Blackshirts selling out against run

Saunders

Saunders

Heisman Trophy Winner
As Mitch Leidner, he of the 57.9 completion percentage entering the game, was carving up the Huskers to the tune of a 16-for-17, 156-yard first half Saturday, it was impossible not to wonder what had gone so horribly wrong with the Nebraska secondary. The group was expected to be one of the team's strengths this season, and individually the talent still looked great on paper.

But after seven games, the results are impossible to ignore. Though Nebraska slowed Leidner in the second half, he still finished with 301 yards, a career high. That marked the fourth time this season that an opponent notched their season high in passing yards against the Huskers (BYU, Southern Miss and Wisconsin are the others), and NU is giving up a nation-worst 341.7 yards per game.

A quick glance at the numbers says one thing in bold, loud print - the Huskers simply can't defend the pass. But closer examination reveals there might be more to it than poor performance.

Opponents have attempted 310 passing attempts against Nebraska (44.3 per game), the highest total in the country. Obviously if a team is facing a plethora of passes, it's going to give up more yards. Looking deeper, the Huskers are actually in the middle of the pack nationally in opponent completion percentage (57.4 percent, 52nd) and passer rating (130.7, 74th). Neither of those numbers is particularly promising, but they're not disastrous either.

https://nebraska.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1815456
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Believe the link is broken. Clicked on it and it's an article from 2003 titled, "Are Canes Considering Jump to ACC?"

 
What are the top 10 Rush Defenses Ranked

in Passing Yards Allowed?

1 Boston College (#5)

2 Michigan (#6)

3 Alabama (#41)

4 Iowa (#63)

5 Boise St. (#35)

6 Utah St. (#53)

7 Nebraska (#127)

8 Temple (#44)

9 LSU (#45)

10 San Diego St. (#42)

LINK
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The article made me wonder whether teams with good rushing defenses had crappy passing defenses. For example, because they are concentrating on one, to the detriment of the other. Well, it looks like we are the only top 10 rushing defense team that has an abysmal passing defense. So much for that theory.

 
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Saw somewhere that Liedner was only 10-23 in the second half last week. So there were adjustments made, and if you have QBs chucking up 40+ times a game at under a 50% completion ratio. The odds are going to eventually go into your favor. Especially once we start to get some depth back to our front 7, so they can start "teeing" off on the QB.

 
NUance said:
What are the top 10 Rush Defenses Ranked

in Passing Yards Allowed?

1 Boston College (#5)

2 Michigan (#6)

3 Alabama (#41)

4 Iowa (#63)

5 Boise St. (#35)

6 Utah St. (#53)

7 Nebraska (#127)

8 Temple (#44)

9 LSU (#45)

10 San Diego St. (#42)

LINK
Click to expand...
The article made me wonder whether teams with good rushing defenses had crappy passing defenses. For example, because they are concentrating on one, to the detriment of the other. Well, it looks like we are the only top 10 rushing defense team that has an abysmal passing defense. So much for that theory.
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We're also about #20 in yards per rush. The 6 teams ahead of us in total rushing D are also in the top 6 in yards per rush.

Teams just don't rush that much against us.

 
soup said:
Saw somewhere that Liedner was only 10-23 in the second half last week. So there were adjustments made, and if you have QBs chucking up 40+ times a game at under a 50% completion ratio. The odds are going to eventually go into your favor. Especially once we start to get some depth back to our front 7, so they can start "teeing" off on the QB.
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Agree with this. I think our key to making this stop is doing what we did against Minnesota. We need to get interceptions. I you have teams pass for 40+ times with a 50% completion percentage but they have a decent yards per attempt, they are going to keep doing it. NOW, if you make them pay a few times a game with an interception, they will start rethinking that theory.

 
BigRedBuster said:
soup said:
Saw somewhere that Liedner was only 10-23 in the second half last week. So there were adjustments made, and if you have QBs chucking up 40+ times a game at under a 50% completion ratio. The odds are going to eventually go into your favor. Especially once we start to get some depth back to our front 7, so they can start "teeing" off on the QB.
Click to expand...
Agree with this. I think our key to making this stop is doing what we did against Minnesota. We need to get interceptions. I you have teams pass for 40+ times with a 50% completion percentage but they have a decent yards per attempt, they are going to keep doing it. NOW, if you make them pay a few times a game with an interception, they will start rethinking that theory.
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And the way we got the interceptions? Go away from the Quarters coverage and play Cover 2.

 
Mavric said:
BigRedBuster said:
soup said:
Saw somewhere that Liedner was only 10-23 in the second half last week. So there were adjustments made, and if you have QBs chucking up 40+ times a game at under a 50% completion ratio. The odds are going to eventually go into your favor. Especially once we start to get some depth back to our front 7, so they can start "teeing" off on the QB.
Click to expand...
Agree with this. I think our key to making this stop is doing what we did against Minnesota. We need to get interceptions. I you have teams pass for 40+ times with a 50% completion percentage but they have a decent yards per attempt, they are going to keep doing it. NOW, if you make them pay a few times a game with an interception, they will start rethinking that theory.
Click to expand...
And the way we got the interceptions? Go away from the Quarters coverage and play Cover 2.
Click to expand...
We only moved to Cover 2 when the threat of Minnesota's run game was gone.

I think we have the formula for success in this conference. Just got to get a bit better at executing it. I don't expect the players to be great in this system yet. It's a complete 180 degree turnaround from what they're used to. But they'll get it, and when they do Nebraska is going to be sitting pretty.

 
No way do we scrap what we're doing on defense because it isn't always "pretty" 7 games in.

Now maybe if it still isn't pretty 2 years in, then we change something.

We know one thing as Husker fans, because we've witnessed each side of this first hand. Selling out to stop the pass is a killer to your run defense. Ask Bo Pelini. Selling out to stop the run can be a killer to your pass defense, ask Banker. Two key things though. Banker is in season one, Bo was in season seven. Bankers hardly had the time to prove what his system could be here. Secondly, this is the Big Ten. If I've got to choose between stopping the run or stopping the pass, it's kind of a no brainer. Maybe someday we get pretty good at both though. Even a small improvement in the pass defense, and/or a turnover gained here or there, and this is an undefeated Husker football team right now.

 
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