Nebraska: Beyond the Box Score Preview - OFFENSE

OC Shawn Watson says here they didn’t really start letting Martinez make reads until the second quarter of the UT game.

This is the same hype machine that led tOSU to a couple of SEC blastings in the NC game. Instead of style over substance, it is tradition over current substance.

… it’s an upset. ESPN wins.

… but HEY WAIT A MINUTE.

I have watched several of their games, and UT seems to be the only ones I remember getting in the backfield consistently, but mainly on running plays. He seemed to have hours to throw in that game.

I am not convinced they have faced a Dline capable of generating pressure like ours. UT was supposedly good defensively, but not sure I buy that anymore, stats be damned. Don’t remember them getting much pressure on Arnaud last week, and doubt ISU are monsters on the Oline.

It may be ignorance, but I don’t see a lot of other top pass rushing D’s in the list below (from Matter piece- passing defense rankings of nub opponents):
Nebraska: Texas (2), Kansas State (38), Idaho (44), Western Kentucky (69), Washington (73), Oklahoma State (115)

Really, really liking the combo of our Dline pressure with a freshman QB who has fumbled a lot and not been good at home.

Pretty much only by Texas, and mainly while being strung out toward the sideline. He’s never (that I can remember) been blindsided by a backside DE.

Surface to Air Maelstrom.

I think it depends on where our advantages truly lie. If we can go man to man on the outside, have Gooden spy Martinez and let the line pin their ears back. If we can’t cover (or can’t get to the QB), the strategy changes.

I can see a scenario where NU spreads us out to open up running lanes in the middle. Think Brad Smith circa 2003. I can also see them going Navy on us with the triple option. If I were NE, I would seriously consider this. They have film of us not stopping that setup.

…but, I would like to add that I don’t think Mizzou can wait for the “assignment” to come to them. They have to disrupt it, and force NU to make decisions faster then they want.

I am afraid that if Mizzou sits back (a bit) and waits for their “assignments” to come to them, that will give Martinez time to take make a read, and take couple steps forward. That. can. not. happen.

I think Martinez is accurate on deeper routes. On the shorter routes he doesn’t seem to lead receivers all that well and I he doesn’t have “thread the needle” arm like Gabbert does. He does seem to have decent touch and I was impressed with a few of his throws where it was throwing to a spot where a receiver was going to be open.

Yeah. I knew we didn’t want to be forced to throw just based on watching all the games, but I didn’t realize how poorly we did on forced passing situations until looking at this info. I would like to know what the stats were like pre-OSU and now to see just how successful we were on forced passing downs for that game. It seems like we hit quite a few 3 and longs.

… We need our defensive ends to hit the quarterback on every play. The only problem is, that takes one player out of the mix to stop the run. Pick your poison, I suppose. But I’d rather Helu or Burkhead beat me than Martinez running untouched windsprints up and down the field.

Because then if a blocker gets a piece of the DE, Martinez is through to the second level. You gotta have a backup there.

The zone read takes time to set up. The QB can stay with the RB for almost 2 seconds. Both potential runners are running right next to each other. If you can penetrate the O-line off of the snap the zone read is dead. You hit the RB and even if the QB keeps he will probably be pushed around do to the hit on the RB.That’s what Texas was able to do.

If you allow Martinez time to make his read, he will more than likely make the correct option and yards will be gained.

Not much I can say here other than +MU on this one. TM is a redshirt frosh. It is going to happen.

Fumbles are absolutely something I should have found a place to mention. Nebraska has fumbled an incredible 24 times in seven games. There have only been a TOTAL of 27 fumbles in Mizzou games this year (13 for Mizzou, 14 for opponents). That they have only lost 9 of the fumbles (38%) has been a bit of a blessing for them. Hopefully those season numbers get a lot closer to 50% by the end of Saturday!

I also LOVE that we shut out Illinois once we started spying on Scheelhaase in the 2nd half and shut him down. That’ll play a big part in this game too I think.

I’m not sure on this point. Alden Smith was used to spy Scheelhaase, I believe, and while Alden is a freakish athlete…Scheelhaase doesn’t scare me as a runner nearly as much as Martinez, and I’m thinking Martinez is a better passer as well.

Someone may be charged with spying him, but I think it would be a mistake to devote one guy to him specifically. The Huskers offense is all about making one guy guess wrong, and if you cover their best weapon with one guy, you’re really counting on him to guess right every time.

But I’ve gotta push back against the idea that the Huskers have been “very, very lucky” to recover as many of them as they have. Many of Nebraska’s fumbles have been unforced – handoffs, fake handoffs, ball just popping out without a hit – which means there aren’t any defensive players right on top of the ballcarrier. This necessarily makes it far more likely that Nebraska will recover those fumbles than your standard defense-caused fumble.

if anything, the rotation of backups played most of the game.

Cam Newton is still the favorite at this point and even after Sat. probably.

If Gabbert has all day to throw like he’s had in the last three conference games, it doesn’t matter how good Nub’s secondary is, he’ll pick them apart.

…but this comes straight from the play-by-play, so a run’s a run, and a pass is a pass.

We’re bipolar paranoid schizophrenics.

and then Martinez will either be pitching the ball every single time or sitting on the sideline watching Zac Lee pitching it every single time,

But I don’t think people here are saying they should hit him illegally. They seem to be using the triple option defensive mentality in which you always hit the QB during the pitch when possible.

I agree with RPT. The meaning is on a pitch option. I would point out that rarely do we run a pitch option anymore. It is mainly the zone read option where it is a hand-off.

you have to go for the QB as well as the pitch man. You don’t stand around waiting to find out who has the ball because its going to be the guy 10 yards away from you running down the field towards the endzone.

the play was still live and he was so wrapped up into the big hit and self acknowledgement that he basically took himself out of the play in order to stand and flex himself. I imagine if a camera wasn’t zeroed in on him at that point as well as on the sidelines (or he was wearing a Longhorn uniform), he might not have been attacked by Beebe afterwards.

NU would be 7-0 right now if Lee was under center.

That is not an opinion I was expecting at all. Out of curiosity, would it have mattered who was behind center against Texas if Burkhead, Kinnie, et al. still don’t hold on to the passes?

We saw Lee with pretty much the same cast of characters last year and the results were not good. Martinez is extremely dynamic and makes Nebraska much, much more difficult to prepare for. I’d say odds are much more likely that Nebraska would’ve dropped another game rather than pulled it out against Texas.

And I know it’s insulting to Missouri fans for a Nebraska fan to sugest NU would have been 7-0 with a change of QB, but it is what it is.