Big Ten offenses struggle to convert chances in ‘red zone’

LINCOLN, Neb. — For all the drama of Illinois’ nine-overtime win at Penn State, the game was illustrative of the difficulties many Big Ten teams are encountering when their offenses get near the goal line.

The Big Ten’s 14 teams have combined for the conference’s lowest scoring rate in at least 10 years in the red zone, the area inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

The Illinois-Penn State overtimes were marked by passes overthrown, underthrown, dropped and broken up, and runs that got stuffed, before Brandon Peters connected with Casey Washington to produce the Illini’s 20-18 win.

“It is definitely a great example of how difficult it can be to score and get quality plays down there,” Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez said.

Just past the midway point of the season, Big Ten offenses have scored on 80.6% of their trips inside the 20, including touchdowns on 55.6%.

Both marks are lowest among the Power Five conferences and, among the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision leagues, only better than Conference USA’s rates of 80.4% and 50.4%, respectively.

No. 5 Ohio State is the outlier. The Buckeyes lead the nation with touchdowns on 79.3% of their red-zone possessions (23 of 29) and they’re tied for fifth in overall red-zone scoring at 96.6% (28 of 29).

But seven Big Ten teams rank 100th and lower in overall red-zone scoring; nine are 99th and lower in red-zone touchdowns.

The degree of difficulty naturally increases as an offense approaches the end zone because the field becomes compacted vertically; there is is simply less room within which to stretch a defense. Martinez said that’s magnified in the Big Ten because most of the teams have strong defenses and the general offensive style lends itself to fewer possessions.

“You have to execute and be precise on the details,” Martinez said. “There’s already less room for error in the Big Ten, and so in the red zone that margin for error is even smaller.”

Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said stopping the run is an emphasis across the Big Ten, and that plays a big role. Ohio State leads the nation in red-zone rushing at 5.5 yards per carry, but seven Big Ten teams are averaging less than 2.5 inside the 20.

“When teams aren’t 100% confident in their quarterbacks, it’s going to limit what you do in the passing game once the field shrinks,” Leonhard said. “I would say that’s good defense — strong, consistent, not giving up cheap plays and stopping the run — and really forcing teams to execute in limited space down there, which some quarterbacks are not comfortable doing.”

Spread offenses are prone to struggling in the red zone, Leonhard said, because they are accustomed to working in space.

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around the 18-minute mark. the Roughriders continued to generally control the tempo of the game.

Chapman got the Roughrider faithful going again with a shot to the left side with 11:24 to play and making it a three-score cushion.

With time winding down in the half, senior Kyle Steininger took a shot. Like Hertenstein, his was also aimed at the upper right corner. Like that shot, this one also found the back of the next with 4:35 to go.

At the intermission. the Roughriders remained in charge 4-0.

The Titans broke up the shutout bid 13 minutes into the second half, as Austin Birkemeier managed to get a shot past Ballweg.

Ballweg scrambled to make a stop a couple minutes later, preventing O-G from getting closer.

With 17:41 to go, Birkemeeier stopped a shot from the Riders. The ball bounced out of his grasp, and Chapman took advantage of the wide-open net to hammer home the fifth score.

St. Marys continued to hold off the Titans, with Hertenstein sending in some of the younger players in the closing minutes to gain valuable experience.

Ballweg jumped to make a save with about six minutes to go, which was the last serious scoring threat by OttawaGlandorf.

Match Notes

Conditions were clear and cool for the game, with 48 degrees at the start of the match.

St. Marys outshot Ottawa-Glandorf 13-4.

Shawnee defeated St. Marys 2-0 in the regular season meeting. The district final will be held at Elida on Thursday at 6 p.m.