Spring Practice Updates

[HuskerShark]

The best way to stop an offense is to get in the backfield before the play starts. This new attacking scheme will improve that.

[Dr. Strangelove]

The best way to stop an offense is to get in the backfield before the play starts. This new attacking scheme will improve that.

The see-ball, less thinking, more just doing 'attacking' scheme sounds great on paper until teams hit you deep with a play action pass.

[jmfb]

 

 

There is no commentary here, simply passing along observations from a knowledgeable practice observer:

 

Riley is the CEO - does very little coaching at practice.

 

Read only coaches special teams. No coaching the rest of practice.

 

Stanton looks terrible.

 

Staff hasn't figured out how to handle this many guys yet. Lots of standing around.

 

I guess Riley letting his guys do what they do kinda makes sense but I would wager he is more involved than that suggests.

 

Oh kay?

 

I kind of believe Stanton not looking good. Barely any mentions of him thus far. Really a damn shame he didn't pan out, guessing he transfers.

 

That last bit sounds like BS.

 

Football practice has a lot of standing around, it really does. Shoot I have had rosters of 20-40 player and there is standing around. The idea that you are using every second of practice all the time is crazy.

 

You do your cals, your indy time and team time. Once you get to team time there are lots of players standing around.

 

With that said, I would think a staff with 300 years of coaching experience would find better ways, like they did with the split up of the players at the start (which I think might be part of the reason that the offense looks horrible right now)

 

Im no Pelini fan

However I was invited and attended a number of practices in the Pelini era

I saw a very strong pace and lots of guys involved- not a lot of standing around

 

My guess is Bo got that from Solich/Osborne

Was used to practicing with more kids

[jmfb]

 

The best way to stop an offense is to get in the backfield before the play starts. This new attacking scheme will improve that.

The see-ball, less thinking, more just doing 'attacking' scheme sounds great on paper until teams hit you deep with a play action pass.

 

Correct- real coaches understand that

 

Also

When DL players don't engage at all- that allows Olinemen to get to second level unscathed and crush your LBs

This isn't YMCA football where you just come up field as fast as you can to make plays in front of mom and dad. YMCA OCs don't know how to address that, all college coaches do

Zone teams will crush that- so will teams that trap/ wham and screen

[jmfb]

The best way to stop an offense is to get in the backfield before the play starts. This new attacking scheme will improve that.

Cosgroves defenses had a lot of negative yardage plays

Often at the top of the conference, several times near the top nationally

 

How did that work out for him?

 

Defense is far more complex than most people comprehend

[knapplc]

Every defense has its weakness. The weakness for Bo's defense was stopping the run. It was deadly against the pass. Unfortunately we're not in a pass-first conference, the B1G is run-based.

 

The weakness of Banker's defense is against the pass. Your DBs are on an island more often than not, stressing them heavily. But that also stresses the opponent's QB to get ball out accurately, which is FAR better in this league than locking down the defensive secondary at the expense of controlling the line of scrimmage.

 

Bo's defense was great against the Big XII. They passed more than they ran and we saw how well he could shut down even good passing offenses. But in this league we saw how awful it was against teams that can rush well.

Hell, SDSU ran well against Bo's scheme. Twice.

 

If I never see our D Line "occupying" offensive linemen again, I'll be happy. That had me cursing at the TV from day one.

[knapplc]

Defense is far more complex than most people comprehend

Speak for yourself. You're talking to 100 defensive experts.

[jmfb]

Every defense has its weakness. The weakness for Bo's defense was stopping the run. It was deadly against the pass. Unfortunately we're not in a pass-first conference, the B1G is run-based.

 

The weakness of Banker's defense is against the pass. Your DBs are on an island more often than not, stressing them heavily. But that also stresses the opponent's QB to get ball out accurately, which is FAR better in this league than locking down the defensive secondary at the expense of controlling the line of scrimmage.

 

Bo's defense was great against the Big XII. They passed more than they ran and we saw how well he could shut down even good passing offenses. But in this league we saw how awful it was against teams that can rush well.

Hell, SDSU ran well against Bo's scheme. Twice.

 

If I never see our D Line "occupying" offensive linemen again, I'll be happy. That had me cursing at the TV from day one.

There is a HUGE difference between 1) occupying 2) what most good defensive teams do and 3) just aggressively penetrating upfield aka YMCA football which is what most YMCA sofa coaches suggest

There are Reads involved based on the initial footwork of the key

One can penetrate and squeeze while still getting a hand on the hip of the down or combo blocker to take him off his path

Same for the player going directly to second level

That's why so FEW defensive linemen start as Freshman

You cant just play as a beast- zone will just allow the offense to use that momentum against you- that's one of the main reasons zone was invented in the first place- as will trap/wham, draw and screen game

 

IF D line play was just about penetrating upfield and making tackles- there would be little need to practice for 2 plus hours every day or pay coaches hundreds of thousands of $$ to coach the position.

But watching it on TV with little to none technical commentary from the announcers- where all they seem to be interested in is the human drama stories, pans of the crowd and cheerleaders shaking pom poms- I get where that all comes from.

 

It isn't like the only choices are between a Thad Randle patty cake eat up blockers and a full speed gap penetrating rush

MUCH more to it than that- many other options

 

[BigRedBuster]

Every defense has its weakness. The weakness for Bo's defense was stopping the run. It was deadly against the pass. Unfortunately we're not in a pass-first conference, the B1G is run-based.

 

The weakness of Banker's defense is against the pass. Your DBs are on an island more often than not, stressing them heavily. But that also stresses the opponent's QB to get ball out accurately, which is FAR better in this league than locking down the defensive secondary at the expense of controlling the line of scrimmage.

 

Bo's defense was great against the Big XII. They passed more than they ran and we saw how well he could shut down even good passing offenses. But in this league we saw how awful it was against teams that can rush well.

Hell, SDSU ran well against Bo's scheme. Twice.

 

If I never see our D Line "occupying" offensive linemen again, I'll be happy. That had me cursing at the TV from day one.

AMEN!!!!

 

Control the attack at the LOS by stopping the run and putting pressure on the QB. If he beats us with the pass, he will have to get it out quickly, accurately, the WR will have to run a good rout and beat our DB and then ultimately make the catch. I'd rather gamble on that not being able to happen more times than not.

[swmohusker]

 

 

That was kind of an insane strategy considering he rarely played more than 1 or 2 LBs and never made it much of a recruiting emphasis for most of the time he was here.

 

Let's take the defensive line out of the game to make room for the linebackers we don't have.

Quite the opposite was the plan in the scheme. If the DLine is taking up all the blockers then it makes your subpar LB's job much easier. If your DL is shooting gaps and doing too much penetration then your LB's will have to get off blocks and make plays instead of just fitting their gap of responsibility. More aggressive DL play makes your LB have to play better. Keeping your LB's clean can make any LB look good. Heck Roach had like 18 tackles 1 game. It is not bc he was playing well, it was bc he was not getting blocked.

 

This is true if the LBs are sitting & reading the offense, but it sounds like that they will be playing aggressive & filling gaps before the backs can make a move up field.

 

If our LB are not reading the offense then God help us all. Any defense you use you are required to read the offense. Even when you are blitzing you have to read your gap. Maybe the keys they read will be simplified or the responsibilities of the LBs will be shrunken down but they are still going to be asked to take their read steps, read the play, and play their responsibility.

[Count 'Bility]

My god. Did i read what i just read?

 

Obviously were not just gonna sit in cover 2 and shoot gaps all day. Good god.

 

And yes. Were gonna give up some big plays here and there. Even our vaunted 90s defenses did that. And it was pretty damn often too. But so many refuse to remember that. But its what you do in between or what you sacrafice to stop the big plays that makes or breaks your hay.

[The Dude]

I wanna run the scheme that doesn't let Wisconsin average 51 points per game on us.

[jmfb]

Here's what he's talking about:

 

 

Or something to that effect. Numbers vary by system.

98% of the football world uses this numbering system

It is the agreed upon standard- common language that 100% of High School and College coaches understand

[ADS]

Sometimes teams are going to score 40+ on us. But for crying out loud there is just no damn excuse for giving up 400 yards on the ground to one player.

[admo]

Sometimes teams are going to score 40+ on us. But for crying out loud there is just no damn excuse for giving up 400 yards on the ground to one player.

While it's well known their starting QB has a case of the yips, mentally struggling to throw the ball.