A tale of two Frost seasons per NU's B1G game stats

The 2018 stats have conference championship games figured in but that's about the only difference and didn't likely make much of one besides.  I personally wonder how much of a difference Stanley Morgan made in looking at some of these figures.  The numbers are percentile ratings of the stats from now (given first) and then (2018 season).

PASSING DEFENSE

comp/g: 86 in 2019 to 30 in 2018

pct: 61 to 81

yds/att: 86 to 71

td/g: 83 to 70

qb rating: 79 to 76

yds/g: 93 to 34

PASSING OFFENSE

comp/g: 32 to 79

pct: 53 to 79

yds/att: 46 to 50

td/g: 14 to 47

qb rating: 37 to 58

yds/g: 30 to 70

RUSHING DEFENSE

yds/att: 5 to 10

td/g: 14 to 9

yds/g: 9 to 16

RUSHING OFFENSE

yds/att: 64 to 87

td/g: 71 to 70

yds/g: 81 to 68

SCORING DEFENSE

td/g: 39 to 24

pts/g: 38 to 21

SCORING OFFENSE

td/g: 37 to 56

pts/g: 37 to 60

TOTAL DEFENSE

plays/g: 52 to 49

yds/play: 39 to 30

yds/g: 53 to 15

TOTAL OFFENSE

plays/g: 83 to 63

yds/play: 43 to 80

yds/g: 59 to 82

TURNOVER MARGIN

fg/g: 58 to 64

ig/g: 34 to 55

tg/g: 43 to 63

fl/g: 28 to 23

il/g: 53 to 68

tl/g: 38 to 47

margin/g: 37 to 57

GBR !

The Huskers allowed 4.82 yards per carry to rank 102nd nationally. Won’t win many with that stat. 

TLDR: The defense improved a bit while the offense took a nosedive, but people still wanna blame Chinander...

We were #24 in the country in fewest penalties per game.  Over everyone's last three games we were tied for #2.  Last year we were #119.

We were #23 in the country in fewest penalty yards per game.  Over everyone's last three games we were tied for #6.  Last year we were #125.

Toe said:

TLDR: The defense improved a bit while the offense took a nosedive, but people still wanna blame Chinander...

Click to expand...

I think the defense helped win some games early in the season when the offense was struggling.  In the 2nd half of the season, it seemed like the offense and defense took turns contributing to losses, specifically the Indiana and Purdue games.

We also broke even on turnover margin. We've only finished even or positive on turnovers one other time in the last decade.

In the heat of the moment it’s hard to believe, but we definitely are heading in the right direction. It’s good to see these stats. Thanks for posting!  

Since everyone want to blame Martinez for the decline in the offense, let's look at conference games which he started.

2018 Big Ten Games (Martinez started all) - Offense averaged 29.8 PPG

2019 Big Ten Games (Martinez started 7, Vedral started 2) - All conference games - 25.1 PPG, Martinez started games - 26.8, Vedral started games - 19 PPG.

Yes, the offensive production was lower in 2019.  Part of it was Martinez.  Part of it was other factors, including kickers (4 missed FG in conference in 2019 vs. 2 missed FG in conference in 2018).

I compiled and posted these stats in another thread but I thought I would share these here as well.  This is a look at some key numbers against 8 common opponents we faced in 2018 and 2019.  This shows that offensive production was way down. The defense did make improvements statistically, but the 2018 numbers were so bad I don't think that is much to get excited about.  





2018


Win/Loss


Points Scored


Points Allowed


Total Yards


Yards Allowed




Colorado


L


28


33


565


395




Illinois


W


54


35


606


509




Northwestern


L


31


34


482


487




Ohio State


L


31


36


450


481




Minnesota


W


53


28


659


474




Purdue


L


28


42


582


516




Wisconsin


L


24


41


518


533




Iowa


L


28


31


400


419




Average


 


35.6


35.6


552


485




 


 


 


 


 


 




 


 


 


 


 


 




 


 


 


 


 


 




 


 


 


 


 


 




2019


Win/Loss


Points Scored


Points Allowed


Total Yards


Yards Allowed




Colorado


L


31


34


469


464




Illinois


W


42


38


674


299




Northwestern


L


13


10


319


293




Ohio State


L


7


48


231


580




Minnesota


W


7


34


299


450




Purdue


L


27


31


375


449




Wisconsin


L


21


37


493


482




Iowa


L


24


27


284


324




Average


 


21.1


33.1


409


431

HuskerNation1 said:

I compiled and posted these stats in another thread but I thought I would share these here as well.  This is a look at some key numbers against 8 common opponents we faced in 2018 and 2019.  This shows that offensive production was way down. The defense did make improvements statistically, but the 2018 numbers were so bad I don't think that is much to get excited about.  

Click to expand...

I think your math is a bit off.  And most of the difference is just in two games (Ohio State and Minnesota).

Toe said:

We also broke even on turnover margin. We've only finished even or positive on turnovers one other time in the last decade.

Click to expand...

The one (and pretty much only) thing I've always given Riley credit for was putting an end to the fumbling saga.

2012 - 22 fumbles lost

2013 - 16

2014 - 13

2015 - 6

2016 - 5

2017 - 2

Toe said:

TLDR: The defense improved a bit while the offense took a nosedive, but people still wanna blame Chinander...

Click to expand...

At this point I don’t think there is any coach/player above the blame. At times the offense wasn’t near good enough. At times the defensive wasn’t near good enough, all the time the special teams wasn’t good enough. The talent isn’t good enough .The culture isn’t good enough. 

Mavric said:

We were #24 in the country in fewest penalties per game.  Over everyone's last three games we were tied for #2.  Last year we were #119.

We were #23 in the country in fewest penalty yards per game.  Over everyone's last three games we were tied for #6.  Last year we were #125.

Click to expand...

Would have been nice to have a Stanley/Oz level replacement or have another year with both of them to see how this offense really stacks up.  While I love spielman, he's too small to be a #1 receiver in my opinion and is ideal being that #2 receiver who can both burn you deep while living in the middle of the field.  I didn't even need the stats (though its a great comparison!) as a simple eye test is all anyone needs to know this years offense was a shell of what we had last year and losing all conf talents at both the WR1 and RB position hurt more than we anticipated entering the year

Running back wise, the maurice situation didnt help matters but neither did mills half season of adjustment.  Mills really turned it up at the halfway point and cant wait to see what he's gonna do with another full year next year.

I also cant help but wonder what would have happened had we simply learned to snap the f'n ball prior to 5 games into the season.  While there were other factors in play, particularly around the colorado debacle, the horrendous snaps were an egregious mishap by a power 5 team and I think truly played a part in AM looking so tentative this year.  The man spent nearly half the time needing to jump to corral an errant snap... a lot of this is pure fundamentals, but a lot of this also lands on frost not making adjustment to his formations when everyone could clearly see we couldnt get AM the ball consistently where it needs to be.  

#Improvement