Penn State - What Did We Learn?

[In the Deed the Glory]

Everyone asking for us to run the I formation, please show me a team that wins that runs predominantly I formation.  Even Wisconsin takes more than 30% of their snaps from the shotgun, 22% from single back, and no back. Plus, those numbers are last year.  With Mertz shotgun snaps will go up.

 

The NFL takes 63% of all snaps from the shotgun.  Defenses are too good and too fast to line up in the I formation with TEs.  You bring 10 guys in the box.

 

We are never going back to the I formation, you won't win doing it.

 

The biggest reason Frost's offense doesn't look familiar is that we don't have a running back.  in 2018 at the end of the year, Devine Ozigbo made us look like the old Oregon offense.  Remember when NU put up 500 yards like 7 times that year?  Many of us have selective memory I guess.  It was because we could run the football. 

 

NU rushing under Frost:

2018: 209 ypg (Final 6 games 225 ypg with 2 300 yard rushing games)

2019: 203 ypg

2020: 193 ypg

 

We have to be better running the ball out of our current scheme, look at Oregon under Chip Kelly:

 

2007 (Kelly's first year as OC): 251 ypg rushing

2008: 280 ypg

2009: 231 ypg

2010: 287 ypg

2011: 299 ypg

2012: 315 ypg

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

I learned that we're actually a decent team, when we don't shoot ourselves in the foot with stupid penalties and undisciplined mistakes.

[lo country]

4 hours ago, In the Deed the Glory said:

Everyone asking for us to run the I formation, please show me a team that wins that runs predominantly I formation.  Even Wisconsin takes more than 30% of their snaps from the shotgun, 22% from single back, and no back. Plus, those numbers are last year.  With Mertz shotgun snaps will go up.

 

The NFL takes 63% of all snaps from the shotgun.  Defenses are too good and too fast to line up in the I formation with TEs.  You bring 10 guys in the box.

 

We are never going back to the I formation, you won't win doing it.

 

The biggest reason Frost's offense doesn't look familiar is that we don't have a running back.  in 2018 at the end of the year, Devine Ozigbo made us look like the old Oregon offense.  Remember when NU put up 500 yards like 7 times that year?  Many of us have selective memory I guess.  It was because we could run the football. 

 

NU rushing under Frost:

2018: 209 ypg (Final 6 games 225 ypg with 2 300 yard rushing games)

2019: 203 ypg

2020: 193 ypg

 

We have to be better running the ball out of our current scheme, look at Oregon under Chip Kelly:

 

2007 (Kelly's first year as OC): 251 ypg rushing

2008: 280 ypg

2009: 231 ypg

2010: 287 ypg

2011: 299 ypg

2012: 315 ypg

To the bolded I think a lot of the fans desire to run that is from this comment by Austin.....

“We’re going to run zone, we’re going to run power,” he said. “And then there’s the element about us that we’re going to run our old-school stuff that we did last year. But we’re going to be a little bit more structured in how we’re doing it. The implementation of it, the structure of it is going to be more sound. We’re going to be really good at a few things, and not average at a whole bunch of things. And that’s the overall top-down view of it. We’re going to be really good at a few things, and not trying to do everything else under the sun.

 

I was really hoping we would see a much improved running game.  To date, we look average at a whole bunch of things.  Not really good at anything.  His comments were one thing that really had me more excited than anything else.I said in the game day thread that our current scheme resembles a Chinese buffet.  A lot of quantity, but you have to dig for the quality.  

 

Great stats comparing Frost and Kelly. I am really hoping that we get back to the production Oz had.  Of course we also had AM 1.0, Stan, Farmer, Foster (ref AM Still holding out hope he shows back up).  Obviously we are still struggling to find that guy at RB (snapping not helping on some plays).  I'm also holding out hope we maybe try a 2 back set to manufacture something better than what we have seen.  Mills with insert name here.  Hard for anyone to run against an 11 man box....

 

[lo country]

26 minutes ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

I learned that we're actually a decent team, when we don't shoot ourselves in the foot with stupid penalties and undisciplined mistakes.

That D was pretty spectacular Sat.  

[B.B. Hemingway]

Kade Warner retweeting this is a boss move.... Also shows accountability, which I've been known to appreciate.

 

 

[Mavric]

Lots of B1G on this list:

 

 

[CheeseHusker]

Offense still has a finishing problem. A lot of the early points were off turnovers and big plays. The two drives where we settled for FGs were disappointing. In the second half it feels like we stalled out at midfield a lot.

 

Defense getting better... getting pressure. Need to tackle better. 3rd down is still a big worry.

 

Happy with special teams - 3/3 on FGs and a couple of good punts at important times.

 

 

 

 

[CheeseHusker]

McCaffrey did throw a bit of a duck, even if it was in the right place.

 

Should have been caught but it was just wobbly enough that if you break concentration you might not handle it.

 

[MyBloodIsRed16]

I learned there is one play which shows why LMC should be the starter.  It was the left hand throw to the RB resulting in a 1st down.  AM takes a loss.  

[deedsker]

1 hour ago, MyBloodIsRed16 said:

I learned there is one play which shows why LMC should be the starter.  It was the left hand throw to the RB resulting in a 1st down.  AM takes a loss.  

I also like on the first drive, everything is going well and we get a false start on 3rd and 4. AM has shown this to be the back breaker on drives.  Luke takes it into his hands and runs for a first to keep the drive alive. We score 7. 

[hunter49]

i learned that when you only run 60 plays and your opponent runs 90 plays, you are damn lucky to get the win!

[Husker in WI]

Defense is good. I really think in the second half we were sitting back to prevent big plays and letting them run the ball relatively easily. That was a miscalculation IMO - we did give up a big play, and with our offense sputtering they had enough time to win. It was amazing to see DBs actually play fades successfully. 

 

Take out the long pass and the 2 long runs and they ran 88 plays for 360 yards. That's incredible, with or without their QB issues. Now obviously you can't just "take those plays away." But all were fixable, and I'll take a defense that was elite for 88 plays and had 3 bad ones over a defense that has 91 ok plays. 

 

We cannot afford to get conservative with a lead, and I'm surprised Frost did. I hope they don't make that mistake again, it almost bit us in the end. 

 

Looking forward to next week. We've played 3 excellent defenses, and in 2 weeks we get another one with Iowa. We need to be better against good defenses, but I'm looking forward to seeing the offense against a really bad defense against Illinois. 

[Guy Chamberlin]

23 hours ago, Jeremy said:

 

    I'm not only saying this as someone who longs for the power football of old. This is just logic. Luke is not a MacKenzie Milton or Marcus Mariota. He can't throw the ball downfield to covered receivers. He's a Crouch, Mickey Joseph, Mike Grant.

 

 

Actually both McCaffrey and Martinez are much better passers than Crouch, Joseph, and Grant, and definitely better passers than young Scott Frost. 

 

Going by this logic you may want to note that Wan'dale, Mills and (checks roster) Marvin Scott III (?)  are not Mike Rozier, Ahman Green, Dan Alexander, Rex Burkhead, Ameer Abdullah, or even Devine Ozigbo. 

 

Right now Nebraska is running a 38/28 run/pass split. Everything they do on offense needs to get better. 

 

[Mavric]

3 hours ago, hunter49 said:

i learned that when you only run 60 plays and your opponent runs 90 plays, you are damn lucky to get the win!

 

I'm sure you felt the same way about Northwestern when they played us.

[Jeremy]

3 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

Actually both McCaffrey and Martinez are much better passers than Crouch, Joseph, and Grant, and definitely better passers than young Scott Frost. 

 

Going by this logic you may want to note that Wan'dale, Mills and (checks roster) Marvin Scott III (?)  are not Mike Rozier, Ahman Green, Dan Alexander, Rex Burkhead, Ameer Abdullah, or even Devine Ozigbo. 

 

Right now Nebraska is running a 38/28 run/pass split. Everything they do on offense needs to get better. 

 

Discounting Betts' touchdown, McCaffrey went 12/20 for 107 yards. Frost and Crouch hit that yardage normally with far fewer passes. We will not be even close to elite doing what we're doing now, unable to stretch the field. Press coverage will kill us, evidenced by how PSU shut us down in the second half. McCaffrey was primarily a receiver in high school, and I'm not saying Martinez is any better. Our offensive line is blowing blocking assignments all over the place,  unsure who they are supposed to double on, and when to move up. Do you know what our best running play is so far this season? A counter play to McCaffrey, from under center, against Ohio State. 

    Mills is no Ozigbo, but he's played fullback before, and I liken Wandale to a Keith 'end zone' Jones, shiftier even. Are you prepared to tell me it's better to run him between the tackles inside the 15 on a zone read than with a lead blocker?