage of base defense sets. It could be fitting, in the Big Ten...but it could also be our best 11 on the field.

 

Overall

 

The storyline so far is that the team got hit in the mouth, and fell against a tougher-than-expected BCS opponent on the road. Make no mistake: UCLA is talented, well-coached, up-and-coming, and exciting to watch. The game was a back and forth where both sides landed their share of punches. NU just came up short in the end.

 

Now the response of the team, is going to bear watching. We saw both our offensive, and defensive coaches flat-out panic the last time this team took the field. In film review, our head coach supposedly had some choice words for a starting sophomore defensive tackle, who left the team in a bizarre, abrupt huff. The point is, it’s really easy to spin this all as the wheels falling off.

 

So, is that going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy? Will the team benefit from the departure of the disgruntled, and rally around each other? Do the coaches show an even keel in reworking their strategies while staying the overall course? Or will the panicked, undisciplined playcaling we saw vs. UCLA carry through and seep into all aspects of this season? Burning questions, especially for a fanbase with a psyche as fractured and fragile as ours currently.

 

For what it’s worth, I think we’re going to watch NU lay a beating down on Arkansas State. Bo is a driven, tough competitor, and this is a great chance for him to show his quality. He is not going to lose this team. He won’t allow that to happen.

 

whew, hope you beared with me in reading that! sorry if there was a lot of re-hashing in here. I wanted to kinda wrap up all my thoughts in one place, in context for this next game and our season in a not-totally-flipping-out kind of way. GBR, everyone

[Count 'Bility]

Our defense did rise up and held them to only 3 second half points up until very, very late in the game. Good point-out. It's gone very unnoticed that if our offense finishes a couple second half drives for touchdowns, the defensive performance is a non-issue.

As far as Dirk's idea of an 8-man blitz drawn up in the sand, that's ridiculous. That's typical Dirk. I'm sure Bo just said we have to send the house here and hope to cause a turnover. Panic? maybe a bit, but drawing things up in the dirt (theoretically, I know) is just a dumb assumption.

[T_O_Bull]

We lost by six to a team we should have beat. An incredibly uninspired performance by the defence has to take much of the credit and I would think the stove is beginning to heat up under Paps and hopefully the S&C coaches rumps. most of the rest of the blame can be shouldered by the OL and Cotton and, again the S&C coach should be feeling the heat.

T_O_B

[HuskerFanChuck]

Actually, zoogs, you stated it very well. You stated it in a manner that doesn't panic, doesn't state the wheels are falling off, but rather states it in such a way that it shows the deficiencies of the team, but doesn't exaggerate in respect to our problems. I still have a ton of confidence in this team and this staff. We lost one game, by 6 points, to a team that was better than expected. You examine it, move on, and come out more focused and ready to roll the next game. That's what I expect, and I think that's what will happen.

[zoogs]

As far as Dirk's idea of an 8-man blitz drawn up in the sand, that's ridiculous. That's typical Dirk. I'm sure Bo just said we have to send the house here and hope to cause a turnover. Panic? maybe a bit, but drawing things up in the dirt (theoretically, I know) is just a dumb assumption.

 

I hope you're right, but reading that article, it sounds as if Dirk either watched it unfold or asked people who did. He goes into enough detail that it would be terribly irresponsible, if it were just an exercise in imagination. I suppose to be exact, I should have said marker board, though Here's the relevant section from the OWH, condensed into paragraphs:

 

Third-and-3. 2:16 left. 29-27, UCLA. The Bruins have the ball at the Nebraska 9-yard line. Gotta force a field goal. No choice. Bo Pelini calls timeout.

 

He takes a moment to think, then meets his defense at the 17-yard line. He grabs a white dry-erase board and pulls the cap off a black marker.

 

...

 

Under the Rose Bowl lights, Bo starts scribbling with his left hand. His players huddle around him, leaning in to see the marker board. An official walks over and says it's time to play. Not yet. Bo isn't finished.

 

Zero pressure, he tells them. It means all-out blitz. Get to the quarterback.

 

The Huskers take the field. The crowd gets loud again. Brett Hundley takes the shotgun snap, sees the blitz and swings the ball to his tailback, Johnathan Franklin. Nebraska is too slow. Franklin picks up the first down. He doesn't stop there. As he powers into the end zone for the exclamation point, Bo Pelini says to no one in particular: “My fault.”

 

He curses and turns away. He grabs the headset and considers throwing it to the Rose Bowl turf. Instead, he turns back to his defense — staggering off the field — and says it again:

 

“My fault.”

[NUance]

Now the response of the team, is going to bear watching. We saw both our offensive, and defensive coaches flat-out panic the last time this team took the field.

This will continue to be a problem for us until we get it fixed. It seems like more often than not Pelini teams cannot make the needed adjustments--either at halftime or during the game. When is the last time we came out at halftime trailing, and turned it around? Once we get behind, it seems like we panic and then get further behind. We can all see the result of Bo working on his gameface demeanor. He's improved considerably--no more sideline tantrums and ranting at the refs. Now he needs to work on making adjustments--both halftime adjustments and gametime adjustments--and avoiding the panic mode.

[zoogs]

I'm not sure if that has been a chronic problem or not. Under Bo, we've actually reversed our previous bad record of being able to turn it around at halftime, haven't we? I agree that isn't the first time that Beck has panicked, though. And Bo...I'm still very surprised about that. I just cannot imagine it ever getting to the point where we have to doubt his abilities as a defensive coach. That 3rd & 3 call at the end of the game struck me as very uncharacteristic of Bo. But I could be wrong!

[I am I]

I agree.

Compared to the previous "coaches" we adapt pretty well. Especially after the first few series of games. Halftime adjustments, lately, seem to favor the other teams however.

 

I kinda feel like this:

 

Pelini's system works, he really does put players in a physical position to make plays. Maybe a position here or there are truly outmatched, but imagine if we had only missed 9 or 10 tackles (that were VERY makeable) instead of missing 20-21?

So, watching your players as a coach actually really be in physical position to make plays but just absolutley whiff? What exactly is he supposed to "adjust" to?

 

As for the offense, I think we are balanced and effective. Missing Rex hurt! Thinking less about how we can "take" what the defense is giving us (Becks explanation for passing so much lately) and actually "attacking" what the defense is giving is.

Such as, they were bringing the blitz very heavy all game. On third and short instead of giving it to Marrow straight ahead like he did 3 times last week, fake that handoff and run a naked boot w Martinez racing one guy to the edge. Instead of dropping back to pass while their blitz overwhelms our line, let em rush and run a middle screen to slow em down.

Basically I would like to see some A to B to C play calling that progressively keeps the defense honest or sets them up for an attack later in the game.

 

I like your post Z and I think we're going to reel off a string of some nice wins.

[The King]

Want to know how I feel?

 

If we don't miss 3 tackles every damn play, we smash them. If we miss on the first and get them on the second, we still roll over them. Our tackling was unacceptable. The sad thing is, while yes, we were slow...our slow players were still in the correct positions most of the time...they just couldn't wrap up the guy.

 

Also, Taylor has made improvements as a qb, but don't see us winning anything meaningful with him as our QB (a BCS game) unless he breaks more long runs, makes less freshman errors (a couple of those throws - in particular the interception - were unacceptable for a 3rd year starter) and puts more faith in the offense - did he really think he could keep that zone read and not get tackled? Sigh.

[kreutz35]

+1. A good read that states the team's issues, both good and bad, without attacking anyone.

[zoogs]

IaI, you highlight a very good example on that run to Marrow. I thought the previous string of successful sweeps set us up very nicely for a change-up - a short playaction pass. Fake the handoff and then turn and toss it to the guy in the flat. Even, as the announcers said, handing it off to the I-back rather than the up-back, more likely to succeed.

 

On defense however, I feel it was more than a matter of blown assignments. I think we lost several plays pre-snap. Either poorly called, or poor reaction to all that shifting they were doing. That's a trouble spot that has to get corrected, or other teams are going to damage us with it.

 

Oregon, that ZR was actually a little similar to Taylor's 92-yard run earlier in the game. Except this time he took the snap in his own endzone. Very risky, and the Bruins had that one diagnosed perfectly. I think they said they sent their DE right at Taylor that time, no matter what.

[Husker71]

This analysis matches closely what I feel. I'm not ready to sound the alarms yet. I don't interpret the recent drama as Pelini losing the team. I am trying to take a step back, trying to take a long term view. When I do that I see progress despite all the problems we have had on both sides of the ball. I couldn't detect any crisis of confidence after Southern Miss. I thought I was hearing the defensive players sound more upbeat like, "they are turning us loose more, we can attack more" before the season started.

 

Very experienced posters are saying this is different, this feels serious. That probably worries me more than anything else. But I had completely given up on Martinez to improve as a QB and Beck's ability to improve as a coach. I feel I was so wrong about that if anything I want to see a lot more before I reach any premature conclusions again. We are probably way behind where any of us would like to be but I am still of the mind we are headed in the right direction with Bo and this staff.

[The Dude]

Oh, zoogies. It's not as long as you think it is.