The defense has come a long ways this year. Pelini and his staff successfully addressed the pass rush, a huge area of need in the offseason, by landing Randy Gregory (identified by Chris Spielman today as the best pass-rusher in the country). The play of the interior line has improved over the course of this season as well. Pelini also made some philosophical adjustments by using the safety much more in run support and blitzing far more often than we've seen during his tenure, and as a result of all of that, the defense has actually started to look like Blackshirts again.
Meanwhile, the offense was able to move the ball fairly consistently on the #1 defense in the country, even without it's All-Conference QB, three starting offensive linemen, and a starting WR, not to mention all the guys who did play while beat up.
This is all to say that people calling for an overhaul of the staff are misguided. They've shown the ability to adjust, to improve, and they've shown the potential to do great things even when half of their starting offense is out.
That said, there are a few areas in which Nebraska has been trending poorly for quite some time now - punt returns and turnovers. I think most posters would agree that on Saturday, those two areas were the difference between a 41-28 loss and something like a 31-17 win.
My question is, excluding coaching changes, what adjustments need to be made? Do we need two punt returners back? Do we need three? Do we need to rush the punter more aggressively? Do we simply need to change the way we practice?
As far as turnovers go, I believe that does come back to the way we practice. I think there probably needs to be far more full-speed/full contact in practice than there is right now, especially with the QBs. It's become clear that ball security was not just a Taylor Martinez issue, but it's something that everyone on offense struggles with. I don't believe it's coincidence that over the past few years, the offense has fumbled the ball more than anyone in the country, and our defense has been consistently poor at tackling. I think if Bo wants to win a conference championship, he's going to have to make philosophical adjustments to the way his team goes about practicing.
Thoughts?
Meanwhile, the offense was able to move the ball fairly consistently on the #1 defense in the country, even without it's All-Conference QB, three starting offensive linemen, and a starting WR, not to mention all the guys who did play while beat up.
This is all to say that people calling for an overhaul of the staff are misguided. They've shown the ability to adjust, to improve, and they've shown the potential to do great things even when half of their starting offense is out.
That said, there are a few areas in which Nebraska has been trending poorly for quite some time now - punt returns and turnovers. I think most posters would agree that on Saturday, those two areas were the difference between a 41-28 loss and something like a 31-17 win.
My question is, excluding coaching changes, what adjustments need to be made? Do we need two punt returners back? Do we need three? Do we need to rush the punter more aggressively? Do we simply need to change the way we practice?
As far as turnovers go, I believe that does come back to the way we practice. I think there probably needs to be far more full-speed/full contact in practice than there is right now, especially with the QBs. It's become clear that ball security was not just a Taylor Martinez issue, but it's something that everyone on offense struggles with. I don't believe it's coincidence that over the past few years, the offense has fumbled the ball more than anyone in the country, and our defense has been consistently poor at tackling. I think if Bo wants to win a conference championship, he's going to have to make philosophical adjustments to the way his team goes about practicing.
Thoughts?
Last edited by a moderator:
