Locked due to no posts in 60 days. Report 1st post if need unlocked McKewon: How Nebraska won out---perhaps Bo Pelini's finest coaching performance

[Red Reign]

I've always been a big fan of Sam and this is one of his best article's....Sam pretty much nails why this is perhaps Bo's best coaching job ever....

I know a couple of folks may not like what Sam is saying....but it is what it is....

Husker coach Bo Pelini didn't even want to look at the Legends Division champions hat. And he may not reflect much on one of his finer coaching performances.

» Nebraska's defense created turnovers: 12 since the second half of the Michigan game. It's the No. 1 factor in the winning streak; in the Pelini era, only the 2009 defense got more takeaways in the last six regular-season games. They helped offset NU's own (often ridiculous) giveaways. In it last five games, NU is actually plus-1 in turnover margin. That's after being minus-9 in the first seven games.

» Martinez ran the ball like he never has in conference play: He gained 495 yards the last six games, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. In an injury-hampered 2010, he ran for 216 yards and 4.1 yards per carry in NU's last six regular season games. In 2011, he ran for 253 yards and 3.4 yards per carry.

» Terrific fourth-quarter run defense: Nebraska gave up 3.4 yards per carry in six fourth quarters of the winning streak, and that includes the final 15 minutes against Minnesota, when the Huskers had backups on the field. Take out that game, and the per-carry average goes down to 3.24. No run longer than 17 yards. Just three runs longer than 8 yards, and two of those were quarterback scrambles. Opponents couldn't run out the clock on the Huskers. That set the stage for comebacks.

» Even better pass defense: Opposing quarterbacks completed just 40.5 percent of their passes in the six-game winning streak. For the year, the Huskers are now No. 1 nationally in pass defense and No. 2 in pass efficiency defense.

That identity points back to Pelini. He tabbed Martinez as his quarterback. It's his pass defense that frustrates Big Ten quarterbacks. It's Bo who instituted a push-up plan in practice when the Husker defense dropped interceptions.

Much much more of a great article by Sam well worth the click on the link to read....

http://www.neprepzone.com/article/20121125/HUSKERS/711259863

 

[Red Reign]

Oh and this is just amazing:

Best of all, third-down defense: Opponents converted 30.1 percent of their third downs in the six-game winning streak. Also of note: For the year, Nebraska faced more third downs than any other defense in the Big Ten. That's because the Huskers forced those third downs by making stops on first and second down.

 

[Red Reign]

Oh and our SOS is 12th toughest in the country to boot....

http://www.huskermax.com/games/2012/files/13wisconsin_nu_stats12.html

 

[Sprint23r]

I have it on good authority that the only reason we won was luck...or it was voodoo...not sure i started to get confused at the end.

 

[Red Reign]

Yeah I know....which is part of the reason I started this thread....

I have it on good authority that the only reason we won was luck...or it was voodoo...not sure i started to get confused at the end.

 

[HuskerCoug]

I've always been a big fan of Sam and this is one of his best article's....Sam pretty much nails why this is perhaps Bo's best coaching job ever....

I know a couple of folks may not like what Sam is saying....but it is what it is....







Much much more of a great article by Sam well worth the click on the link to read....

http://www.neprepzone.com/article/20121125/HUSKERS/711259863

Sam provides by far the best Husker coverage and analysis, in my opinion. He is thoughtful in presenting his facts and remains unbiased. I believe he has a better understanding of college football than most of his local (and often national) collegues.

 

[joncarl]

I have it on good authority that the only reason we won was luck...or it was voodoo...not sure i started to get confused at the end.

Yeah I know....which is part of the reason I started this thread....

You both are right and to be quite honest I wouldn't care if it was smoke and mirrors. There are a lot of ways to win and the coaches, staff and kids should be proud of what they accomplished.

By the was Sam is my favorite journalist as well. I like the positive angle he takes and if he wants to write something not too flattering he does it in a way that doesn't seem to attack anyone.

 

[Cardinal]

Oh and our SOS is 12th toughest in the country to boot....

http://www.huskermax.com/games/2012/files/13wisconsin_nu_stats12.html

FYI, that ranking of SOS is based solely on opponent's winning percentage. That's why in this simplistic analysis Eastern Michigan of the MAC is said to have a stronger SOS than Oregon and USC of the Pac 12, Iowa State of the Big 12, Tennessee of the SEC and many others who obviously have played harder schedules. It shows North Texas of the Sun Belt as having played a tougher SOS than teams from all of the six BCS conferences.

SOS involves much more than just oppenent's winning percentage. It depends on who those opponent's have played to get that winning percentage, for example. The much more sophisticated analyses used in the BCS rankings have NU's SOS ranked 36th (Sagarin), 31st (Anderson and Hester), 30th (Colley Matrix) and 30th (Peter Wolfe) (note the other two BCS computer rankings don't list SOS on their websites).

 

[Red Reign]

Yeah Sam rocks...and he actually does his home work (what a concept) and tells it like it is good or bad....beats the hell out of the ESPN world we live in today for hit and run stories with little or no substance and nothing more than trying to stir the pot and get ratings....

Is Bo perfect...no.....then again neither am I and the wife and my two girls remind me of that when I need to be reminded...

The homework done for this piece is what I find the best part of it...

Yup....just win baby and bring all the trophies home....proud indeed....

You both are right and to be quite honest I wouldn't care if it was smoke and mirrors. There are a lot of ways to win and the coaches, staff and kids should be proud of what they accomplished.

By the was Sam is my favorite journalist as well. I like the positive angle he takes and if he wants to write something not too flattering he does it in a way that doesn't seem to attack anyone.

 

[Red Dead Redemption]

Sam provides by far the best Husker coverage and analysis, in my opinion. He is thoughtful in presenting his facts and remains unbiased. I believe he has a better understanding of college football than most of his local (and often national) collegues.

We are lucky to have Sam write about the Huskers.

Sam is lucky to have a job writing about the Huskers.

The OWH is lucky to have Sam working for them.

 

[Red Reign]

Guess we will see when Nebraska meets Stanford on 1 January 2013....because I think that is going to be the matchup....better have your helmts strapped on as its going to be a slobberknocker and trust me the Huskers have been in more of those than Stanford......we will see who is still standing after 4 qtrs...

Not the point of this thread anyway....

FYI, that ranking of SOS is based solely on opponent's winning percentage. That's why in this simplistic analysis Eastern Michigan of the MAC is said to have a stronger SOS than Oregon and USC of the Pac 12, Iowa State of the Big 12, Tennessee of the SEC and many others who obviously have played harder schedules. It shows North Texas of the Sun Belt as having played a tougher SOS than teams from all of the six BCS conferences.

SOS involves much more than just oppenent's winning percentage. It depends on who those opponent's have played to get that winning percentage, for example. The much more sophisticated analyses used in the BCS rankings have NU's SOS ranked 36th (Sagarin), 31st (Anderson and Hester), 30th (Colley Matrix) and 30th (Peter Wolfe) (note the other two BCS computer rankings don't list SOS on their websites).

 

[Red Reign]

No argument from me at all.....I just have to read ESPN for 2 seconds to realize that...

Sam provides by far the best Husker coverage and analysis, in my opinion. He is thoughtful in presenting his facts and remains unbiased. I believe he has a better understanding of college football than most of his local (and often national) collegues.

 

[Red Reign]

Yes Sir to all three...

We are lucky to have Sam write about the Huskers.

Sam is lucky to have a job writing about the Huskers.

The OWH is lucky to have Sam working for them.

 

[Cardinal]

trust me the Huskers have been in more of those than Stanford

???????????

If they meet in the Rose, it will be the third straight BCS bowl for the Stanford players. A substantially larger stage than the "I don't remember the name or location of the bowls" that are all that the current NU players have experienced. Personally, I don't think that would be a factor at all in the Rose, but if you want to continue to make it a factor, then the advantage clearly goes to the Stanford side.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

???????????

If they meet in the Rose, it will be the third straight BCS bowl for the Stanford players. A substantially larger stage than the "I don't remember the name or location of the bowls" that are all that the current NU players have experienced. Personally, I don't think that would be a factor at all in the Rose, but if you want to make it a factor, then the advantage clearly goes to the Stanford side.

I think he meant NU has been in more slobberknockers, not BCS bowl games.