OSU and NE vs Indiana - Comparison

B

bimmerman323i

Walk-on
Not sure if this deserves a thread, and maybe it's buried in some other one, but after some of the complaining I'm hearing from some Husker fans about a team that's 6-0, and just won a hard fought game, I thought it might be worth a look to see how the OSU and NE games with Indiana compared.

Passing Stats:

OSU: Barrett 9-21 - 93 yards - 1 TD - 1 INT - 40.5 QBR

NE: Armstrong 10-26 - 208 yards - 1 TD - 1 INT - 39.0 QBR

Rushing:

OSU: 50 carries - 290 yards - 5.8 avg. Long of 27

NE: 45 carries - 152 yards - 3.4 avg. Long of 18

Total yards:

OSU: 383. 5-14 on 3rd down.

NE: 360 5-15 on 3rd down

Passing Defense:

OSU: 14 - 28 - 182 yards - 2 TD - 1 INT - 46.6 QBR.

NE: 24 - 39 - 245 yards - 1 TD - 2 INT - 30.6 QBR (Lagow) / 40.9 QBR (Diamont)

Rushing Defense:

OSU: 40 carries - 99 yards - 2.5 avg, Long of 19

NE: 30 carries - 88 yards - 2.9 avg, Long of 33

Total Yards:

OSU: 281 yards. 1 sack. 9 TFL. Allowed 6-17 3rd down conversions / 0-2 4th down conversions.

NE: 333 yards. 3 sacks. 9 TFL. Allowed 5-15 3rd down conversions / 0-2 4th down conversions.

Final thoughts about what this says:

I know the transitive property doesn't work in football, but OSU - the best team in the country according to some - and NE put up statistically similar games against Indiana, both offensively and defensively (OSU at home, NE on the road). I'm not saying NE is as good as OSU. I'm saying we're doing Indiana some disservice if we don't recognize how good of a football team they are.

Yes, it wasn't pretty, but it was a win, and that's impressive when you consider the health of the team: No Carter. No Westerkamp. Basically no Ozigbo, Moore, and Knevel. Gates with a bad ankle. Farmer coming off a high ankle sprain (won't be completely healed until after the season is over). Armstrong with a bad ankle (looked to me like he wasn't comfortable running on that thing). Sure, every team in America has people who are beat up, but think about the guys I just listed. That's a pretty damn good offense that's either not available, or not nearly 100%.

Let's all take a breath, enjoy the fact NE is 6-0 (9-1 in its last 10), and not worry about whether the Huskers deserve to be top 10 or whatever. All the team can do is win the games on the schedule, and so far this season it's perfect from that perspective - and that's the only stat that really matters.

 
Their defense played very well against an offensive line that really should have done better.

Our offensive line appeared to perform that much more poorly because of a well skilled, prepared, and disciplined Indiana defense.

 
tOSU won ugly and moved on to the next game. I guess that's about all we can do too.
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Indiana deserves some credit, I agree. Their D is probably the most improved unit in the conference. Thankfully they've taken a step back on offense.

 
Jonathan Paul said:
Their defense played very well against an offensive line that really should have done better.

Our offensive line appeared to perform that much more poorly because of a well skilled, prepared, and disciplined Indiana defense.
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Not to mention the injury to key skill players (Tommy, Westy, Cethan, and Ozigbo). This was an injured offense and, outside of a strong 4th quarter by Newby, it performed like one. Still, found a way to win. 6-0!

 
lo country said:
Good info. Thanks. I'd also add we were missing 3 of our best play makers on offense.
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Agreed. Thanks to the OP for the comparison, as I was wondering this too.

What I can't fathom is why people legitimately thought we'd roll in and hang 50 on Indiana--this is a good squad that's shown constant improvement, and they could easily be the #3 threat in the B1G East (behind UM and tOSU) in a few years if their institutional support improves and the team continues to show steady, consistent improvement.

 
Agree with the original post. We are beat up on offense. And Indiana was more conservative on offense versus tOSU than they were against us. All in all, we played at a high level, and beat a legit on their homecoming. We are already a team to be reckoned with, but if we get healthy we may be one of two teams to be best in the BIG.

 
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Yes, I think we may all be coming to grips with the reality that the Big Ten is pretty well filled with good football teams. The Big Ten is easily the most improved conference and in my view the reason for the marked improvement of the entire conference is the addition of Nebraska. The Big 12 slipped dramatically and the Big Ten jumped from perhaps the fourth best conference to, arguably right now, the BEST conference. The SEC has slipped a couple cogs as well.

Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Rutgers, Maryland, Northwestern, and even Purdue used to be in the bottom third of the country most years. Now, there are almost no 'gimmes' even fore Ohio State (certainly one of the top three powers). We are making gains on the pack and while we may not be legitmate top ten, I think we are certainly top 25 (I would say about number 15 or so). It has been a while since we could really say that confidently. We have a long way to go yet. If we pull off the upsets of Wisconsin and or Ohio State, they will still be upsets. We lack the real solid depth to be top ten and are 25 or 30 4 and 5 star players short of being anywhere near top 5. Recruit, recruit and recruit and keep them here for 5 years so as the program motto once was "Where the good get better!" We need the push from the missing front who left early. We need the pipeline rebuilt so we can reload and not raid the scout teamers for substitutes in the middle of the conference race.

 
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