Let's Look at Some 2020 Stats

[John_J_Rambo]

Here's a few that stood out to me:

Offense - Finished 4th in total offense (391.5 yards/game, behind osu, psu & md), but 12th(!) in points/game (23.4). Converting only 36.5% of third downs didn't help (10th in B1G).

Being horrendous in the red zone (again) really stands out - 35 trips, 30 scores (pretty good!), but only 18 touchdowns (that's really, really bad!). We need to find a way to score touchdowns, especially when we're not getting them on explosive plays.

It's been said a lot on here, but I have to reiterate the need to rely a lot less (50%) on quarterback runs and again find a way to push the ball down the field.

the offensive stats don't look too bad in a vacuum, but watching the last 2 years has been maddening due mostly to massive inconsistency & tendency to turn the ball over way too much.

Defense - Finished 7th in total defense. that's fine. definitely the best phase for the second year in a row, albeit an average one.

Pass D - 10th in completion percentage allowed (63.1%), only 13 sacks (9th in B1G) an 5 picks (T7th). I think our pass defense improved, and I also think teams that lose as much as we do usually put up good pass D stats simply due to lack of necessity by opposing offenses. we need to be more opportunistic.

Rush D - allowed the 4th most rush TDs (15(!)) in the conference and only recovered 5 fumbles (10th in B1G). 4.2 ypc on the 3rd most rush attempts defended is also.... not great. but, again, I think there's some game script noise there.

we also allowed opponents to convert 40.5% of 3rd downs (10th in B1G) and 65% of 4th downs (12th in B1G).

good news, though not sure how repeatable it is - D was good in the red zone. 30 scores in 35 tries (meh), but only 18 touchdowns allowed. that's really good, especially when we're not creating negative plays, not getting penalties called on opponents and not forcing turnovers.

Misc - We finished 11th in the league in penalties (59 accepted for 60.6 yards/game), while our opponents had 39 accepted penalties for 44.6 yards/game, 9th in the conference. 20 more penalties than our opponents over an 8 game season is a lot.

in summary - we're pretty good on offense between the 20s but among the worst nationally scoring TDs inside the red zone and turning the ball over. defense is basically the exact opposite - horrible at getting off the field, but able to minimize the damage in the red zone.

100% of our focus this offseason should be on efficiency, specifically in the red zone on offense and on 3rd down on defense. those are stats that portend winning, and that's where we're the worst.

 

[phoenix4nu]

What about special teams statistics? I would imagine that outside of field goal and extra point percentages they were pretty bad.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

What about special teams statistics? I would imagine that outside of field goal and extra point percentages they were pretty bad.

finished dead last in net kickoff yardage (36 yards/kickoff). I think a lot of this lands on coaching, as Culp could put it in the end zone when we weren't scheming for him not to for some reason.

finished second to last in net punting (35.8 yards/punt). looks like a combination of our punter can't kick far (only 39.7 yards/punt), only forcing 6 fair catches on 33 punts and allowing the second most yards per return (4.4) in the conference. again, I think this has more to do with coaching and a lack of attention to detail than anything else.

field goals - best we've been in awhile, 2nd in the conference in both made FGs (13) and percentage (86.7%). frankly, I'd rather we kick less, especially in the red zone (12 of 13 FGs).

returns - 8th in kickoff returns (18.3 yards per), only 15 attempts, though. ohio state is dead last in this stat and only tried to return 7 kicks this year FWIW. finished 2nd in punt returning (13.3 yards/return), and this was noticeably improved. some complain about fair catches, but I never will. the ball should never bounce on punts.

in short - we're the worst team in the conference covering kicks and punts.

 

[WHCSC]

A tough, hard-nosed team that doesn't beat itself we are not

 

[John_J_Rambo]

A tough, hard-nosed team that doesn't beat itself we are not

certainly not on offense and kick coverage.

defense could be mistaken for tough/hard-nosed/disciplined on the right day.

 

[EastOregonHusker]

Good breakdown. Getting off the field on 3rd and mid to long was a huge problem. One true pass rusher could have changed the outcome of a couple of those losses.

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

We played a bunch of garbage teams.

None of the stats are impressive.

 

[phoenix4nu]

finished dead last in net kickoff yardage (36 yards/kickoff). I think a lot of this lands on coaching, as Culp could put it in the end zone when we weren't scheming for him not to for some reason.

finished second to last in net punting (35.8 yards/punt). looks like a combination of our punter can't kick far (only 39.7 yards/punt), only forcing 6 fair catches on 33 punts and allowing the second most yards per return (4.4) in the conference. again, I think this has more to do with coaching and a lack of attention to detail than anything else.

field goals - best we've been in awhile, 2nd in the conference in both made FGs (13) and percentage (86.7%). frankly, I'd rather we kick less, especially in the red zone (12 of 13 FGs).

returns - 8th in kickoff returns (18.3 yards per), only 15 attempts, though. ohio state is dead last in this stat and only tried to return 7 kicks this year FWIW. finished 2nd in punt returning (13.3 yards/return), and this was noticeably improved. some complain about fair catches, but I never will. the ball should never bounce on punts.

in short - we're the worst team in the conference covering kicks and punts.

Thanks.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

We played a bunch of garbage teams.

None of the stats are impressive.

we're in a garbage conference. every season we will play 8 or so garbage teams.

we need to start beating them.

 

[NebChicago]

Great analysis! Thanks!

we suck

 

[cubsker]

Say what you will about iowa and NW but they play really solid defense. That's 3 out of 8 games against really good defenses.

 

[Cornicator]

We played a bunch of garbage teams.

None of the stats are impressive.

The Big Ten was pretty good this season, you're misguided.

Nebraska finished 31st in the ESPN SP+ rankings and played 5 top 30 teams per that metric.
Nebraska finished 40th in the FPI rankings and played 4 opponents ranked in the top 20.

According to the FPI, which ranks offensive, defensive, and special teams efficiency, Nebraska finished top 40 in both offense and defense, but had the 114th worst special teams group in the country. Only six Power 5 teams were considered worse than Nebraska from a special teams standpoint.

 

[Cornicator]

we're in a garbage conference. every season we will play 8 or so garbage teams.

we need to start beating them.

Conference is not garbage... not by any metric used by real football folks.

But yes, Nebraska needs to start beating teams they should beat.

 

[cubsker]

The Big Ten was pretty good this season, you're misguided.

Nebraska finished 31st in the ESPN SP+ rankings and played 5 top 30 teams per that metric.
Nebraska finished 40th in the FPI rankings and played 4 opponents ranked in the top 20.

According to the FPI, which ranks offensive, defensive, and special teams efficiency, Nebraska finished top 40 in both offense and defense, but had the 114th worst special teams group in the country. Only six Power 5 teams were considered worse than Nebraska from a special teams standpoint.

Almost typed up this post, but mrsjeans is just here to bitch so there's no point.

 

[phoenix4nu]

Conference is not garbage... not by any metric used by real football folks.

But yes, Nebraska needs to start beating teams they should beat.

Improving special teams play would go a long way toward doing that.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

Conference is not garbage... not by any metric used by real football folks.

But yes, Nebraska needs to start beating teams they should beat.

per DVOA, the one single aggregate measurement "real football folks" consider to be more useful than every other, the B1G had 6 teams inside the top 50 this year.

coming in right at 50? none other than our Huskers.

according to that metric, there were only 5 teams in the conference better than us. 1 was penn st.

the B1G is a garbage conference. that is a fact, and is backed up by every "real football" (see: not invented by ESPN) metric in circulation.

there are 14 teams in the conference. three of the teams in the top 50 (us/wisc/psu) didn't have a winning record. another (iowa) didn't beat a team over .500 all year.

8 of the 14 teams in the conference aren't even on the competitive map.

 

[9and4]

We need to play the field-position game better, and that usually starts with defense and special teams.

The defense is improving year by year under Chinander, and if another couple of starters choose to return (I'm hoping for Stille and a safety, maybe Honas, too), we should field a top 25 defense nationally.

Special teams could be helped if Daniel Cerni is as effective as Iowa's 25-year-old freshman Aussie was this past year, and if we find someone to kick the ball out of the end zone on kickoffs. That alone helps the field-position game.

Finally, in order to play this type of football, the offense needs to know when to cut its losses. That could mean that, given the improvements in defense and special teams noted above, the offense will not have to press the issue on third-and-long and even fourth down if it doesn't want to.

It may feel boring to turn into Iowa, Wisconsin or Northwestern, but name the teams that have won West Division titles in the seven years of the current division setup.

Answer: Wisconsin 4, Northwestern 2, Iowa 1.

 

[JabroniBlvd]

We misused Mills all season long. He isn't a great but is a good enough one. He needs a lot of carries to get going. Needed to give it to him way more often and worry less about situational plays.

 

[Cornicator]

per DVOA, the one single aggregate measurement "real football folks" consider to be more useful than every other, the B1G had 6 teams inside the top 50 this year.

coming in right at 50? none other than our Huskers.

according to that metric, there were only 5 teams in the conference better than us. 1 was penn st.

the B1G is a garbage conference. that is a fact, and is backed up by every "real football" (see: not invented by ESPN) metric in circulation.

there are 14 teams in the conference. three of the teams in the top 50 (us/wisc/psu) didn't have a winning record. another (iowa) didn't beat a team over .500 all year.

8 of the 14 teams in the conference aren't even on the competitive map.

The DVOA has BYU Ranked ahead of Clemson. Its a website that gives people computer AIDS. Nobody is paying attention to that metric except for you.

 

[PCastro]

Here's a few that stood out to me:

Offense - Finished 4th in total offense (391.5 yards/game, behind osu, psu & md), but 12th(!) in points/game (23.4). Converting only 36.5% of third downs didn't help (10th in B1G).

Being horrendous in the red zone (again) really stands out - 35 trips, 30 scores (pretty good!), but only 18 touchdowns (that's really, really bad!). We need to find a way to score touchdowns, especially when we're not getting them on explosive plays.

It's been said a lot on here, but I have to reiterate the need to rely a lot less (50%) on quarterback runs and again find a way to push the ball down the field.

the offensive stats don't look too bad in a vacuum, but watching the last 2 years has been maddening due mostly to massive inconsistency & tendency to turn the ball over way too much.

Defense - Finished 7th in total defense. that's fine. definitely the best phase for the second year in a row, albeit an average one.

Pass D - 10th in completion percentage allowed (63.1%), only 13 sacks (9th in B1G) an 5 picks (T7th). I think our pass defense improved, and I also think teams that lose as much as we do usually put up good pass D stats simply due to lack of necessity by opposing offenses. we need to be more opportunistic.

Rush D - allowed the 4th most rush TDs (15(!)) in the conference and only recovered 5 fumbles (10th in B1G). 4.2 ypc on the 3rd most rush attempts defended is also.... not great. but, again, I think there's some game script noise there.

we also allowed opponents to convert 40.5% of 3rd downs (10th in B1G) and 65% of 4th downs (12th in B1G).

good news, though not sure how repeatable it is - D was good in the red zone. 30 scores in 35 tries (meh), but only 18 touchdowns allowed. that's really good, especially when we're not creating negative plays, not getting penalties called on opponents and not forcing turnovers.

Misc - We finished 11th in the league in penalties (59 accepted for 60.6 yards/game), while our opponents had 39 accepted penalties for 44.6 yards/game, 9th in the conference. 20 more penalties than our opponents over an 8 game season is a lot.

in summary - we're pretty good on offense between the 20s but among the worst nationally scoring TDs inside the red zone and turning the ball over. defense is basically the exact opposite - horrible at getting off the field, but able to minimize the damage in the red zone.

100% of our focus this offseason should be on efficiency, specifically in the red zone on offense and on 3rd down on defense. those are stats that portend winning, and that's where we're the worst.

Agree with red zone needs!!!!!!!

 

[cubsker]

We misused Mills all season long. He isn't a great but is a good enough one. He needs a lot of carries to get going. Needed to give it to him way more often and worry less about situational plays.

Before the finale, the best yards per carry mills had in a game this year was 4.2. That's really bad.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

The DVOA has BYU Ranked ahead of Clemson. Its a website that gives people computer AIDS. Nobody is paying attention to that metric except for you.

use your metrics, then. please. I would love to see the mathematical gymnastics one can do to turn a conference with 6 even remotely competitive teams out of 14 into treasure while everyone else views it, rightly so, as trash.

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

Almost typed up this post, but mrsjeans is just here to bitch so there's no point.

Thank you.

But if you think the Big West is good


You guys live in fairytale land.

 

[Cornicator]

use your metrics, then. please. I would love to see the mathematical gymnastics one can do to turn a conference with 6 even remotely competitive teams out of 14 into treasure while everyone else views it, rightly so, as trash.

Its the line of scrimmage.

Its how a team like Northwestern can line up and just dominate a team like Auburn at the point of attack.
Its how a team like Wisconsin, that could barely must a first down over the last month of the season, can rack up 40+ points against an ACC team.

Its how a team like Ohio State can make Clemson look like Nebraska, and dominate them up front.

People like you and others around the country despise the Big Ten because it looks boring as fvck. In reality, the talent along the line of scrimmage has allowed the conference to move past the rest of college football.

 

[cubsker]

use your metrics, then. please. I would love to see the mathematical gymnastics one can do to turn a conference with 6 even remotely competitive teams out of 14 into treasure while everyone else views it, rightly so, as trash.

How many remotely competitive teams did the SEC have? The team that finished third in one division was bitch slapped by NW. Third in the other division was a two TD underdog to Iowa.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

Its the line of scrimmage.

Its how a team like Northwestern can line up and just dominate a team like Auburn at the point of attack.
Its how a team like Wisconsin, that could barely must a first down over the last month of the season, can rack up 40+ points against an ACC team.

Its how a team like Ohio State can make Clemson look like Nebraska, and dominate them up front.

People like you and others around the country despise the Big Ten because it looks boring as fvck. In reality, the talent along the line of scrimmage has allowed the conference to move past the rest of college football.

yes, it's the line of scrimmage that allowed wisc to rush for 2.8 yards/carry against an ACC bottom feeder.

it's the line of scrimmage that allowed nw to knock off a lame duck auburn team in a tailspin and without a head coach.

awesome analysis.

move past the rest of college football? LOL!!! wake up, man.

 

[JaySker402]

Here's a few that stood out to me:

Being horrendous in the red zone (again) really stands out - 35 trips, 30 scores (pretty good!), but only 18 touchdowns (that's really, really bad!). We need to find a way to score touchdowns, especially when we're not getting them on explosive plays.


good news, though not sure how repeatable it is - D was good in the red zone. 30 scores in 35 tries (meh), but only 18 touchdowns allowed. that's really good, especially when we're not creating negative plays, not getting penalties called on opponents and not forcing turnovers.

Anyone notice something here? Was our offense playing against our defense in the redzone?

 

[Cornicator]

yes, it's the line of scrimmage that allowed wisc to rush for 2.8 yards/carry against an ACC bottom feeder.

it's the line of scrimmage that allowed nw to knock off a lame duck auburn team in a tailspin and without a head coach.

awesome analysis.

move past the rest of college football? LOL!!! wake up, man.

Wisconsin won that game because Wake Forest couldn't block them at the line of scrimmage forcing the QB to throw 4 picks when he only had one all season.

And Auburn being lame duck had nothing to do with Northwestern running the ball down their throat when they couldn't really physically manhandle any Big Ten teams outside of Maryland.

But I'm not really basing this on meaningless bowls. THe reality is the Big Ten has the most line of scrimmage talent in college football. Outside of Alabama, the SEC has fallen off dramatically the last few seasons. The Big Twelve, ACC, and Pac 12 are just paper tigers up front outside of OU and Clemson.


Ohio State is going to have 4 offensive linemen and 2 defensive linemen drafted.
Minnesota is going to have 2 offensive linemen drafted
Illinois is going to have 2 offensive linemen drafted
Iowa is going to send 2 offensive linemen and 2 defensive linemen to the NFL this season.
Penn State is going to have 1 offensive linemen and 2 defensive linemen drafted.
Michigan is going to have 2 defensive linemen drafted
Northwestern is going to have 2 offensive linemen and 1 defensive linemen drafted
Rutgers will have 1 defensive linemen drafted.
Indiana will have 1 defensive linemen and 1 offensive linemen drafted.
Wisconsin will have another Offensive tackle Drafted, and 2 Defensive linemen drafted.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

Wisconsin won that game because Wake Forest couldn't block them at the line of scrimmage forcing the QB to throw 4 picks when he only had one all season.

And Auburn being lame duck had nothing to do with Northwestern running the ball down their throat when they couldn't really physically manhandle any Big Ten teams outside of Maryland.

But I'm not really basing this on meaningless bowls. THe reality is the Big Ten has the most line of scrimmage talent in college football. Outside of Alabama, the SEC has fallen off dramatically the last few seasons. The Big Twelve, ACC, and Pac 12 are just paper tigers up front outside of OU and Clemson.


Ohio State is going to have 4 offensive linemen and 2 defensive linemen drafted.
Minnesota is going to have 2 offensive linemen drafted
Illinois is going to have 2 offensive linemen drafted
Iowa is going to send 2 offensive linemen and 2 defensive linemen to the NFL this season.
Penn State is going to have 1 offensive linemen and 2 defensive linemen drafted.
Michigan is going to have 2 defensive linemen drafted
Northwestern is going to have 2 offensive linemen and 1 defensive linemen drafted
Rutgers will have 1 defensive linemen drafted.
Indiana will have 1 defensive linemen and 1 offensive linemen drafted.
Wisconsin will have another Offensive tackle Drafted, and 2 Defensive linemen drafted.

wake gaining 518 yards despite not being able to block makes them, what, the green bay packers, then?

last year the B1G had 48 players drafted. 20 of them were from 2 teams (mich/osu).

maybe this year will be different. but on the whole, the B1G is as top-heavy as any conference out there, and our top rarely beat theirs, be it the ACC, SEC or any other.

it's good you're not basing the B1G's 'success' on bowl games. they've been above .500 in those a whopping 4x (including this year) since 2002.

 

[SkerInCo]

Redzone scoring and 6 of 33 punts being fair caught are absolutely brutal.

 

[Mack In Motion]

Anyone notice something here? Was our offense playing against our defense in the redzone?

Defense was bend but don't break. Offense was bend but don't score.

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

Redzone scoring and 6 of 33 punts being fair caught are absolutely brutal.

Not to mention the muff punt that cost us the Iowa game.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

Redzone scoring and 6 of 33 punts being fair caught are absolutely brutal.

the kicking stuff is interesting.

osu was dead last in kickoff returns, choosing to only try 7 times. on the flip side, they're first in net punting, even though there's only a 7-8 yard difference in net between them and last place.

fair catching is a strategy they've embraced and seem to be almost eliminating the kicking game from making an impact on their games at all, for both sides.

needless to say, with an offense like theirs, it's working.

 

[HominidHusker]

Despite my usual off-season kool aid chugs, I’ve been openly critical of our team... and I don’t ignore what has transpired on the field the last (insert your number) years.

On my optimistic days I see glimmers of hope as we move forward; that feeling that we’re close.

But on the not so optimistic days, I see how we have enough “paper talent” to be so much better but see coaches perpetually failing.

Plenty of reasons to be optimistic, plenty of reasons to reserve skepticism.

Maybe this year’s off season kool aid will be generic brand ‘flavor aid,’ extra watered down to the point where I wonder what’s the point.... but it’s something to sip that won’t send me to court mandated meetings.

 

[NUinnwks]

We misused Mills all season long. He isn't a great but is a good enough one. He needs a lot of carries to get going. Needed to give it to him way more often and worry less about situational plays.

Mills was injured and not available or quite limited for a number of games. A person would have to look at the game participation data to be exact. But to be fair, Mill’s time out with injuries has to be taken into account in determining whether he was misused or underused in games during the 2010 season.

 

[jmliehr]

per DVOA, the one single aggregate measurement "real football folks" consider to be more useful than every other, the B1G had 6 teams inside the top 50 this year.

coming in right at 50? none other than our Huskers.

according to that metric, there were only 5 teams in the conference better than us. 1 was penn st.

the B1G is a garbage conference. that is a fact, and is backed up by every "real football" (see: not invented by ESPN) metric in circulation.

there are 14 teams in the conference. three of the teams in the top 50 (us/wisc/psu) didn't have a winning record. another (iowa) didn't beat a team over .500 all year.

8 of the 14 teams in the conference aren't even on the competitive map.

While generally I like to follow the numbers, I wonder how much was the B1G helped by only playing 4 non conference games.

 

[Kenny Fin Powers]

People like you and others around the country despise the Big Ten because it looks boring as fvck. In reality, the talent along the line of scrimmage has allowed the conference to move past the rest of college football.

Alabama says hi. Wake Forest too since you apparently didn't realize you said WAKE FOREST.

 

[9and4]

Despite my usual off-season kool aid chugs, I’ve been openly critical of our team... and I don’t ignore what has transpired on the field the last (insert your number) years.

On my optimistic days I see glimmers of hope as we move forward; that feeling that we’re close.

But on the not so optimistic days, I see how we have enough “paper talent” to be so much better but see coaches perpetually failing.

Plenty of reasons to be optimistic, plenty of reasons to reserve skepticism.

Maybe this year’s off season kool aid will be generic brand ‘flavor aid,’ extra watered down to the point where I wonder what’s the point.... but it’s something to sip that won’t send me to court mandated meetings.

Metaphor effectively extended. A Plus.

 

[NebChicago]

Its the line of scrimmage.

Its how a team like Northwestern can line up and just dominate a team like Auburn at the point of attack.
Its how a team like Wisconsin, that could barely must a first down over the last month of the season, can rack up 40+ points against an ACC team.

Its how a team like Ohio State can make Clemson look like Nebraska, and dominate them up front.

People like you and others around the country despise the Big Ten because it looks boring as fvck. In reality, the talent along the line of scrimmage has allowed the conference to move past the rest of college football.

Ha! He said computer AIDS. There’s not enough AIDS humor nowadays

 

[Mr.Scary13]

How many remotely competitive teams did the SEC have? The team that finished third in one division was bitch slapped by NW. Third in the other division was a two TD underdog to Iowa.

Ole Miss bitchslapped the 2nd best team in the BIG.