Secondary play...

[Saunders]

Anyone have a screenshot of the DB's in a similar situation with Bo as coach? And what the resulting play was? That would be interesting to see because we all know Bo had players in the correct position all the time.

 

 

This (non) argument again???

[Mavric]

 

 

 

 

On TBL's post game show podcast, Joe Ganz said on Wisky's 3rd and 5 in our RZ, we had Jonathan Rose playing 10 yards off the ball. Haven't had a chance to offload my footage, so I haven't been able to look up the play.

10 yards is a stretch but 6-7 yards and backpedaling. When the QB has time to stare you down, double-clutch and still complete a sideways pass all the way across the field, that's terrible coverage.

 

 

When you're running cover two and your Secondary can't cover, what do you do?

Throw to the TE. Guy had four catches coming into Saturday's game.

He gets six and a touch.

 

The way the secondary is playing, it's like you could throw quarters coverage out there. Wouldn't matter.

 

This is our quarters coverage. Not Cover 2.

 

 

 

 

I hope you're laughing at the simple mistake you made by saying it was a Cover 2 coverage.

[StPaulHusker]

 

Anyone have a screenshot of the DB's in a similar situation with Bo as coach? And what the resulting play was? That would be interesting to see because we all know Bo had players in the correct position all the time.

 

 

This (non) argument again???

 

How is it a non argument when we read at every turn how great Pelini's pass defense was?

[zoogs]

I think we need to lay some of these arguments to rest.

 

This was a shaky defense last year that regularly fell apart. If they had pass defense rankings that were high, it was a combination of a scheme more devoted to it, and teams exploiting other areas, and maybe a function too of the kinds of teams we played. Kaaya didn't have much trouble throwing.

 

The defense is one unit, not two. They were not good last year, and they are still shaky this year. As Riley says, you need tangible results to start building that confidence.

 

This year they've traded, schematically, the pass defense focus for a run defense focus. Whether that was wise or not, we'll see.

 

As Nebraska fans we always talk about how great it is if you can run the ball well and control the game. You'd think more of us would see this approach and say "OK, yeah. I can see how we'd rather take our chances and make teams beat us through the air. And I can see why they probably will do well until the talent level is upgraded."

[huskerfan92]

 

On TBL's post game show podcast, Joe Ganz said on Wisky's 3rd and 5 in our RZ, we had Jonathan Rose playing 10 yards off the ball. Haven't had a chance to offload my footage, so I haven't been able to look up the play.

 

10 yards is a stretch but 6-7 yards and backpedaling. When the QB has time to stare you down, double-clutch and still complete a sideways pass all the way across the field, that's terrible coverage.

 

 

 

What in the world is that at the bottom of the screen? Do want to give up easy completions? Because that's how you give up easy completions

[StPaulHusker]

Just a look at the opponents we played both years so far.

 

 

Last year, Nebraska's secondary gave up 359 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 31 points

This year nebraska's secondary gave up 379 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 33 points. OT FG not included.

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary gave up 261 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 251 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary "gave up" 46 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 59 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 322 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 23 points.

[Swiv3D]

Just a look at the opponents we played both years so far.

 

 

Last year, Nebraska's secondary gave up 359 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 31 points

This year nebraska's secondary gave up 379 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 33 points. OT FG not included.

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary gave up 261 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 251 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary "gave up" 46 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 59 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 322 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 23 points.

obviously each game had different situations and variables that led to the result, but that is an interesting Stat to say the least.

[Saunders]

Just a look at the opponents we played both years so far.

 

 

Last year, Nebraska's secondary gave up 359 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 31 points

This year nebraska's secondary gave up 379 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 33 points. OT FG not included.

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary gave up 261 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 251 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary "gave up" 46 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 59 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 322 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 23 points.

 

This year's secondary has given up over 300 passing yards 5 out of 6 games.

 

Conversely, we gave up 300 yards passing 8 times over 94 games from 2008-2014, and 5 times in the last 81 games.

 

I think it's safe to say we can find a happy medium in scheme...

[Mavric]

I think we need to lay some of these arguments to rest.

 

This was a shaky defense last year that regularly fell apart. If they had pass defense rankings that were high, it was a combination of a scheme more devoted to it, and teams exploiting other areas, and maybe a function too of the kinds of teams we played. Kaaya didn't have much trouble throwing.

 

The defense is one unit, not two. They were not good last year, and they are still shaky this year. As Riley says, you need tangible results to start building that confidence.

 

This year they've traded, schematically, the pass defense focus for a run defense focus. Whether that was wise or not, we'll see.

 

As Nebraska fans we always talk about how great it is if you can run the ball well and control the game. You'd think more of us would see this approach and say "OK, yeah. I can see how we'd rather take our chances and make teams beat us through the air. And I can see why they probably will do well until the talent level is upgraded."

 

I think there's some revisionist history in here. When you say last year's defense "regularly fell apart", what is your definition of "regularly" and which games would you say that happened?

 

Last year we were #48 in the country in total yards given up per game at 373. That was about #33 out of 67 Power 5 teams (including BYU and Notre Dame). That's not great but not terrible either. It's almost exactly average. But a lot of damage was done in one game. In the 11 games we played against teams not named Wisconsin (ESPN apparently doesn't include bowl games in their stats), we gave up 350 yards per game. That would have been good enough to be #30 in the country and #24 in the Power 5+. That's pretty decent. Doesn't negate what happened against Wisconsin but shows that we were actually pretty decent the rest of the time.

 

There have also been a lot of comments about people always being able to run all over us. These comments are basically focusing on Wisconsin and ignoring the rest of the games. Against non-Wisconsin opponents last year, we gave up 3.8 yards per rushing attempt. That would have been good enough for #33 in the country. In 2013 - when we didn't play Wisconsin - we finished #32 in the country in yards allowed per attempt at the same 3.8 number. Those aren't great numbers but they're not that bad. And I would bet they're better than most would guess. Again, I'm not discounting what Wisconsin did, just speaking to the idea that we were always bad against the run and regularly fell apart on defense.

 

So far this year we are #107 in the country in total defense at 444 yards per game. That's 70 yards per game worse than last year's total. We are allowing 3.3 yards per rushing attempt so that is a little better but we've also played a lot of teams that don't try to run it much. Before the Wisconsin game we were only giving up 3.0 ypc so it already went up 0.3 just facing one opponent that is decent at running the ball.

 

In general, most would agree that you need to stop the run first. But I don't think many answering that question would think we'd go from #27 in yards per game allowed passing (196) to #128 (348). We haven't just traded stopping the run for stopping the pass. We've traded moderately better run defense for abysmal pass defense. So no I don't think that's a good trade.

[zoogs]

Okay. Maybe you're right. It seemed to me to be a defense that still had a lot of problems. In keeping with a not-so-short trend of breakdowns and blowouts.

 

I don't see this year's defense as having taken any more of a step back than isn't understandable by management/depth issues inherited, unfortunate injuries being tied to a good percentage of the early stats, and an inability to match what Randy Gregory could offer.

 

I'll be curious to check back at the end of the season on the story of our pass defense and see what kind of trade it looks like then. I know the scrutiny will be pretty high on Banker and Stewart if it's as bad as it looks now, and that will be fair.

[StPaulHusker]

 

Just a look at the opponents we played both years so far.

 

 

Last year, Nebraska's secondary gave up 359 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 31 points

This year nebraska's secondary gave up 379 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 33 points. OT FG not included.

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary gave up 261 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 251 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary "gave up" 46 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 59 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 322 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 23 points.

 

This year's secondary has given up over 300 passing yards 5 out of 6 games.

 

Conversely, we gave up 300 yards passing 8 times over 94 games from 2008-2014, and 5 times in the last 81 games.

 

I think it's safe to say we can find a happy medium in scheme...

 

Sure we can. I just thought it was interesting to compare those 3 losses.

[Saunders]

 

 

Just a look at the opponents we played both years so far.

 

 

Last year, Nebraska's secondary gave up 359 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 31 points

This year nebraska's secondary gave up 379 yards passing to Miami. The defense gave up 33 points. OT FG not included.

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary gave up 261 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 251 yards passing to Illinois. The defense gave up 14 points

 

Last year Nebraska's secondary "gave up" 46 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 59 points.

This year Nebraska's secondary gave up 322 yards passing to Wisconsin. The defense gave up 23 points.

 

This year's secondary has given up over 300 passing yards 5 out of 6 games.

 

Conversely, we gave up 300 yards passing 8 times over 94 games from 2008-2014, and 5 times in the last 81 games.

 

I think it's safe to say we can find a happy medium in scheme...

 

Sure we can. I just thought it was interesting to compare those 3 losses.

 

The elite guys were able to complete passes against Bo's D, just like good NFL guys can still throw against elite secondaries. The difference, is that the guys a tier or 2 lower didn't have success. With this scheme, even average QB's are flourishing.

 

Minnesota is arguably the 2nd worst passing team we face all year, with next weeks game against NW being the worst.

 

 

If they set season records, Stewart and Banker need to be put on red alert.

[Mavric]

Okay. Maybe you're right. It seemed to me to be a defense that still had a lot of problems. In keeping with a not-so-short trend of breakdowns and blowouts.

Agree with this. To many, it seemed like it was happening a lot. But it was basically one game per year. Which is still too much. But I wouldn't call it regularly.

 

 

I don't see this year's defense as having taken any more of a step back than isn't understandable by management/depth issues inherited, unfortunate injuries being tied to a good percentage of the early stats, and an inability to match what Randy Gregory could offer.

 

I'll be curious to check back at the end of the season on the story of our pass defense and see what kind of trade it looks like then. I know the scrutiny will be pretty high on Banker and Stewart if it's as bad as it looks now, and that will be fair.

But I'm not going to agree here. We were #48 in yards allowed last year. We were #40 the year before that. We're currently #107. I don't think that can simply be attributed to transition and loss of one guy who played about 2/3 of the time. Especially with all the talk about how it was really Bo's scheme that was too complicated and wouldn't get the best athletes on the field and this new scheme was going to be so much simpler and allow everyone to just play.

[Mavric]

Here's one more set of stats for you that I didn't think about until I was most of the way done with post #174.

 

Really, the best measure is Yards per Play. That takes out the variables that the defense has no control over - mainly how much your own offense possesses the ball and how quickly your opponents run plays.

 

We are currently #86 in the country at 5.9 yards per play.

In 2014, we were #49 at 5.2. Removing the Wisconsin game would make it 5.0 yards per play which would be about #30 in the country.

Wanna guess at 2013? We were #19 in the country, allowing 4.9 yards per play.

 

So, like I said, the complaints about how bad our defense has been over the last few years are greatly exaggerated by a few bad games. And they were terrible. But, overall, we were actually pretty decent. Nowhere near 2009 great. But MUCH better than most give us credit for.

 

And considering how much ballyhoo there was over a simpler scheme and a more attacking defense, I can't see how this can be anything close to understandable.

[zoogs]

Teams that run more and pass less almost always have lower YPP. "Successful running" YPP is lower than "OK passing" YPP. One thing to consider. Obviously I haven't dug around the numbers.