The defense in 2020 wasn’t a reason for optimism. It was actually a step back from 2019.

I have seen a ton of posts in the Huskers sphere pointing to the improvement of the defense in 2020 as a sign of progress from Frost and Chins. I’ll admit that I thought the defense was much improved but something just didn’t smell quite right to me. I realized it was because the following sentiment was also seen everywhere
> The offense struggled partly due to no spring ball or fall camp.

I agree with that sentiment and it makes sense given that across sports defenses are generally ahead of offenses early in practice and in the season. But nobody seemed to be making the connection of the inverse of that statement. That the defense looked better because the opposing offenses were looking worse.

I decided to do a little analytical digging and compare the 2020 defense vs the 2019 defense instead of just taking improvement as a given.

Year | DFEI | Total D| Scoring D | Points/play| Opp Comp%| Opp 3rd down conv %
—|—|—-|—-|—-|—-|—-
2019| 45th| 389.4 (64th)| 27.8(67th)| .390| 59.39%| 40.12%
2020| 62nd| 386.5 (50th)| 29.4 (65th)| .406| 63.07%| 40.52%

My main confusion was how is the DFEI so much worse? I’ll tell you why the defense looked better despite being worse. The offense in the B1G this year was ATROCIOUS.

In 2019 the B1G had 6 teams in the top 29 on offenses. In 2020 there was 1 team in the top 30. In 2019 the defense faced 3 top 10 offense: #3OSU, #6Wisconsin, #7Minnesota along with #27 Indiana.

In 2020 the defense again faced #3OSU but the next best offense they played was #40 Minnesota.

The defense did improve in some counting stats but that is almost entirely due to facing weaker offenses throughout the schedule. Most advanced stats didn’t show progress this season and actually showed the defense taking a small step back.

I’ve seen people comparing 2021 to 2009 which is insane. There’s no reason to believe the defense will be anywhere near a good defense and all reasons to believe it will continue to be mediocre as it has been for the last 5+ years.

Sources:

[2019 Offenses](https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaa/fei/overalloff/2019)

[2020 Offenses](https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaa/fei/overalloff/2020)

[2019 defenses](https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaa/fei/overalldef/2019)

[2020 defenses](https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaa/fei/overalldef/2020)

[2019 Key Defensive Stats](https://web.archive.org/web/20191228201742/https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/team/nebraska-cornhuskers)

[2020 Key Defensive Stats](https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/team/nebraska-cornhuskers/)

[2019 Defense counting stats](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/2019-team-defense.html)

[2020 Defense counting stats](https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/2020-team-defense.html)

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