South Carolina Versus Nebraska: Numbers Crunch

In a little more than 72 hours, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks will take the field against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. USC will be coming off almost a 37-day layoff since hammering in-state rival Clemson 34-13 at Williams-Brice Stadium, while Carolina’s opponent, Nebraska last played nearly 38 days ago when the Cornhuskers defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 20-7. Nebraska enters the Capital One Bowl with a 9-3 (5-3 Big Ten record) overall record and losers of two of their final four games. There are some interesting themes in three of Nebraska’s losses this season. Let’s take a look at some statistics involving Nebraska’s three setbacks this season where the Gamecocks might look to exploit on offense.

→ 4 Mobile Quarterbacks accounted for Nebraska’s three losses. Michigan’s Denard Robinson, Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson and a combination of Northwestern’s Dan Persa/Kain Colter gave the black shirts defense all kinds of fits trying to contain the four quarterbacks in the pocket.
*Nebraska did defeat Ohio State, who was quarterbacked by freshman Braxton Miller. Miller is a mobile quarterback.

→ 50-plus opponent’s rush attempts were the critical statistic in all three Cornhusker defeats. Northwestern had 54 rush attempts. Wisconsin rushed the football 50 times and Michigan galloped 61 times on the ground against Nebraska.

→ 200-plus yards rushing is the objective against Nebraska’s Rush Defense, which ranks 67th in FBS, allowing 162 yards rushing. In each of the three losses, the opponents eclipsed more than 200 yards.

→ 70 percent run-to-pass ratio spells doom for Nebraska. Now this is not rocket science – if a team is running the ball seven out of ten times you guess that that team is winning or will win the game. Michigan, Northwestern and Wisconsin all were very run heavy (70% or greater) against Nebraska’s defense.

→ 20-plus yard plays allowed by Nebraska’s defense in their losses. In Nebraska’s nine wins this season, the Cornhuskers surrendered 28 plays that exceeded 20 yards or more. In the three losses, the black shirts defense yielded 15 20-plus plays against Northwestern, Michigan and Wisconsin. 33 percent (five of 15) of the big plays went for touchdowns!

→The quarterback position must average at least 78 yards rushing against Nebraska. Four quarterbacks tallied 235 yards rushing against the Cornhuskers in the three losses. Braxton Miller, Ohio State, rushed for 95 yards on 10 rushes in a loss.

→ 232 yards passing was the average amount surrendered by the Cornhuskers defense in their three losses. Nebraska ranks 18th in Pass Defense in the FBS; yielding only 189 passing yards per game.

→ Dual-threat quarterbacks (run/pass) presented NU with difficult match-ups. In the three losses, the opposing quarterbacks amassed at least 310 total yards of offense against Nebraska.

→ 400-plus total yards of offense is the common denominator of success against NU’s defense. In the three losses Nebraska gave up 457 total yards of offense on average.

Go Gamecocks!