Has Nebraska's Blackshirts Defense Become Dominant Once Again?

The story of the 2011 season: Where has the Nebraska Blackshirts defense gone?

Through the first seven games of the season, Nebraska’s defense has been a liability for the team. The Blackshirts had allowed teams with mediocre offenses to move the ball down the field on them. Fans had to know that this type of play defensively would not last the entire season as long as Bo Pelini is the head coach.

On Saturday against Michigan State, Nebraska put together a perfect defensive scheme to stop the Spartans' offense. Nebraska held Michigan State’s all-time leading receiver, B.J. Cunningham to no catches and sacked senior quarterback Kirk Cousins four times.

Nebraska’s defense has moved up to No. 29 nationally in total defense.

There were two parts of the defense that stood out Saturday. One was the “You can’t see me defense.”

The defensive players would look to the sidelines at defensive coordinator Carl Pelini. He would have his hand in front of his eyes much like the WWE wrestler John Cena does when he says, “You can’t see me.”

Instead of lining up in their defensive stance, the defensive lineman moved around the line of scrimmage so that the offense did not know where they were coming from. This defense allowed the Blackshirts to put pressure on Cousins all day long.

The second part of the defense that stood out was the play of the Nebraska linebackers.

Throughout the season, Nebraska had lined up with three linebackers and Lavonte David was the only linebacker who consistently made plays. Saturday Nebraska used two linebackers and five defensive backs. Was it a return to the “Peso” defense Nebraska used last season? Not exactly, but it was effective.

On Saturday, linebacker Will Compton had his best game of his career at Nebraska. Compton continuously made calls for the defense pointing out what play Michigan State was running. He ended the game with seven tackles, one tackle for a loss and two quarterback hurries.

If Compton continues to play at this level, Nebraska will have two of the best linebackers in the Big Ten Conference in David and Compton.

With Nebraska’s power running game taking time off the clock and wearing down opposing defenses, the Blackshirts will need to uphold their part of the game plan in order for the Cornhuskers to continue to win games. If the Blackshirts play as they did against Michigan State in their remaining games, Nebraska will be a tough team to beat in the Big Ten Conference.

Fans have been asking when Bo Pelini will hand out the Blackshirts to the defensive starters. I doubt it will be this week. It was nice to see Nebraska play defense as they did the past two years, but let’s wait and see if it continues.

Next week, Nebraska plays Northwestern in Lincoln. If the Blackshirts are able to shut down Northwestern’s star quarterback, Dan Persa, than I think fans can start to say the Blackshirts are back.

So, has Nebraska returned to their dominance on defense? Not yet, but they are getting real close. Next week’s game will tell a lot about this team and their defense.

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