Banker = Cosgrove

[Enhance]

I posted this in the secondary thread, but I think it applies here as well.

Some interesting perspective to offer up regarding pass defense. I can't take credit for this idea because I heard it on Unsportsmanlike Conduct; but, I researched the numbers myself and found some interesting information.

For starters, many of us go by the thought process that running the ball and playing great defense is the way to win championships, and while it certainly doesn't hurt, is it that simple in college football anymore? I'll focus on pass defense since we're talking about secondary play.

Of the four teams that played in the college football playoff last year, only one had a pass defense ranked in the Top 20 and that was Ohio St. at number 15. The rest were Alabama (59), Florida St. (78) and Oregon (110). Some teams in the final AP poll of 2014 are TCU (90), Mich. St. (61), Baylor (117) and UCLA (93).

Most of these teams, however, were in the Top 25 in scoring offense. The Top 10 consisted of Baylor (1), TCU (2), Oregon (3), Ohio St. (5) and Mich. St. (7). So, offense is clearly the priority, but we already know offenses are ahead of the curve right now in football. Playing great defense really doesn't come down to holding an opponent to under 100 yards rushing and 150 passing. Now, it's about limiting big plays and keeping touchdowns off the board. Teams are going to get yards.

So, I don't want to draw some wide-ranging conclusions from this. I think we still need a better passing defense performance without question. The defense needs to be a bit more balanced. But, as these numbers suggest, winning doesn't necessarily come down to having a great passing defense. I think we could reach our goal of at least winning a conference title with a passing defense that was average.

Ours is very below average and I'm definitely concerned about it. But, I don't know if it's something we should be completely absorbed in when it comes to our immediate goals.

 

[zoogs]

You can't go by recruiting rankings or offers. Doing so is how you get Nate Gerry on that list and Greg McMullen off it.

That said, while we have a few nice players here or there on defense, I think you're kidding yourself if you look at the sum of the parts and don't see major weaknesses, either in depth or starting. That is all it takes for a defense to struggle. That's all it takes to present weaknesses for teams like BYU or Miami to exploit. Still, any way you slice it, the play has just not been good either so far, in four games. Over the course of the season? Let's start to see some regression to the mean.

Also, how often have all the pieces on defense been on the field at the same time so far this year?

 

[AFhusker]

I will reserve judgement on Banker until he gets the personnel to run the type of defense he really wants to run. What we are running now is just trying to get us by until we can implement his actual defense. I've heard that they want to move to a base 3-4 defense but that is simply impossible with the LB depth we have right now.

So where's our NFL Pro-Bowl talent that's needing to be coached up here to draw an equal comparison? And if that guy is on the roster then why didn't Bo coach him up last year while he was here?

For all the comparison's of 2008 vs 2015, there's still one common variable. Bo was the coach who lead that 2008 defense and he's the same coach in 2014 when our defense was still sh#t. So either Bo forgot how to coach defense, or the talent when downhill after he got here. Take your pick at which you think is more likely.

Here's the breakdown. Pellini did so well at RB and DB, got better with time at DT, and he certainly brought in plenty of o-linemen at least. He and the staff really gagged at DE though. I retro-starred them for their production in Lincoln.

2008 - Cam Meredith *** solid starter, Josh Williams * I think he quit.
2009 - Jason Ankrah *** fairly solid starter
2010 - Walker Ashburn * Tobi Okuyemi * Donovan Vestal *
2011 - Joe Carter * Max Pirman *
2012 - McMullen ** maybe *** he is starting, Avery Moss *** he got screwed over
2013 - Gregory ***** Dimerya Nixon * AJ Natter * Ernest Suttles 0*
2014 - Freedom *** with higher potential, Joe Keels * Sedrick King * Peyton Newell * Deandre Willis 0*

After a decent start, things got ugly with no contributors in 2010 and 2011. McMullen is regressing, and Moss got a bad deal IMO on his exposure ordeal. It looks they missed on seven out of nine recruits in 2013 and 2014. Suttles and Willis got 0 stars for never making it to campus, or in Suttles' case getting in a fight his first week of camp. I have no idea if Peyton Newell is on the team or ever showed up.

It's sad that two walk-ons are in the top four of the position because of recruiting whiffs in 2011, 2013, and 2014.

 

[TheSker]

We've been a sh#t defense milking an easy schedule to 9 wins for several years now. We're still a sh#t defense with a little tougher schedule up front, but we still might be able to milk this schedule into 9 wins too.

I'd say well worth an $8 million buyout.

 

[AFhusker]

You can't go by recruiting rankings or offers. Doing so is how you get Nate Gerry on that list and Greg McMullen off it.

That said, while we have a few nice players here or there on defense, I think you're kidding yourself if you look at the sum of the parts and don't see major weaknesses, either in depth or starting. That is all it takes for a defense to struggle. That's all it takes to present weaknesses for teams like BYU or Miami to exploit. Still, any way you slice it, the play has just not been good either so far, in four games. Over the course of the season? Let's start to see some regression to the mean.

Also, how often have all the pieces on defense been on the field at the same time so far this year?

I mean let's be honest. If Bo was producing 2008 level defenses he'd still be coaching here and we'd have a couple trophies in the trophy case. Offense wasn't the issue over the past few years.

Regardless of what you think of Banker, teams haven't been able to run on us and that in itself is a big improvement over last year. We are ranked 7th in Run D nationally and 1st overall in the Big10. Compare that to last year where teams ran at us at will negating the need to throw the ball. Most teams we play from here on out run the ball. Forcing them to pass may work in our favor in the end because many lack the consistency to drive balls down the field time after time with their arms. I expect big plays to continue to happen, but I also expect to see stalled drives as well due to lack of running offense.

 

[RADAR]

You can't go by recruiting rankings or offers. Doing so is how you get Nate Gerry on that list and Greg McMullen off it.

That said, while we have a few nice players here or there on defense, I think you're kidding yourself if you look at the sum of the parts and don't see major weaknesses, either in depth or starting. That is all it takes for a defense to struggle. That's all it takes to present weaknesses for teams like BYU or Miami to exploit. Still, any way you slice it, the play has just not been good either so far, in four games. Over the course of the season? Let's start to see some regression to the mean.

Also, how often have all the pieces on defense been on the field at the same time so far this year?

I addressed McMullen yesterday, this is mostly secondary players. Offers do matter, once in a while there is a diamond in the rough that can be mined and will prosper in a power 5 conference, but when you have a whole unit of average players that nobody else wanted, they were left on the board for a reason. As I said earlier, the walkon's are showing up well because they are just as good as most of the scollie players. A clear failure in recruiting elite talent by the former staff. It has handicapped Banker and what he wants to do.

 

[The Dude]

Funny how when I used to complain about Bo's recruiting classes, everyone told me that I was in the minority and that the classes were good... now, all of a sudden, they're all garbage.

They weren't garbage on signing day. Attrition hit us really hard the last four years. Especially at linebacker, O-line and D-line.

 

[Haspula]

Banker's scheme will always give up lots of passing yards. Banker and pelini on the road against UCLA:

OSU 27, UCLA 20. 2 weeks after they beat NU. Hundley: 27/42, 372 yards, 8.9 avg, 1 TD,0 INT. Team: 28 carries,72 rush yards, 2.6 avg

Its going to come down to points scored at the end of the day. Opposing teams pass yardage will always look bad on the stat sheet

 

[AFhusker]

Banker's scheme will always give up lots of passing yards. Banker and pelini on the road against UCLA:

OSU 27, UCLA 20. 2 weeks after they beat NU. Hundley: 27/42, 372 yards, 8.9 avg, 1 TD,0 INT. Team: 28 carries,72 rush yards, 2.6 avg

Not to mention the 70 point thrashing we took at the hands of Wisconsin.

That same season Banker's defense held that same team to 7 points in a 10-7 OSU win.

 

[zoogs]

Offers do matter

Big picture? yes.

Not saying it isn't a good measure of how quality a recruit is. But we shouldn't be talking about how these guys looked as recruits anymore. Now it's all about how they are now -- I mean, we *are* trying to quantify how talented NU's defense is or isn't, right?

 

[RADAR]

Offers do matter

Big picture? yes.

Not saying it isn't a good measure of how quality a recruit is. But we shouldn't be talking about how these guys looked as recruits anymore. Now it's all about how they are now -- I mean, we *are* trying to quantify how talented NU's defense is or isn't, right?

Sure, you can teach technique, but you can't teach talent. You either have something to work with or you don't.

 

[GBRedneck]

Here are our weaknesses', Many still want to throw Banker under the bus and yet look what 408 gave him to work with. I love the kids and they are doing the best that they can,but for the most part, nobody of any substance wanted most of these kids. Its TALENT!!! Banker is working with 408's grocery's to make his meals. Wait until he makes a couple of trips to HyVee and fills his own shopping cart before we judge.

Cockrell: MTSU, Northern Colorado, Southern Miss (garbage offers)

Davie: KU, North Dakota St., Ohio (garbage offers)

Gerry: ASU, Iowa, ISU, Michigan St., Minnesota (legit offers)

Chris Jones: Florida A&M, Florida International, Indiana, UMass, Middle Tennessee St., Presbyterian, South Florida, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan.

Kalu: Arkansas St., CU, Duke, Houston, Louisiana Lafayette, SMU, Texas St., Texas-San Antonio, Wake, Washington St.

Mosley: Baylor, Oklahoma, SMU, Texas St. (2 good offers)

K. Williams: BYU, California, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Tulsa.

Ya know, if you wanted to build Riley up, this would be the exact opposite way to do it.

The players read social media, like it or not. When they see crap like this spewed from keyboard jockeys who never saw the business side of the sidelines, it is not a motivator. It is a demotivator. A demotivated team plays worse than a motivated team. The worse the results, the worse Riley looks.

You are helping to make Riley look worse.

 

[GBRedneck]

It takes a good coach to take 5 win talent to a 9 win season. It takes a less than mediocre coach to take 9 win talent to a 5 win season.

 

[RADAR]

Here are our weaknesses', Many still want to throw Banker under the bus and yet look what 408 gave him to work with. I love the kids and they are doing the best that they can,but for the most part, nobody of any substance wanted most of these kids. Its TALENT!!! Banker is working with 408's grocery's to make his meals. Wait until he makes a couple of trips to HyVee and fills his own shopping cart before we judge.

Cockrell: MTSU, Northern Colorado, Southern Miss (garbage offers)

Davie: KU, North Dakota St., Ohio (garbage offers)

Gerry: ASU, Iowa, ISU, Michigan St., Minnesota (legit offers)

Chris Jones: Florida A&M, Florida International, Indiana, UMass, Middle Tennessee St., Presbyterian, South Florida, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan.

Kalu: Arkansas St., CU, Duke, Houston, Louisiana Lafayette, SMU, Texas St., Texas-San Antonio, Wake, Washington St.

Mosley: Baylor, Oklahoma, SMU, Texas St. (2 good offers)

K. Williams: BYU, California, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Tulsa.

Ya know, if you wanted to build Riley up, this would be the exact opposite way to do it.

The players read social media, like it or not. When they see crap like this spewed from keyboard jockeys who never saw the business side of the sidelines, it is not a motivator. It is a demotivator. A demotivated team plays worse than a motivated team. The worse the results, the worse Riley looks.

You are helping to make Riley look worse.

So facts = crap I had a son that played college football and a daughter that played college volleyball, don't lecture me, it only makes you look worse. If social media demotivated the players then we are worse off than I thought. They should be motivating themselves to be the best they can be, not looking for excuses.

 

[GBRedneck]

Here are our weaknesses', Many still want to throw Banker under the bus and yet look what 408 gave him to work with. I love the kids and they are doing the best that they can,but for the most part, nobody of any substance wanted most of these kids. Its TALENT!!! Banker is working with 408's grocery's to make his meals. Wait until he makes a couple of trips to HyVee and fills his own shopping cart before we judge.

Cockrell: MTSU, Northern Colorado, Southern Miss (garbage offers)

Davie: KU, North Dakota St., Ohio (garbage offers)

Gerry: ASU, Iowa, ISU, Michigan St., Minnesota (legit offers)

Chris Jones: Florida A&M, Florida International, Indiana, UMass, Middle Tennessee St., Presbyterian, South Florida, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan.

Kalu: Arkansas St., CU, Duke, Houston, Louisiana Lafayette, SMU, Texas St., Texas-San Antonio, Wake, Washington St.

Mosley: Baylor, Oklahoma, SMU, Texas St. (2 good offers)

K. Williams: BYU, California, Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Louisiana-Monroe, Tulsa.

Ya know, if you wanted to build Riley up, this would be the exact opposite way to do it.

The players read social media, like it or not. When they see crap like this spewed from keyboard jockeys who never saw the business side of the sidelines, it is not a motivator. It is a demotivator. A demotivated team plays worse than a motivated team. The worse the results, the worse Riley looks.

You are helping to make Riley look worse.

So facts = crap I had a son that played college football and a daughter that played college volleyball, don't lecture me, it only makes you look worse. If social media demotivated the players then we are worse off than I thought. They should be motivating themselves to be the best they can be, not looking for excuses.

You're the one looking for excuses for Riley.