They want to crack down inside on whoever is there to hold the edge, which will be either Nelson or Domann in most situations. Michigan State runs a lot of formations with flexed WRs, meaning that they’re lined up on the line of scrimmage, but they’re only a few yards away from the OT. JoJo Domann is listed as an Outside Linebacker-the same as Nelson-but his position is different in that he isn’t lining up in a 3-point stance, and he’s often asked to slide out to cover a Slot-Wide Receiver. If Nelson isn’t there, Walker is going to have some huge plays. With a good run-fit, aggressive angles, and good tackling, Nelson should come up with quite a few tackles right at or even behind the Line of Scrimmage (LoS) when Walker looks to bend back away from the flow of his own offensive linemen and the rest of the Nebraska defense. I’m listing Nelson first because his job will likely be the most important in preventing Walker bending back and bouncing outside for a long TD run. He doesn’t need to have any monster plays or do anything super-human: he just needs to close the back door whenever the running play starts out with Walker headed to the other side of the formation. Garrett Nelson has been having a pretty good season from his Edge rushing Outside LB position: Nebraska needs him to have a solid game on Saturday. In every game he has had a lot of runs where he was stopped at the line for little to no game, but in every game he has also occasionally slipped through or around, and he’s gone. On top of that, Walker is slippery, often making a Safety miss or slipping out of arm tackles or running past poor angles or poor run-fits. Northwestern’s defense struggled with basic run fits, especially the backside edge defender, who was often over-pursuing, taking himself out of position to stop the cutbacks. Once he gets in the secondary, very few defenders have been able to catch him. His big plays against Northwestern all came from simple Inside Zone plays that he cut back against the flow and bounced outside. Walker is even a similar style of running back to what Nebraska has: imagine Sevion Morrison’s cutting ability, Rahmir Johnson’s speed, and the vision and forward motion of Markese Stepp in one running back, and that’s what you get with Walker. Michigan State’s running game is not complicated Inside Zone is their base play, and they do some similar gap-scheme plays to what Nebraska runs. With faster Inside LBs and a bigger, stronger line in front of them, we’re now in the best position that we have been in at Nebraska in several years for taking on the challenge of a running back like Walker. Since the start of the 2020 season that has consistently been less of an issue.
In the first two years of the Frost era at Nebraska, our defensive linemen were consistently being pushed backwards, which disrupted the abilities of the LBs to move from side to side in order to flow with the ball and fill gaps. Kenneth Walker III (RB) versus Nebraska’s Linebackers
Nebraska effectively shut down Buffalo’s running game, but how will they do against a Big Ten O-line? If the D-line can stand their ground and consistently soak up all five Spartan O-linemen, Nebraska’s linebackers and DBs will be in positions to make a lot of tackles, including disrupting plays and making tackles for loss. Michigan State will try to run on Nebraska using plays very similar to what Nebraska runs (Inside Zone, Split Zone, etc.), and they’re going to have a larger, better O-line than Buffalo’s. Nebraska’s linebackers have consistently been able to flow and make plays because the D-linemen in front of them are doing the dirty work of holding the Line-of-Scrimmage while absorbing every available blocker. Nebraska’s defensive line is pretty good, and we know that because they have had to match up against a variety of offensive schemes, and they’ve done quite well against each of them. How good is Michigan State’s offensive line? It’s hard to say now as they really have not come up against a good enough defensive line to know for certain.
The Michigan State coaching staff has done a very good job of gathering players through the portal to fill needs, but neither the QB nor the RB look good without a good offensive line blocking in front of them. Michigan State Offensive Line versus Nebraska Defensive Line