Football is upon us

Good old fashioned football has arrived, as in an actual matchup on the field. Nebraska enters what it hopes will be a much more consistent 2012 campaign than last year’s 9-4 season that culminated with a 30-13 Capital One Bowl loss. That game in a nutshell encompassed the Huskers season between 1/3 good moments, 1/3 bad moments and 1/3 that made you scratch your head.

In the Bo Pelini era, Nebraska has gone from bad to good but fans are getting relentless and wanting that moment to go from good to great. The Huskers open Saturday at home against what can be a pesky Southern Mississippi club. In fact, Associated Press writer Ralph Russo picks the Golden Eagles to come into Lincoln to upset No. 17 Nebraska. Both programs met three times from 1999-2004. In 1999, the Huskers (who finished 12-1 that season) needed two defensive touchdowns and six takeaways to overcome five turnovers on offense to beat Southern Miss 20-13 in Lincoln.

In 2003, the teams met in Hattieburg, Miss., for a Thursday night ESPN game. Nebraska took a 17-0 lead in the first quarter to win 38-14. In 2004, however, it proved to be a harbinger of things to come under Bill Callahan in just his second game as Husker head coach. Nebraska’s offense turned the ball over six times on the way to a 21-17 loss.

So how will things transpire in the 2012 game? The obvious common denominator is that if the Huskers don’t beat themselves, they should win but that would be too obvious. To that end, let’s take a closer look at the game itself.

Nebraska ranked No. 66 in total offense last season but fluctuated more often than the stock market. With offensive coordinator Tim Beck entering his second season, the Huskers should be much better offensively.

The team has two lynchpins in quarterback Taylor Martinez and running back Rex Burkhead. The Huskers have more depth at wide receiver than it has had in the past, but also has an offensive line that is patched together.

Southern Mississippi will use a 4-2-5 defensive alignment. The weakness of Southern Mississippi’s defense is their front six, where the Golden Eagles only return one starter (linebacker Jamie Collins). The strength of the Southern Mississippi defense is their secondary. The Golden Eagles return three starters from a pass defense that was good last season.

It will take time for Nebraska’s offensive line to gel, but Southern Mississippi could be the perfect opponent for the Cornhuskers offensive line to begin the season against.

Defensively, Nebraska lost their top three players from last year (DT Jared Crick, LB LaVonte David and CB Alfonzo Dennard) but since they were never on the field collectively at the same time, it is not unreasonable to think Nebraska’s defense will be better.

The Husker defense might not have proven impact players but the cupboard is certainly not bare led by defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler, linebacker Will Compton and safety Damion Stafford. Nebraska will rotate many players into the lineup to keep players fresh and utilize each player’s strength.

Southern Mississippi lost their star quarterback Austin Davis to graduation. There was a three-way battle for the starting quarterback position but junior Chris Campbell gets the call against Nebraska.

The player to watch on the Southern Mississippi offense is wide receiver Tracy Lampley. Last season, Lampley was the backup running back and still had 47 receptions and four touchdowns. This season, Lampley moves to his natural wide receiver position.

The Golden Eagles will use a variety of running backs to try and move the ball on the ground while their new quarterback gets his feet under him with senior Desmond Johnson.

Last season, Southern Mississippi had the No. 17-ranked offense in the country but lost far too many players to expect to be that good again this season.

While Nebraska’s defense is trending up, Southern Mississippi’s offense is going the other direction. Last season, Nebraska played a bend-but-don’t-break defense that did the latter as much as the former. This year, the Huskers will return to the swarming defense that Cornhuskers fans are used to under head coach Bo Pelini.

Nebraska also appears to have the edge on special teams even though the Golden Eagles return Lampley as a kick returner. The Huskers have a dynamic kicker in Brett Maher and potentially so at returner in Ameer Abdullah.

The strength of Nebraska’s team in 2012 is their defense. The Cornhuskers have one of the best kickers in the country in Brett Maher and a dynamic kick returner in Ameer Abdullah.

If this game was played in 2011, Nebraska would have a difficult time beating Southern Mississippi. The Golden Eagles lost too many players to graduation to be able to come into Memorial Stadium and defeat the Cornhuskers.Special Teams

Eric Francis/Getty Images

The strength of Nebraska’s team in 2012 is their defense. The Cornhuskers have one of the best kickers in the country in Brett Maher and a dynamic kick returner in Ameer Abdullah.

Last season, Southern Mississippi’s placekicker, Danny Hrapmann was a Lou Groza Award finalist (given to the best placekicker in the country). This season, the Golden Eagles will be looking for a new placekicker. Southern Mississippi does return their star kick returner, Tracy Lampley.

Edge

Nebraska will have the edge in special teams on Saturday.

It will be interesting to see what the Cornhuskers' plan is in the return game. Abdullah ranked No. 9 in the country in kickoff return average last season. Nebraska may use wide receivers Tim Marlowe, Jamal Turner or running back Imani Cross as returners to keep Abdullah fresh at running back.

Prediction

Eric Francis/Getty Images

If this game was played in 2011, Nebraska would have a difficult time beating Southern Mississippi. The Golden Eagles lost too many players to graduation to be able to come into Memorial Stadium and defeat the Cornhuskers.

Nebraska will impress the fans on Saturday as the Cornhuskers try to return to the dominant team they once were.

Nebraska will win the game, 34-14.

Line: Nebraska is favored by 19.5, according to Caesars/Harrah's (h/t Vegas

Follow me on Twitter @HuskerMagic

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New DBs coach has some talent to work with

Given that Nebraska football landed its replacement for Corey Raymond as defensive backs coach much sooner than anticipated, the picture for the last line of Husker defense does not look so bad.


Are things perfect? Far from it. When are they? However, given head coach Bo Pelini’s ability to land Tennessee defensive backs coach Terry Joseph, who also has five years of experience as a recruiting coordinator, just a few days after Raymond’s departure, things could be much worse.

What’s nice is that Joseph is not walking into a bare cupboard. Damion Stafford will be a constant at the strong safety spot. There are a number of capable - and experienced - players to compete to play alongside him. P.J. Smith and Courtney Osborne are the first names that come to mind, but I will be curious to see if Corey Cooper remains at safety and makes the most of a chance to compete.



At corner, there is potential but a lot of unknowns. Andrew Green improved as the year went along. He’s the only one fans may be able to count on at corner. Ciante Evans was inconsistent to the end. The coaches moved a wide receiver (Stanley Jean-Baptiste) and now a running back (Braylon Heard) to the spot. That tells me they aren’t in love with the talent there now. Fans can be optimistic about Mohammed Seisay’s ability but he’s a newcomer that must learn quickly. Seisay will be given every chance to make an impact right way because team’s don’t bring in JC transfers just to be a body on the roster.



The X factor is the possible addition of freshman Charles Jackson, who could give the coaches another option. Jackson has the talent to be a game changer at NU and get on field.



I’m hopeful the staff can coach them up, but the team needs a good surprise by Seisay and Jackson to make the secondary good this year. Otherwise, Green is an adequate starter and the Huskers have a huge question mark on the other side.



Last year, the experience was sparse, but there are guys with promise returning this year. The talent level could not do what Raymond wanted them to do. Good coaches are able to adjust to the abilities of their young or undeveloped players to compensate for perceived deficiencies. I’m not a fan of a coach who disparages the players under his command, so I will happily blame some of the problems on Raymond last season.



Hopefully, Joseph can bring aggressiveness that the secondary lacked last season because there were so many receivers running loose. Stafford and Osborne would be the ideal safety tandem. You know Green will man one corner spot; the question becomes who takes the other? Evans was beat more than any other DB last year.


Whether it’s Seisay, Jackson or Jean Baptiste, Nebraska needs one if not two of those guys to elevate their performance because last season the unit’s inexperience really showed. Evans was a disappointment and the defensive line was no better without Jared Crick.

Despite the losses of Crick, linebacker LaVonte David and cornerback Alfonzo Dennard, the 2012 Husker defense is not void of talent but is lacking in terms of impact players.

For what it’s worth, Seisay’s JC coach was quoted as saying Seisay was a better player than Zack Bowman, at that level.


With so many prospects on campus and arriving over the summer, there’s got to be enough players to replace Dennard and compete for the opposite side and third corner.


I was thinking this is similar to the 2003 defensive backfield, which had a new DB coach, a walk-on corner and some young players. Then I realized the young players turned out to be the Daniel Bullocks and Josh Bullocks, who had NFL talent and Fabian Washington, who was a multi-year starter in the NFL.


At the moment, Safety looks like the strongest position, talent and experience. Which is key because good Safeties can make up for a lot.

Can the Blackshirts regain their mojo?

It did not take Nebraska long to develop a reputation for being a stout defense after Bo Pelini took over as head coach in 2008.
While the Huskers were decent defensively in 2011, they were not the authoritative bunch they were in 2009 and to a lesser extent 2010. Part of that dropoff was exacerbated by the season-ending injury to defensive tackle Jared Crick (torn pectoral muscle) in Week 5.
Despite the fact the Husker defense was at times a letdown last season, there were some bright spots such as the team’s dominant 24-3 win over Michigan State and the second half dominance that fueled a 34-27 come-from-behind win over Ohio State in addition to the unit’s outstanding effort in a 20-7 win over Iowa.
Nebraska did finish pretty well (Top 40) statistically and has some decent pieces returning. By average, I mean the Huskers finished 37th in total defense and 42nd in scoring defense.
Nebraska wound up tied for 18th in passing defense and 34th in pass efficiency defense. Even though defensive backs coach Corey Raymond was the target of some fans’ criticism, once the secondary started picking up the scheme better, the team finished fairly well defending the pass.
However, the Huskers were tied for 72nd in interceptions (with 10), tied for 84th in sacks (21), and 64th in rushing defense. Nebraska also finished with a minus-1 turnover margin with 18 takeaways and had 19 giveaways. This tells me they need to get far more pressure on opposing teams quarterbacks to force mistakes that lead to turnovers, and to increase sack numbers. At the very least, make the opposing quarterback throw the ball a fraction of a second sooner than he wants. This would increase takeaways.

The Huskers also need to find a way to better shut down the running game. Nebraska could not do that this season when it needed to do so. As good as Michigan State’s running game was, it was somewhat mind-boggling that the Spartans tried to beat Nebraska with the arm of pocket passer Kirk Cousins. It’s no secret that Pelini’s defenses have had little trouble with such passers.

Most of those negative statistics came from a mediocre effort from the defensive line and in the early part of the season, the linebackers. Lavonte David was obviously a stud all year, and Will Compton really improved late in the season. However, for the most part, the line got pushed around in the Big 10 by the good teams, most notably Wisconsin and Michigan.

The defensive line problems are perhaps due to a combination of the collective talent level on the line and the scheme. I’m of the belief that head coach Bo Pelini and defensive line coach Rick Kaczsenski should take a long hard look and changing around the two-gap scheme this offseason in order to more effectively combat the power running styles of Wisconsin and Iowa and to get more pressure on Spread teams like Ohio State or Michigan.
Nebraska has four set starters on the line for next year in Eric Martin, Cameron Meredith, Baker Steinkuhler, and Chase Rome. I would hope the influx of talent from the redshirts and true freshman could help here. The line will likely rotate a lot, so we could be seeing some of Todd Peat as well as perhaps Greg McMullen and Jason Ankrah.

While losing David is a tough blow at linebacker, I think Nebraska will be OK at that position. Compton improved visibly near the end and looked to assume a leadership role. Alonzo Whaley started filling in when the coaches finally realized Sean Fisher wasn't effective. Beyond that, Zaire Anderson and Michael Rose have the best chance of playing next season among Nebraska’s newcomers.

Rose is going to be a real good one. II expect a much improved overall unit next year, even with the loss of David. Not a ton of experience here, but potential is through the roof. Will that potential transfer to production next year? Remains to be seen.

The secondary also loses its best player in Alfonzo Dennard but also loses some of the single most frustrating players for the fans on the team: Austin Cassidy and Lance Thorrell are gone. Now, this isn't really a knock on these guys. Since they're in the secondary, everyone is going to know when they screw up but they've long been perceived as guys who were less athletic than those that should be starting for Nebraska, and now the Huskers forced to adapt.

Pelini is going to have to put someone else back there deep, regardless of whether the grasp the scheme as fully as Cassidy or not. Depth wise in the secondary the Huskers are not too bad. Damion Stafford is back for his senior campaign and should have a spot locked down. The other safety spot is up for grab. I see that competition playing out between Courtney Osborne, P.J. Smith, or Harvey Jackson. I see Smith or Osborne winning. At cornerback, Andrew Green should be vastly improved along with Ciante Evans, Antonio Bell, and Stanley Jean-Baptiste back. Dijon Washington looks to be a non-contributer at this point, and Bell hasn't done much either. JC transfer Mohammed Seisay should also make an impact as, worst case scenario a nickel back.
I think in order to more effectively fix the defense for next season; the staff should rethink the 2 gap scheme for our D-line in favor of a more penetration-happy scheme, and consider becoming less of a bend-don't-break.

Husker defense needs to stick to its roots

The Blackshirts have entered the building. Well, re-entered s more like it. Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini held up a black practice jersey in the locker room after the Huskers 24-3 win over Michigan, and according to a few players, told them they'd be receiving them this week.


The story of the 2011 season has been, where has the Nebraska Blackshirts defense gone?

Through the first seven games of the season, Nebraska’s defense had been a liability. The Blackshirts had allowed teams with mediocre offenses to move the ball down the field on them. Fans had to know that this type of play defensively would not last the entire season as long as Bo Pelini is the head coach.

Omaha World Herald columnist Sam McKewon perhaps made the most astute observation of why the Husker defense finally performed the way fans had grown accustomed to since the Pelini Bros. came aboard in 2008.

In his column, McKewon stated they stuck to a scheme Nebraska knows inside and out, even if it's not a perfect match for the league's personnel.

They kept their safeties — Austin Cassidy and Daimion Stafford — protective of the deep middle. They trusted Lance Thorell and Ciante Evans to play in the box even when the Spartans rolled out power sets. They allowed linebackers Lavonte David and Will Compton to flow confidently and aggressively to the ball. The Huskers gave up a little in the run defense, but they guessed right that the Spartans wouldn't stick with it. They haven't stuck with it all year.

Basically, the Huskers decided to stop worrying about adjusting from the Big 12 to the Big 10. Instead of you adjusting to the opponent, make the opponent adjust to you.
On Saturday against Michigan State, Nebraska put together a perfect defensive scheme to stop the Spartans' offense. Nebraska held Michigan State’s all-time leading receiver, B.J. Cunningham to no catches and sacked senior quarterback Kirk Cousins four times.

Nebraska’s defense has moved up to No. 29 nationally in total defense.
Instead of lining up in their defensive stance, the defensive lineman moved around the line of scrimmage so that the offense did not know where they were coming from. This defense allowed the Blackshirts to put pressure on Cousins all day long.
The second part of the defense that stood out was the play of the Nebraska linebackers.

Throughout the season, Nebraska had lined up with three linebackers and David was the only linebacker who consistently made plays. On Saturday, Nebraska used two linebackers and five defensive backs. Was it a return to the “Peso” defense Nebraska used last season? Not exactly, but it was effective. As a result, linebacker Will Compton had his best game of his career at Nebraska. Compton continuously made calls for the defense pointing out what play Michigan State was running. He ended the game with seven tackles, one tackle for a loss and two quarterback hurries. If Compton continues to play at this level, Nebraska will have two of the best linebackers in the Big Ten Conference in David and Compton.
With Nebraska’s power running game taking time off the clock and wearing down opposing defenses, the Blackshirts will need to uphold their part of the game plan in order for the Cornhuskers to continue to win games. If the Blackshirts play as they did against Michigan State in their remaining games, Nebraska will be a tough team to beat in the Big Ten Conference.
Next week, Nebraska plays Northwestern in Lincoln. If the Blackshirts are able to shut down Northwestern’s star quarterback, Dan Persa, it will tell a lot about this team and their defense.
All year we've mostly seen the secondary and linebackers running poorly executed man coverage, with the corners and safeties routinely a step behind receivers. It was all the same crap that was killing us back in the Kevin Cosgrove days. The perks of zone coverage, the ballhawking and picks, not to mention gang tackling, was gone. Now suddenly the matchup zone comes back against MSU and works to perfection. Instead of having guys in single coverage a step back, we had several guys in on every pass play. Of course it helped that Cousins never tested the seams much and MSU didn't try to run it up the gut, but where has the matchup zone been all year? And can it work against mobile quarterbacks?

Sure it can. It all depends how the front seven tackles.
Can it work against Michigan? Depends on how the front seven tackle. If anything, zone defenses should work better against a running quarterback because you've got most of your back seven watching the QB. In man, most of the back seven has their back to the QB as they're chasing around their designated offensive player all over the field. If he starts to take off, then you'll get multiple defenders coming up to stop him, in man coverage you may just have one guy who sees the QB coming upfield since everyone else is following their man around.
As for Cousins there were coverage sacks but the line and linebackers got more pressure than any time this season. Especially Eric Martin and to a lesser extent Baker Steinkuhler. I think Cousins looked rushed at times, but a lot of the time he had time but the secondary and linebackers locked down well and forced him to try to scramble, which didn't end up well for him since he's not the fastest guy. Going forward I think the matchup zone is the way to go against Dennard Robinson.