Chinander says NU defense’s performance at Iowa indicates program heading right direction | Football

Illinois converted 11 of 17 third downs into first downs. On the other hand, Iowa was only 4 of 14 on third down. 

“(Our defenders) did what we asked them to do — they defended the run and they got off the field on third down,” Chinander said. “So it hurt them pretty bad to not be on top at the end of that game. But it shows the guys that consistency is as important as anything else. You have to be consistently good on defense in stopping the run week to week, and get off the field on third down. 

“Then maybe you win that game if you have a little momentum, and that momentum kept going all through the year. But we can’t have those lulls like we did against Illinois.” 

Chinander said Nebraska (1-4) is tackling better this year. He made mention of that aspect because the Huskers didn’t tackle particularly well in last year’s 31-27 loss at Purdue.

In Saturday’s 11 a.m. game in West Lafayette, Indiana, Chinander said Nebraska can expect to see new plays and new packages from Purdue (2-3) that the Boilermakers haven’t shown in previous games this season. That’s just how head coach Jeff Brohm operates.

“Formations, motions, shifts, routes — there are going to be a lot of things to defend,” Chinander said. “We’ve got to be sound in what we do. Alignment’s got to be right. Assignment’s got to be right. I don’t think there’s any magic to defending it. It’s a tough matchup every year. The guys have to be dialed-in on the calls we have. They’ve got to know all of the adjustments.