20 Blackshirts have been handed out. Should we be worried with Northwestern on deck?
by Aaron Musfeldt on Nov 1, 2011 9:01 AM CDT
in 2011 Nebraska Huskers Football
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Yesterday, Carl Pelini handed out 20 blackshirts. They were a reward for a dominating game against Michigan State on Saturday. And, they were well deserved. Nebraska held Kirk Cousins to 87 yards passing and Michigan State's run game to 101 yards. But is the defense "back"? It's easy to forget about the first 7 games and just picture out defense being as good the rest of the way as they were last Saturday. It's what we've grown accustom to the past few years. Is it realistic, though?
An appropriate test is coming up this weekend. Northwestern scored 59 last weekend. Yes, it was against Indiana, but as the season progresses, you expect your team to get better and Northwestern seems to be hitting whatever stride they are going to have for the remainder of the year. Remember that awesome defense we had in 2009? The week after they got their blackshirts, Texas Tech came to town and lit em up, 31-10.
Will they lose focus this week and bask in the glory of the Michigan State game? Hopefully not. Michigan State can look at their schedule and see that they will likely win out. Losing to Nebraska isn't the end of the world because the Huskers have a good chance of losing again. That would give the Spartans the edge in the division race. The Huskers know that their margin for error is very small.
"Don't drink the Kool-Aid," Hardrick said. "We're getting a lot of compliments right now, a lot of good things right now. Don't feed into it. We've got a lot of examples of teams that did good, drank the Kool-Aid, then they lost. You've just got to stay hungry. Right now I feel like everyone is hungry. That's the best thing we can do right now."
Northwestern can score a lot of points. They have a very good offensive scheme, but they also seem like a team that opposing defenses' just need a half to figure out and then they usually shut down the Wildcats in the second half. They led Michigan at halftime 24-14, but eventually lost 42-24. The hung 24 on Penn State in the first half, but were scoreless in the second half. Teams will a good defense find a way to beat Northwestern. This is game the Husker's can't lose, but could be dangerous if they don't give the Wildcats the props they deserve.
Maybe there will be a few more speed bumps along the way. Tough road games at Michigan and Penn State will test the defense. Michigan can put up points and we may need the defense to keep Penn State under 10 points to win that one. Northwestern and Iowa are fighting for pride and a bowl game at this point. A win over Nebraska is huge for them in accomplishing that goal.
You get the feeling that the defense is almost there. Just a little more polishing and they will be conference-championship caliber. We'll find out this weekend when Dan Persa and Northwestern come to town.
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These kids get it.
It’s comforting to hear a player take this sort of approach after such an emotional win. This is the type of “leadership” I think a lot of fans have been hoping for over the past few seasons, and it sounds like it’s resonating throughout the team.
Northwestern fan here....
…looking forward to Saturday’s game.
I think you should be prepared for Northwestern to score more than the 3 points MSU put up — the NU offense is clicking with Persa and Colter giving the team multiple looks/formations, and with Ebert/Dunsmore catching everything in sight. Frankly, you should be prepared for Northwestern to score more than the season average Nebraska’s allowed (Northwestern has gone 5-for-5 against its B1G opponents in terms of exceeding their season average points allowed). And you should be prepared for Northwestern to give you a tough game — no team in the nation, according to Football Outsiders, plays up (or down) to the level of competition as much as Northwestern does. So I’d also say that 17.5 point line is probably too high…..
That being said, Northwestern’s defense has been horrible all year, save a few moments of competence — the 2nd half against PSU when they only gave up 7 points, stopping the run against Illinois (but then getting burned by deep passes to Jenkins). In fact, the one hope I have as a Northwestern fan is that the offense plays lights out and scores a lot, and the defense slows down the run enough to force Martinez to try and beat us over the top (and I think even you’d agree deep passes, or passes of any kind, aren’t exactly Martinez’s strong suit).
Still, it’s FAR easier said than done to stop your running game, and based on this season, I don’t see Northwestern slowing down Burkhead and Martinez for a whole game……
Good luck on Saturday, to both NUs, for a healthy, clean, and fun game….
Amen to that last line
Thanks for stopping by!
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
I Think At This Point No Self Respecting Husker Fan Takes Any Game For Granted
I think for the most part we expect NorthWestern to give us a great game, and if we get caught up in the hype know they are easily capable of taking us down a peg or two.
Looking forward to a great game, welcoming the Wildcats to Memorial stadium, and along with jdhusker second your last line wishing for a clean, healthy contest.
"Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?"
by UltimaRatioRegum on Nov 1, 2011 12:36 PM CDT up reply actions
I know he's, like, barely mobile and stuff
But Persa still scares me. A lot.
by Cheeseandcorn on Nov 1, 2011 5:27 PM CDT up reply actions
I'd watch the NU-Indiana game...
…Persa’s no longer “barely mobile.” He scrambled around quite a bit, including for some big gains.
(Yes, I realize this was against Indiana’s sham of a defense, but Persa was still moving well….as he should, now that he’s nearly a year past surgery).
We're doomed.
A Cornhusker through feast or famine. Get up, dust yourself off and run the ball. That's the Nebraska way.
by Salt Creek and Stadium on Nov 1, 2011 8:42 PM CDT up reply actions
Yup, we're done.
This defense has been awful against mobile QBs. Horrrrrrrrrrrible.
by Cheeseandcorn on Nov 1, 2011 10:30 PM CDT up reply actions
BTW
I’m not serious about the Huskers being done. I am serious about how bad this defense has been against mobile QBs. Derek Carr, Keith Price, Russell Wilson, and Braxton Miller have all made the Husker defense look silly this year with their scrambling threat combined with at least some semblance of passing accuracy. Persa is an absolute nightmare.
by Cheeseandcorn on Nov 1, 2011 10:35 PM CDT up reply actions
We'll see
I have no idea he’ll do some damage, but I’m very curious to see if our defense has really “turned the corner.” It’ll be a good gauge, because like you said about mobile qb’s, based on past experience Saturday should be a nightmare. Personally I expect some improvement because I think our defense has improved and because I don’t think Northwestern’s spread scheme matches up very well with us. We will see I suppose.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
My comfort going into this game
Is that NW runs the same type of spread offense that the Pelini’s basically “solved” in the Big 12. The letdown potential is certainly there (hopefully the fact that we CAN. NOT. LOSE. AGAIN. resounds with the team).
Basically I’m hoping that the offense can play decently, go north of 30 and that the lack of a power running game kills Northwestern as our defensive speed negates the “athletes in space” advantage of the spread.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
Not sure I agree....
…I’ll admit, I have watched relatively little Big 12 football over the years. But Northwestern’s offense seems to throw in a lot of wrinkles that Big 12 offenses in the spread do not use — particularly with Colter/Persa running the ball (they seem a lot more mobile than most of the Big 12 spread QBs), running veers with Venric Mark (see the great post on Sippin’ On Purple from earlier this week breaking down the play against Indiana), playing in the pistol, bubble screens, and utilizing our superback Drake Dunsmore (basically a tight-end, but with better speed/hands) a lot in the passing game.
I clearly could be wrong on this….but we’re not running exactly the same offense as Oklahoma State or Texas Tech or (insert Big 12 offense here).
I agree that the running qb is a new wrinkle..
As far as spread offenses are concerned. The concept however remains the same in that you’re essentially trying to spread out opposing defenses and get your athletes out in space one on one with their athletes. Looking at the pic by pic breakdown of your veer plays against Indiana I can actually say it’s not unlike some of the plays we run here at Nebraska.
I didn’t so much mean that Northwestern’s attack is going to be exactly like what we saw in the Big 12 (looking back I can see its a poor choice of words on my part). What I did and still do mean is that the spread attack Northwestern runs will be playing directly into the known strengths of Nebraska’s defense (speed, group tackling, stopping the lateral running game of everyone we’ve played all year). On the flip side, spread attacks generally bypass the biggest weakness of our defense which is a lack of depth and physicality on our defensive line.
These strengths and weaknesses are not a coincidence. Our current starters were recruited 2-4 years ago by Pelini to stop Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas Tech and so on, not Wisconsin and Ohio State. Wisky and OSU were able to abuse our front seven, and MSU had some success until they got behind and went to the air. Michigan State became much less effective once they exclusively went to shotgun formations and only called passes and lateral running plays.
For the record, this isn’t an endorsement of how the Blackshirts are going to “dominate” Northwestern’s offense. I’m scared of both Persa and Colter’s running abilities and putting up 24 in a half on Penn State is certainly enough to make people take notice, especially with people around campus whispering the dreaded word: “hangover.”
What I am saying is that I think our defensive personnel matches up nicely with what Northwestern is going to try to do on offense. Hope that makes me sound a bit more rational. :)
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
No, totally rational.
And you are right — your speed, group tackling, stopping the lateral run game should go a long way towards neutralizing Northwestern’s offense.
But you’re very wise to be wary of Persa and Colter…..in particular Persa’s insane accuracy. He’s currently at a 75.5% completion rate, which would be an all-time B1G record (breaking his own record from last year). He’s scarily accurate, and is willing to take what the defense gives him in terms of short passes/moving the chains. Forcing him to make a mistake, in fact, has been a major cause arguably of two of our losses — the 96 yard pick-six against Iowa was at least a 10 point swing in that game, and ditto the INT to Penn State to start the 2nd half (another 10-point swing).
That being said, your D-line will look a lot better against Northwestern’s O-line than they looked against OSU/MSU/Wisconsin, which should help neutralize Persa and the passing game a lot.
75%?
Yikes. I’m hoping we’ll be able to knock 15-20 points off of that in his numbers on Saturday, but I wasn’t aware of how accurate he was.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
The 75.5% is pretty ridiculous...
….even more ridiculous? He put that up against B1G teams exclusively. No FCS/non-con patsies there to allow him to boost his numbers (although Indiana’s defense wasn’t exactly a difficult challenge).
It should be a good matchup
I think you nail Nebraska’s advantage here. So far this year, the Northwestern offensive coaches have done a good job of finding something we can take advantage of against each opponent (except Army because that game never happened); it will be interesting to see if this continues against an improving defense that plays the spread well. One thing I’m curious about: how has the Nebraska pass rush been this year? If Persa has time he will be fine, but pass protection has been an issue.
by MountainTiger on Nov 1, 2011 3:08 PM CDT up reply actions
Mostly terrible until this past weekend
I believe we sacked Cousins 4 times.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
Interesting....
…obviously you guys were fired up and had talent all over the field elsewhere, but I wonder how much of that was a weak MSU offensive line (questionable/injured all season)?
And even then, I’m still not convinced Northwestern’s offensive line is better than MSU’s. If Nebraska gets pressure from their base D-line on Persa, it’ll really damage Northwestern’s offense. If they can only get pressure by blitzing, or can’t get pressure at all, Persa can pick apart opposing defenses (even ones with fantastic CBs like Dennard) with time. He’s THAT accurate.
I think it had more to do with Cousins not being a very mobile guy.
We do well with statues of QBs and pass-happy offenses like the Big 12 spread attack.
From your comments and my own observations, Northwestern employs more of a run-happy “spread” offense which may be troublesome for Nebraska.
It’ll be interesting to see whether our defense has really turned a corner or if they just got a stay of execution.
A Cornhusker through feast or famine. Get up, dust yourself off and run the ball. That's the Nebraska way.
by Salt Creek and Stadium on Nov 1, 2011 8:46 PM CDT up reply actions
That's a good point
And while I realize that Michigan and Northwestern run different offenses (with Michigan being more proficient at running, but thankfully about as bad as it gets passing) this game should provide something of a hint about how our defense will respond to the “spread option” look.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
What makes me nervous
Is before Persa got hurt,he was i believe listed as easily the best quarterback in the B1G. And i hear he’s getting back to form
In B1G conference games only...
…(i.e. ignoring all non-con games, since Persa didn’t play in any) Persa is #1 in passing yards, passing yards per game, TD passes, completion percentage, and completions. And 3 of those games were against top 5 B1G defenses in terms of scoring (Illinois, Michigan, and Penn State).
So, yeah, he’s back to form. Plus, if you watched the Northwestern-Indiana game (and I’m sure you probably didn’t, for good reason — it was between two winless B1G teams and was played at the same time as Nebraska-MSU), Persa was scrambling again pretty effectively.
Jason Peter
thinks your 20 blackshirts are way too many:
http://twitter.com/#!/jasonpeter/statuses/131431981669040128
20!!Really? I’m not going to get ugly here.Feel sad 4 guys that did earn them.its now a waterdowned tradition! Almost entire 2 deep.wow
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Er....
I think he shoots his mouth off too much. Honestly how many of those guys played/made a big contribution on Saturday? Pelini does a ton of rotating as packages and situations change. We don’t have a “starting 11.”
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
by jdhusker on Nov 1, 2011 2:26 PM CDT up reply actions 2 recs
What's his problem? This is why Twitter is stupid.
Let’s people mouth off with almost no repercussions.
This isn’t Peter’s team. Get over it.
A Cornhusker through feast or famine. Get up, dust yourself off and run the ball. That's the Nebraska way.
by Salt Creek and Stadium on Nov 1, 2011 2:57 PM CDT up reply actions
For the record,
I think he’s right. It is almost the entire 2-deep; and yes, I realize we rotate packages a lot, but your “starting defense” isn’t twenty guys. It’s too many. If you do that very often it does cheapen the tradition.
Anyway, the defensive performance of last week merits the handing out of Blackshirts, even if twenty is too many. I hope we’ve reached a turning point for the defense.
"The guts carry the feet, not the feet the guts."
- Cervantes
Get
Over it, Pelini is in charge, Bolieve.
by SONOFLY on Nov 2, 2011 2:04 PM CDT via mobile reply actions 1 recs
And
i think there should be an honorary blackshirt given to Rex. Because he’s the toughest sombitch on the team!
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