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Technically speaking... Bend but don't break should work just fine against those spread teams. They like to score quick, looking for big plays. If he can force them to sustain drives, that's where spread teams struggle.
That's the philosophy Stanford has used against Oregon with success. We look at Stanford and think of a hard nosed defense, which they are. But they force Oregon into taking small yardage. Gaining 4, 2, 4, 3, 1, 0 yards and so on. Then, with less field to work with Oregon stalls and settles for a field goal, or even if they do score a TD, they've wasted a lot of clock, which plays into Stanford wanting to grind it out.
I'm not saying Diaco's Nebraska D can be Stanford, but I would assume it may match that kind of production against the "less good" teams in the BIG that run a spread.
JMO
I agree with you on the theory/principle, but my opinion comes from the experience here, at ND.
His defenses were lights-out against pro-style teams (for the most part), but spread/option teams, or teams that strictly wanted to air it out, gave him fits.
