Chris Spielman: Nebraska needs to tackle

Saunders

Saunders

Heisman Trophy Winner
ABC/ESPN college football analyst Chris Spielman called enough Nebraska football games in the Bo Pelini era — big wins and ugly losses — to have an excellent grasp on the strengths and weaknesses of the Huskers’ defense.

“I liked what they did in the secondary,” is Spielman’s immediate thought on a strength, and it’s hard to argue with that point.



When Spielman is asked about how new Nebraska defensive coordinator Mark Banker can improve on the weaknesses of Pelini’s system — which blew gaskets in a 41-21 loss to UCLA in 2013 and the 59-24 collapse at Wisconsin in 2014, both games called by Spielman — the former Ohio State teammate of Pelini jumps right over schemes and goes right at execution.
He’s talking about tackling.

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/mckewon-analyst-sees-execution-as-huskers-top-task-in-getting/article_e1d47dc4-e78e-5d52-a1e0-5c34ed085a61.html
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saunders45 said:
ABC/ESPN college football analyst Chris Spielman called enough Nebraska football games in the Bo Pelini era — big wins and ugly losses — to have an excellent grasp on the strengths and weaknesses of the Huskers’ defense.

“I liked what they did in the secondary,” is Spielman’s immediate thought on a strength, and it’s hard to argue with that point.

When Spielman is asked about how new Nebraska defensive coordinator Mark Banker can improve on the weaknesses of Pelini’s system — which blew gaskets in a 41-21 loss to UCLA in 2013 and the 59-24 collapse at Wisconsin in 2014, both games called by Spielman — the former Ohio State teammate of Pelini jumps right over schemes and goes right at execution.
He’s talking about tackling.

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/mckewon-analyst-sees-execution-as-huskers-top-task-in-getting/article_e1d47dc4-e78e-5d52-a1e0-5c34ed085a61.html
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Absolutely. We've been horrible at tackling for at least five years, if not the entire Bo Pelini era.

 
HuskerExpat said:
saunders45 said:
ABC/ESPN college football analyst Chris Spielman called enough Nebraska football games in the Bo Pelini era — big wins and ugly losses — to have an excellent grasp on the strengths and weaknesses of the Huskers’ defense.

“I liked what they did in the secondary,” is Spielman’s immediate thought on a strength, and it’s hard to argue with that point.

When Spielman is asked about how new Nebraska defensive coordinator Mark Banker can improve on the weaknesses of Pelini’s system — which blew gaskets in a 41-21 loss to UCLA in 2013 and the 59-24 collapse at Wisconsin in 2014, both games called by Spielman — the former Ohio State teammate of Pelini jumps right over schemes and goes right at execution.
He’s talking about tackling.

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/mckewon-analyst-sees-execution-as-huskers-top-task-in-getting/article_e1d47dc4-e78e-5d52-a1e0-5c34ed085a61.html
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Absolutely. We've been horrible at tackling for at least five years, if not the entire Bo Pelini era.
Click to expand...
Well, we did have this one guy

112912-sports-ndamukong-suh-infamous-plays-texas-game.jpg


 
Tackling was nightmarishly bad for a couple seasons. Really baffling because it's such a simple priority for you know....defense. Since the technique itself would have been established in high school, it seemed more an issue of attitude. When the going got tough, the Nebraska defense stood up straight and watched the game run past them.

The tackling suddenly got better mid-2013 and was much more consistent last season. Part of the problem was that we still played so far off the ball.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Tackling was nightmarishly bad for a couple seasons. Really baffling because it's such a simple priority for you know....defense. Since the technique itself would have been established in high school, it seemed more an issue of attitude. When the going got tough, the Nebraska defense stood up straight and watched the game run past them.

The tackling suddenly got better mid-2013 and was much more consistent last season. Part of the problem was that we still played so far off the ball.
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I agree.

Much of what some people thought was bad tackling last year was actually players being out of position. It's pretty tough to tackle correctly if your not where you are supposed to be and trying to play catch up. Then, if one player is out on an island with not much help behind him against one of the best RBs in the country....well.....it's not going to look good for the guy trying to tackle.

I agree that for the most part, it was better last year.

 
It seemed he took Nebraska's tackling efforts personally during the Wisconsin game for some reason.

 
Tackling as a whole in college football is not nearly what it used to be. The big reason is that they don't do near as much live stuff as they used to. No one wants to lose somebody in practice.

Nebraska was pretty bad though I agree with Guy that it was somewhat better in 2013-14. Still needs to get better.

Again I think part of it is guys having too many reads to run through so they are a step late getting there sometimes.

 
Hey, don't dump on Spielman.

Because it's so obvious that defenses need to tackle well, it's weird when they don't.

And pretty interesting that it's a recent phenomenon. Worth pointing out, I'd say.

I'm sure it must drive veterans crazy.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Hey, don't dump on Spielman.

Because it's so obvious that defenses need to tackle well, it's weird when they don't.

And pretty interesting that it's a recent phenomenon. Worth pointing out, I'd say.

I'm sure it must drive veterans crazy.
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What does Chris know about tackling anyway?
 
Spielman is one of the few color commentators I can actually stand. I know what he said was pretty obvious but it's another thing to go on record during the off-season and talk about just how bad things were.

I also thought what he had to say during the last Wisconsin debacle was cathartic to hear. Someone outside the fan base whose opinion actually holds some weight with me talk so bluntly about our defense.

 
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