[Husker] Defense

[David Elfering]

I can't buy into the defense being too complicated given that this is year
5. If the kids haven't figured it out in half a decade well... we need
better academic standards :)

But I remember how quickly the defense began to jell in 2003 and again in
the first two years of Coach Pelini's replacement of Bill Callahan. I
remember when I was in orchestra wondering how the audience would perceive
our miscues in the concert. The bottom line is we all know when parts
aren't being played right but may not know its the brass, people out of
tune, etc. Similarly with football, the orchestra of being in place to make
plays comes across with some degree of mystery, but we know when things are
misfiring.

The question (in my mind) is whether the conductor can pick up the mistakes
and tune the music to the fullest extent possible for the capabilities of
his players. Maybe. But it seems odd to have that question in our minds.
Then again maybe not given that people were ready to fire Dr. Tom multiple
times. Remember when commentators referred to the Husker offense as "out of
date" and talked down their noses at Coach Osborne?

Having seen the blood letting and aftermath in scuttling Coach Solich I'm
not keen to repeat that with Pelini.

A lot depends on factors outside of fan control. How will the team finish
the year? What will the new Athletic Director do? What kind of instructions
is he following from Perlman?

For the first time since Dr. Tom resumed the reigns the harp strings of
intrigue and "change" are being plucked. Frankly I don't like the music it
produced last time.

On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 1:31 PM, Smith, William <wsmith at towson.edu> wrote:

> First, I'm admitting upfront how much I don't know about football.  After
> a lifetime of watching thousands game, I should be much better informed.
>  If you ask me what the corners' run responsibilities are in a 3-4 versus a
> 4-3 alignment you'll get complete silence.   Press me about what happens
> when the offense stacks all the receivers to one side, then puts a man in
> motion,  how should the weak-side linebacker react when the coach is
> signaling a cover two, I'll give you a puzzled look.  It's embarrassing
> really.
>
> But like all good football fans, this ignorance doesn't stop me from
> having opinions (strong ones at that) about what's wrong and what needs
> fixing after my favorite teams gets its butt kicked.
>
> The D looked great early.  OSU didn't get a first down until the second
> quarter.  Then the floodgates opened.
>
> One key was pressure.  We did blitz more early.  At some point OSU moved
> Miller around more on rollouts and counter plays and we had trouble
> containing him.  They also went to the tight end more which made it
> difficult to control all the passing lanes.  It seemed we sacrificed the
> pressure to get more containment and coverage.  Unfortunately we didn't get
> either.
>
> As the game turned into more of a track meet, their O-line seemed to
> control our D-line.
>
> Several folks have suggested that somehow young athletes don't understand
> Pellini's schemes.  That may be true.  But how is it that his best defense
> was during his first year?  If "can't learn his schemes" is the problem, we
> should have seen plenty of evidence then.   Plus I'm not sure how much I
> buy the fact that this defense was built for the more wide open B12 and as
> opposed to the rough and rugged B10.  Seriously, that's a copout.  A good
> defense should be good no matter what the profile of your opponent.
>
> My own sense is we don't have the personnel to match up well.  It feels to
> me, in the comfort of my living room, that this team has the heart.  I'm
> not sure it's got the muscle.
>
> Bill Smith
> Towson MD
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: husker-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:husker-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf
> Of Nick Chevance
> Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2012 10:42 AM
> To: Husker List
> Subject: [Husker] Defense
>
> So, any thoughts on why we put on the heavy blitz in the first quarter,
> then pretty much abandoned pressure for the rest of the game?
>  And I'd love to hear any discussion on why the zone read was so
> spectacularly mis-read time and time again. Its not like we haven't seen it
> before. Even a few times in practice, maybe.
>
> I knew this was going to be a tough game, especially after we gave them
> the ball a couple of times. But this was fail on a big scale. Its not that
> we struggled to stop them, its that they didn't seem to struggle against us.
>
> I'm at a loss.
>
> Nick
> --
> "In politics stupidity is not a handicap."
> Napoleon Bonaparte
>
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-- 
---
David Elfering
aroundomaha at gmail.com