Back to the Chalkboard: Getting Off the Tracks

Much of Nebraska’s season has felt like an old western movie, with the Husker program playing the damsel in distress, roped up to the train tracks, crying out for the protagonist (Coach Frost of course) to come swooping in and save them before they meet their demise. The train is nowhere near closing in on Nebraska program and coach Frost’s rebuild effort, however Husker fans are hoping this nightmare would end soon.

Coming into the game against Purdue, Nebraska was very much aware of the offensive weapons the Boilermakers had and most figured the Huskers would have a tough time trying to stop their offense. The Blackshirt defense surrendered 512 total yards to Purdue’s offense (328 yards passing and 188 yards rushing) and 42 points, seemingly unable to defend Purdue regardless of what they ran. Let’s take a look at several schemes that gave the Huskers problems during their homecoming loss.

Purdue RB, D.J. Knox, 1st Quarter Touchdown Run

Nebraska has received a heavy dose of the “Power G” run scheme in the previous two weeks, taking advantage of the aggressiveness that defensive coordinator Erik Chinander demands from his defense. On this 1st down and 10, Nebraska calls a zone blitz, looking to take advantage of the slow developing play by sending ILB #5 Mo Barry on a cross blitz to the A-gap. Looking at the rotation of safety #14 Tre Neal, it appears Nebraska is running a cover-3 “cross dog” blitz with the two ILBs, however #5 Dedrick Young does not blitz on the play and scrapes over the top, because he reads pullers. Young is obviously in a great position to make the play after doing a great job getting off the block while keeping his depth, however he is not able to make the tackle on Purdue’s RB D.J. Knox, resulting in a touchdown run.

One thing I would be interested to hear from coach Chinander on this particular play, is how OLB #12 Luke Gifford should fit on this trap block concept by Purdue. In the video, you can see Gifford gets up the field two yards and “boxes” (take on the puller with outside arm free, push the ball inside) which makes CB DiCaprio Bootle an inside force player against a pulling guard. Not a great matchup.

In the diagram below, the red dotted lines represents the run fit or “flow” if Gifford were to “spill” (take on the puller with his “wrong arm” or outside shoulder and underneath). In essence, Gifford would squeeze (with hands on) the blocker going to block Young, taking on the puller underneath and forcing the ball to bounce outside to Bootle. Young is in a fairly good position already to make the play and should, however if Gifford squeezes down and spills the first puller, he could possibly take out the second puller, thus giving the Huskers a +2 advantage in the run fit. Nebraska’s defensive line did not help much here on this play, getting walled off from stunting to their play side gap, creating an even larger hole for Knox.

This happened frequently when Nebraska was confronted with the Power G scheme and going into this week against Wisconsin, they must figure out how best to stop this play because they will see every variation of it from the Badgers.

Power G vs. C-3 Cross Dog

Nebraska found themselves in positions to get off the field on third downs against Purdue’s offense and did not do a good enough job of getting stops when they needed it most. Purdue converted 7-16 (44%) of their third downs and when looking back at the game, Nebraska had numerous opportunities to flip the field position for their offense.

Too much time on 3rd Down & 7

Late in the first quarter with Purdue on their own 32 yard line, the Huskers had the Boilermakers in a 3rd down and 7 situation. Purdue aligns in a Trips formation to the field, with freshmen WR #4 Rondale Moore lined up as the #2 WR. Nebraska is aligned in an obvious pre-snap man coverage, bringing safety #14 Tre Neal down in into th box to cover the #3 WR. Up front, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander brings a perfectly designed pressure against the Boilermakers protection scheme, sending ILB #31 Colin Miller on a three gap cross into the field side B-gap, away from the RB in protection. Despite the clear path that Miller has to the QB, Miller goes backward first instead of forward, creating a looping angle in his blitz, thus giving QB David Blough just enough time to find his TE/WR Brycen Hopkins on an out route.

Nebraska had a difficult time stopping Purdue when playing man coverage, allowing Blough to complete 17 out of 23 passes against man coverage (74%), while giving up an average of 16 yards per completion. With as much man coverage coach Chinander likes to call, it is essential Nebraska’a corners and safeties continue to work on their technique and leverage when playing man against Trips. This would eventually comeback to hurt the Huskers, putting the preverbal “nail in the coffin” on their efforts to get back in the ball game.

GT Dart vs. Misaligned Defense

Fast forward two plays on this drive and Nebraska is caught in a numbers disadvantage against Purdue’s running game, which resulted in a highlight reel finish for RB D.J. Knox,  just short of the end zone.

In this redzone situation, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander puts the Blackshirts in a bracket call on the #3 WR (#4 Rondale Moore) in Trips formation, aligning ILB #3 Will Honas on the low inside leverage of Moore and safety #14 Tre Neal on the high outside leverage. Purdue’s offensive coordinator knew the Huskers would key in on Moore, especially in the slot positions, and used that to his advantage when calling both run and pass plays.

GT Dart (Crack) vs. Bracket on #4 Moore

Looking at the diagram above, it is clear to see Nebraska is either misaligned or in a bad play call, leaving only one ILB in the “box” (area from tackle to tackle) to defend the “GT Dart” (inside zone, tackle-guard pulling scheme) back to the “bubble” (the open B-gap in defensive front). Nebraska has 7 of its 11 defensive players committed to the Trips side of the formation, leaving little run support to the boundary.

OLB #12 Luke Gifford uses a spill technique, instead of the box technique used in the first quarter touchdown run, but goes too flat and is only able to take out one of the pullers. This would not be so much of a problem for the Huskers if they did not have both of their LBs aligned to the strong side.

Because of the option threat of the QB, ILB #7 Mo Barry is forced to hesitate before tracking over the top to the ball, giving the offensive linemen the proper angle to make Barry a non-factor on this play.

The boundary safety, #41 Deontai Williams, does invert into the B-gap on the snap, but is crack blocked by the WR, leaving a trailing Lamar Jackson in a bad position to contain leverage. This blocking scheme on the perimeter is very similar to Michigan’s outside zone, taking advantage of Nebraska’s CBs “man eyes” (eyes on the man to follow them everywhere he goes) and forcing the Husker corners to be immediate run support players, which they have struggled to do early on this season.

3rd and Long Blough Scramble for 1st Down

Late in the 2nd quarter and Nebraska again has Purdue backed up on their own side of the field for 3rd down and long. The Husker defense is aligned in man coverage again, bracketing WR #4 Rondale Moore in the slot to the two WR side. The Blackshirt secondary do a great job of playing with leverage and understanding where the first down marker was, but despite the excellent coverage on the back end, freshmen OLB #4 Caleb Tannor makes an inside move on the offensive tackle, running into fellow defensive linemen #96 Khalil Davis. I cannot be certain if either Tannor or Davis ran the wrong movement in the rush pattern, nevertheless, this blunder allows for Blough to escape the pocket to his right and pick up the first down. This again was an opportunity for Nebraska’s defense to get the ball back to the offense with great field position but they were unable to get the stop.

Dig Route to Isaac Zico vs. Husker Cover-1 5 Man Pressure

After a disappointing roughing the passer earlier on in the drive, the Husker defense was forced to defend yet another long drive by the Purdue offense. As stated earlier, Blough had little trouble completing passes against the Husker man to man coverage and this play was no different.

The Blackshirts were aligned in a cover-1 look and added ILB #5 Dedrick Young to the pressure, but it provided no impact on Blough. The Huskers were running a 5 man pressure against a 5 man protection, so I would assume Young and Freedom should have a two-way rush against the guards, reading their leverage and going opposite. If the guards blocks out on Young or Freedom, as they both did, they should cross the guards face and go underneath (see the diagram below). Instead, they continued up the field and because the nose tackle gets stuck at the line of scrimmage, there is no pressure in front of Blough to at least occupy the throwing window.

CB #6 Eric Lee was brought in to replace the inconsistent Lamar Jackson late in the 2nd quarter and the Boilermakers liked their matchup on this play, going to Isaac Zico on a well run dig route for a first down. As you look at the bottom of the screen, Lee started off in great inside leverage at the line of scrimmage, however Zico did a great job getting to Lee’s “blindspot” (backside of DB in a open-45º shuffle) with a great release, thus shifting Lee’s leverage to the outside. Zico does a great job at the top of his route, giving Lee a solid 1, 2, 3 step fake to the out route and then breaking in for the catch. I hope Lee continues to get more reps as the seasons continues because I believe he can be a great option opposite of DiCaprio Bootle.

When looking at the Purdue tape, it was film that was disappointing to watch because you see small glimpses of what the Huskers can do. It is obvious the Blackshirts are going to play bracket man coverage and they must find a way to get a more consistent pressure with just four rushers. Defensive coordinator Erik Chinader will have to continue to scheme up blitzes until one of his rusher emerge as a guy who can take advantage of a 1v1 matchup.

Getting a pass rush would be a quicker remedy to alleviating the problems the Huskers are having against the pass. I like the combination of Bootle and Lee at corner, and the safety trio of Tre Neal, Deontai Williams and Aaron Williams to give the Huskers the best balance at defending the run and pass.

The front seven has to be the most surprising/disappointing group so far, despite the early success in the sack numbers. The defensive line is having a hard time maintaining their gap integrity, especially against double teams. This is allowing guards and tackles to get up to the next level and occupy the linebackers, leaving vertical seams in the Husker defense. Moving Carlos Davis from defensive end to nose tackle this week against Wisconsin, I would expect to see a more explosive looking interior than the previous weeks.

With no Will Honas, Dedrick Young will need to improve his play this week. Mo Barry and Luke Gifford will need to continue to be leaders for this unit going into Madison. Camp Randall Stadium will be an electric environment regardless of the Huskers record and the Blackshirt defense needs to feed off that energy to have a great night.

Look for my breakdown and expectations for the Blackshirt defense against Wisconsin on Friday morning at 9:00 am. Also, listen for me on ESPN 1620 Omaha with Damon Benning and Gary Sharpe at 10:30 am to talk about the Wisconsin breakdown and all things regarding the Huskers. GBR !

Purdue’s Offensive Preview

Coming out of the Michigan game, the Huskers have found themselves in a handgun standoff, looking to find who is “all N” for the rebrand of Nebraska’s culture. A handful of quotes came out of Monday’s press conference, from several Husker players and coaches, questioning if every player on the roster has dedicated themselves as much as they should. Rightfully so at these moments, inquiries about player’s “want to” or willingness to sacrifice personal gain for the betterment of the team are brought up. It also did not help that right after the game, one Michigan player suggested Nebraska, “quit” while another stated, “we knew they didn’t want to play us.” Although these quotes were strongly refuted by the Nebraska coaches, it is clear the Huskers are coming into this week searching for a renewed sense of accountability to the progression of the program.

Purdue will be coming into Memorial Stadium as Nebraska’s homecoming date, looking to spoil the weekend for the Huskers. The Boilermakers (1-3, 0-1 Big Ten), defeated Boston College last week but have lost to Missouri, Northwestern and Eastern Michigan, which is not the most impressive resumè. The Blackshirt defense will however face a challenge trying to defend Purdue’s spread offense attack. The Boilermakers boast the 21st ranked offense (total yards) and the 16th ranked passing offense (yards per game). Purdue will use tempo and will stress the Cornhuskers bracket man coverage with deep crossing patterns off of play action. The Boilermakers run game also is fairly consistent, averaging 165 yards per game.

The Boilermakers offensive line struggled early with pass protection against Northwestern and Eastern Michigan, forcing then QB Elijah Sindelar into scramble situations which ended in incompletions, sacks or interceptions. The Boilermakers have given up a total of 9 sacks on the year, something Nebraska has to look to take advantage of.

In the previous two weeks, the Boilermakers have made several adjustments to their protection scheme, utilizing 6 and 7-man protection. A high percentage of Purdue’s passing game is tagged with play action, helping the offensive linemen with protection by adding a RB and/or H-back to stay in and block.

It will not be surprising if Purdue will try to establish the run game after watching film from the Michigan game, especially with off tackle runs and counter/power schemes which they have already shown as a staple of their offense. Here against Eastern Michigan, Purdue runs a same-side power “G” counter, looking to get RB D.J. Knox on the edge with two pullers in front. Knox is a downhill runner who seemingly searches out contact to finish his run. Knox is only averaging 75 yards rushing per game but with his physical running style, he can be good compliment to the speed and quickness of Purdue’s skill players on the outside.

 

 

Head coach Jeff Brohm announced Monday that QB David Blough will start against the Husker defense, with a slim possibility of seeing junior QB Elijah Sindelar. Sindelar, who was named the opening day starter, has struggled with turnovers and has been dealing with an injury that coach Brohm is keeping out of the media. Nevertheless, coach Brohm’s confidence in Blough due to his recent performances, has the Boilermakers excited about the opportunity to play in front of the sea of red. In David Blough’s last two games starting against Missouri and Boston College, he has thrown for 868 passing yards and six touchdowns, with only one interception. In the game against Missouri, Blough threw for a school record 572 yards, while completing 70% of his 55 pass attempts against the Tigers defense. Blough displayed some really good arm strength and accuracy, placing the ball in tight windows against man to man coverage. The Husker defensive backs will be presented with an intriguing match-up against the Boilermaker WRs and TEs.

 

 

True freshmen WR Rondale Moore was one of three WRs to go over 100 yards in that game (Brycen Hopkins and Isaac Zico were the others), catching 11 passes with his longest catch going 42 yards and one receiving touchdown. Moore has been a playmaker for this offense all season, despite the early questions about the QB position. In the opening week of the season, Moore finished the game with a total of 332 yards (109 receiving, 79 rushing, 125 returning), scoring both a receiving and rushing touchdown. As you can see in his rushing touchdown below, Moore is shifty at 5’9″ 175lbs and will definitely cause the Huskers problems in open field tackle situations. The Blackshirts will have to be aware of their leverage and angle to the football with Moore on the perimeter in the run game or quick screen game.

 

 

Rondale Moore may not present himself as much of a traditional vertical threat as Colorado’s WR Laviska Shenault, but the Blackshirt defense should look for Purdue to utilize Moore in the horizontal passing against the Huskers bracket coverage. In the diagram below, Moore (#4) is aligned in the slot to the left, as the Boilermakers used the play action pass to get Moore open for a touchdown. Moore runs a simple overall route, but due to the bust in coverage by the Wildcats, the left deep 1/3 of the defense is left vacant, allowing him to cut across the safety for an early touchdown.

 

 

 

Nebraska is obviously looking for something to hang their hat on entering homecoming week and Coach Frost has already made things interesting by saying  Purdue is a winnable game.

For the Blackshirt defense, Purdue does enough good things on offense that makes me believe this game could end in a high scoring battle. Rondale Moore is a guy that I am sure defensive coordinator Erik Chinander is concerned about, especially with as much time he spends in the slot. #23 DiCaprio Bootle has been assigned nickel duties for majority of the season, and he has continued to improve as the season has progressed. Look for Nebraska to still try to bracket Moore in the passing game, which will consequently leave them open for 1v1 situations with Purdue’s WRs. Blough has shown on film he has no problem going to these outside matchups, so the Blackshirt entire secondary must be consistent with their technique in man coverage.

Purdue’s running game is not always exciting, but preventing D.J. Knox from gaining extra yards after contact will be vital to the overall success of the Blackshirts. Purdue will definitely get Moore involved on perimeter runs and screens. The Huskers must tackle well and handle the tempo of Purdue early by giving up as few of yards on 1st and 2nd down. When Nebraska does get to 3rd down, they must take advantage of the Purdue offensive line and get pressure on Blough. This will be a much more interesting matchup than Husker fans may like or assumed coming into the season. It will be intriguing to see how the players respond, leaving behind the week of Michigan, hoping it is the lowest point of the Frost era. Nebraska wins 31-24 with a late Blackshirt stop.

Trojan Man: Kaleb Barker

Troy came out of fall camp with a heated QB battle that was not decided until the week of their opening game. Junior QB Kaleb Barker was given the keys to the Trojan’s offense by head coach Neal Brown, which has resulted in a 1-1 start. Troy’s offense will come into Memorial Stadium with the 65th ranked offense in the country, after facing Boise State on the road and Florida A&M at home. In those two games Barker has accounted for a little over 50% of Troy’s total offense, while also completing 65% of his passes and 6 total touchdowns. The 6-foot-1, 206-pound QB has found success making plays in a variety of ways for the Trojans because of his ability to be accurate within the pocket, as well as outside of it. Coach Brown has also done a great job of utilizing Barker as running threat on QB designed runs. Troy obviously will be meeting their match going up against the physical Husker defensive front seven, however plan on the offensive game plan to still center around #7 being a dual threat option. Troy has struggled to keep Barker upright in the pocket their first two games, giving up a total of eight sacks. Nebraska will look to have similar success with their pass rush against Troy’s offensive line, however I believe Kaleb Barker will present a different challenge for the Huskers defense with his ability to extend plays and make throws on the run. Let’s take a look at this weeks breakdown of the matchup between QB Kaleb Barker, Troy’s offensive line and the Blackshirt defense.

1.

 

Troy’s offense will present a familiar style of play as the Huskers, as the Trojans will operate much of their offense in 11 personnel (any offensive formation with 1 RB, 1 TE and 3 WR’s) and 10 personnel (any offensive formation with 1 RB and 4 WRs) while also utilizing zone read principles, screens and play action passes. Troy’s offensive linemen are not big movers off the ball, which will be a problem for them when trying to establish their inside running game.

The key for the Trojans will be getting QB Kaleb Barker on the edge on zone reads and QB designed runs. In the play above, Troy comes out in a 3×1 formation with RB to the same side as the three WRs. The Trojans run a zone read blocking scheme, with Barker reading the defensive end to determine if he will give the ball to the running back or keep it himself. The defensive end in this situation, takes the running back and Barker gets a running lane on the edge. Head coach Neal Brown and offensive coordinator Troy Taylor does a good job tagging a screen play to the three wide receiver side to help occupy the defensive backs. Barker does a good job of getting vertical and up the field, almost picking up the first down on this 3rd and long play.

2.

 

(Diagram A)

Although the Trojans offensive line returns a lot of playing experience from last year, this unit has struggled in pass protection early on in the season. When watching the Boise State game, you could tell the Broncos put a big emphasis on creating confusion for the Trojans offensive line by running stunts with their defensive linemen and linebackers. I would expect the Huskers to use a much similar approach.

On this 3rd down and long play, Boise State runs a variation of their cover-2 “Robber” coverage (safety plays the medium-to-deep part of the middle of the field, eyeing the QB) against Troy’s vertical routes. The Broncos added a “ToN” stunt (see Diagram A) to the call for the defensive tackle and nose tackle, defeating the Troy protection without much contest. One thing you should notice in the video is how both of Boise State’s rush ends get up the field quickly, push the pocket and force Barker into the arms of the defensive tackle.

3.

 

(Diagram B)

Boise State was able to get consistent pressure on Barker with a variety of stunts and blitzes that caused problems for Troy’s offensive linemen. Here on first down late in the second quarter, the Broncos again ran cover-2 “Robber”, this time with a defensive end/linebacker twist (Diagram B) to the side of the running back. Nebraska used a similar stunt with Luke Gifford and Alex Davis last week against Colorado, which resulted in Blackshirt sack. As you can see in the video and diagram, Boise State sends a three-man rush and does a great job of getting to Barker initially, but the Broncos are unable to take him down. Barker does a great job keeping his balance but more importantly keeping his eyes down field, finding his 6’4″ senior wide receiver, Damion Willis, on a big play before the end of the half.

4.

 

(Diagram C)

The Boise State game got out of hand fairly quickly but it was intriguing to see Kaleb Barker rely on his arm to get Troy back into the game, somewhat. Barker did complete 20 of his 29 passes against the Broncos defense and despite the punishment he took, he continued to step up and make plays for the Trojan offense. Boise State is in a cover-1 look against Barker here, and adds a blitzing nickel cornerback off the edge (Diagram C). With as much pressure Nebraska brought last week versus Colorado while playing cover-1, this is definitely a play the Huskers will see on Saturday. This route concept should also be very familiar to the Huskers defense as well, as it resembles the fade-slant combo Colorado ran against the Blackshirt defense, which resulted in a couple big plays for the Buffs.

The design of this play is meant to get Barker out onto the edge and to get the ball out of his hand quickly. Even with the slide protection, the Troy offensive line struggled to keep the Broncos defensive linemen out of the face of Barker. The thing I liked most about this play for Barker, outside of the throw obviously, was how he deliberately steps up into the pocket despite the pressure of the rush. The pass is delivered perfectly to the outside shoulder of wide receiver Deondre Douglas for a late Troy touchdown. Douglas finished the game against Boise State with 102 yards on 7 catches, so I look for Barker to find the two-time Second Team All-Sun Belt receiver early and often.

In summary, if the Huskers can get the same type of pressure they got last week on Kaleb Barker, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander and the Blackshirt defense will be enthused. #94 Khalil Davis will present a huge problem for the Trojans interior offensive linemen with his explosiveness and quickness not only with his pass rush, but also against the run game. #12 Luke Gifford and #43 Tyrin Ferguson will be intrecal parts to the Huskers success at containing  Barker in the pocket. Preventing Kaleb Barker from extending plays must be high on the Huskers priority list. With the announcement that Jamarius Henderson (RB) and Traveon Samuel (WR) will continue to be suspended, head coach Neal Brown will have no choice but to lean on Kaleb Barker to carry the majority of the heavy lifting for the offense.

Although this will be Troy’s biggest challenge of the seson, I believe Kaleb Barker has the tools to keep the game interesting when the Blackshirts are on the field. The Cornhuskers must take away Troy’s running game early on in the game and when the Huskers get to Barker, they must gang tackle and look for opportunities to create turnovers. The Trojans do not have a passing threat as dynamic as Colorado’s Laviska Shenault, so I expect a rebound game for the Husker’s secondary. I predict the Blackshirts will get at least 4 sacks in the game and hold Kaleb Barker to under 250 total yards. The Huskers will win the game 45-10, setting up a potential program defining game (maybe too early?) against the fighting Harbaugh’s of Michigan.

What’s With All That Bracket Out There?

Coming into the game against the Buffs, I was interested to see how the new look Nebraska 3-4 defense would adjust to the spread attack Colorado would present. With no help from the weather last week, Nebraska missed out on an opportunity to get a test run against Akron’s spread attack but nevertheless, Colorado came into Memorial Stadium 1-0 after defeating their in-state rival Colorado State 45-13 the previous week. The Buffs offense tallied 596 total yards of offense against CSU, with QB Steven Montez accounting for 338 yards in the air & 41 yards on the ground. Montez’s favorite & most productive target by far was true sophomore WR Laviska Shenault, who torched the Rams secondary for 211 yards on 11 catches & 1 td. Although the Husker’s keyed in on Shenault, he proved his sophomore debut was no fluke with his performance on Saturday against the Huskers. Let’s take a look at a couple of the ways the Colorado’s offensive play caller & co-offensive coordiantor, Darrin Chiaverini, got Shenault involved in the offense.

1.

 

Sheanault got involved in the game early on the first drive with a reverse flea flicker pass. Due to Shenaults size and blocking ability, he spent a lot time in the slot or H back position, which caused a lot of problems for the Husker’s defense when trying to use bracket coverage. Typically, bracket coverage is an inside-out man technique used to double a WR in the passing game by a linebacker and safety. Here you can see #5 Dedrick Young III is in man coverage on Shenault, as the Huskers present a cover-1 look with a single safety deep. The husker’s were in man to man coverage for most of the game, varying from cover 0 & 1 while adding a lot of pressure on Montez and the Buffs offensive line. Shenault begins the play on a rather lack luster attempt at selling a block, which alerted the Nebraska defense that a trick play was coming. As the play develops and Shenault releases, you notice that the nickel cornerback #14 Tre Neal follows the WR coming in for the pitch on the flea flicker. Typically in man to man defense, you can communicate “push’ or “banjo” calls (Neal would take Shenault and Young III would take the WR coming back into the backfield) to prevent clutter when WRs cross the formation but the Huskers “lock” their coverage and Dedrick Young III takes Seanult man to man on the wheel route. Young III played the route fairly well but Shenault did an excellent job on this play, and throughout the game, high pointing the football and coming down with the ball in traffic.

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Shenault’s playmaking ability and confidence is beyond the likes of many true sophomore you will see on Saturdays. Chiaverini showed his confidence in his young WR in the mid-to-late first quarter, by running wildcat in a goal line 4th and 1 situation. The Buffs ran a power blocking scheme and the Blackshirt defense did a great job of fitting the run scheme up. #24 Aaron Williams does a great job keying the OG pull & fills inside out, while #7 Mo Barry gets over the top and “levers” the ball back to the Aaron Williams. The Huskers  do a great job of getting bodies to the ball, but Shenault keeps his feet driving and got into the end zone for the Buffs second touchdown of the game.

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The Huskers applied constant pressure on QB Steven Montez which resulted in a total of 7 sacks in the game. Relying on man coverage most of the game, Nebraska was able to get sacks with 6, 5 & 4 man pressures. On this 3rd down early in the second quarter, Colorado came out in a 3×1 (3 WRs to one side with 1 WR on the opposite side) Trips formation to the field. As you can see at the beginning of the video, #3 Will Honas has a inside leverage-man on Shenault with safety #24 Aaron Williams playing high outside bracket coverage on Shenault. This is a great call against an offense that is looking to take advantage of their best route runner against a linebacker. Shenault is given the option to either run a slant or out, depending on Honas’ leverage. As the play develops, Montez’s eyes go directly to Shenault. Honas does a serviceable job in coverage by not letting Shenault beat him across his face immediately, thus allowing enough time for #94 DT Khalil Davis to get by the guard with a quick swim move for drive ending sack. If the Huskers can consistently get pressure with only four on 3rd and medium, their bracket will prove to be much more effective as the season moves along.

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Nebraska used an ODD Bear front (see diagram above) on 3rd down quite frequently and it proved to be an effective counter against the Buffs trying to isolate Shenault in the slot on a linebacker. It is hard to see in the video above but the Free Safety is aligned at about 15 yards, giving the Huskers again a cover-1 look. With all the linebackers at the line of scrimmage, Montez is given the illusion Shenault will be isolated 1 on 1 with the safety. The cornerbacks on the outside are inside leverage on their #1 WRs and the nickel is man to man on the slot WR. On the snap, Shenault runs a “hot” slant expecting the middle of the field to be open because of the blitzing linebackers. However, #31 Collin Miller does a great job engaging and occupying the guard and then pushing out underneath Shenault. #5 Dedrick Young III does the same thing on the other side, keying the running back in case of a screen. Because of the blitz, the running back cross protects to the twist side and becomes responsible for the first man off the edge. The stunt between #12 Luke Gifford & #22 Alex Davis is ran perfectly and Gifford sets himself up for the sack by getting up the field first before wrapping behind Davis. #95 Ben Stille also does a great job of taking advantage of his one on one matchup against the center and took away the QBs ability to up step in the pocket.

5.

 

Offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini found his best matchup of the day against the Blackshirts 1-high bracket coverage by placing Shenault in the #2 WR position instead of the #3 WR position in Trips. The Huskers presented the same ODD Bear front and blitz as mentioned earlier in the post but this time matching #23 DiCaprio Bootle against Shenault instead of a linebacker. It would appear to be a more favorable match-up for the Huskers, however by playing with a only one safety high, the Huskers were not afforded the opportunity of bracketing Shenault. From the video above, I can’t help but notice Bootle having inside leverage at the line of scrimmage in cover-1. This is a problem for several reasons, with the first being that Bootle has low inside help (#31 Collin Miller) and the second being Bootle has deep inside help (#14 Tre Neal). This became more and more of a problem for the Huskers as the second half continued on. On the snap, Shenault does what any good receiver does and takes the space Bootle gives him and releases outside and drifts to the numbers on a fade route, away from the middle 1/3 safety #14 Tre Neal. Montez places the ball perfectly between the two defenders and Shenault comes up with what would become his second best/important catch of the day. Once Colorado moved Shenault into the #2 WR position in trips and the slot position in 2×2 formations (Balanced formation with 2 WRs on each side) the Huskers CBs had a difficult time getting their hands on the 6’2″ 220 WR, which allowed him to gain free releases most of the second half.

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Nebraska had been playing a fairly conservative cover 4 zone against the Buffs when they aligned in 2×2 formations most of the game and Colorado took advantage of that on the opening play of the drive. With the Huskers cornerback bailing, Montez dropped back and threw a dart to Shenault on an out route , who was aligned as a flanker for one of the few times throughout the game. This throw proved to be a great starter for their drive and you could tell it gave the already confident Montez even more confidence.

7.

 

Here again Shenault aligns as the flanker position (at the bottom of the screen) and the Huskers switch their bracket coverage to 2-man, looking to provide deep help over the top of both WRs on each side. #21 Lamar Jackson took on the challenge of covering Shenault and does a great job playing to his help (the safety over the top) and playing on the low-inside hip of the WR. #92 Ben Stille gets a one on one rush because of the guards are being occupied by the spying linebackers, resulting in a much needed sack for the Blackshirts.

 

 

The Buffs came out in a 2×2 formation & instead of sitting back & playing cover 4 like much of the game, the Huskers decided to bring pressure on Montez. As much success the Huskers had with their ODD Bear front with getting pressure, they did not do a good job of making adjustments to their leverage when playing cover-1. Here again, #23 Bootle is aligned with inside leverage on Shenault and immediately after the snap, Shenault gained a free release on an outside stemming fade route. The Husker did switch up the pressure this time, bringing #31 Collin Miller through the left B gap and #91 Freedom Akinmoladon wrapped to the A gap. #5 Dedrick Young III keys the back and adds onto the blitz as the running back stays into block. Montez faced the pressure without wincing & placed the ball in a seemingly impossible spot to Shenault, away form roaming safety #24 Aaron Williams, for the game winning touchdown.

Summary:

Without having a “tune-up” game against Akron, the Husker defense was given a somewhat difficult task in containing the confident duo of Steven Montez and Laviska Shenault. The duo connected 10 times for 177 of Montez’s 351 yards total passing yards. Although Montez provided big sparks for the offense, the pressure did not allow him to get into a consistent rhythm. It will be interesting to see how defensive coordinator Erik Chinander continues to use the Bear Odd front in 3rd down situations. If the Huskers can improve on their leverage in bracket coverage, I believe Husker coaches can expect this type of result from their pass rush throughout the year. Husker also did a great job attacking the run downhill and fast, holding the Buffs of Boulder to 44 yards on 35 attempts. With Troy bringing a fairly balanced attack next week (220 yards per game rushing and 208 yards per game passing), I look for the Huskers to continue to stop the run as effective as they did against Colorado, but the biggest attention will be on the Huskers passing defense and if they can make they necessary adjustments to their bracket coverage.