Game Analysis from "Professor Aaron Semm" Oct 19 on D&B

On Landgsdorf's Game plan:

It was very well done. Combination of knowledge and rhythm and people executing.... doesn't mean it was perfect, but there's a whole lot to like from that ballgame....
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Q: Tommy was 15 of 20 for the 2nd Quarter on, what do you attribute that to, mostly?......

Coaches will tell you that all passing game begins with protection. Routes, pattern structure, all of that, nothing else matters if the protection isn't good. And I think for the most part protection was pretty good. Minnesota wasn't that exotic with their pressures, but the protection was good, so Tommy looked more comfortable than the last couple of weeks.

There was a throw in the 2nd quarter, when you had Alonzo on a deep square-in that he missed, but otherwise, most of the throws that were there, he made. I think it was a pretty simple plan in terms of structure and patterns. Two and three-receiver stuff as opposed to getting 5 out with full-field reads. I think he did a nice job within a well-designed plan.
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What do you think about the progress/ development of Cethan Carter in the passing game and as an in-line blocker?

That's a guy that I have long felt that since he stepped on campus is a guy that can do everything. Being a traditional in-line tight end, also a move guy. He certainly has the athleticism to give you some matchup advantages in the passing game. He catches the ball well.

Also, as I went back to watch the tape, It looked to me like there was a pretty good sense of urgency from him, in terms of gettin off the ball and comming after people, as he was in the second level on some things: jet sweeps, and some things of that nature. It certainly looks like there is a lot of want-to there. I think going forward there's no reason to think that shouldn't continue.
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The rush defense didn't give hardly anything up to Minnesota, and it's been that way almost all season long. Regardless of who's playing there,.... if you are game-planning against Nebraska, how do you run the football on them?

It's tough. And this goes back to that age-old debate.,... I would much prefer to play this way, taking people's right hands away from them, and MAKE them beat you throwing the ball. Obviously we've got some problems in terms of the way we are defending the pass right now. Some technique things, and not being very good at making plays on the football. But when you're playing quarters, and getting people downhill, and letting them (defenders) come off the ball and create havoc, boy you make life difficult for running games...It was pleasing to the eye that's for sure.
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When you're talking technique and pass defense, Nebraska's got some guys that are maybe struggling a little bit in terms of trusting that technique. When you look at the scheme as a whole, (quarters) how important so you think that confidence is, versus the actual technique?

It's hugely important. You know that a confident athlete plays fast. Coach Banker talks about being "beat over the head with a hammer repeatedly". Eventually you start to doubt yourself, and you don't want to make a mistake, so you play hesitantly. Then instead of firing your guns you kind of lay back and think you're doing something safe. And that's the time you get beat....

Forget about quarters, or cover-two, or man-to-man. Forget all that stuff. At some point, players just need to go make plays. I can cite a couple of examples where a corner is getting depth, he's got help over the top, a receiver shows in front of him, and for some reason we don't break on the ball. At some point you need to understand that it's football. You've been playing it your whole life. Go make a play on the ball in the air, or come up and blow something up.

Last week against Wisconsin, it happened in the red zone. They're going in, they throw up a ball to Erikson, over in the flat that if #14 just breaks up on, he either tackles him for no gain,( I beleive it was 3rd down), or we maybe get a deflection.

This week I believe it was in the 4rth quarter. #10 same thing. He could have come up and made a play at the sticks. We don't. I think that lends credence to your theory that we're lacking confidence back there right now, and trying to play to not make mistakes, as opposed to making plays.
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I think Coach Langsdorf is a tremendous game-planner. I like the concept going in. How comfortable do you think guys (O Coords) get going from game-planning to the actual game time playcalling?

We have a saying in coaching, as you know, that the last man with the chalk wins. It's easy to sit in a room with a dry-erase board, or an old chalkboard, and say "If they do this, we can just do that" But when it's happening live, and you're expecting certain things to happen, and you WANT to be right, and you go ahead and do those things, sometimes its not as clean of an environment.

However, what I'm seeing Nebraska do, particularly in the run game, that I think really makes life simpler for a play caller, is I'm starting to see complimentary plays, and play-packages with the run game. Which is a GREAT sign.

For example, the long touchdown run that Newby had early in the ballgame. We had 4 plays off of that same package, where we lined up in unbalance, we gave jet motion, we know that we ran zone to the weakside. Later we come back off of that very same action. We run Power to the strongside. Later off that very same set and action, we actually give it on a jet sweep that was the one on-field penalty that we had, where Newby didn't get his head accross and kinda grabbed the guy by the ankle. And then that sets up the final play in the package, which is the QB counter, back away from the jet.

So when you have a package of plays like that, why that becomes important, or makes it easier for a play caller is that you're lining up, and seeing how they react to that motion, and if this DOESN'T work, plan 'B' will be there, or place 'C' in the package. Having packages of plays like that gives you something to go to. You see how a defense is going to react, and you can call your plays accordingly.
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That's one of my biggest takeaways from the Minny game--not only was the running game used particularly well, but plays were being called to set up future plays, instead of just throwing s*** out there to see what sticks, which is what it looked like for the six games preceeding.

Hopefully Langsdorf, et al, have learned from their mistakes, and will utilize the running game more and with greater effectiveness and forethought.

 
DB: We have seen the progression of it. The first wrinkle we saw was in (the Illinois game) off of that same kind of action, with weakside QB run game, or the counter. And now you've got 4 or 5 plays on tape off that jet motion where teams have to prepare for, which makes it pretty difficult as a defense.

It makes it very difficult. Offensive play-calling is all about creating conflicts for defenders. What I mean by that is

"If I do this, and you react this way, you'll be wrong, because I'm gonna do this" - so you create situations where defenders can't be correct.

Historically people have done that with the option game. And a lot of what I'm seeing in Nebraska's run game right now,

(even though these are hand-off run guys, West Coast guys, Pro-style offense guys,)

I'm seeing a lot of instances right now where we're leaving unblocked defenders by design because we're putting them in two-way binds. I think that's beautiful.

if you wanna criticize things when things aren't going good, you've gotta give credit when credit is due. If you would have tried to get people to agree that these guys were gonna implement those sorts of concepts, I don't think that a lot of people would have bought it.

You wanna talk about unique, there's not a team in college football right now that hands the ball off to the fullback as much as Nebraska does. And you and I both know that there are several different ways that they are doing that. There's some packages and complimentary plays that are available to them down the road if they go that route.
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Damon Benning (on Fullback Plays):

Pretty appreciative to be able to run both dive AND trap. I know a lot of times they look the same to fans, but you look at either the ability to "pen and pull" or to "base" --- that's pretty tough on a front seven.

Absolutely. Especially in this day and age, where people are wanting to get upfield so much, and create havoc, you trap a defensive tackle a couple of times and gash him. And Janovich has shown that he can break a tackle, or make a guy miss, and turn those into chunk plays.

I'll really go bonkers pretty soon if we --- D.B., what would you do if we ran "midline keep" off of that?
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I think he would score......the 3-technique can't win.... I think if they could incorporate those little wrinkles...

 
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The play-calling was probably the best we've seen all season against Minny. Really, the only drive I had a huge problem with was in the 4th quarter where we gave Newby the ball on 1st down, he picked up 12 yards (gaining another 1st down), and then we threw three straight incomplete passes. This was immediately after Minnesota had just marched down the field and scored a touchdown. This is one of those situational issues where I think the coaches need to improve - we need to maintain run game creativity and only throw if we have to in those situations. We have struggled at times to run out of the I-formation and pick up big chunks of yards - until we can do that I think we need to continue to use motion and do creative little things to throw a defense off.

Defensively, I would like to see us apply a bit more pressure in obvious passing situations when we're trying to fend off a rally. It seemed like we were content with Leidner facing only four-man pressure and dissecting the defense. Granted, he eventually threw two picks and helped us seal the game, but we don't get great pressure with just four guys. The secondary needs a bit more help in these scenarios IMHO.

 
DB: I thought Banderas was outstanding, just his physicality that he brought to the game. He's getting some help, too because Newby has been really good as well.

You wanna talk crazy, we've been as beat-up as any team around, and nationally nobody talks about it, but you're sittin at 3-4, so we're not really in the conversation, but...Nebraska's injury situation this Fall has been just mind-blowing.

BUT, now, you're getting to the point where you're gonna start seeing guys come back in the mix. And because of that injury situation, now the guys you're adding back in the mix, you're suddenly going to be unbelievably deep.

I agree with you. Banderas played well. Weber's played well for 3 or 4 weeks, so we're now 2-deep at the Mike.

Michael Rose-Ivey's gonna be comming back in the mix. We know that he's a proven player. Well, Newby's been getting snaps that he otherwise wouldn't have gotten, and hasn't had since he's stepped on campus. So now we know we're 2-deep there.

I mean, this is setting up for a nice little run here at the end. If you start getting those guys up-front back, like Kevin Williams, get him back in the mix, Maurice is still probably a couple of weeks out, Keep the big fella's ankle healthy, I think the potential is there to make a nice little run to end the season. Certainly that defense is gonna make life tough for some of these offensively-challenged teams in the Big Ten.
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zoogs said:
IA State Husker said:
I'll really go bonkers pretty soon if we --- D.B., what would you do if we ran "midline teeth" off of that?
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I think he would score......the 3-technique can't win.... I think if they could incorporate those little wrinkles...
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I tried searching for midline teeth and this is all I got:

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But hey, scoring sounds good
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Yeah, I have no idea. I just try to be accurate with how I hear it and type it. I was hoping someone on here would get something out of it??

 
IA State Husker said:
Damon Benning (on Fullback Plays):

Pretty appreciative to be able to run both dive AND trap. I know a lot of times they look the same to fans, but you look at either the ability to "pen and pull" or to "base" --- that's pretty tough on a front seven.

Absolutely. Especially in this day and age, where people are wanting to get upfield so much, and create havoc, you trap a defensive tackle a couple of times and gash him. And Janovich has shown that he can break a tackle, or make a guy miss, and turn those into chunk plays.

I'll really go bonkers pretty soon if we --- D.B., what would you do if we ran "midline teeth" off of that?
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I think he would score......the 3-technique can't win.... I think if they could incorporate those little wrinkles...
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Midline Keep. As in QB keep.

From Twitter:

Aaron Semm ‏@AaronSemm 24h24 hours ago
IF NU was so inclined, they could compliment this with the midline QB keep. Frost, Crouch and Lord made lots of hay on that play. #justsayin

 
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