McKewon Husker Article: If the Guts Hold up........

[The King]

This is a little off topic, but hearing Dinardo and Griffith both state that they think Michigan and Ohio St are "separating themselves" from the rest of the BIG10 is a load o crap IMO. I can agree with Ohio St., but Michigan hasn't shown me that they can do that. If NEB can shore up a better defense this year, NEB will give Michigan all they can handle in Ann Arbor IMO. Hell, NEB may be ranked higher than Michigan once NEB comes into town and NEB may even be favored in that game.

Probably has to do with Michigan and their ability to recruit at the moment. They have got, and are in the conversation, for some serious studs.

Finally, didn't Bo state himself he doesn't really care about the stats except for: points allowed and yards per play?

 

[Mavric]

It's a fine article and you can't say Sam is wrong about anything. I'm just not getting my hopes up about this defense until we see them stop someone. We only held half of our opponents under 300 yards of offense last year, and that includes Arkansas State, Southern Miss, Iowa and Minnesota, four woeful teams.

Potential is great. We need to see results.

I know what you're saying but Ark St. wasn't terrible on offense. They were #23 in the nation at 466 per. They put up 530 on Oregon. Granted, they didn't have a lot of other competition but that's not bad.

At any rate, 300 is a pretty low bar. Only four teams averaged fewer than 300 yards last year and the median was 396. To hold an average team 100 yards under their season average is fairly good defense (not that the other three you listed were anything approaching average on offense).

I was going to mention something to his affect. I knew that they had a pretty solid offense and i was very please with the score after the game.

But then again, didn't Arkie St score the majority of the points in the 2nd half, when Oregon brought on it's 2nd and 3rd stringers? It's still an impressive amount of yards put up, regardless.

Ark St. had 209 yards against Oregon in the first half - 72 on one play.

They had 193 yards against us in the first half.

 

[knapplc]

Ark St. had 209 yards against Oregon in the first half - 72 on one play.

They had 193 yards against us in the first half.

I said basically the same thing, but pushed the bar back a few minutes. That game is nothing to judge Ark State's offense on. They weren't in it from the get-go.

Oregon was up 50-3 with seven minutes to go in the 2nd quarter before emptying their bench. Ark State had 98 yards of offense at the 7:06 mark in the 2nd quarter. Nearly all of Ark State's offense came against Oregon's scrubs.

 

[Mavric]

Ark St. had 209 yards against Oregon in the first half - 72 on one play.

They had 193 yards against us in the first half.

I said basically the same thing, but pushed the bar back a few minutes. That game is nothing to judge Ark State's offense on. They weren't in it from the get-go.

Oregon was up 50-3 with seven minutes to go in the 2nd quarter before emptying their bench. Ark State had 98 yards of offense at the 7:06 mark in the 2nd quarter. Nearly all of Ark State's offense came against Oregon's scrubs.

Yeah, I was replying to the those earlier posts before I saw your reply.

I said in my first post that Ark St. didn't have a lot of competition. And we did go up against some poor offenses last year. But 300 yards is still a fairly low number now-a-days. I'd be curious how many of our opponents we held under their season average (mainly B1G opponents). I know from the Graveyard thread we held a lot of QBs under their average but pass defense wasn't our biggest problem.

 

[swmohusker]

You can't judge no huddle teams on the ol 300 yards bar. A no huddle teams defense will face about 15 to 20 more plays per game. So it is like defending for an extra quarter. Our defense was good for 10 games. They gave up big plays and were put in holes by early turnovers in a couple games. Bad open field tackling plagued the others. Our defense is not as far off as people think. If we can have a unit near the top 25 in defense this year we will be very successful.

 

[knapplc]

To be fair, I don't think there's any "bar." I grabbed 300 yards out of thin air when I looked at the numbers.

We don't need to look at much to judge last year's defense. They were average sometimes, pretty good sometimes, and outright horrifying sometimes. They nearly shut down Northwestern, who got about 1/3 of their yards on one play, and they stifled teams during our second-half comebacks. Of course, they were the reason we needed to come back in most of those games, so that's a two-edged sword.

 

[JJ Husker]

Good article by Sam. Although I was surprised in addressing the defense that he didn't mention the need to be able to generate a serviceable pass rush without having to blitz to achieve it. He touched on the need for the guts two to step up and stuff the run but IMO, in addition to that, we have to be able to generate some upfield pressure also with our D line. This is just my opinion but I think it won't take much more than an infusion of speed, strength, and athleticism (which I believe we will have compared to the last 2 years) and some scheme tweaks to remove/reduce hard and fast gap responsibilities. IMO the D line needs to just plain be animals. Let the other guys worry about "responsibilities", those guys need to rip heads off and raise hell. Turn em loose Bo, turn em loose. I might be partaking too heavily of the preseason Kool-Aid but I am excited to see this D unit start causing problems instead of just reacting to their own ineptitude.

 

[MichiganDad3]

Good article by Sam. Although I was surprised in addressing the defense that he didn't mention the need to be able to generate a serviceable pass rush without having to blitz to achieve it. He touched on the need for the guts two to step up and stuff the run but IMO, in addition to that, we have to be able to generate some upfield pressure also with our D line. This is just my opinion but I think it won't take much more than an infusion of speed, strength, and athleticism (which I believe we will have compared to the last 2 years) and some scheme tweaks to remove/reduce hard and fast gap responsibilities. IMO the D line needs to just plain be animals. Let the other guys worry about "responsibilities", those guys need to rip heads off and raise hell. Turn em loose Bo, turn em loose. I might be partaking too heavily of the preseason Kool-Aid but I am excited to see this D unit start causing problems instead of just reacting to their own ineptitude.

I love it. Let the DL wreak havoc. Make the opposing QB play with fear.

 

[True2tRA]

"frozen between assignment and instinct".......

 

[True2tRA]

I feel the same way Chaddyboxer, I think we are going to see flashes from this defense that will really open our eyes, really make us believe we are on to something. Unfortunately, history has taught us to expect results that make us completely give up hope on this defense. I just want to see us IMPROVE as the year goes on. IMPROVEMENT is something all teams should do by years end and sadly sometimes it seems Bo's teams or individual players don't seem to progress as the year goes on.

As far as the comments from those two B1G analysts, the only reason I can think of why we don't get into the discussion as a rising star in the league is not because of our win/loss record, but moreso as I said above, I think it is the way we lose. Unfortunately also, you have to remember not everyone follows the entire Nebraska season the way us loyal Huskers do. Often times when they see us, it is in those big stage games. We tend to lose those big stage games. Thus the perception.

 

[I am I]

Turnovers.

 

[The Dude]

>> Kicker Mauro Bondi: He's on scholarship to do more than kick off, but Bondi could face that reality if he doesn't beat Western Illinois transfer walk-on Pat Smith for the job. When NU's searching the FCS for competition, your grip on the starting role is tenuous at best.

hnoes

 

[RedDenver]

While I want to always reach for greatness, with the advent of spread offenses, the days of regularly holding teams to under 300 yards is gone. I'm more worried about holding teams under 17 points. It's a realistic goal that puts you in the top 10 in scoring Defense.

Agreed. With the offense we have this season, the D may only need to keep opponents under 24 points for us to win.