Question on Bo's Defense

HANC

HANC

All-Conference
Let me be the first to say that I am pumped about Bo, and the fact that he has a ring to flash to recruits....

Watching this team play all season, especially last night, when everyone kept pointing it out, the LSU defense is very dependent on it's DB's abitlity to play tight-press man-man coverage....obviously, when you can do this, it allows for a lot more blitz packages........ He primarily played this defense a lot of the game.....

Does NU have the athletes to play and succeed with this style.... I just don't know how well our CB-DB will stack up against some of the elite WR in the Big 12.....and then you have to account for some very good TE.... I wonder if Bo will coach his defense "to the athletes he has", or will he pull a BC and run his style regardless........

Eventually, I would like to think that we will once again have the caliber of athletes that LSU has, but face it, it is easier to run agressive defenses when you have 2-3 All-Americans and 2-3 1st team All-SEC players roaming the field....

It will be interesting to see what kind of perspective this board takes if our defense isn't AS SUCCESSFUL as some think it may be.....will the people who claim that we "have talent" rethink this, or will they understand that we DO NOT have the talent that an LSU, OSU, USC has....or will they tend to focus the deficiencies on the staff.....

Personally, I believe that Bo will have this team playing hard, and put a team on the field that we will be proud of....but, I am not convinced that next years team will be as dominant as some tend to think.... we may be back to the "patience" word again.....and we know how well we NU fans are in this category...

Bo will return us to dominance.......no doubt.....it just may take a couple of years.

 
I had the same thoughts watching the BCS Championship. Looks like this style of defense stresses excellent man-to-man corner coverage...don't know if NU has the talent at this point. I would assume that the defense will have to be adjusted to the personnel at the beginning.

 
The biggest problem in answering your question is we don't know what we have in these players. The last couple of years hasn't shown us what these players can really do.

I have every confidence Bo will tailor his defense to match the abilities of his players, and I also have every confidence he'll have those players playing to their full potential.

 
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If I recall, the year that Bo coached here the D was playing plenty of zone coverages (led to quite a few interceptions). I think LSU played tight man coverage last night because they could. I believe that Bo would have changed and adapted had that not worked. I do not think his Def. depends on man coverage though. Bo seems like the type of coach that can/will make something work well with the level of talent provided.

 
Does NU have the athletes to play and succeed with this style?

Currently?? I don't think so. Just need to bring some of those 11-2 tigers to 5-7 NU.

So far the husker D hasn't shown the kind of talent that LSU has. With the right recruits, maybe next year??

GO BO!!

 
Here's what Glenn Dorsey (LSU DEF Tackle) had to say about Bo after the game:

“He’ll be a great head coach. I wish I could go play a few snaps for him,” Dorsey said. “Nebraska’s getting a great head coach, a guy who puts his heart and soul into it.”
Click to expand...

At this point, and for the next couple of years, this is all we can ask for. Anything beyond that is just gravy.

 
The most important part of his scheme last night was getting pressure on the QB. Can Suh be as dominant as Dorsey? I think eventually he will be. The pressure on the QB led to the 3 turnovers. Considering we lose the majority of our LB corp. and our secondary, I don't expect a #3 ranked D next year. However, I do expect hard hitting and effort each and every down.

 
Short answer--no. At least not as well as LSU ran it. But I think the D will be vastly improved over this season...and will be decent, but is not going to be a dominant force yet. It will take a year or two.

They run the Tampa 2. It's based on the front 4's ability to put pressure on the QB, while the rest of the defense sits back and covers. There are some occasional blitzes off of it, but the bread and butter of it is zone coverage.

I'm a Bears fan. Last year they had a smothering defense--because their front 4 just flat out got after the QB. This year, their top 3 DTs were hurt, and that just killed 'em.

I expect Bo to come in and play a lot of zone, but throw in an occasional blitz. And I expect him to teach an attacking type of line play. Instead of taking a step back, putting their hands on the O lineman, they're going to try to shoot the gap, then read it--and hopefully get the back a yard deep in the backfield.

 
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Baby steps.

Nebraska isn't going to transform from the worst in the nation in 2007 to the level of LSU in one season. But getting them in the top 40 or 50 would be a good start. Better than that in year one would be phenomenal.

 
knapplc said:
The biggest problem in answering your question is we don't know what we have in these players. The last couple of years hasn't shown us what these players can really do.

I have every confidence Bo will tailor his defense to match the abilities of his players, and I also have every confidence he'll have those players playing to their full potential.
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:yeah

 
We've got talent, but I don't think talent that's consistently anywhere near the level of LSU. Just playing hard and showing good fundamentals will be enough for next year, at least for me.

 
I think something we need to remember is that we have no idea what our athletes can do. They were built by Dave Kennedy and coached by Cosgrove and Callahan. Who the hell knows what a properly-developed group of kids could do in our conference? I tend towards optimism in this regard. If the same team we had this year showed any speed at all, played like a unit, and was taught proper fundamentals, we might have had a different season. Being as it is, we didn't.

I think we'll see an astounding turnaround next season. I can't wait to get to the spring game to see what kind of damage Pelini can do in the short term.

X

 
LSU didn't play that style of defense during the season. They played more zone. This was more or less "new" for the bowl game.

 
we dont have the players to play as good as LSU but they will come but one thing is for sure with Bo's defense KU or CU wont put up 70 and 51 will be enough to win.

 
Do we have LSU level talent right now? No, I don't think so. Do we have talent comprable to or better than Kansas? Yes, I believe so. I use that example because Kansas is a good team with good coaching and solid players that maxed out their potential, IMO. Bo worked with what he had in 03, I imagine he will do the same now. The main change is going to be the intensity, effort and the attitude. It may not be a top 10 defense, but the change in attitude will be reflected later on in restoring some blackshirt pride(hopefully).

 
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