The Line of Scrimmage Lost This Game

Roger Dorn

New member
We got handled by Purdue on both sides of the line. They were able to get pressure on us relatively easily and put our run game in check. On the other side of the ball, we were unable to generate any sort of pressure. When they needed a close out drive, they ran the ball down the field for a score.

The struggle of both lines have been the biggest issue this team has, not coaching, not the QB, but the line. When both sides consistently lose the battle at the LOS, you're never going to be a very good football team.

 
The Line of Scrimmage Lost This Game

As always! We have not had an offensive line for a good number of years. And, this particular year we are extremely deplete.

 
The Line of Scrimmage Lost This Game

As always! We have not had an offensive line for a good number of years. And, this particular year we are extremely deplete.
Going back to the early and mid 2000's, this is without question the biggest reason Nebraska has struggled for more than a decade.

 
We got handled by Purdue on both sides of the line. They were able to get pressure on us relatively easily and put our run game in check. On the other side of the ball, we were unable to generate any sort of pressure. When they needed a close out drive, they ran the ball down the field for a score.

The struggle of both lines have been the biggest issue this team has, not coaching, not the QB, but the line. When both sides consistently lose the battle at the LOS, you're never going to be a very good football team.
It's been this way for 3-4 years. The big play luck isn't there anymore and everyone wants heads.

The have looked like this for years, but have been bailed out by 4-5 huge plays in the game.

 
What lost this was preparation. Purdue identified things they couldn't do well and tried to fix them. They're bandage solutions to be sure, but there was genuine effort to try to win this game. Granted, that 8 man front they showed will be exploited to holy hell by the next offensive coordinator....and if your offensive strategy is to QB sneak all day then you need to up the difficulty on Madden.

But there was real preparation. They know they aren't any good so they tried to be more aggressive. More trick plays. More moving the pocket. More single coverage. More going for it on 4th down. As much as all of that is too high risk to be viable for long, they still identified an opportunity and went for it.

And what did we do? Backup QB in a must win game making his first start on the road and we play exactly to tendencies. Takes 3 quarters to see the middle of the field is open all day. A decent offensive coordinator needs only a series or two, at the most, to see any inside release against that coverage is easy pitch and catch.

No, what happened in this game was they were so much better prepared that the game got out of hand early, limiting our options, and giving the home underdog the momentum.

 
What lost this was preparation. Purdue identified things they couldn't do well and tried to fix them.
It is interesting to see a team that is so bad, exploit the weaknesses of the Huskers.

Purdue knew what they were going to do on offense:

  1. Short quick passes
  2. A lot of misdirection
  3. Setting them up for bigger plays downfield later in the game.
 
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