Huskers Aim to Fix Terrible Tackling - News, Weather and Sports for Lincoln, NE; KLKNTV.com

Posted by: Matt Lothrop

mlothrop@klkntv.com

It doesn't take a football coach to tackle the troubles that doomed Nebraska's defense in Saturdays 36-30 loss to UCLA.

"A lot of missed tackles."

"Tackling"

"We got to tackle better."

"Like I said again missed tackles."

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini doesn't have an exact total on the number of whiffs, but senior safety PJ Smith knows the number wasn't good.
 
"Two is too many so I know that we had more than two so it doesn't matter," Smith said at Monday's news conference. "We had too too many."

Not only is the number alarming, so is the big plays the Huskers left of the field.
 
"I think we ended up with like eight tackles for loss and three sacks," Coach Pelini said. "That's 11 loss yardage players. We probably had the opportunity to at least double that."

Senior linebacker Will Compton says part of the problem comes from want to make the big hit, rather than the sure stop.
 
"Guys trying to make a big hit," Compton said. "The ball carrier just not going down and then they realize that they probably should have wrapped up better, broke down more, ran their feet better, what not."

Coach Pelini says when the season starts tackling is always a concern. The Huskers hit hard in fall camp, but then lighten up during game week to protect bodies.

Aside from scrimmaging, don't expect that to change too much. A change will come once the proper personnel plug into the right positions.

"I always believe tackling, a lot of times comes from getting you body in the right tackling position, over and over and over," Pelini said. "Not having your feet crossed over, not over running the football, always fundamentally evaluating those things."

The Huskers have one week of practice to tune-up their technique as they one again face a spread based offense on Saturday.