Defense Evolution

[HuskerShark]

B1G linemen > Texas 10 linemen. This is why you dont see penetration from the D line. Texas 10 run wide splits, smaller and faster linemen. Its easier to shoot a gap or push the linemen back. In the B1G, these are NFL caliber linemen you face every weekend. They dont take wide gaps and they are big/strong mofos. Your not just going to push them around like you could against Baylor, ISU, etc.

 

IDK man, OU has always had some big nasty O-Linemen. I have to say without a doubt, Suh would push these B1G linemen around just like he did in the Big 12. The only team I really saw "beat" Suh was KU when we played them because they had the G take the contact from him and then the C came and layed as big of a hit on his side as he could, and that totally threw him off.

 

Suh is a different animal, he would have dominated anywhere. I was refering to our current talent.

 

That's what I'm saying. I'm not seeing real good D-Line talent. It seems like we have had some good recruits at that position, but they aren't achieving at high enough of a level. Hopefully something changes starting this year.

[zoogs]

Sort of. I think it was the scheme. I remember that one of his star safeties that year went and ran a 4.72 40 or something of that nature. The match read or whatever it's called that we run as a coverage scheme...I don't know if Bo is a huge blitzer.

Blitzing is overrated. It has it's place, but if you can't create pressure with your front 4 you're screwed anyways.

 

I agree with this. In a 3-4, you're going to have to blitz all the time. The 3-man front disguises where the 4th rusher comes from. With our 4-3 it makes sense to not go crazy with the blitzing, you need the front to generate pressure. Suh did that for us and last year I guess the issue was both DT and DE. DT may have been health, DE we just never seemed to find a real force on the edge.

 

Blitz all the time and you're constantly asking the defensive backfield to be shorthanded or do extra work.

[HUSKER FREAK]

For Suh I think he was lucky that the Pelinis came in when they did for him. He would not have been even close to where he was with the previous staff. I know other defensive minded coaches would have been able to do this also, but I often wonder how many of the top athletes get left in the dark because of not having the right coaches for the their abilities. I even think on the offensive side of the ball with Huskers we have hurt some of the athletes, but I do think that we are finally getting the right players for the best results in a Beck style offense. Defensively it was pretty obvious that we had some rebuilding to do after the top athletes of the previous staff graduated. I do think that great things will be coming our way sooner than later.

[druski_2k5]

The thing about a 3-4 defense, is that you can bring a 4th defender [or more] from other places, but you DON'T HAVE TO bring a 4th defender. Yes, with zone blitzing and what the Crimson Tide and Steelers do from various packages is one thing, but there is no rule stating you have to bring a minimum of 4 defenders per play.

 

The nose tackle is supposed to be so big and huge, that he can be two defensive tackles in one, leaving only thee on the line, with 4 linebackers and 4 defensive backs in a normal 3-4 set.

 

I don't ever see us going to a 3-4 defense under Pelini. He is always worked with a 4-3 and always talks about playing a two gap system and how much he loves his gap system. The only thing that would resemble a 3-4 defense would be a "Spinner" package, but that in itself is not a 3-4 base defense, it is more designed to stop the pass and confuse spread offenses.

 

Most of the inconsistencies on defense last year stemmed from inexperience, in certain spots we were too slow, not a lot of talent on the field [at the time, although they nicely did progress in certain areas], to injuries, and to guys not communicating and not being a cohesive unit. We lost a ton of talent from 2010, especially with the injuries to Crick and Dennard, that we looked like a brand new green and young defense. It was a very average defense last year.

 

Pelini brings pressure when it's needed, but if you bring pressure you are usually asking for man coverage with no safety help behind you, unless you are zone blitzing, and we may not have had the experience or talent last year to do it consistently. He did state this year he wants to "get back to the style of defense he's known for playing" so either that is blitzing a little bit more or just being better overall, let's just hope it makes the defense a world of difference from last year.

 

I still believe that 2011 is like 2008 for Pelini. He was getting adjusted to new conferences offense just like in 2008 when he became a head coach. Hopefully we see a great leap in the defense this year for 2012 that we saw in 2009.

[NUance]

The thing about a 3-4 defense, is that you can bring a 4th defender [or more] from other places, but you DON'T HAVE TO bring a 4th defender. Yes, with zone blitzing and what the Crimson Tide and Steelers do from various packages is one thing, but there is no rule stating you have to bring a minimum of 4 defenders per play.

 

The nose tackle is supposed to be so big and huge, that he can be two defensive tackles in one, leaving only thee on the line, with 4 linebackers and 4 defensive backs in a normal 3-4 set.

 

I don't ever see us going to a 3-4 defense under Pelini. He is always worked with a 4-3 and always talks about playing a two gap system and how much he loves his gap system. The only thing that would resemble a 3-4 defense would be a "Spinner" package, but that in itself is not a 3-4 base defense, it is more designed to stop the pass and confuse spread offenses.

 

Most of the inconsistencies on defense last year stemmed from inexperience, in certain spots we were too slow, not a lot of talent on the field [at the time, although they nicely did progress in certain areas], to injuries, and to guys not communicating and not being a cohesive unit. We lost a ton of talent from 2010, especially with the injuries to Crick and Dennard, that we looked like a brand new green and young defense. It was a very average defense last year.

 

Pelini brings pressure when it's needed, but if you bring pressure you are usually asking for man coverage with no safety help behind you, unless you are zone blitzing, and we may not have had the experience or talent last year to do it consistently. He did state this year he wants to "get back to the style of defense he's known for playing" so either that is blitzing a little bit more or just being better overall, let's just hope it makes the defense a world of difference from last year.

 

I still believe that 2011 is like 2008 for Pelini. He was getting adjusted to new conferences offense just like in 2008 when he became a head coach. Hopefully we see a great leap in the defense this year for 2012 that we saw in 2009.

Good points, all. You should post more. Seriously. +1 :

[MichiganDad3]

I swear I saw many plays last year where none of the defensive tackles even attempted to rush the passer. I don't recall seeing this before last year. Did Pelini coach this because of lack of talent (or injury) at DT?

[girlknowsfootball]

I swear I saw many plays last year where none of the defensive tackles even attempted to rush the passer. I don't recall seeing this before last year. Did Pelini coach this because of lack of talent (or injury) at DT?

 

I think it was a combination of the two. This spring, Pelini came out and said himself, they couldn't be nearly as multiple as they usually are or would like to have been last year due to having so many young players who couldn't handle it mentally. So combine a lot of young guys and guys without much experience with injured veterans (crick, moore, fonzie, osborne, etc.) and you are left with so many green guys that you have to take it slow and let them learn. So to answer your question, a lot of injuries on the line and lack of experience in the secondary led to us playing it real safe/vanilla to cope. Pelini said this year they are light years ahead mentally and have a chance to be a very good defense. He is excited about how multiple they are going to be able to be.

[ADS]

The thing about a 3-4 defense, is that you can bring a 4th defender [or more] from other places, but you DON'T HAVE TO bring a 4th defender. Yes, with zone blitzing and what the Crimson Tide and Steelers do from various packages is one thing, but there is no rule stating you have to bring a minimum of 4 defenders per play.

 

The nose tackle is supposed to be so big and huge, that he can be two defensive tackles in one, leaving only thee on the line, with 4 linebackers and 4 defensive backs in a normal 3-4 set.

 

I don't ever see us going to a 3-4 defense under Pelini. He is always worked with a 4-3 and always talks about playing a two gap system and how much he loves his gap system. The only thing that would resemble a 3-4 defense would be a "Spinner" package, but that in itself is not a 3-4 base defense, it is more designed to stop the pass and confuse spread offenses.

 

Most of the inconsistencies on defense last year stemmed from inexperience, in certain spots we were too slow, not a lot of talent on the field [at the time, although they nicely did progress in certain areas], to injuries, and to guys not communicating and not being a cohesive unit. We lost a ton of talent from 2010, especially with the injuries to Crick and Dennard, that we looked like a brand new green and young defense. It was a very average defense last year.

 

Pelini brings pressure when it's needed, but if you bring pressure you are usually asking for man coverage with no safety help behind you, unless you are zone blitzing, and we may not have had the experience or talent last year to do it consistently. He did state this year he wants to "get back to the style of defense he's known for playing" so either that is blitzing a little bit more or just being better overall, let's just hope it makes the defense a world of difference from last year.

 

I still believe that 2011 is like 2008 for Pelini. He was getting adjusted to new conferences offense just like in 2008 when he became a head coach. Hopefully we see a great leap in the defense this year for 2012 that we saw in 2009.

Well said man, +1

[knapplc]

It depends a lot on the opponent. Against Cousins and Vandenberg we just pinned our ears back and went right at them. Did the same thing a couple years ago against guys like Daniel from Missouri and Enderle from Idaho. But against mobile QBs, which we're seeing more and more of, they do that containment crap to limit the QB's ability to scramble.

 

The biggest problem I have with that strategy is that we often allowed the QB to break that containment (see: Kain Colter and Derek Carr from Fresno). It was effective against VA Tech a few years back, and that's why Bo likes it. But lately we're not executing it.

 

Meanwhile, Iowa has shut down Dennard Robinson the last two years by throwing a load of pressure at him. Michigan State did the same thing. Blitz, blitz, blitz, blitz. But Bo won't do that.

 

Maybe that's why we hired Rick Kaczenski. We'll see. All I know is, I want to see the D Line pin their ears back and wreak havoc. That's what was so successful in the 90s (even earlier in the 90s when we didn't have all that NFL talent on the roster) and it'll work today.

[druski_2k5]

You bring up a good point Knapp [as usual], I think it depends on who the quarterback is.

 

In a more traditional pocket passing quarterback, we go right after him with our defensive line, but with a more mobile quarterback, we tend to play "safe" on the line and let our back 7 do the work in coverage or come up in run support.

 

I like that we adjust against different styles of quarterbacks, but, I wish we would take a page from Iowa or Michigan State regarding mobile quarterbacks every now and then, maybe not all the time, but a nice change of pace from possession to possession would be ideal I think for our defense.

[MichiganDad3]

Was the lack of aggressiveness from the DL due to Carl? I heard reports of Bo handing the defense over to Carl last year, and it seemed Bo's defensive lines were much more aggressive before last year.