Offense practicing too fast to coach the D?

[WAHusker]

Saban made some comments about moving to a fast paced offense..

 

"The thing I wonder about is that if you play offense like that, then that's how you practice. You have to practice like that, so how do you really ever coach defensive players? If a guy doesn't play the right technique, you're going up and telling him and showing him how to play that block or whatever.

 

"But, hell, they're running another play."

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9730914/coach-nick-saban-rule-tempo-offense-alabama-crimson-tide

 

Seems like over the last 3 years, the faster our O plays the worse our D gets. Do you think this is part of the issues we are having with D? Thoughts?

[Count 'Bility]

Saban made some comments about moving to a fast paced offense..

 

"The thing I wonder about is that if you play offense like that, then that's how you practice. You have to practice like that, so how do you really ever coach defensive players? If a guy doesn't play the right technique, you're going up and telling him and showing him how to play that block or whatever.

 

"But, hell, they're running another play."

http://espn.go.com/c...ma-crimson-tide

 

Seems like over the last 3 years, the faster our O plays the worse our D gets. Do you think this is part of the issues we are having with D? Thoughts?

I've always thought it. And I never thought of the coaching aspect of it. This is a good point.

 

I always thought that the tempo our offense plays with has a real negative effect on our D psychologically. Just gives them that "track meet" type of feeling. Perfect example i point to is the Ohio St game last year. Once Ohio St got going, our offense would match em, but would do it so fast that the D has no time to collect their thoughts and regroup. I think the psychological effects are huge too.

[Ratt Mhule]

Doesnt the first team D go up against scout team O? And doesnt scout team O try to do similar things that the upcoming opponent does on offense? If we are playing a huddle offense that week, I dont think this is an issue. If were playing Oregon, ya the scout team is going to try and speed things up so we can get used to seeing it in practice.

[BIG ERN]

I've always thought the type of offense you run does factor your defense to some extent. I think it is more of a mental thing like stated. The teams who run the ball under center usually have a better defense then someone who spreads the ball out, and/or up-tempo. Some of this also has to do with time of possession as well. I don't believe our D with Suh could hold those same opponents to 10 ppg if they had this years offense ---prlly more around 15. Kind of like Michigan State, they don't have an offense but grind the clock which makes the opposing teams think different about their offense.

 

To note, I am by no way saying this has a big result in how poorly we are playing on defense.

[TAKODA]

Respectfully disagree with you Po.

 

The reason! No way can our scout team imitate the Oregon’s of the world thus, we get rattled and confused.

 

The point that Saban is making (Proper technique/basics/detail) may be lost if we are prepping for these types of offenses!

 

I also agree with the track meet mentality that Mr. Accountability referred to in his post!

[Enhance]

Offenses are very fast paced and the rules favor offenses, so I think it's much more difficult to play defense in today's game than say 10, 15 or 20 years ago.

 

I mean, hell - Alabama gave up 42 points and 500+ yards to A&M, IIRC. I know it's Manziel, but still... that's Alabama. Their defense took a hit this year and their secondary isn't as good as in years past, but still.

[jmfb]

Sabans premise would hold if you are just running your 1s vs your 1s and you ran hurry up all the time in practice. You can do it in scout (coach guys up), you just cant do it 100% of the time, you run their offenses plays at regular speed AND coach the kids up. If they run shallow and smash, you practice shallow and smash. Some time obviously has to be devoted to performing against the uptempo, which then gets corrected on film or with a few key words, NOT the in depth correctlon stuff Saban likes to do.

 

Hurry ups make you be pretty vanilla since you cant get set up in the "perfect" alignment every time defensively

 

Per Saban- you cant get really fancy outscheming those type of teams

[Count 'Bility]

Doesnt the first team D go up against scout team O? And doesnt scout team O try to do similar things that the upcoming opponent does on offense? If we are playing a huddle offense that week, I dont think this is an issue. If were playing Oregon, ya the scout team is going to try and speed things up so we can get used to seeing it in practice.

Mostly true during the season, but in fall camp and spring ball, it's usually a 1 vs 1 situation. I would think anyway.

 

Also back in the nineties, they would do a 1 vs 1 segment once a week anyway.

[VA Husker Fan]

I don't really see the issue, but I'm not football smart like Saban. I understand he doesn't want to stop after each play and correct any mistakes because it defeats the purpose of the scout team running the hurry-up offense, but can't he let them run 3-5 plays and then go back and make your corrections then? And stop it earlier if something is blatantly wrong?

[jmfb]

I've always thought the type of offense you run does factor your defense to some extent. I think it is more of a mental thing like stated. The teams who run the ball under center usually have a better defense then someone who spreads the ball out, and/or up-tempo. Some of this also has to do with time of possession as well. I don't believe our D with Suh could hold those same opponents to 10 ppg if they had this years offense ---prlly more around 15. Kind of like Michigan State, they don't have an offense but grind the clock which makes the opposing teams think different about their offense.

 

To note, I am by no way saying this has a big result in how poorly we are playing on defense.

Correct

When your defense is very weak or good but thin- you try and keep them off the field. Hence maybe slowing it down would help this Husker team out, especially us being so fumble prone.

[iowahuskers]

Saban makes a great point that I never thought about. When I played football I played defense and I can tell you we were very frustrated when we just got off the field and the offense would turn it over or have a quick three-and-out.You barely had enough time to catch your breath let alone get coached up on the side line. Like Enhance said defense is a lot harder to play than it was 20 years ago. The game is tailored to the offense and it's very obvious. With a fast paced offense teams like Alabama can't put their huge 330 lbs DT in there to dominate.

[WAHusker]

If our offense only practices against scout and 2nd string.... how do those guys learn? Would that lack of teaching early could cause issues later, since those players weren't given the time to develop their freshman and sophomore years. I also agree on not being able to scheme during a hurry up offense is also causing some of our issues. Like someone stated earlier, even Saban's Defense is vulnerable to the fast paced spread.

[NebraskaHarry]

I got news for you. We don't have a fast paced offense. We just have a no huddle offense. Wyoming had a faster offense than us for goodness sake.

[Hunter94]

agree, we don't run plays back to back, fast...we break the huddle or go no huddle and wait for the play to be signaled in from the bench...use up most of the clock, just prevent the D from making substitutions....myself, I don't think it makes for that great of an advantage.....nice theory...but

[Hunter94]

I got news for you. We don't have a fast paced offense. We just have a no huddle offense. Wyoming had a faster offense than us for goodness sake.

 

if we played Oregon, our guys would be spent by the 2nd quarter...those guys play aerobic football.