Lol at Tony White…

[Alcaus]

IMO I think we need bigger DL, not necessarily more of them. We are way too small up front in 2025.

I just wonder how you counteract that when your existing roster is small, in-season.

Feels like finding monster nose tackles is tough and very competitive.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

We played in an offensively challenged B1G in 2022 and were 75th. First team we played from the B1G this year scored 30 on us, which would have us at 91st currently if that happened every game. So I'm not sure what you are getting at, but we will sink down from here.

Lol TW let ucla put 27 on us. ILL, Indiana, usc did whatever they wanted. TW shut down anemic offenses like Rutgers, Purdue and Cockeye - big whoop. His breakout games were Colo and OSU. TW get exposed too often and FSU is going to find that out

 

[nja13]

lol you do realize we play in the offensively challenged B1G, correct ?

Right. But you do realize that half of the teams we've played so far to give us that 14th ranking are Akron and Houston Christian, correct? No matter how offensively challenged the Big Ten is, it is going to be better than those two teams.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Right. But you do realize that half of the teams we've played so far to give us that 14th ranking are Akron and Houston Christian, correct? No matter how offensively challenged the Big Ten is, it is going to be better than those two teams.

Yeah I know - it will increase. My overall point was TW’s 20th ranked D wasn’t some awesome huge accomplishment - more about the inept offenses we played last year.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Right. But you do realize that half of the teams we've played so far to give us that 14th ranking are Akron and Houston Christian, correct? No matter how offensively challenged the Big Ten is, it is going to be better than those two teams.

Every team has a schedule like that at this point

 

[Jim14510]

Yeah I know - it will increase. My overall point was TW’s 20th ranked D wasn’t some awesome huge accomplishment - more about the inept offenses we played last year.

Yeah it was a good situation. Lot of veteran guys on D. Played a lot of bad offenses. Ohio St was an exception. Played really well that game and they weren't terribly focused.

Better than bit similar to Chinanders D that one year. Wasn't that Chins was good but he put a good defense together 1 out of 5 years.

 

[ShortSideOption]

I just wonder how you counteract that when your existing roster is small, in-season.

Feels like finding monster nose tackles is tough and very competitive.

Ya... you basically have to recruit them like we did Robinson, Nash, and now Van Poppel. The problem is Van Poppel is being asked to be something not even Nash was in his second year. When Nash was the same age as Van Poppel, he had Damion Daniels, Ben Stille, Deontre Thomas, AND Ty Robinson to let him just gain some experience. Year 3 is where Nash started really making some strides and getting some starts, I expect RVP to be pretty good next year.

But to your point, getting them in the portal is just something that really is tough for us to do. We have to grab a guy from a lower level school, or a backup at a bigger school. Or hire a former coach like we did for Nwaneri or Mozee.

We are pretty young on the DL... once Tyson Terry and Malcolm Simpson get healthy I'm excited to see them, but they will be in their first year playing. We really only lose Jeudy though (before portal entries of course).

 

[ShortSideOption]

Yeah I know - it will increase. My overall point was TW’s 20th ranked D wasn’t some awesome huge accomplishment - more about the inept offenses we played last year.

Why do Nebraska fans always do this when people leave our program, the coach or player wasn't that good because ______? Our scoring defense was 20th in the country and 11th the year prior, but now that our DC left us it really wasn't that great of an accomplishment because the offenses were inept?

Nebraska held 9 of the 13 opponents they played last year under their scoring average (UTEP, Northern Cockeye, Colorado, Purdue, Rutgers, Ohio State, USC, Cockeye, and Boston College). We can only play who is on our schedule. If we want to say having a top 25 scoring defense two years in a row with him isn't that great because we are in the B1G and the teams aren't that good, I'm not sure what we do to make people happy.

For the record, last year here are the top25 scoring defenses from our conference:
Ohio State (1st) - National Champions
Penn State (6th) - CFP Semifinal
Indiana (7th) - CFP
Minnesota (10th)
Cockeye (15th)
Oregon (16th) - CFP
Michigan (17th)
Nebraska (20th)

4 CFP teams, Cockeye and Michigan who are known for defense, then Minnesota. I think that's pretty good company to be keeping as a DC. Butler may need to be top10 this year to make people happy since the only top 25 scoring offenses we played last year (Colorado, Indiana, Ohio State) are no longer on the schedule.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

Why do Nebraska fans always do this when people leave our program, the coach or player wasn't that good because ______? Our scoring defense was 20th in the country and 11th the year prior, but now that our DC left us it really wasn't that great of an accomplishment because the offenses were inept?

Nebraska held 9 of the 13 opponents they played last year under their scoring average (UTEP, Northern Cockeye, Colorado, Purdue, Rutgers, Ohio State, USC, Cockeye, and Boston College). We can only play who is on our schedule. If we want to say having a top 25 scoring defense two years in a row with him isn't that great because we are in the B1G and the teams aren't that good, I'm not sure what we do to make people happy.

For the record, last year here are the top25 scoring defenses from our conference:
Ohio State (1st) - National Champions
Penn State (6th) - CFP Semifinal
Indiana (7th) - CFP
Minnesota (10th)
Cockeye (15th)
Oregon (16th) - CFP
Michigan (17th)
Nebraska (20th)

4 CFP teams, Cockeye and Michigan who are known for defense, then Minnesota. I think that's pretty good company to be keeping as a DC. Butler may need to be top10 this year to make people happy since the only top 25 scoring offenses we played last year (Colorado, Indiana, Ohio State) are no longer on the schedule.

Bro - the big ten offenses sucked donkey dick last year. Cockeye, Rutgers, and Purdue really helped skewed the numbers in our scoring defense ranking. I was embarrassed by our defensive performance against Ill, Indiana and UCLA. Cockeye set football back a century with their play - they look much improved on offense this season. Maryland has a much better offense than Rutgers . MSU much better offense than Purdue . Cincy and Colo are probably pretty similar .

TW didn’t fail or anything, but he’s not a big loss.

 

[herbsinator]

Why do Nebraska fans always do this when people leave our program, the coach or player wasn't that good because ______? Our scoring defense was 20th in the country and 11th the year prior, but now that our DC left us it really wasn't that great of an accomplishment because the offenses were inept?

Nebraska held 9 of the 13 opponents they played last year under their scoring average (UTEP, Northern Cockeye, Colorado, Purdue, Rutgers, Ohio State, USC, Cockeye, and Boston College). We can only play who is on our schedule. If we want to say having a top 25 scoring defense two years in a row with him isn't that great because we are in the B1G and the teams aren't that good, I'm not sure what we do to make people happy.

For the record, last year here are the top25 scoring defenses from our conference:
Ohio State (1st) - National Champions
Penn State (6th) - CFP Semifinal
Indiana (7th) - CFP
Minnesota (10th)
Cockeye (15th)
Oregon (16th) - CFP
Michigan (17th)
Nebraska (20th)

4 CFP teams, Cockeye and Michigan who are known for defense, then Minnesota. I think that's pretty good company to be keeping as a DC. Butler may need to be top10 this year to make people happy since the only top 25 scoring offenses we played last year (Colorado, Indiana, Ohio State) are no longer on the schedule.

I think Tony White was good, but based on almost all of the advance stats/power rankings, Nebraska’s D this year is not that far off from where they were last year in terms of total performance (even accounting for some serious issues on the DL).

 

[nscottie]

Why do Nebraska fans always do this when people leave our program, the coach or player wasn't that good because ______? Our scoring defense was 20th in the country and 11th the year prior, but now that our DC left us it really wasn't that great of an accomplishment because the offenses were inept?

Nebraska held 9 of the 13 opponents they played last year under their scoring average (UTEP, Northern Cockeye, Colorado, Purdue, Rutgers, Ohio State, USC, Cockeye, and Boston College). We can only play who is on our schedule. If we want to say having a top 25 scoring defense two years in a row with him isn't that great because we are in the B1G and the teams aren't that good, I'm not sure what we do to make people happy.

For the record, last year here are the top25 scoring defenses from our conference:
Ohio State (1st) - National Champions
Penn State (6th) - CFP Semifinal
Indiana (7th) - CFP
Minnesota (10th)
Cockeye (15th)
Oregon (16th) - CFP
Michigan (17th)
Nebraska (20th)

4 CFP teams, Cockeye and Michigan who are known for defense, then Minnesota. I think that's pretty good company to be keeping as a DC. Butler may need to be top10 this year to make people happy since the only top 25 scoring offenses we played last year (Colorado, Indiana, Ohio State) are no longer on the schedule.

All great points. It felt like year two with White was not quite as good as year one. How much was due to other teams figuring his defense out? Or how much was due to a tougher schedule in year two? Or how much was due to different players in year one vs year two?

I certainly don’t know the answer to these questions and could be a combination of factors. It would also be interesting to see how White’s defense would compare to Butler’s this year with the current players.

 

[Blakejc]

To have a -17 turnover margin in 2023 and allow 303ypg and 18.3pts/game is utterly amazing.

In 2023 our opponents average starting field position was the 31.5 yard line. That’s bonkers. 28 yard line is top 40. (In 2025 opponents starting field position is the 24.5 which is probably close to tops in the country)

In 2023 Opponents had 22 drives starting in Nebraska territory. Nebraska had 13 such drives.

 

[Jim14510]

Ya... you basically have to recruit them like we did Robinson, Nash, and now Van Poppel. The problem is Van Poppel is being asked to be something not even Nash was in his second year. When Nash was the same age as Van Poppel, he had Damion Daniels, Ben Stille, Deontre Thomas, AND Ty Robinson to let him just gain some experience. Year 3 is where Nash started really making some strides and getting some starts, I expect RVP to be pretty good next year.

But to your point, getting them in the portal is just something that really is tough for us to do. We have to grab a guy from a lower level school, or a backup at a bigger school. Or hire a former coach like we did for Nwaneri or Mozee.

We are pretty young on the DL... once Tyson Terry and Malcolm Simpson get healthy I'm excited to see them, but they will be in their first year playing. We really only lose Jeudy though (before portal entries of course).

Can Poppel was farther along than Nash was from an experience point. It was basically Nash first year playing football when he got to Nebraska.

Decided to leave the typo.

 

[Ironwardog]

Why do Nebraska fans always do this when people leave our program, the coach or player wasn't that good because ______? Our scoring defense was 20th in the country and 11th the year prior, but now that our DC left us it really wasn't that great of an accomplishment because the offenses were inept?

Nebraska held 9 of the 13 opponents they played last year under their scoring average (UTEP, Northern Cockeye, Colorado, Purdue, Rutgers, Ohio State, USC, Cockeye, and Boston College). We can only play who is on our schedule. If we want to say having a top 25 scoring defense two years in a row with him isn't that great because we are in the B1G and the teams aren't that good, I'm not sure what we do to make people happy.

For the record, last year here are the top25 scoring defenses from our conference:
Ohio State (1st) - National Champions
Penn State (6th) - CFP Semifinal
Indiana (7th) - CFP
Minnesota (10th)
Cockeye (15th)
Oregon (16th) - CFP
Michigan (17th)
Nebraska (20th)

4 CFP teams, Cockeye and Michigan who are known for defense, then Minnesota. I think that's pretty good company to be keeping as a DC. Butler may need to be top10 this year to make people happy since the only top 25 scoring offenses we played last year (Colorado, Indiana, Ohio State) are no longer on the schedule.

Little food for thought here too….. in 23’ (I know your talking 24’) I think his stats would have been even better had the offense not been so damned putrid and turned the ball over so GAWD damned many times, putting the D in bad positions A LOT.

 

[ShortSideOption]

Bro - the big ten offenses sucked donkey dick last year. Cockeye, Rutgers, and Purdue really helped skewed the numbers in our scoring defense ranking. I was embarrassed by our defensive performance against Ill, Indiana and UCLA. Cockeye set football back a century with their play - they look much improved on offense this season. Maryland has a much better offense than Rutgers . MSU much better offense than Purdue . Cincy and Colo are probably pretty similar .

TW didn’t fail or anything, but he’s not a big loss.

So an honest question... if our scoring defense ends up in the 40s or 50s this year, then will you consider it a big loss? I've heard for years that the B1G offenses suck, here are our scoring defense ranks:

2024 - 20th White
2023 - 11th White
2022 - 75th Chinander/Busch
2021- 37th Chinander
2020 - 64th Chinander
2019 - 61st Chinander
2018 - 94th Chinander
2017 - 114th Diaco
2016 - 30th Banker
2015 - 65th Banker
2014 - 53rd Papuchis
2013 - 42nd Papuchis
2012 - 63rd Papuchis
2011 - 46th CPelini

Tony White is Nebraska's best DC since joining this conference by a mile, turning a trainwreck around to consecutive top 25 scoring defensive units. Maybe I'll be wrong and Butler will have us top 25 again this year and what White did isn't that big of an accomplishment, I just think we are WAY undervaluing what he did here. In the 14 years Nebraska has been a part of this conference, we have only had 2 top 25 scoring defense, both by the guy that we are considering "not a big loss".

 

[ShortSideOption]

I think Tony White was good, but based on almost all of the advance stats/power rankings, Nebraska’s D this year is not that far off from where they were last year in terms of total performance (even accounting for some serious issues on the DL).

Like I said... if Butler's defense ends up top 25 in scoring defense this year I will gladly come eat crow. I just think the stats very much backup that TWhite was the best DC we have had here since joining the B1G, and I think we will at minimum fall out of the top 25 and more than likely be back in the 40s/50s for scoring defense.

 

[ShortSideOption]

All great points. It felt like year two with White was not quite as good as year one. How much was due to other teams figuring his defense out? Or how much was due to a tougher schedule in year two? Or how much was due to different players in year one vs year two?

I certainly don’t know the answer to these questions and could be a combination of factors. It would also be interesting to see how White’s defense would compare to Butler’s this year with the current players.

For sure, definitely different players. Though as I've referenced in this thread, you wouldn't have to be replacing your entire front 7 this year if White/Knighton had stayed.

 

[ShortSideOption]

Little food for thought here too….. in 23’ (I know your talking 24’) I think his stats would have been even better had the offense not been so damned putrid and turned the ball over so GAWD damned many times, putting the D in bad positions A LOT.

Ya, the announcer just screaming at the screen "you have to take him out" in the Colorado game about our starting QB was pretty telling.

 

[TampaBaySkers]

So an honest question... if our scoring defense ends up in the 40s or 50s this year, then will you consider it a big loss? I've heard for years that the B1G offenses suck, here are our scoring defense ranks:

2024 - 20th White
2023 - 11th White
2022 - 75th Chinander/Busch
2021- 37th Chinander
2020 - 64th Chinander
2019 - 61st Chinander
2018 - 94th Chinander
2017 - 114th Diaco
2016 - 30th Banker
2015 - 65th Banker
2014 - 53rd Papuchis
2013 - 42nd Papuchis
2012 - 63rd Papuchis
2011 - 46th CPelini

Tony White is Nebraska's best DC since joining this conference by a mile, turning a trainwreck around to consecutive top 25 scoring defensive units. Maybe I'll be wrong and Butler will have us top 25 again this year and what White did isn't that big of an accomplishment, I just think we are WAY undervaluing what he did here. In the 14 years Nebraska has been a part of this conference, we have only had 2 top 25 scoring defense, both by the guy that we are considering "not a big loss".

Yes - he’s a huge upgrade over Diaco and Chins. I don’t think anyone would argue with you there

 

[Blakejc]

Like I said... if Butler's defense ends up top 25 in scoring defense this year I will gladly come eat crow. I just think the stats very much backup that TWhite was the best DC we have had here since joining the B1G, and I think we will at minimum fall out of the top 25 and more than likely be back in the 40s/50s for scoring defense.

he’s lucky to be avoiding Indiana, Ohio state, and Oregon. And to a lesser extent Illinois and Washington. Butler’s toughest challenges are USC and who else? Maryland? Michigan might have been the 2nd best offense we see all year.