What did we learn? UTEP edition

On the Defensive Line, only Ty Robinson played more than 16 snaps (21).  They only ran 50 plays so that helped but that's not many.

Also interesting that Elijah Jeudy was tied for the least amount of snaps played at 4.  Even the German freshman who's barely played football before played more (5).

After much hand-wringing about how Stefon Thompson wasn't figuring it out, he played the most snaps among LBs (26). True freshman Vincent Shavers was third at 20.

CB Blye Hill did get in three snaps coming back from injury.  Buford graded out pretty well in his first start at CB (more of a safety previously).

 
I learned that there were three calls in the Penn State game that looked questionable and all favored Penn State, so I downloaded the 258 page rule book and I'm looking through it. On the first one the PS qb took off running and while being tackled was still on top of the defender who was laying on the ground when he clearly fumbled the ball. They called him down. The Nitwit Lions went on to score.
In our game I had thought we tackled them in the endzone for a safety, but on replay a guy popped out to the one. I couldn't tell if we stood up the qb and they blew the whistle before the handoff or if the rb's knee was down while the ball was behind the goal line. In my opinion the replay guys aren't really giving it the old college try. 
I just hope this isn't a year full of Big 35 referee controversy once we get to the close games. Nothing ruins the game more than controversial calls. 
Other than that, we started cautiously...feeled them out....then blew them out before halftime. Everybody played....it felt like a 90's game. There were few penalties and the coaching decisions made sense. Raiola took care of the ball. I'm looking forward to seeing the fumble guy tearing it up in the next game. The D has a bunch of playmakers.

 
Hayseed said:
In our game I had thought we tackled them in the endzone for a safety, but on replay a guy popped out to the one. I couldn't tell if we stood up the qb and they blew the whistle before the handoff or if the rb's knee was down while the ball was behind the goal line. In my opinion the replay guys aren't really giving it the old college try. 
I just hope this isn't a year full of Big 35 referee controversy once we get to the close games. Nothing ruins the game more than controversial calls. 
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There wasn't a good angle to see exactly when his knee went down, although it sure looked like the ball was still in the end zone when it would have been down.  However, on the replay from the pylon view, you can clearly see that his right elbow hits the ground while the ball (in his left arm) is still in the end zone.  So it was definitely a safety.

 
Street Novelist said:
No, go back and re-watch the game. Those big, explosive runs were all by Dowdell. There was a huge difference when Johnson took over. 
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Also, according to PFF, Dowdell was our fourth-highest-graded RB.  (Snaps in parenthesis)

Emmett Johnson - 76.8 (18)

Gabe Ervin - 75.6 (9)

Rahmir Johnson - 68.8 (29)

Dante Dowdell - 67.0 (13)

Kwinten Ives - 65.0 (7)

Maurice Mazzccua - 59.5 (8)

Perhaps when they played in the game has a decent amount to do with this but Rahmir and Emmett seem to more trusted in the passing game/pass protection as they played equal or more snaps on passing downs while Dowdell and Ervin were more heavily used on running plays.

 
Bonner played the third-most snaps of WRs (behind Banks and Neyor), double the number of the fourth-most snaps.

Again, how the game played out probably skewed the snap counts but Keelan Smith and Jacory Barney (18 snaps each) both played more than Lloyd (14) and IGC (9).

Neyor graded out really well in the passing game but pretty poor blocking.  Bonner was great at blocking but graded poorly as a receiver.

 
Benhart was our highest-graded OL by some margin, though he graded out much better in run blocking than pass protection.  Mazzccua, Scott and Evans all had similar overall grades and were all graded significantly better in pass protection than run blocking.  

 
Mavric said:
Bonner played the third-most snaps of WRs (behind Banks and Neyor), double the number of the fourth-most snaps.

Again, how the game played out probably skewed the snap counts but Keelan Smith and Jacory Barney (18 snaps each) both played more than Lloyd (14) and IGC (9).

Neyor graded out really well in the passing game but pretty poor blocking.  Bonner was great at blocking but graded poorly as a receiver.
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Did Coleman have any snaps?

 
floridacorn said:
I knew he had talent and an arm, but Raiola makes some elite throws.   You look at both those TD's and those are throws NU's QB's haven't even attempted and they are put in places where they are complete or incomplete vs compete.  You can put the pass Neyor didn't bring down in that category as well.  Those are the type of throws Burrow was making as a 5th year SR.  
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I would add to this that the throws were made on time.  A huge problem with the QB’s of yesteryear.   

 
Mavric said:
No.  Rhule seemed to indicate that he was healthy but behind as he gets back up to speed following his injury.  But I thought he might at least get in the game.
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I think they might try to get him in four meaningful games and use his redshirt. With Banks and Neyor there just isn’t going to be a lot of snaps for Coleman. 

 
Mavric said:
Benhart was our highest-graded OL by some margin, though he graded out much better in run blocking than pass protection.  Mazzccua, Scott and Evans all had similar overall grades and were all graded significantly better in pass protection than run blocking.  
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Curious about something, are you posting these PFF grades just to share info? Or bc you believe they have legit value?

 
JJ Husker said:
To be fair, I don’t think it was the west coast offense per se that people had a problem with. At least for me, the problem with Callahan was his dismantling of the machine and history that TO and BD had built AND the fact his west coast offense did not yield results. Plus that was at a time when success with rushing and the option game was still fresh in our memories. We may have blamed the “west coast” at the time but what we really didn’t like was the unmitigated failure and the complete disregard of what had worked here for so long.
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This.

I'm also not really sure I agree with part of Undone's premise, either. Nebraska's offense yesterday was less west coast (WC) and more heavy pro-style sets and spread concepts, more akin to stuff we've seen since Bo through Frost. Satterfield's pass offense relies on some timing concepts, but so do most passing offenses, so that isn't really just an inherent quality of the WC anymore.

And I've said the following ever since Callahan came in - I think a number of offenses could work at Nebraska, even more balanced ones. What mattered most was the Jimmy's and Joe's and development. But, I have always had a personal affinity for offenses that had more power-run concepts because I just felt it suited Nebraska's recruiting capabilities a bit better. Satterfield's offense could be that for Nebraska presuming the lines stay strong.

 
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Something that stood out to me in contrast to the CU game on Thursday….

MR could have easily just showcased Dylan and had him throw for 400 plus yards with 3-4 TD’s and not run the ball nearly as much, probably winning with a similar margin as we did.  But I love how MR is trying to build a balanced offense in order to win different types of ballgames based on matchups and weather.  
 

Contrast that with Deion and his offense where everything is based on showcasing his son regardless of game flow and situations.  CU is going to lose games because of it but I don’t think Deion cares, or is too dumb to realize.  Them throwing on first down at the end of the game was criminal game management.  
 

So glad we have MR/Dylan vs the alternative 

 
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