Don't be surprised if the Husker defense continues to rebound

One bounce back performance does not constitute all being well in the world just yet but after surrendering the second most yards in a game (653 in a 36-30 loss at UCLA) in school history, Nebraska fans were collectively beside themselves with worry about the status of the defense.

And for good reason because in last week’s 42-13 over Arkansas State, the Huskers were facing a spread-oriented offense similar in some ways to UCLA’s unit, which added further fuel to the worries but the Husker defense responded.

Arkansas State’s first touchdown didn’t come until the third quarter, and it was the Red Wolves’ defense that scored it. Tackling technique looked significantly better and Nebraska seemed better able to pursue sideline-to-sideline and defend against the misdirection.

Nebraska ended up surrendering 285 total yards and no offensive touchdowns, which should provide a little comfort to the Husker fans moving forward.

Against a hurry-up offense like Arkansas State, making changes on the fly is a challenge for any defense but Nebraska has struggled throughout the season getting defensive play calls in from the sideline. In each half, Nebraska continued its trend of burning time outs on defense when it couldn't get properly lined up.

The Red Wolves may be one of the hardest teams to align properly for defensively, given the speed with which they play and with the number of new players (notably Zaire Anderson and David Santos) that saw the field on defense, some communication issues were to be expected. However, it is an area Nebraska needs to clean up as the season progresses.

In response to the struggles against UCLA, Huskers head coach Bo Pelini made a number of personnel changes, giving time to players like Anderson, Mohammed Seisay and Santos.

The changes seemed to pay dividends. Overall, the defense showed remarkable improvement from the week before. Of course, some of that had to do with playing Arkansas State at home instead of UCLA on the road but some of it had to do with the athletes on the field. Let’s face it, you can talk about schemes all you want but quality athletes take care of schemes, not the other way around.

Perhaps the play that best showed the change was in the third quarter, when Anderson was able to beat Arkansas State quarterback Ryan Aplin to the corner and shut down a running play. It was Nebraska’s inability to make those stops against UCLA that contributed to the Blackshirts’ nightmare in Pasadena.

Bend, but don’t break is the approach we have come to expect from Pelini’s defense. While it was disturbing to see UCLA bend Nebraska like a yoga instructor, the defense actually does have hope for holding their end of the deal.

Yes, the Huskers are No. 111 in rushing yards allowed (226 yards per game) and No. 25 in passing yardage allowed (174 yards per game) but stats can also be skewed this early in the season.

Nebraska has allowed only five offensive touchdowns (four were in the UCLA game) and the Huskers have played red-zone defense 14 times and have allowed two touchdowns and five field goals.

I honestly believe that Nebraska offensive coordinator Tim Beck tried to “out hurry” UCLA and got caught. This is why UCLA ran over 90 plays. Well, that and some missed tackles but the defense kept points away from the Bruins in 7 of 11 trips into the red zone. Two of the trips resulted in field goals, and two missed field goals. I think a team that allowed those type of yards and plays, but only surrendered 34 offensive points, did not break.

I’m still waiting until after the Ohio State game to decide what kind of defense the Huskers have this year, but I do believe this defense is good enough that the offense isn’t going to have to score 35-plus points to win games.