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HuskerfaninOkieland

HuskerfaninOkieland

Heisman Trophy Winner
OWH

NU Football: Run-defense numbers prove alarming

BY DIRK CHATELAIN

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

 

 

 

• On the Web: W-H Big Red Page

• On the Web: Big 12 Football

• On the Web: Big 12 Football Stats

• On the Web: NU Football

• On the Web: Ball State Football

 

RELATED

 

• On the Web: W-H Big Red Page

• On the Web: Big 12 Football

• On the Web: Big 12 Football Stats

• On the Web: NU Football

• On the Web: Ball State Football

A defense that can't stop the run.

 

 

 

NU's Cortney Grixby tries to run down USC's C.J. Gable on this long, first-quarter play.Is there any more damaging football weakness? After Southern California's offense hammered the Blackshirts into submission Saturday, a startling stat sheet revealed the damage.

 

In the first three quarters, USC ran 25 times for 278 yards, an average of 11.1 yards per rush.

 

Actually, Nebraska was worse than those numbers indicate. Nine of those 25 plays came inside NU's 10-yard line, when the Huskers stacked the box. They gained just 15 yards.

 

The other 16 carries — when USC had room to run — produced an incredible 263 yards. That's 16.4 yards per rush.

 

A thorough video review of the game revealed glaring inadequacies throughout the defensive lineup.

 

It's not a stretch to say the NU defensive front was manhandled one-on-one. Three of the players up front who played significant minutes touched a Trojan running back a combined two times in these 16 plays.

 

The soft front four allowed USC linemen to go after NU linebackers, who appeared often to misjudge a play's direction. The linebackers funneled toward piles of linemen unable to find the ball.

 

In the secondary, defensive backs played passively and missed key tackles.

 

Sixteen plays, 263 yards, an easy USC victory.

 

 
Probably not Cosgrove's fault though....LOL.

What an embarrassment. Isn't that what REGGIE BUSH did to FRESNO ST?

So, we made their backs look like Bush, and they made us look like Fresno St. That's encouraging for the rest of the time Coz is coaching the blackshirts.

 
Exactly what I was saying in another thread. Can't blame Coz for not making the play...BUT...he is to blame for not having his playmakers on the field.

 
I'd like to argue the second run (Gable for 40 yards) listed!!!! They have Bowman listed as the YBC guy....but then in the description say he completely whiffs....a whiff means no contact was made. Yay Bowman!!!

:sarcasm

 
BIGREDIOWAN said:
Man how hard is it to wrap a guy up and throw him to the ground!? :wacko:
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Its not hard!!! When I played our coach always said "He cant go anywhere if he cant move his legs". I was a smaller guy so i always wrapped up at the waist and tripped them up. Its so basic, don't try and body a guy to the ground, because if they have a sense of balance it doesnt work. Just wrap up the legs and bring them down!!!

 
Plain and simple it was lack of fundamentals and not being in the right position that killed us against USC... you can put some of that on the players I guess, but the majority fault lied with the coaching staff.

Fire Coz&Co!

 
The only good news is that I think the coaches have finally gotten the picture about this on-going tackling issue. I think this week they can forget about film, forget about Ball St. offense and all that. For the defense's part, anyway, just get the guys out there, in full pads, with Lucky running at them, and Castille, and Helu, and Glenn, and anyone else, and have them do basic tackles over and over again. Wrap the guy's legs, not his shoulders; don't go for the big hit unless it's clearly available and low risk; use his own momentum to bring him down; forget about the strip unless it, too, is low risk (i.e. he's already heading out of bounds, there's three guys with handfuls of jersey besides you).

Fum-dumbles seem to happen more of their own accord than anyone's direct effort. I saw a lot of ball reaching in the SC game especially at the beginning. I hope that the coaches, using a variety of tactis up to an including benching captains and starters for our next couple, can get the message across. And that message is simple: if the guy doesn't go down, he's going to go forward. I can live with fewer turnovers as long as the counter result is a lot less offensive yards gained. Let Keller and Co. take care of the scoring.

 
A big problem is trying to fix this issue mid-season. I have seen it happen first hand and it never really seems to fix itself during the season. There is rarely enough time to coach it with all the preparation you need in 4 days. I hope I am wrong but it wasn't 1 bad game and let's get back to it, it has been 2 straight games of ZERO tackling by our front 7.

 
Husker_x said:
Fum-dumbles seem to happen more of their own accord than anyone's direct effort. I saw a lot of ball reaching in the SC game especially at the beginning. I hope that the coaches, using a variety of tactis up to an including benching captains and starters for our next couple, can get the message across. And that message is simple: if the guy doesn't go down, he's going to go forward. I can live with fewer turnovers as long as the counter result is a lot less offensive yards gained. Let Keller and Co. take care of the scoring.
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Same thing happened in the WF game and it's mainly the LB's at fault (I don't always like to call out the same people, but I see Ruud and McKeon doing this the most). The mentality at LB should be to hit and hit hard.

 
SkerMin8r said:
Exactly what I was saying in another thread. Can't blame Coz for not making the play...BUT...he is to blame for not having his playmakers on the field.
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I think you can blame Coz if practices are soft, low impact, etc. If they're practicing in pads for the first time since pre-season now, how would they be able to practice the fundamentals that were oh-so-lacking during the game (and other games)? Jason Peter made a good point today (Wednesday)-- to paraphrase: These are 18, 19, 20 year old kids (his word), they aren't pros and you can't treat them like pros; they have to learn the physical part of the game in practice and practice contact and learn to be physical and tough.

I can't argue with JP on this one. :)

 
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Overland Park Husker said:
Husker_x said:
Fum-dumbles seem to happen more of their own accord than anyone's direct effort. I saw a lot of ball reaching in the SC game especially at the beginning. I hope that the coaches, using a variety of tactis up to an including benching captains and starters for our next couple, can get the message across. And that message is simple: if the guy doesn't go down, he's going to go forward. I can live with fewer turnovers as long as the counter result is a lot less offensive yards gained. Let Keller and Co. take care of the scoring.
Click to expand...
Same thing happened in the WF game and it's mainly the LB's at fault (I don't always like to call out the same people, but I see Ruud and McKeon doing this the most). The mentality at LB should be to hit and hit hard.
Click to expand...
Absolutely!!!!! I get frustrated and pissed everytime I see them trying to strip the ball instead of trying to bring the player down. The more they jack with that crap the more YAC the runner gets. Knock his a$$ to the ground and make him pay for his transgressions and worry about getting the ball later.

 
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