Game Thread: Northwestern @ Nebraska -- 11am CST on ESPN2

[oaknightshockey1]

I'm not at practice to see what's happening, but I'd bet there is a lot more emphasis put on the passing game than the run.

How in the hellllll do we have 3 guys blocking the OLB? The MLB is left untouched. You can say all you want we can't run the ball, but that's not the case. I don't believe they put the same emphasis or practice time into running the ball during the week, the focus is to make TA a pocket passer. IMO
View attachment 44386

That particular play was on the TE, but in general, our O line is just not good. When they are good, our backs have a tough time finding a hole. The only difference between this year and last year in the run game is Abdullah. How many times last year did he get hit for what should have been a 3 yd loss, yet he was able to make a play? We don't have someone like that on our roster, our line hasn't gotten better, and the results shouldn't be surprising.

 

[HuskerinBig10]

How was Nebraska on passing on second and third downs?

 

[oaknightshockey1]

How was Nebraska on passing on second and third downs?

I'll look back at it in a bit...have something I gotta go do right now. If you want to do it yourself, go to the game page on ESPN and click the Play-by-Play tab. I'm sure there's a better way to do it, but that's how I did it.

 

[HuskerinBig10]

Let me see, if I was going to make a game plan for Northwestern, maybe I would look at the previous two games

Northwestern rush defense was rated 54th or something like that
Northwestern Pass defense was 7th or something like that

Michigan 38
Northwestern 0

Time of Possession
Michigan 37:05
Northwestern 22:55

First downs
Michigan 21
Northwestern 13

Rushing
Michigan 201
Northwestern 38

Rushing Attempts
Michigan 46
Northwestern 25

Yards per Rush
Michigan 4.4
Northwestern 1.5

Passing Completions
Michigan 17
Northwestern 15

Yards per Pass
Michigan 6.9
Northwestern 2.5

Iowa 40
Northwestern 10

Time of Possession
Iowa 37:22
Northwestern 22:38

First downs
Iowa 24
Northwestern 13

Rushing
Iowa 294
Northwestern 51

Rushing Attempts
Iowa 51
Northwestern 26

Yards per Rush
Iowa 5.8
Northwestern 2.0

Passing Completions
Iowa 16
Northwestern 20

Yards per Pass
Iowa 6.8
Northwestern 3.2

Comparison

Time of Possession
Michigan 37:05
Iowa 37:22
Nebraska 38:39

First Downs
Michigan 21
Iowa 24
Nebraska 22

Looks pretty good to me, it is a WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh oh

Michigan 46 rush attempts and over 200 yards
Iowa 51 rush attempts and almost 300 yards
Nebraska 38 rush attempts and under 100 yards OOPS

Michigan Pass Attempts 23
Iowa Pass Attempts 27
Nebraska Pass Attempts 48

Michigan 17 pass completions and 6.9 yards per pass completion
Iowa 16 pass completions and 6.8 yards per pass completion
Nebraska 24 pass completions and 5.8 yards per pass completion


Basically, Michigan and Iowa had a 2 to 1 run to pass ratio, Nebraska was at a 0.75 to 1 ratio. Some teams exploit another team's weakness, other teams play into the other team's strength.

 

[oaknightshockey1]

How was Nebraska on passing on second and third downs?

2nd down:
19 passes (avg 3.58 YPA) with 11 incompletions/no gain and 1 sack
12 rushes (avg 2.83 YPC) with 2 negative plays

3rd down:
16 passes (avg 5.93 YPA) with 6 incompletions/no gain and 2 sacks
4 rushes (avg 4.25 YPC)

4th Down:
1 pass for 37 yards

 

[oaknightshockey1]

Michigan 46 rush attempts and over 200 yards
Iowa 51 rush attempts and almost 300 yards
Nebraska 38 rush attempts and under 100 yards OOPS

Michigan: 4.4 YPC
Iowa: 5.8 YPC
Nebraska: 2.2 YPC

Not sure how that was gonna work, either.

 

[Red_Alert]

Michigan: 4.4 YPC
Iowa: 5.8 YPC
Nebraska: 2.2 YPC

Not sure how that was gonna work, either.

My understanding is that Riley inherited better talent than NW.
The Huskers need bowl eligibility in a bad way so you get a win how you can. Mano-a-mano and NW would likely be wore down sometime in the 3rd Q.
Nebraska was never in a deficit to the point of having to throw the ball so many times.
There is a pattern of Husker opponents being fresh in the 4th Q.

That is not Great Plains/Midwest football.

 

[oaknightshockey1]

My understanding is that Riley inherited better talent than NW.
The Huskers need bowl eligibility in a bad way so you get a win how you can. Mano-a-mano and NW would likely be wore down sometime in the 3rd Q.
Nebraska was never in a deficit to the point of having to throw the ball so many times.
There is a pattern of Husker opponents being fresh in the 4th Q.

That is not Great Plains/Midwest football.

I know it doesn't mean everything, but FWIW Northwestern's 2-deep had a higher average star rating coming out of high school than ours. Add on to that that Fitz seems to do a pretty good job of coaching up players, and it's no guarantee that Riley inherited better talent.

 

[popeyecv64]

we can all do numbers an what not
reality is this----
the Huskers have 4 more games
Purdue --win
Rutgers--win
Mich Light --loss
Iowa----loss

this gives the Huskers a 5 -7 season

plain and simple

 

[tometom]

I'm not at practice to see what's happening, but I'd bet there is a lot more emphasis put on the passing game than the run.

How in the hellllll do we have 3 guys blocking the OLB? The MLB is left untouched. You can say all you want we can't run the ball, but that's not the case. I don't believe they put the same emphasis or practice time into running the ball during the week, the focus is to make TA a pocket passer. IMO
View attachment 44386

i really like seeing plays like this, i really should make more gifs of the game. i think this play is designed to get outside as they ran this to success later in the game. so when the LB jumps up and then outside to force it in, the trail blockers who normally would go outside got confused and don't know how to turn into the hole and find someone to block. poor coaching on that play or guys just not remembering what they were taught as that would have been a good gain if the 2nd guy would have gotten a block on the LB that filled the hole.

 

[HuskerinBig10]

Let's see the teams that lost to Northwestern, what did they do(I did not include Eastern Illinois)

Stanford 27 rushes, 35 pass attempts
Duke 35 rushes, 39 pass attempts
Ball State 34 rushes, 35 pass atempts
Minnesota 33 rushes, 32 pass attempts Minnesota was BLOWN out but still running

Looks to me that the best way to beat Northwestern was to run it. The Northwestern defense had to be getting gassed. Unfortunately, with all the throwing Nebraska was doing, they had time to rest.

Not to mention, I believe a Pick Six was thrown on a pass play. That was a 10 point play because Nebraska was in FG range. If that would have been a running play, maybe the outcome was different.

Oak, I appreciate your numbers, maybe you can appreciate my numbers.

You beat Northwestern by running the ball at them, not throwing at them.

What it actually means is that the O Line for Nebraska is not very good. Alex Lewis and Sterup were starters in 2014. Reeves and Kondolo were 2nd stringers. Utter is a walk on. Somehow, those guys forgot how to run block.

 

[Exorbitant]

On first down, we called 17 running plays. We averaged 2.06 YPC on those plays. 8 of them went for 1 yard or less, and 4 of them lost yards. On the other hand, we passed the ball 14 times for 67 yards (4.79 YPP) with 0 negative plays and 6 incompletions.

But by all means, let's criticize them for not sticking with the run.

A little bird told me that they don't rep the running game anywhere near as much as the passing game in practice. They won't get better at running the ball if that is true.

 

[oaknightshockey1]

Let's see the teams that lost to Northwestern, what did they do(I did not include Eastern Illinois)

Stanford 27 rushes, 35 pass attempts
Duke 35 rushes, 39 pass attempts
Ball State 34 rushes, 35 pass atempts
Minnesota 33 rushes, 32 pass attempts Minnesota was BLOWN out but still running

Looks to me that the best way to beat Northwestern was to run it. The Northwestern defense had to be getting gassed. Unfortunately, with all the throwing Nebraska was doing, they had time to rest.

Not to mention, I believe a Pick Six was thrown on a pass play. That was a 10 point play because Nebraska was in FG range. If that would have been a running play, maybe the outcome was different.

Oak, I appreciate your numbers, maybe you can appreciate my numbers.

You beat Northwestern by running the ball at them, not throwing at them.

(1)What it actually means is that the O Line for Nebraska is not very good. Alex Lewis and Sterup were starters in 2014. Reeves and Kondolo were 2nd stringers. Utter is a walk on. (2) Somehow, those guys forgot how to run block.

I disagree with your conclusions based on your numbers because of #1 in the bolded. I don't believe that we would have tired their defense out, because the only way we could move the ball (and extend drives, thus keeping them on the field) was to throw the ball. When you average 2.2 YPC, you don't get a first down running the ball, the defense gets off the field, and they get to rest. We simply couldn't run it. Our line is incapable of run blocking, and when they do manage to create a hole, our backs usually miss it unless it is Grand Canyon sized (like against Minnesota).

As for #2, I don't think they forgot, I just don't think they are very good at it. Having Abdullah in the backfield can cover up a lot, but we all saw how often he had to make a play entirely on his own as a result of the O-line not blocking well.

 

[Exorbitant]

Let me see, if I was going to make a game plan for Northwestern, maybe I would look at the previous two games

Northwestern rush defense was rated 54th or something like that
Northwestern Pass defense was 7th or something like that

Michigan 38
Northwestern 0

Time of Possession
Michigan 37:05
Northwestern 22:55

First downs
Michigan 21
Northwestern 13

Rushing
Michigan 201
Northwestern 38

Rushing Attempts
Michigan 46
Northwestern 25

Yards per Rush
Michigan 4.4
Northwestern 1.5

Passing Completions
Michigan 17
Northwestern 15

Yards per Pass
Michigan 6.9
Northwestern 2.5

Iowa 40
Northwestern 10

Time of Possession
Iowa 37:22
Northwestern 22:38

First downs
Iowa 24
Northwestern 13

Rushing
Iowa 294
Northwestern 51

Rushing Attempts
Iowa 51
Northwestern 26

Yards per Rush
Iowa 5.8
Northwestern 2.0

Passing Completions
Iowa 16
Northwestern 20

Yards per Pass
Iowa 6.8
Northwestern 3.2

Comparison

Time of Possession
Michigan 37:05
Iowa 37:22
Nebraska 38:39

First Downs
Michigan 21
Iowa 24
Nebraska 22

Looks pretty good to me, it is a WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh oh

Michigan 46 rush attempts and over 200 yards
Iowa 51 rush attempts and almost 300 yards
Nebraska 38 rush attempts and under 100 yards OOPS

Michigan Pass Attempts 23
Iowa Pass Attempts 27
Nebraska Pass Attempts 48

Michigan 17 pass completions and 6.9 yards per pass completion
Iowa 16 pass completions and 6.8 yards per pass completion
Nebraska 24 pass completions and 5.8 yards per pass completion


Basically, Michigan and Iowa had a 2 to 1 run to pass ratio, Nebraska was at a 0.75 to 1 ratio. Some teams exploit another team's weakness, other teams play into the other team's strength.

Maybe this is why Riley had three losing seasons in his last five seasons at OSU?

 

[oaknightshockey1]

A little bird told me that they don't rep the running game anywhere near as much as the passing game in practice. They won't get better at running the ball if that is true.

It's hard to really full-out rep the running game midseason with little to no depth on the offense and defense.

 

[popeyecv64]

It's hard to really full-out rep the running game midseason with little to no depth on the offense and defense.

LOL !! @ depth and the whole game plan
thar is none
Riley is just a substitute teacher until the Huskers land a real coach

this is a factoid !!

 

[antone112]

Let's see the teams that lost to Northwestern, what did they do(I did not include Eastern Illinois)

Stanford 27 rushes, 35 pass attempts
Duke 35 rushes, 39 pass attempts
Ball State 34 rushes, 35 pass atempts
Minnesota 33 rushes, 32 pass attempts Minnesota was BLOWN out but still running

Looks to me that the best way to beat Northwestern was to run it. The Northwestern defense had to be getting gassed. Unfortunately, with all the throwing Nebraska was doing, they had time to rest.

Not to mention, I believe a Pick Six was thrown on a pass play. That was a 10 point play because Nebraska was in FG range. If that would have been a running play, maybe the outcome was different.

Oak, I appreciate your numbers, maybe you can appreciate my numbers.

You beat Northwestern by running the ball at them, not throwing at them.

What it actually means is that the O Line for Nebraska is not very good. Alex Lewis and Sterup were starters in 2014. Reeves and Kondolo were 2nd stringers. Utter is a walk on. Somehow, those guys forgot how to run block.

Any coordinator is going to go pass heavy when they average 2.2 yards per carry. Just because you decide to run the ball more does not mean you will succeed.

And they didn't forget how to run block, they never were that good at it. AA was just that good. Just like Bo wasn't (and still isnt) a defensive genius his 1st 2 years here, Suh was just that good.

 

[HuskerinBig10]

What I think it means....

There is no emphasis on the running game in practice, at all. The game plan that was written in March was throw, throw, and when in doubt, throw. The game plan has not changed since March.

The coaching staff didn't watch the two films that Northwestern provided of Michigan and Iowa, but watched the films of Stanford and Duke and decided to throw it more.

Newby was averaging 3.3 yards per carry, since you like to talk about the 2.2 number. He was going to break a long run eventually because the defenders were on the field for nearly 40 minutes.

I have said my piece on it. You win the argument.

 

[oaknightshockey1]

I have said my piece on it. You win the argument.

It's not really an argument that can be won. You've got your reasons for thinking what you think, and I've got my reasons for thinking what I think. We will see what happens going forward

 

[it'sHuskers4me]

Bottom line on all this is Riley is given a couple throw away seasons until his guys get here because the Ginger in charge is clueless what changing O&D systems means to the record of a football team. Quite frankly Gingehorst proly doesn't give a crap what the loyal fans of Nebraska football think.