Troy came out of fall camp with a heated QB battle that was not decided until the week of their opening game. Junior QB Kaleb Barker was given the keys to the Trojan’s offense by head coach Neal Brown, which has resulted in a 1-1 start. Troy’s offense will come into Memorial Stadium with the 65th ranked offense in the country, after facing Boise State on the road and Florida A&M at home. In those two games Barker has accounted for a little over 50% of Troy’s total offense, while also completing 65% of his passes and 6 total touchdowns. The 6-foot-1, 206-pound QB has found success making plays in a variety of ways for the Trojans because of his ability to be accurate within the pocket, as well as outside of it. Coach Brown has also done a great job of utilizing Barker as running threat on QB designed runs. Troy obviously will be meeting their match going up against the physical Husker defensive front seven, however plan on the offensive game plan to still center around #7 being a dual threat option. Troy has struggled to keep Barker upright in the pocket their first two games, giving up a total of eight sacks. Nebraska will look to have similar success with their pass rush against Troy’s offensive line, however I believe Kaleb Barker will present a different challenge for the Huskers defense with his ability to extend plays and make throws on the run. Let’s take a look at this weeks breakdown of the matchup between QB Kaleb Barker, Troy’s offensive line and the Blackshirt defense.

1.

Troy’s offense will present a familiar style of play as the Huskers, as the Trojans will operate much of their offense in 11 personnel (any offensive formation with 1 RB, 1 TE and 3 WR’s) and 10 personnel (any offensive formation with 1 RB and 4 WRs) while also utilizing zone read principles, screens and play action passes. Troy’s offensive linemen are not big movers off the ball, which will be a problem for them when trying to establish their inside running game.

The key for the Trojans will be getting QB Kaleb Barker on the edge on zone reads and QB designed runs. In the play above, Troy comes out in a 3×1 formation with RB to the same side as the three WRs. The Trojans run a zone read blocking scheme, with Barker reading the defensive end to determine if he will give the ball to the running back or keep it himself. The defensive end in this situation, takes the running back and Barker gets a running lane on the edge. Head coach Neal Brown and offensive coordinator Troy Taylor does a good job tagging a screen play to the three wide receiver side to help occupy the defensive backs. Barker does a good job of getting vertical and up the field, almost picking up the first down on this 3rd and long play.

2.

(Diagram A)

Although the Trojans offensive line returns a lot of playing experience from last year, this unit has struggled in pass protection early on in the season. When watching the Boise State game, you could tell the Broncos put a big emphasis on creating confusion for the Trojans offensive line by running stunts with their defensive linemen and linebackers. I would expect the Huskers to use a much similar approach.

On this 3rd down and long play, Boise State runs a variation of their cover-2 “Robber” coverage (safety plays the medium-to-deep part of the middle of the field, eyeing the QB) against Troy’s vertical routes. The Broncos added a “ToN” stunt (see Diagram A) to the call for the defensive tackle and nose tackle, defeating the Troy protection without much contest. One thing you should notice in the video is how both of Boise State’s rush ends get up the field quickly, push the pocket and force Barker into the arms of the defensive tackle.

3.

(Diagram B)

Boise State was able to get consistent pressure on Barker with a variety of stunts and blitzes that caused problems for Troy’s offensive linemen. Here on first down late in the second quarter, the Broncos again ran cover-2 “Robber”, this time with a defensive end/linebacker twist (Diagram B) to the side of the running back. Nebraska used a similar stunt with Luke Gifford and Alex Davis last week against Colorado, which resulted in Blackshirt sack. As you can see in the video and diagram, Boise State sends a three-man rush and does a great job of getting to Barker initially, but the Broncos are unable to take him down. Barker does a great job keeping his balance but more importantly keeping his eyes down field, finding his 6’4″ senior wide receiver, Damion Willis, on a big play before the end of the half.

4.

(Diagram C)

The Boise State game got out of hand fairly quickly but it was intriguing to see Kaleb Barker rely on his arm to get Troy back into the game, somewhat. Barker did complete 20 of his 29 passes against the Broncos defense and despite the punishment he took, he continued to step up and make plays for the Trojan offense. Boise State is in a cover-1 look against Barker here, and adds a blitzing nickel cornerback off the edge (Diagram C). With as much pressure Nebraska brought last week versus Colorado while playing cover-1, this is definitely a play the Huskers will see on Saturday. This route concept should also be very familiar to the Huskers defense as well, as it resembles the fade-slant combo Colorado ran against the Blackshirt defense, which resulted in a couple big plays for the Buffs.

The design of this play is meant to get Barker out onto the edge and to get the ball out of his hand quickly. Even with the slide protection, the Troy offensive line struggled to keep the Broncos defensive linemen out of the face of Barker. The thing I liked most about this play for Barker, outside of the throw obviously, was how he deliberately steps up into the pocket despite the pressure of the rush. The pass is delivered perfectly to the outside shoulder of wide receiver Deondre Douglas for a late Troy touchdown. Douglas finished the game against Boise State with 102 yards on 7 catches, so I look for Barker to find the two-time Second Team All-Sun Belt receiver early and often.

In summary, if the Huskers can get the same type of pressure they got last week on Kaleb Barker, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander and the Blackshirt defense will be enthused. #94 Khalil Davis will present a huge problem for the Trojans interior offensive linemen with his explosiveness and quickness not only with his pass rush, but also against the run game. #12 Luke Gifford and #43 Tyrin Ferguson will be intrecal parts to the Huskers success at containing Barker in the pocket. Preventing Kaleb Barker from extending plays must be high on the Huskers priority list. With the announcement that Jamarius Henderson (RB) and Traveon Samuel (WR) will continue to be suspended, head coach Neal Brown will have no choice but to lean on Kaleb Barker to carry the majority of the heavy lifting for the offense.

Although this will be Troy’s biggest challenge of the seson, I believe Kaleb Barker has the tools to keep the game interesting when the Blackshirts are on the field. The Cornhuskers must take away Troy’s running game early on in the game and when the Huskers get to Barker, they must gang tackle and look for opportunities to create turnovers. The Trojans do not have a passing threat as dynamic as Colorado’s Laviska Shenault, so I expect a rebound game for the Husker’s secondary. I predict the Blackshirts will get at least 4 sacks in the game and hold Kaleb Barker to under 250 total yards. The Huskers will win the game 45-10, setting up a potential program defining game (maybe too early?) against the fighting Harbaugh’s of Michigan.