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Coming into the game against the Buffs, I was interested to see how the new look Nebraska 3-4 defense would adjust to the spread attack Colorado would present. With no help from the weather last week, Nebraska missed out on an opportunity to get a test run against Akron’s spread attack but nevertheless, Colorado came into Memorial Stadium 1-0 after defeating their in-state rival Colorado State 45-13 the previous week. The Buffs offense tallied 596 total yards of offense against CSU, with QB Steven Montez accounting for 338 yards in the air & 41 yards on the ground. Montez’s favorite & most productive target by far was true sophomore WR Laviska Shenault, who torched the Rams secondary for 211 yards on 11 catches & 1 td. Although the Husker’s keyed in on Shenault, he proved his sophomore debut was no fluke with his performance on Saturday against the Huskers. Let’s take a look at a couple of the ways the Colorado’s offensive play caller & co-offensive coordiantor, Darrin Chiaverini, got Shenault involved in the offense.

1.

Sheanault got involved in the game early on the first drive with a reverse flea flicker pass. Due to Shenaults size and blocking ability, he spent a lot time in the slot or H back position, which caused a lot of problems for the Husker’s defense when trying to use bracket coverage. Typically, bracket coverage is an inside-out man technique used to double a WR in the passing game by a linebacker and safety. Here you can see #5 Dedrick Young III is in man coverage on Shenault, as the Huskers present a cover-1 look with a single safety deep. The husker’s were in man to man coverage for most of the game, varying from cover 0 & 1 while adding a lot of pressure on Montez and the Buffs offensive line. Shenault begins the play on a rather lack luster attempt at selling a block, which alerted the Nebraska defense that a trick play was coming. As the play develops and Shenault releases, you notice that the nickel cornerback #14 Tre Neal follows the WR coming in for the pitch on the flea flicker. Typically in man to man defense, you can communicate “push’ or “banjo” calls (Neal would take Shenault and Young III would take the WR coming back into the backfield) to prevent clutter when WRs cross the formation but the Huskers “lock” their coverage and Dedrick Young III takes Seanult man to man on the wheel route. Young III played the route fairly well but Shenault did an excellent job on this play, and throughout the game, high pointing the football and coming down with the ball in traffic.

2.

Shenault’s playmaking ability and confidence is beyond the likes of many true sophomore you will see on Saturdays. Chiaverini showed his confidence in his young WR in the mid-to-late first quarter, by running wildcat in a goal line 4th and 1 situation. The Buffs ran a power blocking scheme and the Blackshirt defense did a great job of fitting the run scheme up. #24 Aaron Williams does a great job keying the OG pull & fills inside out, while #7 Mo Barry gets over the top and “levers” the ball back to the Aaron Williams. The Huskers do a great job of getting bodies to the ball, but Shenault keeps his feet driving and got into the end zone for the Buffs second touchdown of the game.

3.

The Huskers applied constant pressure on QB Steven Montez which resulted in a total of 7 sacks in the game. Relying on man coverage most of the game, Nebraska was able to get sacks with 6, 5 & 4 man pressures. On this 3rd down early in the second quarter, Colorado came out in a 3×1 (3 WRs to one side with 1 WR on the opposite side) Trips formation to the field. As you can see at the beginning of the video, #3 Will Honas has a inside leverage-man on Shenault with safety #24 Aaron Williams playing high outside bracket coverage on Shenault. This is a great call against an offense that is looking to take advantage of their best route runner against a linebacker. Shenault is given the option to either run a slant or out, depending on Honas’ leverage. As the play develops, Montez’s eyes go directly to Shenault. Honas does a serviceable job in coverage by not letting Shenault beat him across his face immediately, thus allowing enough time for #94 DT Khalil Davis to get by the guard with a quick swim move for drive ending sack. If the Huskers can consistently get pressure with only four on 3rd and medium, their bracket will prove to be much more effective as the season moves along.

4.

Nebraska used an ODD Bear front (see diagram above) on 3rd down quite frequently and it proved to be an effective counter against the Buffs trying to isolate Shenault in the slot on a linebacker. It is hard to see in the video above but the Free Safety is aligned at about 15 yards, giving the Huskers again a cover-1 look. With all the linebackers at the line of scrimmage, Montez is given the illusion Shenault will be isolated 1 on 1 with the safety. The cornerbacks on the outside are inside leverage on their #1 WRs and the nickel is man to man on the slot WR. On the snap, Shenault runs a “hot” slant expecting the middle of the field to be open because of the blitzing linebackers. However, #31 Collin Miller does a great job engaging and occupying the guard and then pushing out underneath Shenault. #5 Dedrick Young III does the same thing on the other side, keying the running back in case of a screen. Because of the blitz, the running back cross protects to the twist side and becomes responsible for the first man off the edge. The stunt between #12 Luke Gifford & #22 Alex Davis is ran perfectly and Gifford sets himself up for the sack by getting up the field first before wrapping behind Davis. #95 Ben Stille also does a great job of taking advantage of his one on one matchup against the center and took away the QBs ability to up step in the pocket.

5.

Offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini found his best matchup of the day against the Blackshirts 1-high bracket coverage by placing Shenault in the #2 WR position instead of the #3 WR position in Trips. The Huskers presented the same ODD Bear front and blitz as mentioned earlier in the post but this time matching #23 DiCaprio Bootle against Shenault instead of a linebacker. It would appear to be a more favorable match-up for the Huskers, however by playing with a only one safety high, the Huskers were not afforded the opportunity of bracketing Shenault. From the video above, I can’t help but notice Bootle having inside leverage at the line of scrimmage in cover-1. This is a problem for several reasons, with the first being that Bootle has low inside help (#31 Collin Miller) and the second being Bootle has deep inside help (#14 Tre Neal). This became more and more of a problem for the Huskers as the second half continued on. On the snap, Shenault does what any good receiver does and takes the space Bootle gives him and releases outside and drifts to the numbers on a fade route, away from the middle 1/3 safety #14 Tre Neal. Montez places the ball perfectly between the two defenders and Shenault comes up with what would become his second best/important catch of the day. Once Colorado moved Shenault into the #2 WR position in trips and the slot position in 2×2 formations (Balanced formation with 2 WRs on each side) the Huskers CBs had a difficult time getting their hands on the 6’2″ 220 WR, which allowed him to gain free releases most of the second half.

6.

Nebraska had been playing a fairly conservative cover 4 zone against the Buffs when they aligned in 2×2 formations most of the game and Colorado took advantage of that on the opening play of the drive. With the Huskers cornerback bailing, Montez dropped back and threw a dart to Shenault on an out route , who was aligned as a flanker for one of the few times throughout the game. This throw proved to be a great starter for their drive and you could tell it gave the already confident Montez even more confidence.

7.

Here again Shenault aligns as the flanker position (at the bottom of the screen) and the Huskers switch their bracket coverage to 2-man, looking to provide deep help over the top of both WRs on each side. #21 Lamar Jackson took on the challenge of covering Shenault and does a great job playing to his help (the safety over the top) and playing on the low-inside hip of the WR. #92 Ben Stille gets a one on one rush because of the guards are being occupied by the spying linebackers, resulting in a much needed sack for the Blackshirts.

The Buffs came out in a 2×2 formation & instead of sitting back & playing cover 4 like much of the game, the Huskers decided to bring pressure on Montez. As much success the Huskers had with their ODD Bear front with getting pressure, they did not do a good job of making adjustments to their leverage when playing cover-1. Here again, #23 Bootle is aligned with inside leverage on Shenault and immediately after the snap, Shenault gained a free release on an outside stemming fade route. The Husker did switch up the pressure this time, bringing #31 Collin Miller through the left B gap and #91 Freedom Akinmoladon wrapped to the A gap. #5 Dedrick Young III keys the back and adds onto the blitz as the running back stays into block. Montez faced the pressure without wincing & placed the ball in a seemingly impossible spot to Shenault, away form roaming safety #24 Aaron Williams, for the game winning touchdown.

Summary:

Without having a “tune-up” game against Akron, the Husker defense was given a somewhat difficult task in containing the confident duo of Steven Montez and Laviska Shenault. The duo connected 10 times for 177 of Montez’s 351 yards total passing yards. Although Montez provided big sparks for the offense, the pressure did not allow him to get into a consistent rhythm. It will be interesting to see how defensive coordinator Erik Chinander continues to use the Bear Odd front in 3rd down situations. If the Huskers can improve on their leverage in bracket coverage, I believe Husker coaches can expect this type of result from their pass rush throughout the year. Husker also did a great job attacking the run downhill and fast, holding the Buffs of Boulder to 44 yards on 35 attempts. With Troy bringing a fairly balanced attack next week (220 yards per game rushing and 208 yards per game passing), I look for the Huskers to continue to stop the run as effective as they did against Colorado, but the biggest attention will be on the Huskers passing defense and if they can make they necessary adjustments to their bracket coverage.