[Husker] Couple of things heading into next week....

[Andrew Smith]

Good analysis.  I now notice, and agree, that the redzone ranking is 
misleading since it ranks scoring percentage without distinguishing 
between touchdowns and field goals!  Still, Nebraska's red zone defense 
is lacking and their poor rushing defense, my biggest concern, is 
probably the major cause.

Here are the NCAA stats:
Red Zone Offense
Rank    Name     Gm    Drives Scores    Points  RushTD  PassTD FG   Pct
19    Missouri    7      35     31        172     12       8   11   .89
80    Nebraska    7      24     19        117     12       3    4   .79

Red Zone Defense
Rank    Name     Gm    Drives Scores    Points  RushTD  PassTD FG   Pct
1     Missouri    7      21     11        59       2       5    4   .52
82    Nebraska    7      21     18        98       8       3    7   .86

On 10/24/2010 5:55 PM, Dick Karre wrote:
> Andy's post piqued my curiosity, so I did some digging on the relative 
> red zone performance of NU and Mizzou.
>
> NU has been in the red zone 24 times and has scored on 19 of those 
> occasions (79%); Mizzou is 31 of 35 (89%). But that isn't the whole 
> story: NU has scored 15 red zone TDs and kicked 4 FGs for a total of 
> 117 points (I counted every TD as 7 pts; I'm not obsessive enough to 
> look for XP misses or double XPs), an average of 4.9 points per red 
> zone visit. Mizzou has scored 20 TDs and kicked 11 FGs, for a total of 
> 173 points, an average of 4.9 points. So offensive red zone 
> performance is, to my way of thinking, very comparable.
>
> On the defensive side, the differential is striking and potentially as 
> dire as Andy suggests. NU's opponents are 18-21 (11 TDs, 7 FGs). 
> That's 98 points, an average of 4.7 points per trip. Mizzou has been 
> freakishly good: its opponents are 11-21 (7 TDs and 4 FGs). That's 
> only 61 points, an average of 2.9 points per trip.
>
> Now the good news: NU has scored 15 TDs (and 4 FGs) in the red zone, 
> but another 20 TDs (and 5 FGs) have come from outside the red zone. By 
> comparison, only 9 of Mizzou's 29 TDs (and 2 FGs) have come from 
> outside the red zone.
>