Defense - What Did We Just See?

I think Wisconsin just wore down in the 2nd half, especially on D. Montee Ball has not really looked like himself all year. Perhaps it was graduation and replacing his teammates, or maybe something else. He has not looked like Heisman material to me.

Either way, I just hope our D can bring it early in future games. Had we played lights out all game, Wisconsin would never have been in the game. Our early mistakes on both sides were terrible. Glad we made up for it in the 2nd half.

 
I think our success in the second half was two-fold - one, we made adjustments, two, Wisconsin became unraveled on the offensive line. Baker Steinkuhler looked like an All-American last night and we've never seen that kind of a performance from him. We consistently man-handled their line in the second half and our linebackers found all the right gaps to shoot. And for the first time this season our defensive line had penetration and push.

I don't mean to degrade what we did too much, but I have a tough time believing we're going to see this kind of performance from our front seven the rest of the season. I'm sure we'll see flashes of it again, but the second half yesterday was great, almost too great in comparison to what we've seen at other times this year.

 
Yes. I was very happy to see us line up and be physical and stop a decent rushing attack. I think there was a mental aspect of this as well. The only memory of Wisconsin we had before was the thrashing we took last year and we looked tight and almost intimidated in the first quarter especially. I think as our confidence builds the mental blunders will go away. Next week is a very big game.

 
The defense was okay in the second half, but there were too many times where the QB was just standing back in the pocket for what seemed like an eternity with absolutely no pressure. The d-line still has ALOT of work to do.

 
jsneb83 said:
EZ-E said:
That may be the best running back we play all year guys. This game with their power rushing attack scared me and we got it done.
Click to expand...
No it wasn't, they had to go against Rex and Ameer in fall camp.
Click to expand...
His problem is his offensive line plain and simple. If he had been running behind our line in the second half he would have had a monster half.

 
EZ-E said:
That may be the best running back we play all year guys. This game with their power rushing attack scared me and we got it done.
Click to expand...
I dunno, Ball has been pretty mediocre this year (and that's being generous). Weisman and Bell will probably be the best running backs we face this year. If you don't count Braxton Miller.

Edit: and no way Ball is better than Franklin from UCLA.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
It has more to do with our domination of their line in the 2nd half. I'm sorry, but there were wholesale adjusments made at half. Whatever they did, it cut guys lose. Our line was standing guys up and allowing linebackers to roam free. It seemed like they just quit thinking as much. A light FINALLY came on for Baker. Holy cow.

 
ladyhawke said:
I think Bo coached defense that second half. He made a comment to the press after the game along the lines of, 'no matter what you guys say, I still know how to coach defense.' What we saw in the 2nd half, in my opinion, was the Bo Pelini defensive 'genius' if you will, that we've been missing since he was DC here. Great to see it back!
Click to expand...
I kind of shook my head at this as well. I know people love John P, but I'm not convinced that he is the right guy to be our DC. The first half we had guys running in and out seconds before the snap and they just did not look well coached.

 
In the first half we gave up some 200 yards, but in the second half a total of 84 total yards. Obviously we made really good adjustments. Hopefully our defense can keep this momentum going and take it into the Horseshoe.

 
Make sure you aren't comparing Wisconsin's prowess at running the football against last year's Wisconsin, but are comparing it to 2012 Wisconsin through the first four games before ours.

Our defense played lights out, but they're no elite squad in any aspect of the game.

 
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
Make sure you aren't comparing Wisconsin's prowess at running the football against last year's Wisconsin, but are comparing it to 2012 Wisconsin through the first four games before ours.

Our defense played lights out, but they're no elite squad in any aspect of the game.
Click to expand...
Wisky is down this year. Guys made great adjustments at half and didn't get down. I credit them for that no doubt. We still need to improve. The reality is the guys who were getting owned in the first half were the same guys who kicked a$$ in the second. Our staff just needs to find away to make/get "these" guys to show up for 4 quarters.

 
krc1995 said:
ladyhawke said:
I think Bo coached defense that second half. He made a comment to the press after the game along the lines of, 'no matter what you guys say, I still know how to coach defense.' What we saw in the 2nd half, in my opinion, was the Bo Pelini defensive 'genius' if you will, that we've been missing since he was DC here. Great to see it back!
Click to expand...
I kind of shook my head at this as well. I know people love John P, but I'm not convinced that he is the right guy to be our DC. The first half we had guys running in and out seconds before the snap and they just did not look well coached.
Click to expand...
Mentioned last week the addition of wrist bands to help with quicker adjustments. Didn't use them at UCLA as staff didn't want to introduce too much new stuff. Last nigh announcer mentioned the team and sidelines being out of sync. Said Paps talked to the guys at the 2nd quarter (late) and implied that their wrist bands might have been different indicating the issues with "looking lost".

 
I thought I heard that Nebraska made some minor adjustments in how they were calling their defense so they weren't waiting until the last minute to make a decision which allowed the players to get in position faster. Plus I think Wisconsin got wore down a little allowing the defense to take control. I did like the third and long situation where Nebraska's defensive front were all Defensive Ends for pass rush.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top