Interested parties should watch the games again on youtube. What I've noted in those games where they had trouble stopping the run is that several players, not all of whom were nose tackles, got blocked. Blocking is fundamental to football. Fundamental to defense, is getting off those blocks, and tackling the ball carrier. Those of us who have played this game can tell you that it's infinitely more difficult to make a tackle, with someone blocking you, than when not. In the bozeman game, frankly, it seemed like everyone got blocked and couldn't get off them to save their lives. They hung nearly four hundred yards and over fifty points on Montana, and many other teams. They could block more than a little bit. Ball carriers will tell that it makes all the difference.
In the second half of the NDSU game, it wasn't the solely the nose tackles who were blocked and couldn't make the tackle on those long runs. Other teammates got blocked and missed those tackles as well. I would also add that by the second half of the NDSU game, the entire beat up defense, which had been out on the field an entire game longer than the offense over the course of the season, simply ran out of gas.
Put an offense out there that supports the defense, produces points and yards, week in/out, and the defense will be a whole lot better.
