Defense Needs Improvement
The Blackshirts have been less than stellar so far this year. At this point in time, they are on track to be one of the worst defenses statistically in the last sixty years of Big Red football. No, you did not read that wrong.
The Jared Crick injury, as unfortunate as it is, actually could not have happened at a better time for the Huskers. Why, you ask? Well, the injury happened before the bye week, so that means the past two weeks have been full of the defensive line changing schemes, options, and allowing the backups ample of time to prepare for their new roles.
Now, it would be a lot better had Crick not been hurt, but life is life, and the Huskers are going to have to move on and figure out what to do without him. As productive as the offense has been at times so far this year, the team still relies on the defense to win games.
With big games on the schedule left (Michigan State, Michigan, Penn State, among others), the defense is where this game is going to be won.
The offense will put up some points against these highly talented defenses, but if the defense does not play well, then the offense might not be able to keep up. But the offense has to stop turning the ball over and putting the defense in a tough spot. The defense could also help out the offense by creating some turnovers and getting field position.
Thankfully, the Huskers have an underachieving opponent this weekend in Minnesota this week to break in the new defensive line. Hopefully they will learn from mistakes made this week, and use that for when Sparty rolls into Lincoln in two weeks (which oh by the way, is going to be at 11 am on ESPN/ESPN2 or 2:30 on ABC).
The Huskers, ranked at #13, are probably out of the national title contention, but they are definitely not out of the running for the B1G 10 championship, and can always play the role of the spoiler. First things first, let’s take care of Minnesota this week.
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