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Another great Chatelain article in the OWH.
No doubt this is gonna be an epic battle between Bo's D and Bobby's O. Get ready for another classic CCG, and one last game for the Blackshirts to flex their muscle on the Big 12.
No doubt this is gonna be an epic battle between Bo's D and Bobby's O. Get ready for another classic CCG, and one last game for the Blackshirts to flex their muscle on the Big 12.
:throwdabones1: BLACKSHIRTS ARE BLACKSHIRTS, BABY! TIME TO DOMINATE!!! :throwdabones1:Nebraska has a chance Saturday to remind everyone in Big 12 country that nobody does defense like Bo Pelini, not even Bob Stoops. We'll get to the details in a moment.
But first, look back to a different Saturday, this one in 1984.
Smack dab in the middle of a maddening 22-year span of Nebraska football.
From 1972 to 1993, the Huskers missed opportunity after opportunity to win national championships. Sometimes heartbreak happened on the road (Penn State '82), sometimes at home (Missouri '78).
Sometimes it waited until the last possible moment, at the season-ending Orange Bowl (Miami '84 and Florida State '94).
Usually, it happened against Oklahoma. One play in '84 stands out.
Nebraska was No. 1. Had the ball trailing 10-7 late in the fourth quarter at Memorial Stadium.
Fourth-and-goal inside the 1.
Punch it in, and the Huskers seize complete control of the rivalry. They extend their win streak over the Sooners to four. They go to Miami favored to win it all.
That's not what happened. Oklahoma scored the upset that day, stole momentum in the rivalry and didn't give it back until 1988.
Why? Because on fourth-and-goal, OU's Brian Hall fought off a block and tackled NU's Jeff Smith one yard short of paydirt.
In 1984, that was the epitome of football. All 22 players bunched tightly on your TV screen, eye-to-eye in the trenches, surging forward at the snap.
Strongest man wins.
Speed kills
Same stadium, 26 years later.
Missouri sprinkles the field with five wide receivers. Quarterback Blaine Gabbert takes a shotgun snap, drops back to pass and can't find a single open man.
Each time a Tiger makes a break to get open, a Husker defender bumps him or grabs him or just flat-out shadows him. Gabbert spends most of the day dancing out of the pocket, throwing balls to water coolers on the sidelines.
You're not alone, Blaine. This is the price of facing Bo Pelini's secondary.
• Nebraska ranks No. 2 nationally in pass efficiency defense.
• NU allows 144.8 yards per game through the air. In the Big 12, only NU and Texas give up less than 200.
• Pelini has orchestrated seven defenses since 2003. Six times, his unit has ranked top-three nationally in pass efficiency: 1st, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 1st, 2nd.
The only outlier is Bo's first year, 2008, when the Huskers were 82nd.
• Since 2005, only 12 college football programs have recorded a season in which they held offenses under 50 percent in completion rate.
TCU, Arkansas and Alabama have done it two seasons, Virginia Tech three.
How many seasons has Pelini held quarterbacks under 50 percent?
Five.
Three years ago this week, Pelini told his LSU Tiger defenders he was taking his “dream job” at Nebraska. The most daunting part of the challenge?
Building a pass defense in a league that resembled backyard two-hand touch.
Look at the Big 12 scoreboard on Nov. 10, 2007:
Nebraska 73, Kansas State 31.
Texas 59, Texas Tech 43.
Iowa State 31, Colorado 28.
Missouri 40, Texas A&M 26.
Oklahoma 52, Baylor 21.
Kansas 43, Oklahoma State 28.
Those numbers were the rule, not the exception. The Huskers ranked 112th nationally in total defense.
Yet two short years later, with many of the same players from the '07 unit, Pelini took his defense to Dallas and produced the damnedest performance I've ever seen.
Here was Colt McCoy, the most successful quarterback in conference history, chucking balls at water coolers.
Getting sacked nine times. Throwing three interceptions without a touchdown.
That night is remembered for its controversial ending, which sparked a Pelini tirade and set the stage for all sorts of drama in 2010.
But Dec. 5, 2009, should also be remembered as the culmination of a defensive revolution. On a major stage, without an ounce of help from his offense, Bo did what nobody else around here could.
He stymied the Big 12's best spread offense.
Pelini's vision
This fall, Nebraska's overall defensive performance has dropped a bit. Phillip Dillard, Larry Asante and Matt O'Hanlon are gone — along with the big 93. It's harder to stuff the run without Ndamukong Suh.
But the pass defense is still fantastic. How does Pelini do it?
He emphasizes preparation and physicality. Individual film study is critical. So is live tackling at practice — even the Blackshirts thought Bo was off his rocker last year when he insisted they drag ball carriers to the ground.
Pelini's coverage concepts are complicated. Players need months — sometimes a few years — to digest them. But once they understand, they don't forget. And unlike Kevin Cosgrove's regime, Pelini's game plans change very little week-to-week, no matter what offense Nebraska faces.
Those all are important factors. But the trademark of this defense derives from Pelini's vision.
He looked at 205-pounders like Eric Hagg, DeJon Gomes and Lavonte David and saw an extraordinary blend of quickness, toughness and hand-eye coordination. He imagined them not as rooks or bishops, but as pieces that move everywhere.
Queens.
That's the key to stifling the spread. Versatility. The ability to cover and tackle in open space.
Pelini developed two incredible athletes — Prince Amukamara and Alfonzo Dennard — who can lock up outside receivers man-to-man.
Over the middle and in the flats, his 205-pound hybrids take away the quarterback's checkdowns — the easy throws that keep drives alive.
Now, one year after Colt McCoy's demise, we're back in a familiar spot, preparing to see the Blackshirts in Dallas against a prototypical spread machine.
Oklahoma isn't Texas.
The Sooners are more balanced than last year's Longhorns — they can actually run the ball.
The Sooners attempt to confuse defenses with quick tempo — their 1,052 offensive snaps are 83 more than any other team in the country.
But the core of OU's offense is the same dink-and-dunk strategy we've seen countless times the past five years.
Landry Jones, who threw five interceptions a year ago in Lincoln, ranks third nationally in passing yards per game. Second in completions and attempts. He averages 29 for 44 for 329 yards.
If Jones puts up those numbers Saturday, Oklahoma wins. Just like 1984.
All the talk this week has focused on the past, on those epic clashes between Tom Osborne and Barry Switzer. This is the curtain call for NU-OU.
But it also may signal the end of this defensive style at Nebraska. Prince and Gomes and Hagg are seniors, and who knows how Pelini replaces them?
Next year, Big Red moves to the Big Ten. Pelini will have to change, too.
He can't defend Wisconsin's punishing ground game with 205-pound linebackers. Bo's defense will get bigger and slower. A little more like the Nebraska of a generation ago.
But first, one more night in Dallas. One more showdown with a Big 12 spread offense. One more chance to prove a point:
Names and faces change. Strategies and schemes evolve. But Blackshirts are Blackshirts.
The strongest men don't always win anymore. The best ones always will.
