3 down lineman

[Eric the Red]

from what i saw last night, was a lack of team speed, especially on defense.

Dillard will never be able to cover a TE

Let's remember who he was triying to cover. An All-American TE. There aren't any linebackers that can cover him,. that's what he's dynamite TE and weapon.

 

[MCAT800]

That was the same "D" Pelini used to shutdown Florida last year.

 

[AR Husker Fan]

What would you do to defend the Spread Offense? I would mix it up more defensively I think. One thing that I would do is have six guys close to the line of scrimmage and tell them to really knock the guys going out for passes off their routes and make them pay before they get into their route. That would give the rushers time to get to the QB and you would possibly tire out the WR's and RB's a little more. Too many times I see players just get off the line of scrimmage too easily and it is much easier for a passing team to get into the rhythm when they aren't knocked off their route from the start. That would be something I would try at least for a series to see if it worked.

Any other ideas?

The problem with that is if the defensive back wiffs, or if the receiver manages to avoid that initial bump, then he's in the clear and you have to rotate a safety over to cover - leaving the middle of the field open. That kind of scheme takes defensive backs that are both physical and damn fast - good "recover" speed. Not sure we have those, at least yet.