Run Defense

[TheRealPeliniTheCrutch]

Alright here goes(this will likely be my longest post ever).

1. I admittedly haven’t been able to watch most of the previous games closely either because of work or drunkenness.

2. While the DL isn’t made to be stuffers like last year, they most certainly aren’t the only issue. Those guys fight their asses off.

3. There are MAJOR run fit issues. Here’s the thing and where I’ll get to rambling. Every decent defense in college football knows how they fit power/counter out of every formation and personnel. There are two lead blockers, so you have to have two dudes to take those on with correct leverage to get the ball to the designated tackler. You need a third fitter and they have to know who they are. If someone gets off a block, they are a bonus, but you cannot count on that. I don’t know Nebraska’s exact rules as far as spill/leverage(bounce/box), but there were a lot of second/third level guys boxing blockers instead of spilling…back to nobody.

4. Nebraska took too many alignment chances IMO….basically because they didn’t change personnel enough when USC went heavy. When there is two open gaps next to each other on the line of scrimmage, that’s called a bubble, and Butler did a ton of that last night.

5. I get that Butler decided to try to make USC be stubborn in the run game, and he is way smarter than me. In the end, they held them to 21 points, which is nothing to scoff at.

 

[HuskerInCarolina]

I can’t tell you how many times I saw one of our DL stand straight up when the ball is snapped. I was in the 8th row, it was clear as day. Idk what the reasoning is for the DL being atrocious, it’s unacceptable. How many 15+ yard runs did USC have last night? As we have seen the whole year, chunk plays came effortlessly for our opponent last night.

 

[BugsAreQualityProtein]

Butler has been a secondary coach for most of his career for a reason.

 

[cubsker15]

The only thing I'll say is that at least we didn't give up any long runs. They had a bunch of 15s, but didn't have anything over 17.

And I thought our pass rush was pretty good.

 

[cestrup]

I learned a few things there. Thank you

 

[4.6.3]

Alright here goes(this will likely be my longest post ever).

1. I admittedly haven’t been able to watch most of the previous games closely either because of work or drunkenness.

2. While the DL isn’t made to be stuffers like last year, they most certainly aren’t the only issue. Those guys fight their asses off.

3. There are MAJOR run fit issues. Here’s the thing and where I’ll get to rambling. Every decent defense in college football knows how they fit power/counter out of every formation and personnel. There are two lead blockers, so you have to have two dudes to take those on with correct leverage to get the ball to the designated tackler. You need a third fitter and they have to know who they are. If someone gets off a block, they are a bonus, but you cannot count on that. I don’t know Nebraska’s exact rules as far as spill/leverage(bounce/box), but there were a lot of second/third level guys boxing blockers instead of spilling…back to nobody.

4. Nebraska took too many alignment chances IMO….basically because they didn’t change personnel enough when USC went heavy. When there is two open gaps next to each other on the line of scrimmage, that’s called a bubble, and Butler did a ton of that last night.

5. I get that Butler decided to try to make USC be stubborn in the run game, and he is way smarter than me. In the end, they held them to 21 points, which is nothing to scoff at.

Yeah I said it last night. Backers were not great

 

[Baxter48]

Alright here goes(this will likely be my longest post ever).

1. I admittedly haven’t been able to watch most of the previous games closely either because of work or drunkenness.

2. While the DL isn’t made to be stuffers like last year, they most certainly aren’t the only issue. Those guys fight their asses off.

3. There are MAJOR run fit issues. Here’s the thing and where I’ll get to rambling. Every decent defense in college football knows how they fit power/counter out of every formation and personnel. There are two lead blockers, so you have to have two dudes to take those on with correct leverage to get the ball to the designated tackler. You need a third fitter and they have to know who they are. If someone gets off a block, they are a bonus, but you cannot count on that. I don’t know Nebraska’s exact rules as far as spill/leverage(bounce/box), but there were a lot of second/third level guys boxing blockers instead of spilling…back to nobody.

4. Nebraska took too many alignment chances IMO….basically because they didn’t change personnel enough when USC went heavy. When there is two open gaps next to each other on the line of scrimmage, that’s called a bubble, and Butler did a ton of that last night.

5. I get that Butler decided to try to make USC be stubborn in the run game, and he is way smarter than me. In the end, they held them to 21 points, which is nothing to scoff at.

I’m not a scheme guy my question is are the linebackers coming up to fast instead of waiting for the running back to get to them?

 

[Thortulz]

Todd Blackledge stated it pretty well when he said th 3-3-5 defense is better suited to be used in the NFL than at the college level. It is designed to "limit" not stop the run while emphasis is put on defending the pass. Whoever thought it would be a good defense in the Big10 should be shown the door. That is reactive approach to slowing down another teams offense. Give me a proactive, create as much havoc as quick as possible defense anyday.

 

[Bigred2467]

Todd Blackledge stated it pretty well when he said th 3-3-5 defense is better suited to be used in the NFL than at the college level. It is designed to "limit" not stop the run while emphasis is put on defending the pass. Whoever thought it would be a good defense in the Big10 should be shown the door. That is reactive approach to slowing down another teams offense. Give me a proactive, create as much havoc as quick as possible defense anyday.

It worked fine against the run last year when we had two big and active defensive linemen. But you have to have those type of players to make it work. The fact that we didn't replace those two players this year is either the fault of Rhule or a lack of NIL.

 

[Redscarlet]

I’m not a scheme guy my question is are the linebackers coming up to fast instead of waiting for the running back to get to them?

Plenty of times we have no one in the middle of the field to defend against the run game on certain downs.

 

[oldjar07]

Alright here goes(this will likely be my longest post ever).

1. I admittedly haven’t been able to watch most of the previous games closely either because of work or drunkenness.

2. While the DL isn’t made to be stuffers like last year, they most certainly aren’t the only issue. Those guys fight their asses off.

3. There are MAJOR run fit issues. Here’s the thing and where I’ll get to rambling. Every decent defense in college football knows how they fit power/counter out of every formation and personnel. There are two lead blockers, so you have to have two dudes to take those on with correct leverage to get the ball to the designated tackler. You need a third fitter and they have to know who they are. If someone gets off a block, they are a bonus, but you cannot count on that. I don’t know Nebraska’s exact rules as far as spill/leverage(bounce/box), but there were a lot of second/third level guys boxing blockers instead of spilling…back to nobody.

4. Nebraska took too many alignment chances IMO….basically because they didn’t change personnel enough when USC went heavy. When there is two open gaps next to each other on the line of scrimmage, that’s called a bubble, and Butler did a ton of that last night.

5. I get that Butler decided to try to make USC be stubborn in the run game, and he is way smarter than me. In the end, they held them to 21 points, which is nothing to scoff at.

#33 is worthless. RVP and the other "nose tackles" aren't really defensive tackles, let alone nose tackles. It's why I said towards the start of the year get a bigger body like Pritchett in there. And with those issues, that leaves little room for mistakes, but other guys make mistakes. And Butler stunts too much.

 

[Football2025]

It worked fine against the run last year when we had two big and active defensive linemen. But you have to have those type of players to make it work. The fact that we didn't replace those two players this year is either the fault of Rhule or a lack of NIL.

This. Plus if you have the athletes. We’re never going to have true shutdown corners or all works safety’s so we have to make up for the 3*’s. I can see us getting some 3* DT that can develop over 4 or 5 years, but in general we’re never going to have the athletes to run a 4-3 or 3-4.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

This. Plus if you have the athletes. We’re never going to have true shutdown corners or all works safety’s so we have to make up for the 3*’s. I can see us getting some 3* DT that can develop over 4 or 5 years, but in general we’re never going to have the athletes to run a 4-3 or 3-4.

I mean, every team in the country runs a 3 man or 5 man front...then depending on what the offense does it might become a 5 man front.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

We could run the Gap-8! That thing drives middle school Dads mad!

 

[Anon1751408132]

LBs have been a weak spot all season. Shavers probably the only consistent bright spot

 

[dinglefritz]

Yeah I said it last night. Backers were not great

Pretty sure I asked several times during the game where are backers were. We’ve gone with young guys who make mistakes but make them fast versus the 5th year guys who sometimes can’t get there quickly enough it appears to me. Making backers make bad decisions is part of the game and Riley has been pretty good at doing that over the years.

 

[broken record]

Pretty sure I asked several times during the game where are backers were. We’ve gone with young guys who make mistakes but make them fast versus the 5th year guys who sometimes can’t get there quickly enough it appears to me. Making backers make bad decisions is part of the game and Riley has been pretty good at doing that over the years.

We only have 4 games left. We should be able to see some of the younger guys like Christian Jones as they won't be burning a redshirt. I also heard McGahee was redshirting and he should now be available.

 

[dinglefritz]

We only have 4 games left. We should be able to see some of the younger guys like Christian Jones as they won't be burning a redshirt. I also heard McGahee was redshirting and he should now be available.

I’m not sure if McGahee has games left. I think he was playing on special teams and I won’t be surprised if he transfers. I don think he would be better anyways.

 

[broken record]

Alright here goes(this will likely be my longest post ever).

1. I admittedly haven’t been able to watch most of the previous games closely either because of work or drunkenness.

2. While the DL isn’t made to be stuffers like last year, they most certainly aren’t the only issue. Those guys fight their asses off.

3. There are MAJOR run fit issues. Here’s the thing and where I’ll get to rambling. Every decent defense in college football knows how they fit power/counter out of every formation and personnel. There are two lead blockers, so you have to have two dudes to take those on with correct leverage to get the ball to the designated tackler. You need a third fitter and they have to know who they are. If someone gets off a block, they are a bonus, but you cannot count on that. I don’t know Nebraska’s exact rules as far as spill/leverage(bounce/box), but there were a lot of second/third level guys boxing blockers instead of spilling…back to nobody.

4. Nebraska took too many alignment chances IMO….basically because they didn’t change personnel enough when USC went heavy. When there is two open gaps next to each other on the line of scrimmage, that’s called a bubble, and Butler did a ton of that last night.

5. I get that Butler decided to try to make USC be stubborn in the run game, and he is way smarter than me. In the end, they held them to 21 points, which is nothing to scoff at.

The run defense is to me the larger concern as it has not been effective at all this year and we face probably the most dangerous running QB in the next game, followed by two run-heavy offenses in PSU and Iowa. We need to trust our DBs and be a more run oriented defense.
I don't think the DL coaching is adequate either. Maybe coach Orgeron would be willing to come by since that is his specialty. He would probably be able to help us recruit some southern transfers as well.

 

[dinglefritz]

The run defense is to me the larger concern as it has not been effective at all this year and we face probably the most dangerous running QB in the next game, followed by two run-heavy offenses in PSU and Iowa. We need to trust our DBs and be a more run oriented defense.
I don't think the DL coaching is adequate either. Maybe coach Orgeron would be willing to come by since that is his specialty. He would probably be able to help us recruit some southern transfers as well.

The good news is that their QB is probably not much different than USC’s. We might lack run stuffing DTs but our edge guys can move. Interesting matchup.

 

[broken record]

The good news is that their QB is probably not much different than USC’s. We might lack run stuffing DTs but our edge guys can move. Interesting matchup.

Nico I is faster and more dangerous overall. The UCLA WRs aren't as good at USC's. We haven't shown any ability to stop QB runs so it is a problem.

 

[lifer56]

It worked fine against the run last year when we had two big and active defensive linemen. But you have to have those type of players to make it work. The fact that we didn't replace those two players this year is either the fault of Rhule or a lack of NIL.

You need those kind of DL for any effective D. If you don’t have at least one DL demanding a double team, the LBs are sitting ducks.

And, for those complaining about scheme, we almost always have at least four on the DL, even if some of them don’t have a hand in the dirt.