[Husker] tracking stats

[Nick Chevance]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 5:47 AM, Steve Reichenbach <reich at inetnebr.com>wrote:

>
> I think the most talk will continue to be about the defense.
> I was really concerned after NU gave up 20 first downs to
> Southern Miss.  That is often enough to win a game.  Then,
> NU gave up 26 first downs in the loss to UCLA.  Last week,
> I NU gave up 17 first downs (and I believe 13 first downs in
> the first half).  If NU continues to give up more than 20 first
> downs per game, it is much more worrisome than whether Martinez
> improves his throwing motion and completion rate and therefore
> will dominate the "talk".
>

I would agree.  The defense looked as good as they have in a couple of
years.  For the first time, we saw guys actually flying around and hitting
people.  OK, so maybe it was mostly Stafford, but hopefully that's
infectious and allows the rest of the players to feel like they can let it
loose a bit more.  Certainly, Martin has shown that spark and desire.  They
have assignments, but they have to believe they can read a play and react.
But again, that was more evident this last game, and you could see it on
how they attacked the QB.  I believe the announcers said ASU's QB went into
that game with ZERO sacks, and you could see why.  The ball was rarely in
his hands very long, but as we got better in reading what they were doing,
you could see him sitting in the pocket longer.  We sacked him three times.

On another issue, I've heard some of the talk show guys here mentioning
that the offensive line is not doing a great job.  There were certainly
missed assignments in the UCLA game, such as the blown block that allowed
the safety.  But I didn't see a whole lot of that this last week.  One guy
in particular made the statement yesterday afternoon that this year there
is a defensive lineman in the backfield on nearly every play.  Frankly I've
not seen that amount of infiltration, even at UCLA.  I wouldn't be shocked
that with the shuffling of O lineman this year, there isn't a bit of
confusion on that line.  But with that said, I've just not seen that level
of breakdown.  Am I missing the obvious, or am I distracted by Martinez's
arm and feet??  (watch the line, not his feet; watch the line, not his feet)

Nick
-- 
"In politics stupidity is not a handicap."
Napoleon Bonaparte