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Can Spartans stop Huskers run game?

Saunders

By Saunders,
in Husker Football

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admo Defensive Coordinator

admo

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I think Tommy will help with the running game. He is running hard this year with some determination too. If they want to pay close attention to Ameer, then Armstrong will have some opportunities. But I would like to see a heavy dose of Ameer in the second half, especially when defenses are wearing down.

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cg_8 Four-Star Recruit

cg_8

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MSU's base D is built to simultaneously stop the run and stop the pass.

 

It's complicated from the stand point that they consistently keep 7 guys in the box (if not more) while utilizing a "quarters" (their version of the cover 4) zone coverage. In their scheme, in order for their base D to be productive, it requires LB's and DB's all to pretty much make the same read. In this case, if we run, they already have the numbers game in their favor with 7 in the box.

 

Of course, that doesn't work out all the time. I'll use one play from last year as an example: Cross' long run for a TD.

 

What beat MSU on that play? Well, for one, blocking, they created a hole exactly where Cross needed to run to. Cross was already at full speed once he hit the hole, and had only the safety to beat. Also, important to note that their D end didn't make a play on Cross. The right read by Tommy since the LB was so far wide, paying (too much) attention to the stacked receivers.

 

Our formation definitely helped. That play, we have twins stacked on both sides of the field. This spread out the LB's further away from the line. You could argue that one of the LB's (on the side Cross runs towards) spreads too far wide, too far away to make a play. So spreading MSU out definitely helps, but in order for it to help, we need to prove that we can get it done through the air. Tommy proved that already in that game, with his TD pass to Burtch.

 

How to expose their passing D? This is where I think we will excel a lot. Tommy will probably be left with either beautiful drawn up plays leaving someone open in a certain zone. That is basically what happened with his TD pass to Burtch last year. We haven't shown much of our passing plays this year, and that works to our advantage. I sense maybe a big play or two in the passing game due to just damn good play by Beck.

 

Of course, none of this matters if the line just absolutely destroys their D. That has been the case these last few games. They have consistently gotten to the second level and been putting hats on LB's and DB's. One of the better performances by out OLine in quite some time. This game could just plain be what we have seen lately. Running a few plays over and over because they are working, and sprinkling in a couple of change up plays when needed.

 

Most importantly, I could be wrong. Our line could lay an egg. Tommy could get sacked a few times with their double gap blitzes and we lose. We haven't been giving credit to our line for consistently being in sync and beautifully executing their zone blocking techniques. I really think our running game depends on the line. McNeese showed me how bad our running game could be if our line just plain doesn't play well. But all the other games showed me just how good a running game is with a line that just clicks.

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skersfan All-American

skersfan

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Not sure if they can or not, but Mark May just made some very positive comments on Ameer and Nebraska. He seemed impressed. I know most hate Mark May, but he seems pretty close to right to me most of the time. I think, I did not hear the whole thing, but I think he thinks Nebraska will be able to run on MSU and win.

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olddominionhusker Scout Team

olddominionhusker

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Not sure if they can or not, but Mark May just made some very positive comments on Ameer and Nebraska. He seemed impressed. I know most hate Mark May, but he seems pretty close to right to me most of the time. I think, I did not hear the whole thing, but I think he thinks Nebraska will be able to run on MSU and win.

May said Nebraska has and can run the ball on MSU and if not for the turnovers would have beat them last year.

 

May is somewhat obnoxious and opinionated but he does actually watch the games and in general knows what he's talking about.

 

He's also much better when they get him away from Lou and he's not having to do the whole fake Crossfire format where he basically has to disagree with everything Holtz says for the sake of phony "debate"

 

At halftime they made their picks for the big games. May picked the Huskers pretty emphatically noting how well they've done against them recently. His counterpart said "those last two years were with a guy named Taylor Martinez, they now have a guy named Tommy Armstrong" and took Sparty.

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skersfan All-American

skersfan

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I have always liked him for saying what he thinks. And when he is wrong he always says he was. The others seldom own up to it, but it could be that Lou forces it.

 

I honestly was kind of shocked he made that choice. In honesty it gives me added faith, he does not throw around his picks and he has been hard on Nebraska and Bo the last few years, and I normally agreed with him. I tend to this time to.

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