Where things went wrong offensively vs Nebraska...

mb5789 · Oct 7, 2024

Nebraska was getting a ton of penetration behind the LOS on run plays. Early in the game Kyle Monangai was able to make a lot of play essentially on this own by making guys miss at or behind the LOS on his runs in the 1st quarter, but as the game wore on the Nebraska DL proved to outmatch our banged up OL. Early in the game they did a good job running away from the interior run blitzes but Nebraska mad good adjustments and shut our running game down.

Rushing after a good 1st Q (excluding sack yardage):

1st Q rushing: 10/70 (7.0 ypc)
Rest of game: 21/44 (2.1 ypc)
When down 14: 13/27 (2.1 ypc)

We talked about what might happen when Rutgers played from behind and in short, they fell apart. They went from a 39% play action rate the first 4 games of the season to an 11% play action rate against Nebraska. Athan is very comfortable running play action as I previously posted about, for those who missed those splits on the season and against Nebraska...

Season splits:
Play action (30.9% of dropbacks): 30/42 (71.4%) for 415 yards, 4 TDs & 0 INTs (1 sack)
No play action (69.1% of dbs): 44/91 (48.4%) for 532 yards, 4 TDs & 3 INTs (7 sacks)

Nebraska splits:
Play action (11.4% of dropbacks): 5/5 (100%) for 43 yards, 0 TDs & 0 INTs (0 sacks)
No play action (88.6% of dbs): 10/32(31.3%) for 143 yards, 1 TD & 2 INTs (4 sacks)

We also regularly got off-schedule against Nebraska, which was a first for us all season. Here are our 1st down splits on the season:

1st down run/pass splits
- Nebraska
  - 14 Passing (53.8%): 5/13 (38.4%) for 57 yards (one defensive holding as well)
  - 12 Rushing (46.2%): 12 rushes for 31 yards (2.58 ypc)
- 1st 4 games
  - 46 Passing (34.6%): 29/46 (63%) for 352 yards
  - 87 Rushing (65.4%): 87 carries for 547 yards (6.29)

We got down 14 and the offense pressed too much in my opinion. They got away from what they've been successful doing the first four games and it threw off the entire balance of the offense. Rutgers was very good at staying ahead of schedule (especially setting up manageable 3rd downs) most of the season. They were 3rd in the FBS in average yards to go on 3rd down prior to this game:

Rutgers offense average 3rd down distance
- First 4 games: 3rd and 5.3
- Against Nebraska: 3rd and 7.2
  - 1st Q: 3rd and 3.7
  - Rest of game : 3rd and 8.0

After the 1st quarter, 3rd downs became unruly and put us into much longer situations than the offense could handle.

Some additional notes:

Offensive Line

False starts killed us. Penalties on OL: 3. The team as a whole had 4 total (the other penalty was the BS call on Dino Kaliakmanis)
KM really had to make a lot out of nothing in the running game. Most runs he was met at or behind los
OL was a problem, allowed far too many pressures. We need more safety valves in the passing game if OL continues to play this poorly

Passing game

Kaliakmanis made too many risky throws across his body
Split zone bluff was sniffed out every time (aka the Kenny Fletcher play)
Chris long was thrown far too many contested passes. He had 5 targets in traffic and caught just one. He's not good at it, let's stop targeting him in these situations

Overall the rest of the team took a step forward, but the offense took a step back. Nebraska likely has the best home environment and best front 7 that we will face all season. But losing Bryan Felter was a huge blow. Taj White and Dante Chin both struggled mightily replacing him, and Kobe Asamoah and Tyler Needham also struggled big time Saturday. Additionally, Kenny Fletcher was getting abused both in pass blocking and run blocking. We really need to clean up our OL because their poor play really stifled the offense Saturday, along with some really bad play-calling.

RU-Esq · Oct 7, 2024