[Husker] Redemption

[Mike Jaixen]

I think there's a strong possibility that we'll soon realize just how out of touch our previous coaching staff was with trend in modern college football, such as the spread offense.

Last week's Sports Illustrated had a feature about the spread offense, and specifically how to stop it.  While there is no "silver bullet", there were three things you need to focus on:  speed, fundamentals, and being disruptive.

I'd argue that our previous staff didn't share that philosophy.  Adam Carriker was a great talent, but he was playing out of position.  He's a defensive tackle, not a defensive end.  Back when the Husker defense were Blackshirts, defensive ends were 250-260 pounds.  In recent years, they've been 290.  Why is this a problem?  Look at Texas Tech's offensive line; their splits are twice as wide as other offenses.  That means that the defensive ends are twice as far from the quarterback at the snap, meaning they are essentially out of the play and the quarterback has all the time he needs to find an open receiver.

And with our defensive philosophy of playing essentially prevent defenses, this was magnified.  I bet Chase Daniel felt he was in a 7 on 7 passing drill last season in Columbia, for example.


Mike Jaixen
Blog: http://huskermike.blogspot.com


--- On Wed, 8/13/08, Skylar Dodds <sklarbodds at cox.net> wrote:

> From: Skylar Dodds <sklarbodds at cox.net>
> Subject: RE: [Husker] Redemption
> To: husker at tssi.com
> Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 11:47 PM
> Ahh, it was 2005 we were around the top 25.  My apologies.
> 
> Oh well, at least from a defensive perspective I don't
> think many of us are
> going to miss the previous regime.  Part of me wants to
> forget them all
> together, but I know that if/when we're ever at the top
> of college football
> again I will appreciate it much more.
> 
> I remember growing up watching the Huskers and NU was
> always good (born in
> '79 if you must know).  I couldn't even imagine not
> having a winning season
> back then.  I would hear people say, "It's so hard
> to build and maintain a
> winning program" but I don't think I ever believed
> them.  The concept was so
> foreign to me.  I think part of me truly believed I
> wouldn't see the Huskers
> fall from glory until at least my twilight years if ever :)
> 
> I know this sounds weird, but if we ever win a national
> championship again,
> I think it will be 3x sweeter than the first 3 for me. 
> 1995 was my favorite
> so far, just because we were SO much better than everyone
> else.  A few years
> ago I went back and looked at the season long results for
> all the national
> championship teams of the past 15-20 years and NONE of them
> had a season as
> dominating as 1995.
> 
> I really wonder what the country's perception of the
> greatest college
> football team over the last 30 years was save Kevin
> Herbsteak (intentionally
> incorrect), but it'd be hard to argue against the 1995
> Huskers.
> 
> --
> Skylar
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: husker-bounces at tssi.com
> [mailto:husker-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of
> Brett Eby
> Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 11:32 PM
> To: husker at tssi.com
> Subject: RE: [Husker] Redemption
> 
> This was eating at me, so I had to look it up.
> 
> NU's total defense ranking according to cfbstats.com:
> 2007 112th (out of 119 - wow)
> 2006 56th (Carriker and Moore were seniors)
> 2005 26th
> 2004 57th
> 
> 
> Brett Eby
> Lincoln
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: husker-bounces at tssi.com
> [mailto:husker-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of
> Skylar Dodds
> Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2008 2:41 PM
> To: Bob Beach; Husker List
> Subject: RE: [Husker] Redemption
> 
> I think there is certainly a degree of truth to that.  When
> Coz had Carriker
> and Moore on his dline, the defense finished in the top 25
> if I recall
> correctly.  
> 
> Our defense put no pressure on opponents last year, not
> just the dline, but
> anywhere.  I think not having thoose talents exposed the
> bad schemes.
> 
> Skylar
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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