Why I'm Not Depressed

[HuskerNationNick]

That's some serious reverse engineering, chief. Not much understanding of how football works.

 

The thing that wasn't working in those games is that we were losing.

 

Do you honestly think we were 10 more Imani Cross carries away from winning those games?

Reverse engineering? How so, since you seem to know everything...

 

UCLA- 21 1st downs, 3-14 on 3rd down

First down play selection- 20 rush/12 pass 62% rush- 8 of our rushing plays went for 1st down, 11 pass for 1st, and 2 penalty 1st downs.

Average yard on 2nd down- 8.74 yards

2nd down play selection- 11 rush/18 pass 62% pass

Average yards to go on 3rd down- 6.4 yards

3rd down play selection- 4 rush/10 pass 71% pass

3rd down rate by play: 1-4 rushing 25%, 2-10 passing 17%

 

You see 128 rushing yards, but the stat you don't see, is Taylor losing 43 rushing yards in that game, with Adbullah only losing 1 yard during the whole game. 10 of the carries came from Martinez, 5 from Newby, 3 from Cross, 1 from Nickens and 23 from Abdullah.

 

1st drive of the 3rd Quarter

Neb- 1st &10 @ Neb16 Martinez, T. pass incomplete to Carter, Cethan, PENALTY UCLA pass interference (Jefferson, Anth) 11 yards to the NEB27, 1ST DOWN NEB, NO PLAY.

Neb- 1st &10 @Neb27 Abdullah, Ameer rush up middle for 4 yards to the NEB31 (Zumwalt, Jordan;Epenesa, Seali').

Neb- 2nd & 6 @ Neb31 Martinez, T. pass complete to Bell, Kenny for 11 yards to the NEB42, 1ST DOWN NEB (Moreau, Fabian;Kendricks, Eric).

Neb- 1st &10 @ Neb42 Martinez, T. pass complete to Turner, Jamal for loss of 1 yard to the NEB41 (McCarthy, Ellis;Barr, Anthony).

Neb 2-11 at Neb41 Martinez, T. pass complete to Turner, Jamal for 5 yards to the NEB46, out-of-bounds (Barr, Anthony).

Neb 3-6 at Neb46 Martinez, T. pass complete to Long, Jake for 8 yards to the UCLA46, 1ST DOWN NEB (Goforth, Randal).

Neb- 1st &10 @ Ucla46 Newby, Terrell rush over right tackle for 3 yards to the UCLA43 (Jack, Myles).

Neb- 2nd & 7 @ Ucla43 Martinez, T. pass complete to Zimmerer, C.J. for 2 yards to the UCLA41 (Barr, Anthony).

Neb- 3rd and 5 @ Ucla41 Martinez, T. pass incomplete to Burtch, Sam.

Neb- 4th & 5 @ Ucla41 Foltz, Sam punt 30 yards to the UCLA11, downed.

2 rush plays this whole drive.

 

Neb- 1st & 10 @ Neb25 Abdullah, Ameer rush up middle for 4 yards to the NEB29 (Kendricks, Eric).

Neb- 2nd & 6 @t Neb29 Martinez, T. pass incomplete to Bell, Kenny.

Neb- 3rd & 6 @ Neb29 Martinez, T. sacked for loss of 9 yards to the NEB20 (Graham, Keenan).

Neb- 4th & 15 @ Neb20

1 rush attempt, gains 4 yards, could make it a 3rd and short with another attempt, rather risk a pass for a 3rd and long and force a passing play... hmmm....

 

Neb- 1st & 10 @ Neb25 Martinez, T. pass incomplete to Turner, Jamal.

Neb- 2nd & 10 @ Neb25 Martinez, T. pass incomplete to Bell, Kenny.

Neb- 3rd & 10 @ Neb25 Martinez, T. pass incomplete to Wullenwaber, T..

Neb- 4th & 10 @ Neb25

Pass happy on our OWN 25, once again?

 

Neb- 1st & 10 @ Neb25 Abdullah, Ameer rush over left end for 5 yards to the NEB30 (Barr, Anthony;Jefferson, Anth).

Neb- 2nd & 5 @ Neb30 Abdullah, Ameer rush up middle for 5 yards to the NEB35, 1ST DOWN NEB (McCarthy, Ellis;Jefferson, Anth).

Neb- 1st & 10 @ Neb35 Martinez, T. rush over right end for loss of 4 yards to the NEB31 (Jack, Myles).

Neb- 2nd & 14 @ Neb31 Martinez, T. pass complete to Abdullah, Ameer for 3 yards to the NEB34 (Zumwalt, Jordan;Adams, Ishmael).

Neb- 3rd & 11 @ Neb34 Martinez, T. rush up middle for 8 yards to the NEB42 (Graham, Keenan;Jefferson, Anth).

Neb- 4th & 3 @ Neb42 Nickens, B. rush over left end for 2 yards to the NEB44 (Goforth, Randal).

Rushing attack working, and 4th and 3, we run Nickens?! Slow Lineman... makes sense when either Cross or Abdullah should be getting that 3 yards.

 

Neb- 1st & 10 @ Neb25 Martinez, T. pass complete to Bell, Kenny for 1 yard to the NEB26 (Jack, Myles).

Neb- 2nd & 9 @ Neb26 Martinez, T. pass incomplete to Abdullah, Ameer (Jack, Myles).

Neb- 3rd & 9 @ Neb26 Martinez, T. pass incomplete to Long, Jake, QB hurry by Hollins, Deon.

Neb 4th & 9 @ Neb26 Foltz, Sam punt 44 yards to the UCLA30, fair catch by Evans, Shaquell.

Pass happy?!

 

Neb- 1st & 10 @ Neb05 Newby, Terrell rush over right end for 7 yards to the NEB12 (Zumwalt, Jordan).

Neb- 2nd & 3 @ Neb12 Newby, Terrell rush over left tackle for 4 yards to the NEB16, 1ST DOWN NEB.

Neb- 1st & 10 @ Neb16 Newby, Terrell rush up middle for 4 yards to the NEB20 (Zumwalt, Jordan).

Neb- 2nd & 6 @ Neb20 Newby, Terrell rush over left end for 4 yards to the NEB24 (Moreau, Fabian;Kendricks, Eric).

Neb- 3rd & 2 @ Neb24 End of game, clock 00:00.

HOLY sh#t! THE RUN GAME?! Too late to go back to whats working right?

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Minnesota, I am going to just post stats, since it speaks for itself.

1st Downs- 17, Rushing- 10, Passing- 5, Penalty- 2; 59% of our rushes went for 1st down

Rushes- 30/189 6.3 avg,

Passes- 30/16?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? 50% of our plays passing? Only completing a little more than half passing??!!!

Abdullah, Ameer- 19 ATT, 165 yards, 0 loss, 8.7 avg

Martinez, Taylor- 8 ATT, 16 yards, 35 lost, 2 avg

Cross, Imani- 2 ATT, 4 yards, 0 Loss

Enunwa, Quincy- 1 ATT, 4 yards, 0 Loss

 

We all saw the MSU game, and if you don't think this trend continued, then I am sorry. We did the SAME thing we did in these two games, ONCE again.

[HuskerNationNick]

Just wanted to share these three drives. Whether it's a run, or pass some plays are going to work and others are not. The thing about this argument is people pretend that the running game is always working and going for 4-5 yards every play. That's not always the case and running the ball puts the offense in bad positions just as much as passing.

What do those drives have to do with anything? Those are 1st half drives... if you have read anything that has been stated in this thread, I said Beck went retard mode in the SECOND HALF. He went pass happy, and it failed... ONCE AGAIN and AGAIN, you can add one more in there... AGAIN!

[Hujan]

Does anyone think our defense's apparent improvement has nicely coincided with us playing some awful offenses? I mean, if we played Oregon tomorrow, does anyone think we'd be able to keep them from hanging 600 yards and 50 points on us?

 

Also, does anyone think a 9-3 regular season is an absolute joke for this schedule? The only legitimate team on our schedule is/was UCLA. Everyone else is mediocre at best, and that includes Michigan State, which is almost the Big Ten's version of Nebraska 2009: Amazing defense, below average offense.

[HuskerNationNick]

...includes Michigan State, which is almost the Big Ten's version of Nebraska 2009: Amazing defense, below average offense.

I would differ on the amazing defense part.

[Guy Chamberlin]

1 rush attempt, gains 4 yards, could make it a 3rd and short with another attempt, rather risk a pass for a 3rd and long and force a passing play... hmmm....

 

I see the problem. You see each pass as a risk instead of an opportunity. You don't see the risk of a rushing play getting stuffed on 3rd and 2 when we would apparently be "forced" to run and the defense would be ready.

 

Honestly, I'm kinda with you on the UCLA game. We could have mixed in a few more runs in the third quarter. But Beck was actually sticking with what had worked in the first half when a similar run/pass mix ripped through UCLA and had us up 21 - 3. We couldn't get too conservative in the third quarter only up 21 - 10. And then we couldn't afford to run the clock when suddenly down two touchdowns.

 

We didn't get pass happy against Minnesota. We didn't get pass happy against Michigan State. You are choosing the games we lost and forgetting that we ran a similar play mix in the games we won. Winning cures everything.

 

Teams do tend to pass a bit more late in the fourth quarter down by two scores. Nobody is really "happy" about that.

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

The first time in a long time I've come away from a loss with something tangible to make "the future is bright" argument. Lately our losses send me away with many more questions than anything. I also think this team can see improvement, which is very important. We need to finish strong this year and make some off season adjustments to our staff. I think we could be in for a nice multi year run.

[Mavric]

Over the last three games, Nebraska is #7 in the nation in Total Defense.

 

Over the last three games, Nebraska is #4 in the nation in Yards Allowed per Play.

 

For the season, Nebraska is #8 in the nation in Third Down Conversion Percentage Allowed.

 

 

 

Disappointed? Yes. Depressed? Not by a long shot.

[HuskerNationNick]

We didn't get pass happy against Minnesota. We didn't get pass happy against Michigan State. You are choosing the games we lost and forgetting that we ran a similar play mix in the games we won. Winning cures everything.

I am not trying to be argumentative here, but how do you not figure we got pass happy against Minnesota?

 

16/30, while only having 30 rush attempts. Not one time did a RB get hit for negative yards, and Abdullah was doing work. We did in fact become a pass happy team, and it wasn't successful at all, since we were barely over 50%. Not only did we become pass happy, we decided to do this with a QB who has absolutely no reason to be on the field. Between his fractured toes and bruised shoulder, he shouldn't have been playing. You could see this during the game, and if you were there, you could see it effecting him on the sidelines. Minnesota fans around me even noticed it and hoped we wouldn't pull him. Minnesota knew Martinez was no threat with his feet. This is when we should have put our true passer in if Beck wanted to play that style of football.

 

As for MSU, I had no problem with Beck's first half of play calling, but I think he went bone headed afterwards. I guess the score/yards in the second half says they weren't very smart plays either.

 

Beck seems to only be able to call good games against weaker opponents, and he has a tendency to fold in big games. I have not been fond of him at all this year,

 

About the 3rd and 2 comment, this is when the defense would be "ready" for the run, go play action, Zone Read, or Option. I would much rather fall on a 3rd and short, rather than a 3rd and Long. We seem to have more than our fair share of 3rd and Long this year.

[Shockley03]

Wow, HuskerNationNick. Great observation. I wished I could have been at that game. You know, it was the Minnesota game that eliminated our margin for error with trying to reach the Big Ten title game. That created Tommy Armstrong's difficult scenario of having to get past the nation's No. 1 defense in previously 16th ranked Michigan State. Armstrong had no margin for error as MSU was 6-0 in league play while Nebraska sat at 4-1 going into the matchup. Now, MSU enjoys a 2-game lead in our division.

 

It ticks me off. So many fans want to - on this message board - gang up on Tommy Armstrong for struggling against what I saw was a crafty, crafty, opportunistic Spartans defense. I remember when the Spartans punked my alma mater Georgia 33-30 in three overtimes in the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1, 2012. They are tough. People just don't understand. MSU's defense is very athletic... and they are very athletic this year in 2013.

 

It frustrates me to no end. The Landlord got on here a while ago and pretty much gave Armstrong a tongue lashing for his turnovers against Michigan State, but Armstrong has to face the fury of the schedule without getting much of a chance to be broken in against easier opponents which we have already faced such as Southern Mississippi and Wyoming. (recall that Armstrong didn't start against Southern Miss and Wyoming) Instead, Armstrong has to face the very fury of a brutal late season schedule without much prepping during the regular season. We just finished up with #16 Michigan State - and got past an improving Michigan team (7-3) a few weeks ago. Next, we face an up-and-coming Penn State (6-4) on the road. After that, Nebraska has to match up with a much improved Iowa (6-4) who has been impressive at times this year. Iowa is not the cupcake the were a year ago. I'm worried. It'd be nice if there was a Sacramento State on the schedule in between these extremely tough Big Ten matchups to help Armstrong out. He needs it - but it didn't work out that way this year.

 

The key is at quarterback where the Big Ten teams are improving as I've observed - and that improvement is exponential. It's always been a league of great passers going back to guys like Art Schlichter, Tony Eason, Chuck Long, and Mike Tomzack. Last year, everyone could tell the Big Ten was down at quarterback especially with the brilliant Kirk Cousins having graduated from Michigan State following the 2011 season. Well, the Big Ten's QBs are all getting better - which this league is known for. That current Michigan State QB is a pure passer.

 

Hopefully, we'll be OK these next two games. If Jason Ankrah, Randy Gregory, and Co. can get into the Penn State backfield, that'll help to keep PSU's freshman QB uncomfortable. We'll need that Saturday. People need to stay positive, and realize Armstrong's situation. I can't believe the people that get on here and bash him right after he's done all he can do to help carry Big Red. Nobody wants it as bad as Tommy Armstrong. He's going to come through for Nebraska. I just know he can!

[Bowfin]

I like how Bo keeps going back to Armstrong every game to start even if he had a shaky game before.

 

Is this sarcasm?

[iowahuskers]

I like how Bo keeps going back to Armstrong every game to start even if he had a shaky game before.

 

Is this sarcasm?

 

No and you took this out of its context....As I was saying I like how Bo trusts his team and by going back to Armstrong he is showing faith in him. He understands TA is young and will make mistakes but thinks he can be a great QB and Bo is investing in our future.

[kchusker_chris]

Over the last three games, Nebraska is #7 in the nation in Total Defense.

Over the last three games, Nebraska is #4 in the nation in Yards Allowed per Play.

For the season, Nebraska is #8 in the nation in Third Down Conversion Percentage Allowed.

 

Disappointed? Yes. Depressed? Not by a long shot.

This is pretty awesome, but it is kind of depressing to think the D has elevated it's game to this level and we're a hail-mary and a late drive from being 0-3 during that stretch. As bad as the D was early, this offense has really been a let down this season. Never saw that coming.

[Mavric]

Agreed. Pretty crazy that we had two years of great defense but no offense followed by two years of really good offense but no defense and now we've seen a similar switch within the same season.