***The Nebraska Defense - Blackshirts 2022***

[LumberJackSker]

15 hours ago, DefenderAO said:

Heinrich was really bad.  I don't care about his 9 tackles.  

 

Bad.

Him and budford have issues tackling

[DefenderAO]

20 minutes ago, LumberJackSker said:

Him and budford have issues tackling

Preceding Heinrich's tackling was his lack of anticipation and feel for a play, and then he looked very slow trying to get anywhere.  

 

Trifecta.

[Guy Chamberlin]

In classic total collapse mode, it looked like the Northwestern RB walked into the endzone untouched by our goal line defense, who clearly expected him to get the ball. 

 

I had to replay it a couple times to understand how the fk that could happen, and you can see Ty Robinson fully engaged in his one on one with his NW o-lineman, and he doesn't even turn his head as Hull scoots through the large hole to Robinson's immediate right. #99 never had eye contact on the guy who was handed the ball. 

 

If someone wants to post the shot of that TD from the endzone camera, we can all marvel at it. 

 

Or did I miss it earlier in the thread? 

 

Just not in the mood to ready every post today. 

[84HuskerLaw]

Yup.  That loss is perhaps the hardest one to take in years.   All outward signs pointed toward a hungry and determined team ready to play football.   They played fairly hard most of the game, as has been the pattern under Frost and even Riley before him.  But again, the fundamentals and basics of football are just not there too often. 
 

STs was much improved imo.   Frost has not learned anything from Busch but the team did.  A wrong headed onside kick is NOT a ST fail. That’s a HC fail. Frost confessed. 
 

But, it’s clear that there is very little interest in actually running the dam ball, no matter what the lip service messaging may be.  You just can’t win very much without some semblance of a run threat and the ability to west down the opposing team mentally and physically.  Air Nebraska has not produced wins in Lincoln for 5 decades.  Despite the thousands of yards and bunches of QBs recruited to throw the ball in a variety of the latest rage passing offenses, no championships - ever.  Tagge led a balanced attack with tough RBs and a superstar talent (Rodgers).  But the Blackshirts put those Devaney teams above the rest.

 

I had my doubts about Frost from the hire, but he was the foregone ‘obvious’ choice by popular acclaim.  Many were excited to have a pass the ball guru while some of us felt his history in Lincoln would give us a blend of smash mouth run and air raid.  That could work!  Imo.  But 5 years in, no signs of serious run game are present. We’ve seen the AM scrambles and a token use of a few naked option like plays but nothing that would cause any D coordinator to stress about.  
 

Beyond the offensive schematics issues (I may still be in the minority on this point), the complete failure to rebuild the O line and D lines suggests Frost has just not paid much attention to this. Perhaps slightly more than STs but ???   
 

I think Frost has been an OC and spends most of his time narrowly focused on offensive play calling and scheming how to get chunk plays throwing the ball.  He has not acted like a HC nearly enough in his career.  His Head Coaching performance has been very poor all too often.  He doesn’t seem to have a ‘feel’ for how the game is really going at times.  His face in his play sheet when he should not need a sheet.  He should know his plays completely.   He should not need a cheat sheet to know his own plays.  Imo.  
 

I am disappointed greatly by the Defense as it’s okay is totally out of character.  Did the team not practice enough live contact football.  ?   The poor tackling and busted coverages and fatigue suggests to many ‘drills’ and not enough scrimmages.  The spring game ‘touch’ (thud I guess Frost calls it) shows up at times.  
 

the team may be working very hard but should not get gassed on a beautiful 62 degree cloudy day after a week of feather practice walk thrus.  Travel was 4 days before.  No excuse imo. 
 

And why the top secret Area 51 practices?  Nothing new to hide really.  Just hiding the reality from fans and media?   I know the team has to have some deep seated confidence issues but they don’t express it.  I hope that Trev can find a way to keep the team and staff together.  I won’t count on Frost to do it.  The Frost supporters seem pretty silent now.  

[suh_fan93]

At this point someone is going to make a video compiling all of the plays similar to this one regarding #42.

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

Watching the game, I was very frustrated with our defense and not being able to get to the QB.  Last night, I rewatched it for the 3rd time.  I realized that our rush ends didn't have time to get to the QB most of the time because he was making quick decisions and getting the ball out fast.  

 

We need our DBs to change how they are playing somehow.  Maybe not giving so much cushion at the LOS.  Make it more difficult for the QB to get the ball out quickly.

[Ulty]

15 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Last night, I rewatched it for the 3rd time. 

How/why do some of you people torture yourselves in this way?

[BigRedBuster]

7 minutes ago, Ulty said:

How/why do some of you people torture yourselves in this way?

 

I watched the BTN 60 minute version.  I actually enjoy watching it and seeing what worked and didn't work without the emotions of the initial viewing.  Sometimes it's different than what the fans think.  

For instance, this situation.  I was upset thinking our rush ends played pathetic.  They didn't have a great game.  But, most of that was because of how NW played by getting the ball out fast.  So, I believe that is more on the DBs than on the REs

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

Chinander may very well seal Frost's fate. His defense performed well enough last year for him to be retained, but it was a facade.

[Mavric]

29 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Watching the game, I was very frustrated with our defense and not being able to get to the QB.  Last night, I rewatched it for the 3rd time.  I realized that our rush ends didn't have time to get to the QB most of the time because he was making quick decisions and getting the ball out fast.  

 

We need our DBs to change how they are playing somehow.  Maybe not giving so much cushion at the LOS.  Make it more difficult for the QB to get the ball out quickly.

 

I think that is a good point.  They were getting the ball out quickly.  Plus they have an All-American LT, so chances on that side were slim.

 

I noted one play already where we were giving way too much cushion.  Chaz is just starting the second quarter which is where they racked up a lot of passing yards so it will be interesting to see.  I haven't gotten back to a total rewatch myself.

[Cdog923]

5 minutes ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Chinander may very well seal Frost's fate. His defense performed well enough last year for him to be retained, but it was a facade.

 

Less of a facade, more of a "a bunch of talented 5th and 6th year players graduated". 

[Husker in WI]

4 minutes ago, Cdog923 said:

 

Less of a facade, more of a "a bunch of talented 5th and 6th year players graduated". 

 

This, and also Chins defense will always prioritize minimizing big plays over completely trying to shut every short route down. The defense could have executed a lot better. But even then we're going to give you some dink and dunk stuff, make you drive the length of the field, and try to stop it with a TFL/sack/turnover rather than selling out to stop the short stuff. 

 

We've got to make it a little more difficult on teams, and the turnovers just haven't been there which has capped the ceiling of the defense for sure. I hate the yardage total we gave up and there were other plays you could change as well, but we get another turnover at any point and probably win. 

[BigRedBuster]

3 minutes ago, Husker in WI said:

 

This, and also Chins defense will always prioritize minimizing big plays over completely trying to shut every short route down. The defense could have executed a lot better. But even then we're going to give you some dink and dunk stuff, make you drive the length of the field, and try to stop it with a TFL/sack/turnover rather than selling out to stop the short stuff. 

 

We've got to make it a little more difficult on teams, and the turnovers just haven't been there which has capped the ceiling of the defense for sure. I hate the yardage total we gave up and there were other plays you could change as well, but we get another turnover at any point and probably win. 

Kind of hard for a DB to get an INT when they are playing 7-10 yards off the WR and the QB makes quick throws.

[Husker in WI]

Just now, BigRedBuster said:

Kind of hard for a DB to get an INT when they are playing 7-10 yards off the WR and the QB makes quick throws.

 

Right, but that's not the TO they're going for. Most short throws they're trying to get DL hands up to bat it down, and if not rally to the ball and punch it out. Certain tendencies with short throws we might have them play differently to try and jump it. Run plays we're trying for TFLs where possible. And then when they go for a shot or at least a deeper route is when we're looking for picks.

 

It's not for everyone, and unfortunately I think the Big Ten has a disproportionate number of OCs who will sit there and grind it out the hard way .

[runningblind]

45 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

I watched the BTN 60 minute version.  I actually enjoy watching it and seeing what worked and didn't work without the emotions of the initial viewing.  Sometimes it's different than what the fans think.  

For instance, this situation.  I was upset thinking our rush ends played pathetic.  They didn't have a great game.  But, most of that was because of how NW played by getting the ball out fast.  So, I believe that is more on the DBs than on the REs

I think it is more on coaches that DB's.  We get out schemed, in nearly every game.  The most frustrating part is the second half.  All these other Big Ten coaches change things and it seems like we keep doing the same stuff and it stops working, big surprise, then we get frustrated as a team and start making mistakes.  Week after week.