Serious OL Question

[Warrior10]

Comment on the Oline...just watched Landlords video...watch Ameers last TD run. Mark Pelini has the All-American MLB Perryman 10+ yards from the LOS scrimmage at the goal line and is still driving his backwards as Ameer runs through the endzone. That is one hell of a 1v1 play by a "too small" center.

 

Just beautiful.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

 

 

Rewatch both games. There are a few factors that I see. I've only rewatched a little over a quarter of the Miami game.

a) yes, they did play better. Mainly, they did a better job of making sure the DLineman is blocked before they went to the second level. In the McNeese State game, sometimes the D lineman was able to make a play because the Husker O lineman went to the second level and the block at the one wasn't passed off to someone else properly.

 

 

b) McNeese State looked like they stacked the box more. I haven't studied it in depth but Miami didn't have as many people committed to stopping Ameer.

 

c) And, I think this is the biggest one, Miami wasn't blitzing their LBs to fill running gaps as much. They thought their D line would be able to win the point of attack and the LBs stayed back reading the play more. This allowed us to WIN the point of attack and get Ameer and Tommy to the second level.

 

This is why we saw Nebraska passing 31 times in the McNeese State game. If they are going to commit that much to stopping Ameer, then the passing game should open up.

 

Honestly, I don't know how I would defend Nebraska right now. We have proven we can beat you by running Ameer, long passing offense, medium length passing offense and with this game, we have proven that Tommy and Ameer are deadly with the read option as a tandem.

 

Tommy is really running this offense very well. You can tell he has confidence in it and he knows the majority of runs needs to go to Ameer but he is perfectly fine with taking it and making plays on his own. I REALLY like watching both players run the ball.

I also like how TA handles the offense. His ability on the option read is so smooth he reminds me of Turner Gill. I just hope he limits the bad throws.

 

He did a good job throwing the ball on Saturday.

 

9 of 13 was good, but 1 out of 13 interceptions is unacceptable, especially given how wide open Bell was on the play

 

 

Alabama, Ol Miss, Michigan State, Stanford, Mississippi State, Ohio State and South Carolina all have starting quarterbacks with similar or worse interception to attempt ratios than Tommy Armstrong.

 

Interceptions are never good, but I think he's pretty darned acceptable.

[NUinID]

Is McNeese State's defensive line that much better than Miami?

 

Or did our offensive line eat its Wheaties?

 

Much has been made about Beck committing to Abdullah this game, but in the two previous games Abdullah had plenty of carries but far less penetration. Against McNeese, you could see that our OL wasn't getting any push. A third and one was never a gimme. Against Miami Beck seemed to spread out the point of attack a bit for Abdullah, but it still required an offensive line that could get push, the kind where the qb or rb could essentially fall forward for two yards. That's the part that reminded me of vintage Nebraska.

 

So was that execution and attitude, a change of scheme, or is the Miami D simply not as good as McNeese State?

I know it is really hard to understand, but every game is different. The old saying "That is why they play the games" is true. McNeese St. d-line is good, but not as good as Miami's. McNeese St. played with a different game plan than Miami.

 

You won't see a team like Miami sell out to stop the run because they don't think they need to do it. They want to be sound at all ends of the game.

 

NU's offensive line also just played better against Miami. Remember FB is an emotional game.

 

As fans it is really hard for us to understand why a player might not be up to pummel a team like McNeese St. well it happens.

[admo]

As I said after the McNeese game, it's not so much of playing "better" as it is selling out to stop AA. McNeese always had at least one more guy in the box than we could block - often two guys - and they went straight for AA which is why TA had several long runs. If anything, we actually should have run AA less in that game - not that we couldn't have gotten the ball to him in other ways.

In response to the OP, I clearly agree with this. Most teams have figured out that their best chance against us is to stack up against the run and force the QB to make plays. At least over the past several years including McNeese. Forcing us to throw the ball a lot is not our bread and butter, because it puts pressure on decision making and for the OC to adjust. Those things can break down more often than our running game.

 

Miami did none of that.

[Guy Chamberlin]

I'm also holding out the possibility that - as reported - Ameer Abdullah is simply demanding that the rest of the team step up to his standards of dedication and focus.

[Mavric]

Dan Hoppen ‏@danhoppen 1h

Nebraska has only allowed 10 tackles for loss this season, 3rd best in the country. Hats off to the offensive line. #Huskers

[Mavric]

Dan Hoppen ‏@danhoppen 1h

Nebraska’s entire right side of the offensive line (Moudy, Kondolo, Sterup, Price) has yet to commit a penalty this year.

[StPaulHusker]

 

Dan Hoppen ‏@danhoppen 1h

Nebraska’s entire right side of the offensive line (Moudy, Kondolo, Sterup, Price) has yet to commit a penalty this year.

 

And yet Jake Cotton made the All B1G non-conference offensive team.

[HeyBurke]

The right side of the line has looked extremely impressive. I don't think I've ever seen a large part of an OL not commit a penalty this far into a season.

[Thanks_Tom RR]

I am going to throw this in here because it is a hell of a quote that has implications for the OL mindset.

 

@swmckewonOWH: TE Sam Cotton: "If we could go the whole game and not throw the ball one time, I'd like nothing more. That's a lot of fun, man." #huskers