What Bo said to John Papuchis

[zoogs]

......don't we have Beck for that?

[BigRedBuster]

In practice, Bo spends more time with the offense than he does with the defense. He has been more in "leader/manager" mode than teaching mode.

 

I think his comments reflect the fact that he will probably push JP aside and start teaching these kids.

I'm not sure that is correct.

 

There were many comments that came out after last season that the offense is going well and Bo was going to spend more time with the defense than he had the last few seasons.

[BaytownHusker]

I am no college Def cord but I really think if we just dumbed down the defense and ran some normal stuff we could succeed as a defense. I mean it worked for UCLA.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Just trying to read tea leaves here, but we might (hopefully) be seeing Bo push JP aside and take over the show on defense.

 

Bo after the game:

I work in the business of getting it fixed and I take it as a challenge right now, to get this thing fixed. We’ll find the right combination and we’ll find a way. I’ve always been able to do that and I feel confident we’ll be able to do it. I’ll get this fixed. Trust me there.

 

Granted, there's a couple of "we's" in there, but that sounds like Pelini is taking personal ownership of the defense going forward. Add in this from the OWH today:

 

 

Now, he and Pelini have to rebuild the Blackshirts to resemble a flock of hawks. Since Papuchis may recruit some this week — NU's 2014 class is perilously thin on defensive commits right now — it may fall more on Pelini to fix than the lead protégé of his graduate school of coaching. And Pelini may ponder a defensive solution that's desperate, but doable.

 

I may be overreacting, but this kinda sounds like Pelini is sending JP off to the corner to play in the sandbox so he can get this thing fixed.

 

Yeah, that's what it sounds like. By doing this, Pelini is taking complete coaching ownership for the success or failure of the defense. It'll be a pretty big sword to fall on if the defense doesn't change from here until the end of the season.

[Enhance]

I am no college Def cord but I really think if we just dumbed down the defense and ran some normal stuff we could succeed as a defense. I mean it worked for UCLA.

From my own purely speculative stand point, there's only so much you can do to a dumb down an defense. I feel confident that the coaches probably are giving these guys as much as they can handle.

 

But, I still think there's something to be said about the cultural/mental state of the defense. When things snowball they really snowball, but it was nice to see the defense tighten up when it had to after the first quarter or so Saturday.

[HuskerShark]

IMO, this defense will never be truly successful until 2 or 3 changes are made:

 

1) Most importantly, technique that our DL is taught. Too much paddy-cake, not enough swim moves and getting into the backfield.

 

2) Cover-2. It's okay to use that look sometimes, but not every single play. It results in too few hats in the box, and that's why we get run on at the other team's discretion. If I'm a D-1 head coach who is about to play Nebraska, I might not throw the ball once until they line up 8 or more men in the box. There's no reason for 2 defenders to line up 20 yards off the ball every single play.

 

3) Kind of goes hand in hand with 2, but right now there are not enough people lining up in the box. It doesn't take a person who is extremely football-smart to point out that if we have 5 or 6 men in the box being blocked by 6 or 7 offensive players, it's not going to work out well for us.

[QMany]

In his presser, Bo said he had EIGHT people in the box, and they still weren't getting it done.

[HuskerShark]

In his presser, Bo said he had EIGHT people in the box, and they still weren't getting it done.

 

Refer to #1

[TAKODA]

IMO, this defense will never be truly successful until 2 or 3 changes are made:

 

1) Most importantly, technique that our DL is taught. Too much paddy-cake, not enough swim moves and getting into the backfield.

 

2) Cover-2. It's okay to use that look sometimes, but not every single play. It results in too few hats in the box, and that's why we get run on at the other team's discretion. If I'm a D-1 head coach who is about to play Nebraska, I might not throw the ball once until they line up 8 or more men in the box. There's no reason for 2 defenders to line up 20 yards off the ball every single play.

 

3) Kind of goes hand in hand with 2, but right now there are not enough people lining up in the box. It doesn't take a person who is extremely football-smart to point out that if we have 5 or 6 men in the box being blocked by 6 or 7 offensive players, it's not going to work out well for us.

 

This

 

However we did put 8 in the box on occasion and like stated by others, it didn't pan out very well for us.

 

Our predictability on both sides of the ball (prior to last game on the O side) and the (D side all season and longer), has caused our opponents to just salivate at calling their D and O sets to match up. This is why I think a few of the opposing linebackers from other teams have stated about "they knew what we were going to do"

 

This is why TA is good for us, he brought an unknown to the opponent and his abilities opened up different options.

[BigRedBuster]

In his presser, Bo said he had EIGHT people in the box, and they still weren't getting it done.

 

Refer to #1

This is a very frustrating thing for me. Watch our DEs. It seems like they are coached in this scheme that the first move is to crash down on the LOS where the O tackle is.

 

So, then lets think about that. When we are going against a spread offense and we have one LB in the box and no safeties in run support, who has outside contain? It is extremely easy to block the DE because he is already crashing down on the line.

 

I was always taught that the first thing to do as a DE was contain the outside. If someone gets outside of you and upfield then you failed. Now, it is fine to crash down if there is someone else that has outside contain. But, if everyone else is in pass coverage and the one lone LB is standing in the middle of the field reading the play, it is EXTREMELY tough to contain the outside.

 

I would appreciate anyone who can explain the logic behind this.

[NUance]

Did anybody else notice or wonder what Pelini was saying to Papuchis as the game was ending. Bo was walking towards midfield with John next to him. A look of disgust by Bo and a few words, John stopped and looked deflated and upset and Bo just kept walking.

I'll bet he dropped an F-bomb.

 

[Comish]

In his presser, Bo said he had EIGHT people in the box, and they still weren't getting it done.

 

Refer to #1

This is a very frustrating thing for me. Watch our DEs. It seems like they are coached in this scheme that the first move is to crash down on the LOS where the O tackle is.

 

So, then lets think about that. When we are going against a spread offense and we have one LB in the box and no safeties in run support, who has outside contain? It is extremely easy to block the DE because he is already crashing down on the line.

 

I was always taught that the first thing to do as a DE was contain the outside. If someone gets outside of you and upfield then you failed. Now, it is fine to crash down if there is someone else that has outside contain. But, if everyone else is in pass coverage and the one lone LB is standing in the middle of the field reading the play, it is EXTREMELY tough to contain the outside.

 

I would appreciate anyone who can explain the logic behind this.

I agree it seems simple...........contain the outside and expect help from your buddies on the inside.

 

Bo's scheme surely must involve trying to disguise some things...........??

[BRV920]

If you listened to the post game press conference Bo said that we ran mostly a 1 gap scheme against UCLA and played a lot of man coverage. Which worked pretty well in the first half but once they made some adjustments things went down hill in hurry.

[BigRedBuster]

I agree it seems simple...........contain the outside and expect help from your buddies on the inside.

 

Bo's scheme surely must involve trying to disguise some things...........??

 

Pretty strange disguise leaving the outside wide open.

[Guy Chamberlin]

I mentioned this on another thread, but how can John Papuchis be doing anything not be pre-approved by Bo Pelini, who was brought to UNL as a defensive guru, and whose future job prospects hinge on Nebraska's defensive performance?

 

 

I will say that tackling fundamentals seem to be slightly improved this year.