In my eyes at least, it's as simple as his scheme just wasn't effective against power running teams and spread quarterbacks. That's why it was more effective with a two linebacker set in the big 12 and why we got ran over by Wisconsin most years in the B1G. I think Bo knows his sh#t on defense but his system was so complex it petrified players that tried to do too much stopping the run and hindering our overall effectiveness.
It is still odd. In 2012, we faced Wisconsin and Ball/Gordon twice. The first time, 41 rushes for 56 yards. Nine weeks later, 50 rushes for 539 yards. It is hard to explain.
That's what's crazy. Didn't even look like the same team.
But I'm pretty sure they figured out the "key" to our defense. That may seem like an obvious statement but what I mean is they figured out how to get us to line up a certain way and knew what play to call based on that. If you watch last year's game, they are doing a lot of motioning to change the strength of the formation. Not motioning a WR all the way across, just a TE or someone like that from one side to the other. I think they figured out how we would adjust to the motion and used it to their advantage. That's the only thing I can come up with for the drastic change.
Nope, its not crazy at all. Its exactly how it happens.
I praise Urban Meyer constantly for this. He will make subtle changes, especially with his offensive line, once he figures out who/what your defense's keys or reads are, he will use them against you. He did it when they played us and we even knew what they changed, but the scheme was so overly complex that is couldn't be solved just by fixing one guy. If you fixed one, then you had to fix this, and this....on and on, it was such a read and react based defense, really emphasizing position of each individual, that once our scheme was diagnosed, it was basically like having to go back to the drawing board and start over. Obviously, starting over in the midst of a game is impossible to do. That's why you see Bo screaming at individuals on the sideline and the "panic" set in. Because they know they've been figured out and they're trying to get their defenders to make these changes in the game, but the guys minds are so wrapped up in all of it, it was an impossible task. Bo would always go back to blaming the players for not executing, in reality, Bo and his staff prided themselves on being "wizards" of diagnosing opposing offenses and knowing exactly how to stop them. Finding that "perfect" play call for everything they did. It worked for awhile. Until the opponent figured out what exactly the "wizards" were keying on. Then they beat them to death with it.
The better coaches we faced, were better at discovering these keys and using them against us.
Think about it. Bo's defense was based so much on "the eyes", making your read and positioning yourself in these spill/lever techniques. Well, when you practice all week on trusting your eyes and reacting to what you see, you go into the game thinking you know what to look for. When Ohio St. or Wisconsin knows all too well exactly what you're looking for, they use it against you. Our defenders would make the same mistakes over and over and it wasn't their fault necessarily. They were doing what they had been taught to do all week long.
These coaches out-coached themselves far too often. Adjustments were so difficult to make because it meant getting all 11 guys back on the same page again.
It's why I always felt bad for the guys. I think every instinct in them was telling them one thing, and the coaching they've received was telling them something else.
It's time for the players to trust their instincts a little bit more, and it's time for the coaches to trust their players a bit more.
