Breaking down 260 yards

[Enhance]

I want to know how much of the 260 yard total was in the first half and how much was in the second...because I'm thinking that a majority of the yards came in the first and adjustments to personnel and defensive formations limited them in the 2nd.

Anyone have that data?

The Southern Miss coach was quoted saying they knew they weren't going to win once in the third quarter, so the rest of the game was all about making the team better. I read this as lets run out the clock and get players playing time, and the evidence supports this - the vast majority of USM's second half plays were runs.

I'm sure our defense made some adjustments, but I also don't think we can rule out that the USM coach had essentially given up.

I've said this a few times over the last few days, and this is purely my own point of view and people are more than willing to disagree with me - I don't think we have a lot of talent up front. The saying goes "everything starts up front." Well, when you get gashed 17 times for more than eight yards, I feel most of the blame falls on the line. The linebackers and secondary play a role in the running game, no question, but the defensive line is the first point and the major stopping point in the run game. If you're having trouble defending the run, that's the first place you need to fix.

But, back to talent. Most of the players we have there have been either relatively average (Meredith, Steinkuhler, Ankrah) or young (Rome). What linemen is potent and forceful? Who do we have that can win most of their battles, shed blockers, and wrap up for a tackle on a consistent basis? My untrained eye has seen a lot of, for lack of a better term, patty-caking going around with our defensive linemen the last 14 games.

I know it was the first game and I know we had little to no idea what they were going to do or how they were going to sub players. I simply saw things Saturday that reminded me of last year, which leads me to believe Pelini just doesn't have the bodies on the line right now that can effectively do what he asks. Maybe USM's offense was a huge curveball and we're a lot better against the run than we showed, I don't know. Only time will tell.

 

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Lots of talk about the defense this week. Biggest area of concern on the team? I think that's fair to say after that offensive onslaught against what should have been, at the very least, a well-coached (if not overly experienced) defense.

Much has been made of Nebraska only giving up 260 yards to the Golden Eagles. While that number is respectably low (Charlie McBride's benchmark was 250 yards made for a good performance), what should give us some pause is the manner in which they got those 260 yards.

Southern Miss ran 66 plays - 17 of which went for 8 or more yards, or 25% of their total plays. All but four of those big plays came on the ground, including rushes for ten or more yards seven times.

The secondary had a pretty good game, limiting Southern Miss' three QBs to a combined 7/19 (37%) for only 75 yards and one TD. But it was on the ground where we got gashed, most notably by Anthony Alford, Southern's all-everything freshman QB, who had several of Southern Miss' 8+ yard runs.

This is why so many of us are left wondering how 260 yards allowed by the defense can look ugly. While we had a ton of tackles for loss and three sacks (a fantastic improvement over last year), this game - the first game - had some defensive lapses.

There is absolutely no need for any this hogwash, sensible, fact based post. Leave those of us who believe the defense did horribly to our devices

 

[HuskerShark]

If the offense had struggled, I'd be a lot more worried than I am right now. Beck is untested and unproven except for a rather dismal performance last year.

:confucius A rather dismal performance?.... Uhhhh.... What games were you watching last year? What I saw was a slightly better than average offense that moved the ball pretty well on some of the better defenses in the country (Mich St, Penn St, SC). Sooooooo to sum it up, can I buy some pot from you? :sarcasm

 

[huskernation13]

.

Much has been made of Nebraska only giving up 260 yards to the Golden Eagles. While that number is respectably low (Charlie McBride's benchmark was 250 yards made for a good performance), what should give us some pause is the manner in which they got those 260 yards.

I heard McBride say either last year or the year before that in todays game you would be doing great to hold a team to 300 yards.

 

[HuskerShark]

Once again, I've been saying it since the end of the game:

The biggest problem Saturday was missed tackles. Some of that could be contributed to limited hitting during fall camp. It will get better.

HOWEVER, the second biggest problem was physicality at the point of attack. It could be considered the #1 problem, depending on who you talk to. Will it change? I hope so, but who knows?... Unlike most of you, I don't think there is a glaring lack of talent on this team, except for maybe DL, but even there I think we have enough talent to be effective.

 

[Chaddyboxer]

Lots of talk about the defense this week. Biggest area of concern on the team? I think that's fair to say after that offensive onslaught against what should have been, at the very least, a well-coached (if not overly experienced) defense.

Much has been made of Nebraska only giving up 260 yards to the Golden Eagles. While that number is respectably low (Charlie McBride's benchmark was 250 yards made for a good performance), what should give us some pause is the manner in which they got those 260 yards.

Southern Miss ran 66 plays - 17 of which went for 8 or more yards, or 25% of their total plays. All but four of those big plays came on the ground, including rushes for ten or more yards seven times.

The secondary had a pretty good game, limiting Southern Miss' three QBs to a combined 7/19 (37%) for only 75 yards and one TD. But it was on the ground where we got gashed, most notably by Anthony Alford, Southern's all-everything freshman QB, who had several of Southern Miss' 8+ yard runs.

This is why so many of us are left wondering how 260 yards allowed by the defense can look ugly. While we had a ton of tackles for loss and three sacks (a fantastic improvement over last year), this game - the first game - had some defensive lapses.

There is absolutely no need for any this hogwash, sensible, fact based post. Leave those of us who believe the defense did horribly to our devices

We have to keep in mind, this defense has room for improvement and history has told us a Pelini defense gets better as the season goes on (we'll see, we'll see). Lets take a look at 2010 season opener against Western Kentucky. NEB's defense that year finished 11th nationally. A few reasons for optimism for this defense:

1.) WKU had more total yards against our defense in the opener than USM (WKU isn't USM, that's for damn sure) 299 to 260 total yards

2.) WKU racked up 6 less total yards rushing than USM, 179 to 185. 4.5 ypc/3.9 ypc

There's just a few stats to give ya guys. I took some of this info. from another site....and I could go into further detail, but ya get the point. We'll have to take a wait and see approach with this defense. Could this defense get better? Most certaintly. Could it get worse? There's a possibility, however, I will go with the former due to Pelini's defensive history at NU. Honestly...if some of the players develop and get better (which I think will happen), we could actually have a solid top 15-25 ranked defense by the end of the year.

 

[Mavric]

Once again, I've been saying it since the end of the game:

The biggest problem Saturday was missed tackles. Some of that could be contributed to limited hitting during fall camp. It will get better.

HOWEVER, the second biggest problem was physicality at the point of attack. It could be considered the #1 problem, depending on who you talk to. Will it change? I hope so, but who knows?... Unlike most of you, I don't think there is a glaring lack of talent on this team, except for maybe DL, but even there I think we have enough talent to be effective.

You can make up for a lot of things but missed tackles will always bite you.

I'm waiting at least one more game before I get too worried. Whaley seemed to be the worst offender last week but I thought he was REALLY coming on at the end of last season. Here's hoping it was being too wound up in the first game. We'll see...

 

[HuskerShark]

Once again, I've been saying it since the end of the game:

The biggest problem Saturday was missed tackles. Some of that could be contributed to limited hitting during fall camp. It will get better.

HOWEVER, the second biggest problem was physicality at the point of attack. It could be considered the #1 problem, depending on who you talk to. Will it change? I hope so, but who knows?... Unlike most of you, I don't think there is a glaring lack of talent on this team, except for maybe DL, but even there I think we have enough talent to be effective.

You can make up for a lot of things but missed tackles will always bite you.

I'm waiting at least one more game before I get too worried. Whaley seemed to be the worst offender last week but I thought he was REALLY coming on at the end of last season. Here's hoping it was being too wound up in the first game. We'll see...

The thing about missed tackles is this: It's a fixable problem. And I think that Bo will recognize it and put an emphasis on it this week against UCLA.

 

[lo country]

I want to know how much of the 260 yard total was in the first half and how much was in the second...because I'm thinking that a majority of the yards came in the first and adjustments to personnel and defensive formations limited them in the 2nd.

Anyone have that data?

The Southern Miss coach was quoted saying they knew they weren't going to win once in the third quarter, so the rest of the game was all about making the team better. I read this as lets run out the clock and get players playing time, and the evidence supports this - the vast majority of USM's second half plays were runs.

I'm sure our defense made some adjustments, but I also don't think we can rule out that the USM coach had essentially given up.

I've said this a few times over the last few days, and this is purely my own point of view and people are more than willing to disagree with me - I don't think we have a lot of talent up front. The saying goes "everything starts up front." Well, when you get gashed 17 times for more than eight yards, I feel most of the blame falls on the line. The linebackers and secondary play a role in the running game, no question, but the defensive line is the first point and the major stopping point in the run game. If you're having trouble defending the run, that's the first place you need to fix.

But, back to talent. Most of the players we have there have been either relatively average (Meredith, Steinkuhler, Ankrah) or young (Rome). What linemen is potent and forceful? Who do we have that can win most of their battles, shed blockers, and wrap up for a tackle on a consistent basis? My untrained eye has seen a lot of, for lack of a better term, patty-caking going around with our defensive linemen the last 14 games.

I know it was the first game and I know we had little to no idea what they were going to do or how they were going to sub players. I simply saw things Saturday that reminded me of last year, which leads me to believe Pelini just doesn't have the bodies on the line right now that can effectively do what he asks. Maybe USM's offense was a huge curveball and we're a lot better against the run than we showed, I don't know. Only time will tell.

This^. To run our two gap, you need beasts up front whose goal is to take up space and not allow the OL to get to our second level, force the backs outside to be cleaned up in space by our LB's. Who is our beast? Who has been able to effectively plug the line? Last year? Who will step up this year? Fundamentals are a serious issue, but when the opposing team can get hats on our LB's, we (and any other team) is in a bind. IMO, we are primarily built to stop the pass first and the run second (bend don't break). Unfortunately, as you posted above, a team that ultimately knew they were beat, decided to throw together bits and pieces to see what worked and were still able to get 260 yrds. We were hit 17 times for runs of 8 yrds or longer. That is unacceptable no matter what team you root for. Sure won't get you to the dance. I would say we have issues. No reason to panic yet. First game back, little film, over prepared and had to react etc......

I feel confident Bo won't change schemes. I look at last year and the musical chairs at secondary. It took 6 games to figure it all out and we came out pretty good against the pass. I hope that Bo will look at the film, realize that we are lacking, have young kids that could make a difference (per camp rumors) and start trying to find that magic combination prior to Wisky coming to town.

The good thing is we only face 3 mobile QB's, DR, Braxton and Colter. Hopefully, with another year in the league, we can at least stop 2 of the 3. Bo's D usually feasts on pocket QB's. Take a clue from Bama and MSU last year and blitz, blitz, blitz. Try a rotation on the DL to keep us fresh and find a guy or two who can play like Haag and bring them up in run support. Play these guys like everyone played us last year. 8 in the box and dare them to beat us with their arm. I feel our DB's can be up to the challenge.

 

[RexIsMyDogg]

I agree, the D left a little to be desired. But as been mentioned (countless times) Bo and JP didn't know exactly what they were going to face. This week, they have film on UCLA and they know who the quarterback will be in prep-star Hundley. We will likely face more speed at the skill positions. The oline may be a toss up because imo, S Miss had a good, experienced oline (left tackle and guard were all-conference). So we will know much more about our defense come 10pm Sat.

 

[roadrat]

If it's missed tackles it means the guys were in position to make the play. As stated earlier, that is fixable. When guys are out of position, then it is a problem that can screw up a whole season.