There was some discussion in the Twitter thread from today about the secondary play from last season. Now we all know that the secondary play was consistently bad last year, but did Nebraska improve from the first part of the season to the end of the season? I did some digging on the stats and rather than respond in the Twitter thread, I thought I'd make a new thread to show the findings.
I broke the stats down into the first half of the season (first 6 games) and the second half of the season (last 6 games, plus the bowl game). Additionally, I also looked at the first 9 games (up to the Purdue loss) because many people felt that after the Purdue game was when the team finally bought in and decided to start caring about their play. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that but many on the board have indicated the Purdue game was the turning point of the season.
First half of the season --
BYU – 28/46 for 268 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT
South Alabama – 26/45 for 313 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT
Miami – 25/42 for 379 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT
Southern Miss – 26/41 for 447 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT
Illinois – 23/45 for 251 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT
Wisconsin – 24/50 for 322 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT
152/269 (56.5%) for 1,980 yards, 9 TD and 3 INT, 3-1 TD/INT ratio
25.3/44.8 for 330 yards, 1.5 TDs and 0.5 INT per game
Second half of the season (plus bowl game) --
Minnesota – 26/40 for 301 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT
Northwestern – 13/28 for 177 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT
Purdue – 28/43 for 274 yards, 4 TD and 0 INT
Michigan State – 23/37 for 335 yards, 4 TD and 1 INT
Rutgers – 13/27 for 165 yards, 0 TD and 2 INT
Iowa – 9/16 for 97 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT
UCLA – 26/40 for 319 yards, 3 TD and 2 INT
138/231 (59.7%) for 1,668 yards, 14 TDs and 7 INTs, 2-1 TD/INT ratio
19.7/33 for 238 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT per game
Through Purdue Stats --
219/380 (57.6%) for 2,732 yards, 15 TDs and 5 INTs, 3-1 TD/INT ratio
24.3/42.2 for 303.5 yards, 1.67 TDs and 0.55 INTs per game
Post-Purdue Stats --
71/120 (59.2%) for 916 yards, 8 TDs and 5 INTs, 1.6 TD/INT ratio
17.8/30 for 229 yards, 2 TDs and 1.25 INTs per game
Some things to point out:
- Having 5 INTs through 9 games, and then having 5 INTs in the last 4 games. If Nebraska would've kept the pace of the last four games (1.25 interceptions per game) for the entire season that would be 16.25 interceptions for the season. That would have ranked as a tie for 21st in the country. The first nine game pace of 0.55 INTs would have ranked as a tie for 107th in the country.
- Nebraska faced probably the 3 best QBs they had seen all season (Connor Cook, CJ Beathard, and Josh Rosen) in those last four games.
- 330 yards per game in the first half of the season would have ranked 126th out of 127th in the country. 238 yards per game in the second half of the season would have ranked 83rd out of 127th in the country. Nearly a -100 YPG average and a 43 spot jump from the first half to the second half of the season.
- In games where Nebraska had one or more interception, their record was 5-2. The two losses were on a Hail Mary and a game that went into overtime. In games where they had zero interceptions, their record was 1-5. Only win was against Southern Miss.
Obviously we all know that the pass defense must improve this year. I've been a huge proponent of the reason that the pass defense was so poor was due to the lack of pass rush Nebraska got last season. That also has to improve in my opinion. Looking at the numbers though, I think there is some validity to the fact that the secondary did improve in the second half of the season, especially the last four games. We can only hope those statistics continue to trend up this season.
#GBR
I broke the stats down into the first half of the season (first 6 games) and the second half of the season (last 6 games, plus the bowl game). Additionally, I also looked at the first 9 games (up to the Purdue loss) because many people felt that after the Purdue game was when the team finally bought in and decided to start caring about their play. I don't know if I necessarily agree with that but many on the board have indicated the Purdue game was the turning point of the season.
First half of the season --
BYU – 28/46 for 268 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT
South Alabama – 26/45 for 313 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT
Miami – 25/42 for 379 yards, 2 TD and 1 INT
Southern Miss – 26/41 for 447 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT
Illinois – 23/45 for 251 yards, 2 TD and 0 INT
Wisconsin – 24/50 for 322 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT
152/269 (56.5%) for 1,980 yards, 9 TD and 3 INT, 3-1 TD/INT ratio
25.3/44.8 for 330 yards, 1.5 TDs and 0.5 INT per game
Second half of the season (plus bowl game) --
Minnesota – 26/40 for 301 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT
Northwestern – 13/28 for 177 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT
Purdue – 28/43 for 274 yards, 4 TD and 0 INT
Michigan State – 23/37 for 335 yards, 4 TD and 1 INT
Rutgers – 13/27 for 165 yards, 0 TD and 2 INT
Iowa – 9/16 for 97 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT
UCLA – 26/40 for 319 yards, 3 TD and 2 INT
138/231 (59.7%) for 1,668 yards, 14 TDs and 7 INTs, 2-1 TD/INT ratio
19.7/33 for 238 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT per game
Through Purdue Stats --
219/380 (57.6%) for 2,732 yards, 15 TDs and 5 INTs, 3-1 TD/INT ratio
24.3/42.2 for 303.5 yards, 1.67 TDs and 0.55 INTs per game
Post-Purdue Stats --
71/120 (59.2%) for 916 yards, 8 TDs and 5 INTs, 1.6 TD/INT ratio
17.8/30 for 229 yards, 2 TDs and 1.25 INTs per game
Some things to point out:
- Having 5 INTs through 9 games, and then having 5 INTs in the last 4 games. If Nebraska would've kept the pace of the last four games (1.25 interceptions per game) for the entire season that would be 16.25 interceptions for the season. That would have ranked as a tie for 21st in the country. The first nine game pace of 0.55 INTs would have ranked as a tie for 107th in the country.
- Nebraska faced probably the 3 best QBs they had seen all season (Connor Cook, CJ Beathard, and Josh Rosen) in those last four games.
- 330 yards per game in the first half of the season would have ranked 126th out of 127th in the country. 238 yards per game in the second half of the season would have ranked 83rd out of 127th in the country. Nearly a -100 YPG average and a 43 spot jump from the first half to the second half of the season.
- In games where Nebraska had one or more interception, their record was 5-2. The two losses were on a Hail Mary and a game that went into overtime. In games where they had zero interceptions, their record was 1-5. Only win was against Southern Miss.
Obviously we all know that the pass defense must improve this year. I've been a huge proponent of the reason that the pass defense was so poor was due to the lack of pass rush Nebraska got last season. That also has to improve in my opinion. Looking at the numbers though, I think there is some validity to the fact that the secondary did improve in the second half of the season, especially the last four games. We can only hope those statistics continue to trend up this season.
#GBR
