Read Part 1 here.
Nebraska was bullied and beaten soundly by Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, and along with losing in the trenches and having mediocre quarterback play hurt them, there were two other season-long weaknesses that were again exposed by the Utes.
Tackling:
The past few seasons, it was special teams play that crippled the Huskers. This year, it was poor tackling.
Part of that is the size thing again. Nebraska was too small and too inexperienced up front. And while the Blackshirts were very good in pass defense for most of the season, there were a lot of yards after catch, especially late in the year. Wrapping up and taking down ball carriers – a basic football fundamental – wasn’t good, with the size issues and lack of aggressiveness resulted in a team total of just 22 sacks, with team leader Javin Wright having just three.
Aurich comes over from a San Diego State defense that posted 32 sacks and picked off 15 passes…and will likely have some of those players following him to Nebraska via the portal. The Aztecs finished 14th in the nation in total defense.
Aurich and Rhule will put an emphasis on tackling across the board the moment the teaching part begins.
Takeaways:
Nebraska finished the season a plus-2 in turnover margin. They had 13 takeaways in 12 games, and gave it back 11 times, including once in the Bowl game.
They were a plus-6 after five games, but could not keep up the pace after going minus-3 in a win at Maryland.
While plus-2 isn’t awful…it’s not nearly good enough.
To end the season, they failed to register at takeaway in the final four games. Their last takeaway was an interception against USC…and that was given right back when Raiola was strip sacked and injured moments later. Nebraska was minus-2 in turnover margin the last two months of the season.
In this era of high powered offenses from teams all over the country, asking a defense to put up stop after stop against big time opponents is asking too much. So is having your offense need to drive the length of the field nearly every possession. While good special teams play helped Nebraska’s field position this season, the lack of takeaways remained a problem on both sides of the ball. Winners play complimentary football.
For example, Big Ten bully Indiana was +18 with 26 takeaways, and Big 12 Champ Texas Tech took the ball away 32 times. With their plus-one against the Huskers, Utah finished with 18 takeaways on the season.
The good news is that San Diego State’s defense, led by now Husker DC Aurich, took the ball away 18 times as well. Pushing that total up into the 20’s would mean a marked improvement in defensive play all around.
With a small but highly thought of recruiting class coming in, there are areas that the Transfer Portal doesn’t need to help fix…like running back, where youngsters Mekhi Nelson Kwinton Ives and Isaiah Mozee showed plenty of talent and promise. But where games are won and lost the most, in the trenches and under center, Rhule and his staff have plenty of work to do, during and after the Transfer Portal closes.
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