Linebacker Play

[zoogs]

Aleppo moment there for a guy not really familiar with the Huskers

 

Trent Bray.

[Bowfin]

Oh, a linebackers coach??? I thought it was one of those cool things to say like "T-mart" or "Zig".

 

I can't say Bray sucks, but the linebacker play speaks for itself. He needs to get the yards per attempt ranking higher than 102 out of 128 teams, don't you think?

[MichiganDad3]

Thanks for the breakdown. Nice pictures. Is it possible that Banker is willing to give up some long TD runs in exchange for stopping the shutting down the run game the remainder of the time? It might be my bad memory, but it seems like we give up an average per carry of around 2 yards, but we also give up a couple long TD runs every game. IMO this is better than giving up 4 yards per carry on every play, although I still prefer the 1971, 1995 or 2009 defensive stats.

[knapplc]

Our linebackers, and Trent Bray, were the strength of the team last year.

 

This year they're almost nonexistent.

 

It's just about the same group of linebackers. It's the same coach.

 

So what's different?

 

We have an almost 100% different D Line. No Vincent Valentine, no Maliek Collins. Instead of two stout run-stopping DTs, you have two largely untested guys who are not nearly the same caliber of player. Rather than occupying the O Line, they're getting single-teamed and largely taken out of plays.

 

The linebackers are overcompensating and look terrible as a result.

 

Trent Bray didn't get stupid over the summer, and our linebackers didn't lose their ability to tackle.

[DrunkOffPunch]

^Dzuris has 19 tackles but other than that I agree.

[drfish]

The composite average points per game of the teams the Huskers have played is 28.1. The Huskers are giving up an average of 17.6, so I would reserve the panic for now. On red zone trips, opposing offenses are scoring TD's 42% of the time. Eighth best in the country. For all scores, 75%, (5TD, 4FG, 12 attempts) Total TD's 11, so 6 TD's from outside the red zone. Obviously, blown tackles, blown assignments and bad angles are the biggest problem. Hopefully that can get corrected

[Nebfanatic]

^good stats, Nebraska has had a decievingly solid defense this year. Eye test isn't so great but the stats show otherwise. I'm not disputing that we have problems on defense because we do; it is just a strange wrinkle in an already strange season across college football.

[NUinID]

Our linebackers, and Trent Bray, were the strength of the team last year.

 

This year they're almost nonexistent.

 

It's just about the same group of linebackers. It's the same coach.

 

So what's different?

 

We have an almost 100% different D Line. No Vincent Valentine, no Maliek Collins. Instead of two stout run-stopping DTs, you have two largely untested guys who are not nearly the same caliber of player. Rather than occupying the O Line, they're getting single-teamed and largely taken out of plays.

 

The linebackers are overcompensating and look terrible as a result.

 

Trent Bray didn't get stupid over the summer, and our linebackers didn't lose their ability to tackle.

 

I wouldn't say are new interior guys are less talented, but I would say less experienced, they are gaining experience with every snap. The d line is the big reason though. Look at iowa's defense they aren't stopping the run like they did last year either, neither is MSU.

 

 

IMO the best run stopper is sitting on the bench. Chris Webber was very good at this and isn't playing much.

[Count 'Bility]

The tackling has been suspect at times. i dotn think it's overall been bad. It could be better. From a big picture standpoint, my theory is that now in year two, I'm thinking we've become a bit more complex in the pass coverage game that we're just not as free and fast at the 2nd level. Big time improvement in the back 4 on coverage. But with the multiplicity in offensive football these days, there's always gonna be some give and take. it's very hard to shut down everything these days. So as a defense youre really in a pick your poison type of situation. What do you want to take away to take the other team out of their comfort level. I think our def staff maybe feels we have some issues with a base pass rush, so we have to get more complex against the pass game. And the from an alignment and tendancy standpoint, we give a little in the run game. I think they feel this philosophy is the most comfortable fit for our personnel situation, both up from and in the back.

[Mavric]

Our linebackers, and Trent Bray, were the strength of the team last year.

 

This year they're almost nonexistent.

 

It's just about the same group of linebackers. It's the same coach.

 

So what's different?

 

We have an almost 100% different D Line. No Vincent Valentine, no Maliek Collins. Instead of two stout run-stopping DTs, you have two largely untested guys who are not nearly the same caliber of player. Rather than occupying the O Line, they're getting single-teamed and largely taken out of plays.

 

The linebackers are overcompensating and look terrible as a result.

 

Trent Bray didn't get stupid over the summer, and our linebackers didn't lose their ability to tackle.

 

I tended to assume that the DLine took a step back from last year. Although it's an exaggeration to say that it's almost a 100% different line from last year. 70% would be closer as Freedom, Dzuris and Maurice played a lot and Stoltenberg played a decent amount. And teams are still often doubling Maurice or one of the DTs. Probably not as much as last year but still happening consistently.

 

I think the biggest difference is we're running a totally different defensive scheme from last year. The linebackers play totally different in pass coverage. I don't know if their run fits are different or not - I'd have to go back and watch some games last year to see.

 

I don't get the impression that the LBs are over-compensating. I don't think they'd be as uniform in what they are doing if that was the case. Particularly in the second set of pictures I posted. If they were over-compensating, MRI and Young would have both crashed to the middle as it was a direct handoff right ahead. Instead they both ran straight ahead into their gap. You can tell by how we were aligned pre-snap which gap each of the front seven was responsible for. From defense's left to right: Young has D, Dzuris has C, Left DT has B, Bando has A, Right DT has A, MRI has B and Alex Davis has C. All three LBs shoot into those gaps as soon as they read run. Problem is that MRI and Young run themselves out of the play since it isn't near their gap.

 

 

[Hayseed]

We should hire Craig Bohl to be our linebackers coach.

[Hayseed]

 

They are not being taught to fill the gaps that hard, they are not good at reading their keys, playing disciplined and they are prone to over pursuing the play

 

So...don't you think these linebacker problems should be fixed by someone?

 

No, I don't believe in the kind of mind control techniques you're advocating. Just because they come to Nebraska to play football it doesn't give us the right to alter their brains. Is that what you're asking, some kind of brain surgery or something?

[Mavric]

Now, please do go back and watch how many times slot receivers, tight ends, and RB's came open in the hook zone right behind our linebackers. Also, watch the big runs Illinois had...almost all of them a backer had a play on them and threw and arm tackle instead of a normal one.

 

This is my major problem with them currently.

Yeah, as far as the passing game that's what I mentioned earlier - at least partially. They are filling so hard on run that any play-action really draws them in and keeps them from getting back to their pass zones as quickly as they need to.

 

People have been complaining about our tackling for years. There was much talk last year about how much better it was but I'm not really convinced that it was a lot different and I think we're seeing that this year. But I think a lot of that is just how football is now-a-days. When you don't really hit much in practice, it's hard to all the sudden be a good tackler on Saturday.

 

That being said, I didn't really notice a lot of times where we really put a good hit on a ball-carrier and didn't bring him down. Kind of like you said, there were times that we only got an arm on them but part of that is not being able to be in the right spot to make the tackle. That can be a combination of a lot of thing - being out of position, being slow to react and even trying to make a play that really isn't in your gap but you just can't quite get there in time. I'd have to go back and watch that more closely to have a better idea what the underlying cause was.

[Mavric]

Banderas led the team with 11 tackles - 8 of them solo - including 1 TFL.

[Hayseed]

Banderas led the team with 11 tackles - 8 of them solo - including 1 TFL.

I think he got the message and could be the player of the game. The secondary was damn good as well.