What did we learn Illinois edition
- Thread starter Cornbred
- Start date
gossamorharpy
New member
Just trying to provide a point of reference that a 3.7 rushing per clip doesn't give me much confidence that we should've kept running into a brick wall. Specially when stats were thrown at me trying to "disprove" we weren't running it well.twofittyonred said:so now we are looking at yearly overall stats as opposed to that single situation..??you must be correct...
Last edited by a moderator:
MyBloodIsRed16
New member
I'm no mathamagician but 3.7 x 3 is 11.1. 11.1 is 1.1 more yards needed for a first down. I'm no college coach but I think first downs are good.
RedDenver
Active member
Husker in WI
New member
It would also have ranked 103rd in YPC last year. And an average doesn't mean you get that exact amount - you'd expect roughly half of your carries to go for less than that. Actually more than half, because it's easier for a long run to skew the average up than it is for negative runs to bring it down. 10 yard runs are a lot more common than (non-sack) -10 yard runs.
gossamorharpy
New member
First downs are great, but matt rhule himself will tell you that average wont cut it. Eye test wise it correlates well from fridays game as we often found ourselves in 2nd and long situations compared to illinois who in the 2nd half was running it well and opening up the playbook with 2nd and manageable to work with
gossamorharpy
New member
MyBloodIsRed16
New member
The_Fan_Man
Member
One thing that I learned is that our WRs aren't doing a great job at getting separation against man coverage, especially in shorter/medium routes. The real exception to this seems to be Barney, who is putting real fear into opposing defenses.
runningblind
Active member
I'm seeing the same thing watching replays. This makes running the ball even harder as teams will throw an extra defender up. No bueno.
gossamorharpy
New member
Hilltop
Active member
I'm no expert but after rewatching, I think Illinois came in with a great game plan, made good adjustments, and simply played a little bit better late in the game. Nebraska doesn't have to hang their heads after that game. Sure, plenty of things we could have, and maybe should have, done better but in the end, it was a great game between 2 teams deserving of their ranking imo. To those saying special teams lost the game, I challenge and say Illinois would have likely done different things at the end of regulation so maybe that field goal wouldn't have mattered. The big play that would have likely won the game, was the play where our star QB, in the face of pressure, and 4th string tight end didn't quite connect. Illinois is likely a 9 win team and maybe 10 if they can steal one from Penn State, Oregon, or Michigan.
Husker in WI
New member
I probably underestimated Altmyer, he played a good game. I'm not sure he's quite as good as his stat line suggests, but he played really well.
From White's comments this week, seems like Altmyer played well enough that White felt the need to move away from the "just stop the run" gameplan which did work in the first half - they were at 12 carries for 39 yards. Switching it up kicked off a series of adjustments between White and the Illinois OC, which their OC won. Sounded like he regretted making whatever changes they did, and it's probably a good lesson for him. The gameplan appeared to be stop the run and make Altmyer beat you, and just because he's beating you more than expected doesn't mean it should be abandoned. If he was lighting us up and they were up 24-10 at half sure, but when they are at 3 yards a carry, we are up 17-10, and Altmyer was just super efficient you can still live with that. With the benefit of hindsight, of course. Now maybe if we don't make those adjustments they really dial in the passing game and he throws for 350 instead of 215, but I think it's more likely he would have eventually started making mistakes.
Also really hope Javin Wright can make it back. Bullock is playing possessed, but Thompson is playing really slow. I'd like to see more Shavers - easy for me to say when I'm not on the hook for the defenses performance, but I'd take some freshman mistakes that would come with the energy and athleticism upgrade.
From White's comments this week, seems like Altmyer played well enough that White felt the need to move away from the "just stop the run" gameplan which did work in the first half - they were at 12 carries for 39 yards. Switching it up kicked off a series of adjustments between White and the Illinois OC, which their OC won. Sounded like he regretted making whatever changes they did, and it's probably a good lesson for him. The gameplan appeared to be stop the run and make Altmyer beat you, and just because he's beating you more than expected doesn't mean it should be abandoned. If he was lighting us up and they were up 24-10 at half sure, but when they are at 3 yards a carry, we are up 17-10, and Altmyer was just super efficient you can still live with that. With the benefit of hindsight, of course. Now maybe if we don't make those adjustments they really dial in the passing game and he throws for 350 instead of 215, but I think it's more likely he would have eventually started making mistakes.
Also really hope Javin Wright can make it back. Bullock is playing possessed, but Thompson is playing really slow. I'd like to see more Shavers - easy for me to say when I'm not on the hook for the defenses performance, but I'd take some freshman mistakes that would come with the energy and athleticism upgrade.
TGHusker
Well-known member
or hook and ladder - VedderHusker
New member
Part of, and maybe a lot of, getting separation is pushing away the defender as the ball is coming. I’ve noticed a lot of this across college football and OPI is almost never called - Travis Hunter is a great example. I think all of our receivers could be better at this, especially Neyor, and that may be why an earlier post described him as afraid of contact. That said, I think Neyor is a great receiver.