Nebraska...not feeling Frosty anymore

[THE_WIZARD_]

It's more scheme IMHO...I think the talent is there. On offense it is discipline (or lack thereof)

[Hannibal]

Performance is certainly below the level of talent.

[Jeff Buchanan]

It's more scheme IMHO...I think the talent is there. On offense it is discipline (or lack thereof)

Maybe I'm totally out to lunch here but, no, like I posted up thread, I doubt it's scheme. It's implementation and position coaching in what is likely an incoherent defensive approach.

As I also pointed out there is nothing fundamentally wrong w/C2 ..... and I seriously doubt that what Neb's actually doing is anything remotely close to the vanilla definition of that as it has been rendered here.

Ask me how I know all about Neb's likely issues on D. Frankly, as a team that I was pretty sure would challenge M, I'm feeling better that they won't.

[entropy]

Performance is certainly below the level of talent.

Agree

[entropy]

Jeff.. Why do you think it is not scheme?

[Jeff Buchanan]

Jeff.. Why do you think it is not scheme?

You can make a case for C2 being a viable defense when some of the typical variants of it are being used. Conceptually, and for example, C2 divides the field in half for pass coverage. One weakness of it is in the middle of the field if two receivers go deep on one side drawing a S who hawks the middle. If you have a strong Mike, he knows to drop into coverage for the inevitable throw to the slot guy or TE in the middle from the QB who reads the S going deep. There are other variants of the C2 to overcome its weaknesses.

You won't remember this but I do because I was there. When Rodriguez took the team to Iowa City in 2010 with Robinson as his new DC, we had a red shirt Junior, Mike, Kenney Demens. Robinson took a player with the tools to be All Big10 and managed to neuter him into one of the worst MLB in M history. Demens was brutalized by Iowa's TEs going into the middle over and over again for huge gains. He had no idea what he was supposed to be doing in C2, which Robinson played because that's what he knows and probably what Rodriguez told him to play ...... i.e., nothing behind you. That was a massive fail. Mattison turned him around and he got All B10 mention as a senior and ultimately signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

Ok, so, if Pelini or your DC want to use that scheme (C2) for any number of reasons, they should be able to implement it if they (1) have a clue about what they are doing in the big picture and (2) can coach 18-21 year olds what they must do to make that scheme effective.

I never thought RR, Shaffer or Robinson had a bad scheme. I thought they just all sucked as coaches for whatever reasons. What Mattison has brought to M's defense, using some of the talent that RR recruited makes this point in spades. We see sound fundamentals from the defense and the appearance that these guys know what is going down and what they are supposed to do on each offensive play.

As well, there is no question that Mattison is asking these players on defense to learn a lot of stuff. His approach is more complex but the players seem to do better. Why? Because he is and so are his coaching staff, excellent coaches.

[entropy]

Nebraska doesn't play the cover 2 you described..and it's not a problem with his scheme against pro style offenses...

It IS a problem against spread teams with a mobile QB.

[entropy]

@BTNDaveRevsine: How bad is #Huskers performance on D last 3 gms? 1,831 yds allowed - 7th most by any power conference school in any 3 gm span since 1996.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ok, so why do they give up 600 yards to f 'ing Wyoming?

Because the scheme sucks?

I doubt it. See my post above.

[entropy]

See my edit..

[entropy]

Jeff... What changes have happened since Bo had the most dominating defense in cf... From a coaching staff perspective?

[entropy]

UNL's cover 2 can behave like a cover zero, as hoss described in another thread. With a running QB, you are -2 in the numbers game in the box.

In the big12 the spreads were passing teams with little complexity in the run game. Teams have figures out Bo's design and he needs to make some adj, IMO.. Some of that may be how to protect your lb's..

I don't claim they have a Suh on the DL, but I think the talent is better than what is showing up on the field.

[entropy]

Btw.. I would probably agree with you on our secondary coaching... I do think it has declined, but that doesn't explain all of it

[hack]

?Oh, its just simple, correctable errors here and there. This kid attacked the wrong gap, that kid blew a coverage...?

Nothing worse than watching your team get manhandled and hearing the coach pull that crap. Flip ``we just didn't shoot well'' Saunders...

[WM Wolverine]

I don't see a whole lot of talent on Nebraska's defense, it doesn't strike me as being much different (in talent) from those at Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, etc. I do see a few players on Nebraska's defense who are potential NFL draftees but the same could be said of those other universities too. Nebraska has a lil' bit better athletes than those schools do but overall but those universities generally are more experienced than Nebraska...

I don't get to watch enough of Nebraska to understand their 'scheme' issues but given how much the Cornhuskers defense has struggled the past year plus, they have much bigger issues than just talent defensively.