Check out this article - YIKES

[bdubb75]

This is a tough read but I think it shows that we need big changes. Link: http://pregame.com/pregame-forums/f/14/t/1092134.aspx

 

Item: Melvin Gordon was sensational* (but…)

Gordon’s stat line from Saturday was one for the ages, 25 rush attempts for an almost incomprehensible 408 yards, and four TDs (yes, he did lose two fumbles, but that can be excused in this instance). And that is without a single carry in the fourth quarter, which makes one shudder to think what he might have done when the Nebraska defense wore down. Except, of course, that it may not have made any difference whether the Cornhuskers were tired or not. Because the * that goes with Gordon’s performance is one that does matter as you compile takeaways from the game – it was not all about him.

Pelini likes to consider himself a defensive specialist, and he has taken on that Wisconsin ground game four times since joining the Big 10. The results have been remarkable – how about losing SU by 102 points, and to the spread by a nearly identical 102.5? The first encounter was a 48-17 drubbing in Madison in 2011, when Montee Ball ran for 151 yards and four TDs. The Cornhuskers did get revenge at home in 2012, rallying from 27-10 down to win 30-27, but they did not sniff the -9 spread. But then came the last two. The teams had a rematch in the 2012 Big 10 Championship game at Indianapolis, with Nebraska favored by -3, and it was a 70-31 Badger demolition. They ran the ball 50 times for 539 yards, including what seemed, at the time, like an astonishing nine carries for 216 yards from Gordon. And it was even better than the bottom line, with two kneel-downs for (-3) at the end of the game doing the defense a statistical favor.

So let’s add up the rushing totals for last two meetings, with kneel-downs removed (there were also two at the end of Saturday’s game):

Points Rushing

2012 Big 10 Title Game 70 48-542

Saturday 59 51-583

Totals 129 99-1,125

That bottom line is outside the realm of anything that traditional football measurements can allow for. Wisconsin vs. Eastern Michigan would not produce 11.4 yards per carry over eight quarters. The 2014 Nebraska defense had not allowed more than 31 points, or 188 rushing yards, to any other opponent. And while Gordon’s 34 carries for 624 yards over those two games is something that we will not see the likes of again, consider that all other Wisconsin runners amassed 501 at a 7.7 per carry clip in those drubbings. It wasn't just Gordon's abilities in play here.

This is not a bad Cornhusker defense – there is plenty of talent on that roster - but they did not have a schematic clue as to how to get in the path of Wisconsin ball carriers. And that was with the revenge motive from that debacle at Indianapolis as both a motivator, and something that gave them plenty of film study. The number of times that Gordon scampered downfield without any contact at all was an indication of what may have been the worst defensive game plan I have seen all season. Which raises questions in Lincoln – although this has been a successful campaign for the Nebraska program, it has never been a warm and cozy relationship with Pelini. How the Cornhuskers respond from that shellacking could well determine whether he ever gets another chance to figure out how to defend the Badgers, and one has to particularly question the psyche of that defense as they take on Minnesota and Iowa teams that can also get physical with their overland attacks. It is worth noting that Nebraska was 0-2 SU and ATS against those two LY, losing to the spread by 44.5 in the process.