Nebraska Special Teams- WORST In Power 5 During Frost Tenure

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Nebraska55fan

Banned
In article in OWH- quantifies what we all have known, our special teams aren't bad- they are TERRIBLE. It's not a one year deal, bad luck, injuries, roster issues- the usual excuses,  the patient is terminal. Since Coach Frost took over- our special teams have ranked in the 64-65 range out of 65 Power 5 Teams. We are right there with KANSAS and ARIZONA, not the kind of company one would like to keep IF the goal is to win games. 

It details that NU could have won 11 more games in the Frost era  had it not been for really poor special teams in those games. We aren't talking about winning 11 of those games with great or even good or even average special teams. We could have won most of those games had our special teams not been awful. 

Some would suggest we just try to get better incrementally. My suggestion is more of the same, really won't buy us much. lots of talk, it just ISNT working. An inconvenient truth, the gift that seems to keep on giving every season under this staff. 

https://huskerextra.com/news/football/chatelain-special-teams-are-costing-nebraska-games-especially-close-ones/article_59ce738e-138a-5b5f-8bcb-625fbd2c8379.html?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot&utm_medium=social&utm_source=undefined_Husker_Extra&fbclid=IwAR3hFddXHyMGzb6gMcIKyHW39Td6ymC7cTyuQBWyl9jnLfaS4WfbQ44qRII

 
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soup said:
Maybe we should hire Mr 450k Bruce Read back?
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Does anyone really want to touch anyone on that tainted Mike "the check cashing machine" Riley coaching staff? They are like lepers in a leper colony with no antidote available. We aren't talking cooties from an 11 year old girl here. 

We would have to pry Bruce away from Lewis and Clark Junior College back in Oregon. That is who he is coaching Special for now.  For 1/10 of the ridiculous amount his buddy Riley was paying him with Nebraska dollars here. What a surprise. NO ONE came calling for him when he lost his job here- just like Riley. 

https://www.facebook.com/lewisandclarkcc/

 
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I did not know this:

In 2014, Nebraska special teams ranked No. 1 nationally, according to ESPN. No wonder Read drew the ire of fans. But his special-teams units still ranked well above average in 2016, 44th according to ESPN metrics and 32nd by Football Outsiders.
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Understatement of the year perhaps in 2018

Ohio State 2018: The Buckeyes blocked Isaac Armstrong’s first punt and grabbed a 7-yard edge in average field position. But the lowlight came after Nebraska’s game-opening, 75-yard touchdown drive, when Lightbourn nearly whiffed on an onside kick attempt. “It certainly didn’t look like what we’d practiced,” Frost said.
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Back on Sept. 24, 2018, when crisis first emerged, Frost was asked where he’d like to see special-teams improvement.
“Well, fielding punts and not giving up touchdowns on punt returns would be a good start,” he said.
Three years later, there’s no end in sight.
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There are six main phases of special teams altogether:

1. Punting.

2. Kickoffs.

3. Field goal kicking.

4. Punt returning.

5. Kickoff returning.

6. Point after touchdown.

In '19 & '20, IMO kickoffs and kickoff returning was one of the most underrated problems on the team because it greatly hurt us in average starting field position. So when you have an offense that struggles a bit to move the chains, your points per game average trends down when your starting field position trends down (duh).

In 2020, Culp really turned around our field goal kicking.

This season, kickoffs and kickoff returning is better - specifically kickoffs. It cannot be overstated how big it is when you kick the ball into the end zone.

But where we're really struggling is with punt returning, field goal kicking, and...how in the world...PATs. Punt returning is probably the thing that actually worries me most out of these three this year.

 
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Special teams has looked like some kids compilation football follies tape to get millions of views- but the thing is, the kid didn't have to peruse all the college teams to put together his playlist. He just had to look at NU- and it's an annual thing- groundhog dayish if you will. It's GOT to be fixed- more of the same isn't going to cut it. 

 
I just think the biggest thing is having a sure-handed receiver back there for punts.

I wish that Dawson or Becton or whoever it actually is that's in charge of coaching that phase would tell the returner exactly which yard line to stand on based on where the other team is punting from as we trot out to line up.

Have the coach tell the player on each specific punt return play whether or not to attempt to back up for the catch based on where he's at situationally (deep in our own territory, not deep in our own territory, etc.).

It just cannot be as hard as we're making it.

 
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Undone said:
I just think the biggest thing is having a sure-handed receiver back there for punts.

I wish that Dawson or Becton or whoever it actually is that's in charge of coaching that phase would tell the returner exactly which yard line to stand on based on where the other team is punting from as we trot out to line up.

Just coach this player then that if the ball is going to go over his head significantly on the punt...just get out of the way and let it bounce. Giving the other team the ball back on a punt more than once per year is a surefire way to have a losing season.
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It might be helpful that whoever is actually responsible for coaching the Punt return team to actually make sure the deep guy gets on the field. Against Illinois CTB barely got back there- he was still on the sidelines until most everyone was lined up. I seriously doubt there was any adjusting where CTB lined up. That certainly couldn't have helped his state of mind- fielding at the 2 and panicking- throwing the ball out of bounds. 

 
Undone said:
I just think the biggest thing is having a sure-handed receiver back there for punts.

I wish that Dawson or Becton or whoever it actually is that's in charge of coaching that phase would tell the returner exactly which yard line to stand on based on where the other team is punting from as we trot out to line up.

Have the coach tell the player on each specific punt return play whether or not to attempt to back up for the catch based on where he's at situationally (deep in our own territory, not deep in our own territory, etc.).

It just cannot be as hard as we're making it.
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Speaking about the safety against Illinois, they said the instructions are heels on the eight and don't go back.  But that's obviously not what happened.

 
Mavric said:
Speaking about the safety against Illinois, they said the instructions are heels on the eight and don't go back.  But that's obviously not what happened.
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Agreed. But I'm not just talking about the ones where our returner is lining up inside our 12-ish yard line. I'm even talking even about the ones where we're at roughly midfield.

It starts with putting a guy in there that has great catching ability. Then you practice the heck out of it during the week.

It has to completely get turned around or it will cost us a winning season.

 
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Undone said:
Agreed. But I'm not just talking about the ones where our returner is lining up inside our 12-ish yard line. I'm even talking even about the ones where we're at roughly midfield.
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Is anyone else doing that?  I've never noticed it anywhere else on the field. 

Why would you not want to back up to catch a kick?  Seems like those would be the ones you absolutely want to back up to catch lest they keep going and cost you all kinds of field position.

 
Mavric said:
Why would you not want to back up to catch a kick?  Seems like those would be the ones you absolutely want to back up to catch lest they keep going and cost you all kinds of field position.
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If we have a guy back there that can catch a high, tumbling football? Then yeah, we want the guy to move back and catch the ball.

Sounds hyperbolic, but my original point was that we are seemingly so inept and hanging on by a thread in this phase of the game that we might be better off just letting it bounce. I know our coaches aren't going to actually do that because it's so unorthodox - but seriously we cannot give the ball back to the other team on punts.

 
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Undone said:
If we have a guy back there that can catch a high, tumbling football? Then yeah, we want the guy to move back and catch the ball.

Sounds hyperbolic, but my original point was that we are seemingly so inept and hanging on by a thread in this phase of the game that we might be better off just letting it bounce. I know our coaches aren't going to actually do that because it's so unorthodox - but seriously we cannot give the ball back to the other team on punts.
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I mean ... we haven't had any issues catching the ball in the air.  We've either caught it in a bad spot or not gotten there to catch it when it's short and that led to issues.  So it would seem to me that we need to be making more of an effort to catch it, if anything.

 
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