Chinander by the numbers

[lo country]

I'm willing to give him a pass for the next year or 3.  Statistically did we stink on D? Yes.  Did we get the TO's we wanted?  No. Did we make team look like AA at every level? Yes......

It's year one in the B1G for Frost and Co.  Frost appears to be a prideful guy.  Most successful people are.  I think he got humbled this year.  Humility can be a great motivator.  Like his comment about Iowa being bigger and stronger.  Something he thought he'd never see as a Husker.  I think you can insert other teams in there.

 

As Sip mentioned in the column, who do we have that is all conference?  Mo did great for us, but compared to the LB's across the league how does he rate?  We do not have a dominant NT, rush end, OLB, DB etc.....Can we?  Look at Oz last year and this year. Yea, we have guys who can be "that" guy on defense. Might be a guy we already have on the roster or a new recruit. 3 of or :B recruits are in the 18 finalists for the Butkus award....That's some pretty good talent.  

 

I also think that Frost and Chin are smart enough to look at this season and make adjustments on both sides of the ball.  In the Iowa presser he said that 4th and 8 came up short. Frost is honest to a fault in pressers.  I really like it.  He's not going to throw anyone under the bus, but that comment said that won't happen again.  I believe him.  I believe that they will break down every play, find the mistake and move towards fixing it.  I'm optimistic that some of the issues were lack of depth ie not running heavier sets on the goal line.  Not trying to to bring in extra backers on obvious running downs or going more dime in obvious passing downs.  More depth and talent makes one more flexible.  I'm also pretty sure that if Chin is so married to his system that he will continue to have safeties at the LOS on goal line plays, Frost will point out how we might need to adjust a little.  Frost has grown a lot form game 1-12.  I expect a different team next year. Improved in all areas.  Something that can't be said from previous years....GBR.  Day by Day....

 

[Mavric]

43 minutes ago, ColoradoHusk said:

Yes, he doesn’t point out that fact, but he does show that NU ranked about the same or better than other major football programs, including 2 of them (Stanford and Va Tech) who a lot of people think they have stingy defenses.

 

EDIT: NU ranked 109 in Yards Per Play allowed in 2017 with 6.3. So not only did NU cut that number by half a yard per play this year, but improved its rankings over 30 spots in national rankings. All this while using many holdover players from the Riley/Diaco era. 

 

And 5.3 ypp over the last three games.  Which is #52 in the country over that span.  So another half-yard per play recently.

 

Obviously offenses faced play a factor as well.  But we're definitely headed in the right direction.

[LumberJackSker]

I'm not sold on chin but i dont know how people can look at this defense and not realize how much it lacks talent. 

 

Defensive line- no nose tackle kinda important for a 3-4. The d-ends like the davis twins are probably playing out of position.

 

Linebackers- zero pass rushers at olb another vital position in a 3-4. Gifford plays his a$$ off but is a converted safety. Inside backer outside of barry were terrible as well.

 

Defensive backs- poor tackling from jackson and a lack of athleticism overall hurts as well.

 

So with all that on top of the fact this is the 3 defensive coordinator in 3 years for a lot of these guys what did you think was going to happen? Just because they have N's on their helmets doesn't mean its the 90's. More time in the scheme and hopefully more talented incoming talent that was recruited for a 3-4 will eventually fix things. And just so you know it isn't going to be a top ten defense next year either.

[Red Five]

18 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

And 5.3 ypp over the last three games.  Which is #52 in the country over that span.  So another half-yard per play recently.

 

Obviously offenses faced play a factor as well.  But we're definitely headed in the right direction.

The only reason we look better over the past 3 games is because we played a terrible Mich St offense.  We allowed both Iowa and Illinois to post ypp above their season averages.

[Mavric]

6 minutes ago, Red Five said:

The only reason we look better over the past 3 games is because we played a terrible Mich St offense.  We allowed both Iowa and Illinois to post ypp above their season averages.

 

But we kept Michigan State nearly a yard below theirs.  

Like I said, what offenses you face matter.  But if you're going to make that argument, you also have to note that we played several really good offenses this year which is part of the reason for the number being higher as well.

 

Last year we allowed our opponents 0.93 more yards per play than they averaged for the season.  This year we cut it to 0.29, while facing tougher offenses.  That's not great.  But that's definite progress.

[lo country]

1 hour ago, LumberJackSker said:

I'm not sold on chin but i dont know how people can look at this defense and not realize how much it lacks talent. 

 

Defensive line- no nose tackle kinda important for a 3-4. The d-ends like the davis twins are probably playing out of position.

 

Linebackers- zero pass rushers at olb another vital position in a 3-4. Gifford plays his a$$ off but is a converted safety. Inside backer outside of barry were terrible as well.

 

Defensive backs- poor tackling from jackson and a lack of athleticism overall hurts as well.

 

So with all that on top of the fact this is the 3 defensive coordinator in 3 years for a lot of these guys what did you think was going to happen? Just because they have N's on their helmets doesn't mean its the 90's. More time in the scheme and hopefully more talented incoming talent that was recruited for a 3-4 will eventually fix things. And just so you know it isn't going to be a top ten defense next year either.

IIRC during their recruitment phase wasn't that was something they had expressed concern with to Riley and Banker-going to a 3-4 as both guys were star tackles in a 4-3.  I concur with all of your above. Not sure if Chin is the next "it DC", but look at what he was working with and how many schemes/coaches/philosophies/coordinators/tackling styles did they have the past 3-4 years....

[LumberJackSker]

1 minute ago, lo country said:

IIRC during their recruitment phase wasn't that was something they had expressed concern with to Riley and Banker-going to a 3-4 as both guys were star tackles in a 4-3.  I concur with all of your above. Not sure if Chin is the next "it DC", but look at what he was working with and how many schemes/coaches/philosophies/coordinators/tackling styles did they have the past 3-4 years....

I don't remember that happening at the time but I've heard that brought up this year. Unfortunately there is no quick fix for this defense. They need players that fit what they want to do in order to be as successful as possible. I'm not an expert by any means on any defense but when i watch football on Saturdays and Sundays teams that run a successful 3-4 Defense have types of players that can do things that Nebraska just doesn't have. Without a quality nt to eat up blocks and not get pushed of the ball and olb that can rush the passer this defense is going to suck and although im sure it will improve next year i still doubt it will be a great black shirt defense. Like it or not the defense is going to take years to fix.

[HuskermanMike]

10 hours ago, BlitzFirst said:

 

 

So he's like Bo Pelini...loyal to a fault?

No, he is not like Bo. Why are you comparing him to Bo when he has coached one full season? He won't fire Chins because of one bad season or because many want him fired. As of now, there is no reason to fire anyone. In my opinion, no one should be fired until over half of Frosts contract is up. He did not bring Chins because he is his buddy, they are great friends but he trusts him more than any other DC out there at this time. If not, he would not have brought him. Again 3 DC in 4 years is not a good sign, so he will be here for a while and Frost brought him to help him win here and I trust Forst to make the right decisions. 

[Huskers93-97]

6 hours ago, Mavric said:

 

But we kept Michigan State nearly a yard below theirs.  

Like I said, what offenses you face matter.  But if you're going to make that argument, you also have to note that we played several really good offenses this year which is part of the reason for the number being higher as well.

 

Last year we allowed our opponents 0.93 more yards per play than they averaged for the season.  This year we cut it to 0.29, while facing tougher offenses.  That's not great.  But that's definite progress.

To be fair I think we held Michigan state below their average only because the weather was horrible. It greatly effected our offensive efficiency too

[I am I]

Mo Barry won’t be 1-3rd team?

[ColoradoHusk]

10 hours ago, I am I said:

Mo Barry won’t be 1-3rd team?

Maybe 3rd team at best.

[I am I]

Is it because the players in front of him are just better? He had over 100 tackles and was a standout for us. But I guess if other teams’ LB are better it pushes him down. Hopefully he makes a spot, he deserves it. 

[ColoradoHusk]

1 hour ago, I am I said:

Is it because the players in front of him are just better? He had over 100 tackles and was a standout for us. But I guess if other teams’ LB are better it pushes him down. Hopefully he makes a spot, he deserves it. 

The 1st and 2nd team defenses are going to be filled with players from teams with strong defenses.  Barry was standout for NU, but the way NU's overall defense struggled is going to hurt his chances for 1st and 2nd team All-Conference.  I don't have knowledge about the other LB's in the conference, but that's just my thought.

[Enhance]

Statistically speaking, Barry is right up there with the B1G linebackers who were projected among the 'best in the country' in the pre-season. All these numbers are from Sports Reference:

 

Barry: 105 tackles, 10 TFL's, 2 sacks

Devin Bush: 66 tackles, 8.5 TFL's, 4.5 sacks

T.J. Edwards: 103 tackles, 10.5 TFL's, 3 sacks

Joe Bachie: 94 tackles, 9 TFL's, 1 sack

[mnhusker]

I bit of a tangent but not worthy of a new thread ..... one big part  of this defense is getting turnovers, that's cool but .....  I was very bummed out to see how many extra yards backs were getting while the defense worked on stripping the ball.  The play that comes to mind was when the Iowa back did not go down and the orgasmic announcers couldn't stop spouting off ......about how tough the back was.  From my armchair I saw a bunch of defenders practically holding the guy up working on a strip while the back rumbled forward rather then putting him on the ground.  When this happens you get 3 yard plays go for 6 - 7.    I'd rather see tough sound tackling and let the fumbles follow.