White, Satterfield react to their units’ woes at Indiana

As the Nebraska defensive coordinator rewatched NU’s 56-7 loss to Indiana and began diagnosing exactly what went wrong, there was plenty to take in.

From missed tackles to a struggling run defense and poor pass defense on the perimeter, White found plenty to clean up — but he doesn’t lay the blame on his players.

“The guys were executing, but schematically there were some things that I did not like that was completely stupid,” White said.

In solving Nebraska’s struggles against Indiana, White echoed the same message head coach Matt Rhule had passed down a day prior — the tape shows the answers, he said.

And when looking at how the Nebraska defense lined up, White said he felt he put Nebraska’s defensive backs into too many difficult situations on the perimeter of the field.

“These guys do everything you ask them to do; these dudes, man, they’ll run through a wall,” White said. “That’s why it really bugs me because it’s me.”

Nebraska has long been entrenched in White’s 3-3-5 defense, and that won’t change even after the biggest loss of the Rhule era — but that doesn’t mean White is afraid of shaking things up.

“There’s some things that I would definitely not do again,” White said of the way Nebraska lined up against Indiana.

The numbers reveal that Nebraska missed 11 tackles against the Hoosiers, but they don’t show why. According to White, that performance was a combination of factors which included not enough time spent on tackling in practice and a gameplan which put the Huskers into tough spots.

Rather than the many one-on-one tackling chances which Nebraska struggled in, White is hoping to scheme up more advantageous tackling angles moving forward.

“It goes back to me schematically making sure that wherever the ball’s going, that there’s multiple guys to tackle the ball,” White said. “It’s easy to point out one guy when he misses a tackle, but it’s hard when there’s three or four guys; one guy misses, and the ball doesn’t get out like that.”

Not all the responsibility for Nebraska’s blowout loss to Indiana rests on White’s shoulders, though. The Husker offense had its own struggles in the contest, namely when it came to running the ball.

While the Huskers have ran the ball effectively when utilizing freshman wide receiver Jacory Barney Jr. on sweep plays, the same chunk gains haven’t popped up elsewhere. Unlike Barney, who averages 13.9 yards per rushing attempt, the Huskers are gaining just 3.7 yards per attempt as a team.

That number was even lower against the Hoosiers, something which Satterfield knows cannot continue moving forward.

“It’s a lot on me; I have to commit to it,” Satterfield said of Nebraska’s rushing attack. “… I’ve got to make sure I get in the mindset of you have to, in order to win in this league, establish the run game.”

Unlike Nebraska’s struggles at blocking on the perimeter, an area Satterfield said he was “reactionary” toward, he wants the Husker offense to get in front of its growing pains on the ground.

It’ll be easier said than done for Nebraska to commit to the run during a matchup against an Ohio State defense which allows the sixth-fewest rushing yards per game nationally (86.3 yards).

But with schematic adjustments expected for Nebraska on both sides of the ball, the Huskers know they can’t trot out the same offense and defense which were exposed against Indiana.

“I don’t want to hand it off and be stupid and be hard-headed and say, ‘Let’s run at this big defensive line and get a yard’ just to say I ran the ball,” Satterfield said. “I just have to develop trust in myself and make sure that I’m getting the proper plays called where we can attack the proper edges to fall for 4 or 5 yards. And then eventually, make a guy miss and have an explosive run.”