Dirks Turnover Article

[Junior]

Really great article. Turnovers have been a huge issue for a while, and I just don't understand why the coaching staff can't make any headway on that one. At least Rich Fisher has improved the dropped pass problem to some extent.

I'd really like to see a breakdown of penalties too. A certain amount of penalties are bound to happen. However, the false starts are (and have been for years) out of control.

 

[sd'sker]

Eighteen of Nebraska’s 35 turnovers directly led to opponents’ scores, including 16 touchdowns. That’s 31 percent of foes’ total points against the Huskers.

this might help explain why our defense ranked so poorly.

 

[The Dude]

The Huskers have put the ball on the ground 112 times the past three years.

That's insanity !

 

[Undone]

It doesn't do much to console our effort in the CCG though. Which was really the game that mattered. Because again, we went 10-2 in the regular season despite all the turnovers.

In the CCG, the stats on espn.com show two interceptions and one fumble by us. Obviously I remember the first pick 6 *shudder*. But the others are a blur. But we'll go ahead and assume they scored off those other two. That's 21 points. They put up 70 total. We put up 31.

I'm still going to argue turnovers weren't our biggest issue - it was ridiculous defensive effort when we needed it most. I understand that's not necessarily what Dirk is arguing (I didn't read the article because, you know, Dirk wrote it).

 

[KJ.]

I wonder if the University has someone employed on the football staff to record stats. If they do, that person should be fired and we should just let the OWH let Dirk keep writing stat filled articles on how we are not as good a a NC. This way we could free up the cash that is needed to keep our assistants paid well.

I really don't care one way or another about Dirk but these articles he is writing are stupid. It doesn't take someone with a journalism degree or any degree for that matter to understand what we saw on television this past year. Turnovers hurt your team. And the less you turn the ball over and the more you force your opponent to turnover, the better you are. Wow summed up his whole article in 2 sentences.

Dirk may like to use some basic stats, but his analysis is never too in depth. And to the second bolded point, if we actually had something in depth it really could be used to our advantage. Get a couple of quants to analyze our football team and I'm sure they'd find some part of our strategy that is clearly off.

Really great article. Turnovers have been a huge issue for a while, and I just don't understand why the coaching staff can't make any headway on that one. At least Rich Fisher has improved the dropped pass problem to some extent.

I'd really like to see a breakdown of penalties too. A certain amount of penalties are bound to happen. However, the false starts are (and have been for years) out of control.

This, on the other hand, wouldn't be overly complicated to do. I'll try sometime.

 

[NUance]

Only eight Division I players lost six fumbles or more. Two of them — Taylor Martinez and Ameer Abdullah — played for Nebraska.

Wow, this sucks.

Nice little graphic in Dirkly's article. And not a bad article actually. But I still think he's a bucktoothed gerbil jouster.

 

[mnhusker]

I guess this is nothing that most needed to be sold on. I just hope that the Staff comes up with a new way to deal with this problem, so far the attempts to fix the problem have failed (duh) for year in year out. Seems dumb but Bo should reach out to some other coaches so see what they do because for whatever reason no one on this staff seems to know how to deal with this issue. Dirk can be annoying at times but the team deserves bad press on this topic.

 

[ZRod]

That is what touched a nerve with me. Football isn't that simple. Turnovers are a problem yes, but so is giving up 500+ yards in multiple games. Those two combined led us to be a 10-4 team, it wasn't just turnovers. Clean up turnovers and we maybe get another win or two, fix the defense and we maybe talking about only losing one game.

Not true

See the statistics

There arent any 1 loss teams with anywhere near the turnover margin we had

You simply cant be a top 10 team and turnover the ball like we have consistently done the last 3 seasons

The statistics in that article prove it, not even close. You CANT be a team in the bottom 10 in turnover margin and be in the top 10, you most likely WILL be in the top 10 if you are in the top 10 in turnover margin

It doesn't prove anything! There is no rule about who can and can't be in the top 10. Yes that many turnovers makes it harder, but we weren't that far off this year and I personally don't think it was turnovers that held us back.

Here's my stats from our 4 loses:

UCLA total yards: 653 turnovers(i/f): 1/1 turnover differential (neb): -1

OSU: totlay yards: 498 turnovers(i/f): 3/1 turnover differential: -3

Wisconsin II: total yards: 640 turnover(i/f): 2/1 turnover differential: -3

Gerogira: total yards: 589 turnovers(i/f): 2/1 turnover differential: -1

In our two blowout loses you could argue that turnovers were a contributing factor. But that doesn't tell the whole story for the Wisconsin game, playing from way behind throwing predictably and forcing balls to make something happen. You field a competent defense and like I said we are talking about maybe losing 1 game despite turnover issues. That's no less true than saying you can't be a top 10 team with our amount of turnovers.

Yes turnovers are an issue, but they are not our biggest issue in my opinion. We find a competent return man and we have 5 fewer turnovers, and don't forget about the couple of garbage time turnovers in there too.

 

[Enhance]

That is what touched a nerve with me. Football isn't that simple. Turnovers are a problem yes, but so is giving up 500+ yards in multiple games. Those two combined led us to be a 10-4 team, it wasn't just turnovers. Clean up turnovers and we maybe get another win or two, fix the defense and we maybe talking about only losing one game.

Not true

See the statistics

There arent any 1 loss teams with anywhere near the turnover margin we had

You simply cant be a top 10 team and turnover the ball like we have consistently done the last 3 seasons

The statistics in that article prove it, not even close. You CANT be a team in the bottom 10 in turnover margin and be in the top 10, you most likely WILL be in the top 10 if you are in the top 10 in turnover margin

It doesn't prove anything! There is no rule about who can and can't be in the top 10. Yes that many turnovers makes it harder, but we weren't that far off this year and I personally don't think it was turnovers that held us back.

I agree we have other problems sans turnovers. But, jmfb is right. I bet if you compiled stats from the last 25 years you'd see very, very, very few teams finish in the Top 10 but have awful turnover margins like ours, if any team. From that point-of-view, he's correct.

 

[Junior]

Really great article. Turnovers have been a huge issue for a while, and I just don't understand why the coaching staff can't make any headway on that one. At least Rich Fisher has improved the dropped pass problem to some extent.

I'd really like to see a breakdown of penalties too. A certain amount of penalties are bound to happen. However, the false starts are (and have been for years) out of control.

This, on the other hand, wouldn't be overly complicated to do. I'll try sometime.

What I would be curious to see, is the result of the drive in which a false start is recorded. They just have been killers for us the last few years and I just don't get why it can't be corrected ever.

 

[Count 'Bility]

False starts were not nearly the issue this past season as they were in the past.

 

[Enhance]

False starts were not nearly the issue this past season as they were in the past.

I really believe it all boils to discipline, and we've lacked it across the board. Fumbles, penalties, missed assignments, etc., all comes down to discipline, and when you're undisciplined, you make a lot of mistakes. Which, as anybody who watches us knows, is true. You can even make up for athletic deficiencies if you're disciplined.

And it starts with the coaches. It's their responsibility to make players play smart and play disciplined, and I don't think this staff is overly good at it. The B1G title game is evidence enough. With how much was riding on that game and how confident the players felt, and then to go out and get out-coached and play wildly erratic on defense is just baffling.

And as a side note, I think we lack strong leadership personalities.

 

[kchusker_chris]

False starts were not nearly the issue this past season as they were in the past.

I really believe it all boils to discipline, and we've lacked it across the board. Fumbles, penalties, missed assignments, etc., all comes down to discipline, and when you're undisciplined, you make a lot of mistakes. Which, as anybody who watches us knows, is true. You can even make up for athletic deficiencies if you're disciplined.

And it starts with the coaches. It's their responsibility to make players play smart and play disciplined, and I don't think this staff is overly good at it. The B1G title game is evidence enough. With how much was riding on that game and how confident the players felt, and then to go out and get out-coached and play wildly erratic on defense is just baffling.

And as a side note, I think we lack strong leadership personalities.

someone should ask Fisher how he got his receivers to quit dropping balls between last year and this year....then try and apply that across the board. "execution" - we get sick of hearing about it buts it's lacking in so many areas that it can't be dismissed.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

False starts were not nearly the issue this past season as they were in the past.

I really believe it all boils to discipline, and we've lacked it across the board. Fumbles, penalties, missed assignments, etc., all comes down to discipline, and when you're undisciplined, you make a lot of mistakes. Which, as anybody who watches us knows, is true. You can even make up for athletic deficiencies if you're disciplined.

And it starts with the coaches. It's their responsibility to make players play smart and play disciplined, and I don't think this staff is overly good at it. The B1G title game is evidence enough. With how much was riding on that game and how confident the players felt, and then to go out and get out-coached and play wildly erratic on defense is just baffling.

And as a side note, I think we lack strong leadership personalities.

someone should ask Fisher how he got his receivers to quit dropping balls between last year and this year....then try and apply that across the board. "execution" - we get sick of hearing about it buts it's lacking in so many areas that it can't be dismissed.

Good point. We finally got receivers with sticky fingers and it makes a huge difference. But I'm not sure you can train for sticky fingers. You either have them or you don't.

Execution, cool and discipline are another story. Like you say, we need that across the board.

 

[Count 'Bility]

False starts were not nearly the issue this past season as they were in the past.

I really believe it all boils to discipline, and we've lacked it across the board. Fumbles, penalties, missed assignments, etc., all comes down to discipline, and when you're undisciplined, you make a lot of mistakes. Which, as anybody who watches us knows, is true. You can even make up for athletic deficiencies if you're disciplined.

And it starts with the coaches. It's their responsibility to make players play smart and play disciplined, and I don't think this staff is overly good at it. The B1G title game is evidence enough. With how much was riding on that game and how confident the players felt, and then to go out and get out-coached and play wildly erratic on defense is just baffling.

And as a side note, I think we lack strong leadership personalities.

someone should ask Fisher how he got his receivers to quit dropping balls between last year and this year....then try and apply that across the board. "execution" - we get sick of hearing about it buts it's lacking in so many areas that it can't be dismissed.

You want the lineman to catch balls? What?