One thing I like about Busch is, if you ain’t playing well you ain’t going to play. He believes in his defense, not just the ones. It’s next guy up. And we have the bodies. Chin never realized that. He went down with Tommi Hill at CB and both lost their job
Bill Busch....
- Thread starter BuckysBoys1
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Mickey said we played at least 9 D linemen last week and I thought he said 7 OLBers.
that’s a great way to build depth and team chemistry
And you’re absolutely right. That’s why this hire has to be exact. If Trev wants Matt Campbell? Might as well go with Micky. Heck, I’m not even on the LL train. The hire has to be exact because there’s a lot of things that need to be fixed from someone highly experienced (and successful) that makes it extremely difficult to lock in an assistant to this job for 3+ years
Not making halftime adjustments is like cooking a meal and not adding more salt or spices when it’s needed
As an AD, the issue with going with Mickey Va a new coach is leash length. How long will the fan base give Mickey vs a new coach with relatively new staff? I’d say the new stuff gets a longer leash, which means the AD gets a longer leash.
If the guys play with the fire I’ve seen Mickey would get a pretty long leash as long he kept us above .500
Don't forget, we had dead weight Chinander running the defense for the Oklahoma game. Firing Chinander is the best thing to have happened for the defense.
Our D gave up 10 points. The other 3 was not their fault and they did a good job of holding it to a FG. That with locking down the second half and the three INTs make last night's effort above average in my opinion, even if it was against Rutgers.
This is a good thing, especially for a team as bad as ours. Give some of these guys a taste and find out who wants more. Check out the individual defense stats to see who stepped up last night. There's some new names on there.
I’m think quite a few of Rutgers’ mistakes were the result of the way our D was playing
It should basically be -4 for the defense due to holding them to a FG. Huge momentum swing, coming out basically in your own red one and holding them to 3 is a heck of a job. I view it as the defense gaining 4 points for to the swing.
I would say Rutgers offense was just really bad. But I’m still happy our defense played well in the second half. The first half was terrible. The crappy Rutgers offense was torching us.
Torching us? They gave up 13 points. After a blocked punt and two INTs. They pretty much gave up one bad drive the entire game.
The inept offense contributed to the issue, but we gave up 263 yds in the first half, on pace to 526, to a team (currently) ranked #106 at 334 ypg.
526 in a game would match the average of a Top 4 national offense. So our first half performance was allowing a bottom feeder team look like a top 5 offense.
This was on the heels of giving up crazy yards to NW, Georgia Southern and Oklahoma.
Either way, I’m proud of the defense for regrouping and showing up in the second half.
The team still has a lot of work to do to attempt to salvage a season.
Why would you just extrapolate the 1st half stats when the full game was played? ******* bizarre mental gymnastics.
I'll chalk it up to Vedral, he hadn't played much if at all before this week, looked good on that drive, then got hurt again apparently.
I don't put a lot of stock in opening drives of any game. The offense has had a week or more to script the drive, they should be impressive. The second or third drives tell the story of the games.
We get all of that hubris but just give us the names of those who fit the bill? If thus hire has to be "exact" there can only be a few names. People want the sure thing, I can only think.of three, maybe, and they aren't coming here.
Can’t say they were torching us. Consider they only had 13 points and got some big chunks picking on Malcolm.
To his credit, and the coaches too, he made the INT to finish the game. Lots of praise and hugs need to go both ways there. He wasn’t shaken by the start, had confidence to make that play. The coaches had to have confidence in him, that he could make the play. That will go a long ways in his development!
IMO the thing that stands out to me is that our D line is performing better which in turn helps your back side. We were so damned passive scheme wise under Chinander. When you’re undersized at some spots you better be ramblin and gamblin. Our presnap alignment and readiness us WAY better and it’s helping every position
At times, Busch had the DL running a twist and it did create havoc with Rutgers OL. The best example is when Vedral had the snap and was consumed by 4 different NU defenders, everywhere he turned there was a defender. It brought back memories of days long past.
The fact Busch is employing up to 9 DL is paying dividends. They are adding depth and keeping those on the field fresher. I like concepts like twists, selective blitzes and trying to create havoc.
A guy like Nash is not capable of running a twist, due to lack of quickness, but he does hold his ground well. Smaller, quicker guys can sometimes avoid the bigger, stronger and slower OL if the gimmick is performed with the right personnel being used.
Purdue will be a real challenge, but after Saturday another bye week will help to continue to mix and match the best combinations heading into the most difficult part of the schedule.
I think guys like Gunnerson, Butler and a few others bring some real depth and freshness into the overall picture. I like that Busch is not standing pat.
When Busch is using up to 7 OLB's it only stands to reason, more and more guys on the defensive side of the ball remain fresher, are gaining more ownership on defense and building a unit which lacks overall talent and speed. It also makes it easier to maintain effort and defensive intensity when new faces are added into the mix.
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First 4 games NU gave up 514 yards per game average.
Last 2 games under Busch giving up 319 yards per game average.
NU is improving on defense and regressing on offense.
Some of the stat change is the differences between opponents. Rutgers does in fact have a fairly stout defense
Agree. He's much better than Chin. Even if Busch is not the DC, but is retained as the DB coach, I'll take that because I think he would be an improvement over Fisher.
By special teams sucking, do you mean having the 1st blocked punt since 2009? The special teams have been doing just fine so far this year.
Clearly the last two opponents were not offensive juggernauts. But improved play nonetheless and NU may have found a couple of answers at corner.