Comparing 2012 -> 2013

HuskerNationNick

HuskerNationNick

New member
Well, the season is over, and really nothing exciting going on, besides waiting on who our new Secondary Coach will be. I was sitting here and thought, I wondered how our team looks on paper this year compared to last year. You can take it for what it is, just something that I thought some would enjoy looking over.

Special Teams looks to have worsened, as we thought. Defense played MUCH better during conference play, after they jelled. Offense looks to be the same, but allowed less sacks, even with the amount of injuries we had. I am going to say that the reason we dropped in total yards in rushing and just total amount, is because of Taylor missing. Even though we played two QB's most of the season who are better throwers than Taylor, I percentage is down and we made just as many attempts as last year, like the EXACT number lol. Less penalties. Yeah by 10, but look at the amount of yards. This shows that these penalties differ from last year. The penalties are obviously not as severe as they were last year, but obviously still an issue.

If I made any mistakes, feel free to let me know.

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2012 Stats

Offense:

Scoring: #28 @ 34.8 PPG, 61 TDs, 20 FGs

Rushing: #7 @ 253.36 YPG, 622 att, 33 TDs.

Passing: #91 @ 207.4 YPG, 61.6% Completion 233/378, 13 INTs, 24 TDs

Sacks Allowed: #105 @ 35 sacks.

1st Downs: #25 @ 23.6 per game, 180 rushing, 121 passing

3rd Down Conv: #42 @ 43.15%

Total Yards: #26 @ 460.8 YPG

T.O.P: #38 @ 30:57.57

Defense:

Scoring: #58 @ 27.6 PPG.

Rushing: #92 @ 192.5 YPG, 566 att, 26 TDs

Passing: #4 @ 168.1 YPG, 187/397 47.1% completion, 18 TDs.

1st downs allowed: #19 @ 18.1, 116 rushing, 107 pass

3rd down conv: #46 @ 37.14%, 78/210 attempts

Sacks: #32 @ 31 sacks

Total: #35 @ 360.6 ypg

Special Teams:

Punt Returning: #53 @ 9.31 yards/attempt, 1 TD, 29 returns

Kickoff Returning: #64 @ 21.62 yards/attempt, 0 TD, 42 returns

OPP Punt Ret: #111 @ 11.83 yards/att, 1 TD, 24 attempts

OPP Kick Ret: #46 @ 20.61 yards/att, 1 TD, 33 attempts

Turnover Margin:

#108 @ -12, 22 fumbles lost, 13 INT =35 turnovers.

Penalties:

#100 @ 88 penalties. 867 yards in penalties.

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2013 Stats

Offense:

Scoring: #48 @ 31.9 PPG, 54 TDs, 13 FGs.

Rushing #19 @ 215.69 YPG, 584 att, 24 TDs

Passing: # 97 @ 196.7 YPG, 57.7 % 218/378, 13 INT, 25 TD

Sacks Allowed: #21 @ 17 allowed

1st Downs: #46 @ 22.2 per game, 144 rushing, 128 passing

Total Yards: #59 @ 412.4 YPG

T.O.P: #76 @ 29:20.00

Defense:

Scoring: #49 @ 24.8 PPG,

Rushing: #54 @ 156.8 YPG, 537 attempts, 21 TDs

Passing: #32 @ 214.6 YPG, 210/388 att, 17 TDs, 14 INT

1st Downs Allowed: #48 @ 20.2 per game, 108 rushing, 130 passing

3rd down conv: #6 @ 31.02%, 58/187 attempts

Sacks: #12 @ 38 sacks

Total: #39 @ 370.7 YPG

Special Teams:

Punt Ret: #123 @ 3.04 yards/att, 23 returns, 0 TDs,

Kick Ret: #41 @ 22.78 yards/att, 41 returns, 1 TDs

OPP Punt Ret: #68 @ 8.07 yards/att, 15 returns, 0 TDs

OPP Kick Ret: #41 20.21 yards/att, 28 returns, 0 TDs

Turnover Margin:

#119 @ -11, 16 fumbles lost, 13 INT =29 turnovers.

Penalties:

#81 @ 77 penalties, 676 yards

Defense during conference play:

Scoring: #44 @ 24.5 PPG

Rushing: #48 @ 151.88 YPG, 346 attempts, 16 TD

Passing: #7 @ 166.6 YPG, 48.6% 104/214, 8 TDs, 4 INT

1st downs allowed: #14 @ 17.1 per game, 68 rushing, 60 passing

3rd down conv: #9 @ 29.75%, 36/121 attempts

Sacks: #13 @ 25 sacks

Total: #12 @ 318 YPG

 
The defensive stats give me great hope for next year. With more depth and talent emerging on the d-line it could be scary. Hope we can just be consistent on both sides of the ball for one year, if we do that look out.

 
HuskerNationNick said:
2012 Stats

Turnover Margin:

#108 @ -12, 22 fumbles lost, 13 INT =35 turnovers.

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2013 Stats

Turnover Margin:

#119 @ -11, 16 fumbles lost, 13 INT =29 turnovers.
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I see we got a little better with turnovers. Had 6 fewer in 2013. Although we're ranked lower. But this is an area we need to improve on. Dramatically. If we don't cut our turnovers down considerably we'll continue to drop a couple games per year that we should have won.

 
Offense is a hard read because of our QB trials and tribulations, but we maintained a pretty good plateau to build on next year.

Defensive stats are a hard read because it's almost like they had two different seasons. Definitely trending better, and their third down efficiency is a serious show of character.

Special teams is a mess except....Kenny Bell looked great returning kick-offs. Jordan Westerkamp didn't even attempt to return punts. Do we have an overall special teams problem, or just the wrong guy returning punts?

Going strictly by eye test and gut feeling, it seems like our stupid penalties are wayyyy down. If we can show the same discipline regarding turnovers, this team could go 9 - 4 next year.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
If we can show the same discipline regarding turnovers, this team could go 9 - 4 next year.
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LOL! Well played.

That could be the catchphrase of the offseason (or for perpetuity): If X happens, this team could go 9-4 next year.

 
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Guy Chamberlin said:
Special teams is a mess except....Kenny Bell looked great returning kick-offs. Jordan Westerkamp didn't even attempt to return punts. Do we have an overall special teams problem, or just the wrong guy returning punts?
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Most of Westerkamp's punt returns, he had absolutely NO protection. By the time he got the ball, there would be at least 5 opponents around him, with no Husker within 5-10 yards. This is, as well as turnovers, are the biggest "need to work ons" in my opinion.

 
-ST is as bad as I've ever seen it, anywhere. Schematic, not personnel, which means it shouldn't be a difficult fix.

-Defense, much better...especially if you only look at the second half.

-Offense has kind of been a mystery to me for some time. You can never quite rely on them. I don't know if they were really better or worse. Certainly not as explosive. The highs weren't as high, but I don't know if the lows were as low.

-Turnovers, another facepalm of a year. Killed ourself all season

-Penalties. I'd like to see what they are across college football. Lot of bigger pentalties for helmet-to-helmet across the board. I know that I wasn't yelling at the OL for false starts nearly as much this year. So I think we're a little better here, just more the nature of the sport right now.

 
kchusker_chris said:
-ST is as bad as I've ever seen it, anywhere. Schematic, not personnel, which means it shouldn't be a difficult fix.

-Defense, much better...especially if you only look at the second half.

-Offense has kind of been a mystery to me for some time. You can never quite rely on them. I don't know if they were really better or worse. Certainly not as explosive. The highs weren't as high, but I don't know if the lows were as low.

-Turnovers, another facepalm of a year. Killed ourself all season

-Penalties. I'd like to see what they are across college football. Lot of bigger pentalties for helmet-to-helmet across the board. I know that I wasn't yelling at the OL for false starts nearly as much this year. So I think we're a little better here, just more the nature of the sport right now.
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There was also a huge drop in personal fouls, that were just IDIOTIC. I think Stafford was the biggest reason for those too. I completely agree with every statement you have made. Offense, not even close to being as explosive. Something I think most of us knew would happen if TM went down. I don't think a single person would have thought it would have happened in our very first game lol.

 
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There is this popular notion that our defense was excellent following a revelation of sorts during the Northwestern game. I think this is mostly caused by the enduring memory of the Michigan game performance. Overall our defense was just decent in the last five games. They faced only two top 50 offenses (Penn State and Georgia) and gave up 387 and 416 yards to them. And Georgia was in bad shape from injuries.

 
JTrain said:
There is this popular notion that our defense was excellent following a revelation of sorts during the Northwestern game. I think this is mostly caused by the enduring memory of the Michigan game performance. Overall our defense was just decent in the last five games. They faced only two top 50 offenses (Penn State and Georgia) and gave up 387 and 416 yards to them. And Georgia was in bad shape from injuries.
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Can't say they suddenly became excellent, but the improvement was still night and day. I'll take decent over porous any day. And by the end of the season I was convinced they could get a big stop when needed, and even rattle a quarterback or two.

The Husker's success on third down is surprisingly high for a lower ranked defense, but that's a great stat to build on.

And they held Michigan State to lower totals than a heralded Stanford defense.

Can't honestly say they would have beaten UCLA by season's end, but it would have been closer. For that matter, Aaron Murray would have been a touchdown or three better than his replacement.

 
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They definitely were improved from the first half. But I think Papuchis could have taken a corn crap at the 35 yard line and it would have been a mild improvement from our first half defense.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
JTrain said:
There is this popular notion that our defense was excellent following a revelation of sorts during the Northwestern game. I think this is mostly caused by the enduring memory of the Michigan game performance. Overall our defense was just decent in the last five games. They faced only two top 50 offenses (Penn State and Georgia) and gave up 387 and 416 yards to them. And Georgia was in bad shape from injuries.
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Can't say they suddenly became excellent, but the improvement was still night and day. I'll take decent over porous any day. And by the end of the season I was convinced they could get a big stop when needed, and even rattle a quarterback or two.

The Husker's success on third down is surprisingly high for a lower ranked defense, but that's a great stat to build on.

And they held Michigan State to lower totals than a heralded Stanford defense.

Can't honestly say they would have beaten UCLA by season's end, but it would have been closer. For that matter, Aaron Murray would have been a touchdown or three better than his replacement.
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I wish I could find the site again but I was looking for somewhere to do defensive rankings since week 'x' to see where we'd rank since the conference season started. I found one site that did the stats over the previous three games. At the time (probably after Michigan St. or so) we were #7 in the country in total defense over the previous three games. We went from over 100 to #35 by the end of the year. #35 isn't terrible by itself but to get back to there after where we started means we were playing a lot better defense than most teams in the country. Doesn't mean it's great but I would guess that would mean we were about a top 20 defense since October.

 
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