Chinander Defense

[BIG ERN]

Something that he has to realize and figure out is 'numbers' football. I waited to make the topic as I thought he would change it up more for Wisconsin, but I didn't see it happen. There have been countless times this year where teams are running 2 TE and a FB, on 3rd down, and we still sit in our base 3 lineman down defense. It even has happened multiple times when it is __ and Goal. To me this is flat out common sense football. To beat Wisconsin you have to make them throw the football, and I saw many times where our safeties are WAY off the LOS as if they were actually going to throw the ball down field to some play making receiver. Hopefully we see a little more Daniels at NT 

Some guys I feel lack getting it done...

Lamar Jackson (Doesn't start now but sees PT)

Dedrick Young (Honas getting hurt didn't help)

Alex Davis (Ferg has been injured I believe) 

Neal & Reed (Thought both Williams play a little better out there together)

Overall I don't want it to seem as if Chin doesn't run a good defense. Our punting and offense put us in bad spots in the 1st half and the D played well and also forced two FGs on a good red zone offensive team. I just hope in the future we have bigger D lineman and figure out that we have to line up and beat people up front if we want to win the West division. Wisconsin for sure and even Iowa has shown some good teams and they are identical. We will almost always have the better athletes, but need the physicality to go with it. Outside of probably 3 guys our LB play has been abysmal since we joined the B10. This is more of a rant post than cause for concern since I'm aware we lack some talent/depth right now. Just frustrating to watch us put ourselves in non-favorable spots with this team when we claim we are a 'multiple' defense. 

3rd and 1 ... we have a safety 15 yards (can't see him) off the ball and 3 down lineman. They picked up 15 yards on this play

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I am not saying Chinander is blameless, but I think there are only 2 guys on the D that is playing above average football, Mo Barry and Dicaprio Bootle.  Everyone else is playing average to below average to bad.

 

[bugeater17]

I'm leery to be too critical of Chin this year. Dedrick Young is killing us in run fits and inability to fill the hole he's responsible for. Young often overruns the flow which results in him getting kicked out by the lead blocker. Chin also currently lacks CBs he trusts which necessitates the need to keep the safetys back. 

The only thing I am critical of is the lack of creativity in getting pressure to the QB. We saw it in the Colorado game but it has completely disappeared as of late. 

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I'm leery to be too critical of Chin this year. Dedrick Young is killing us in run fits and inability to fill the hole he's responsible for. Young often overruns the flow which results in him getting kicked out by the lead blocker. Chin also currently lacks CBs he trusts which necessitates the need to keep the safetys back. 

The only thing I am critical of is the lack of creativity in getting pressure to the QB. We saw it in the Colorado game but it has completely disappeared as of late. 

I agree with you, but I think Chin is afraid to blitz too much and leave the secondary out on islands by themselves.

 

[WyoHusker56]

I could be wrong, but isn't every current starting linebacker more of a 4-3 fit? In a 3-4 your linebackers are a critical piece of making the defense work properly and we don't have the proper athletes in those positions yet. Same with DE honestly.

 

[Mierin]

I could be wrong, but isn't every current starting linebacker more of a 4-3 fit? In a 3-4 your linebackers are a critical piece of making the defense work properly and we don't have the proper athletes in those positions yet. Same with DE honestly.

No idea, but they shouldn't be. Diaco ran a 3-4. Oh wait, he was only here 1 season. Carry on.

 

[gobiggergoredder]

You spent a lot of time putting that together.  It was the worst D in the country last year.  As bad as it’s gone, they are improved.  Give it time.

 

[cheekygeek]

You spent a lot of time putting that together.  It was the worst D in the country last year.  As bad as it’s gone, they are improved.  Give it time.

The defense really excited me at times during the Colorado game. The front 7, as a whole, looked pretty great in that game. Maybe Colorado's O-Line/Offense just made the Cornhusker defense look like world-beaters. It still kills me that we lost that game at the end. It makes me wonder how we would have looked/played against Akron and how that might have affected the Colorado game (might we have looked even sharper)? Then Colorado hurts Martinez and I think the whole team had a let-down against Troy.

Coulda, woulda, Shoulda.

I'm with the voices saying "Give Chin his first run through the Big 10 to see what he's going to be up against". I do wonder how we run a scout team simulating Big 10 opponents with no fullback on the NU roster, though. 

 

[lo country]

I could be wrong, but isn't every current starting linebacker more of a 4-3 fit? In a 3-4 your linebackers are a critical piece of making the defense work properly and we don't have the proper athletes in those positions yet. Same with DE honestly.

I gotta agree.  Most of the entire defense was recruited to play in a 4-3.  IIRC, when the Davis twins were recruited, there were concerns from their family about going to a 3-4...This was with Banker and Riley.  Then we switched 4-3 kids to 3-4 Diaco and then to a 3-4 with Chin.  From my limited knowledge. A 3-4 isn't a 3-4 isn't a 3-4. There are variances in it. 

We just don't have the horses to run it.  Yet.  Another year in the system, another year of S&C.  Another recruit cycle....

Injuries certainly don't help.  We just don't have depth right now...

 

[BIG ERN]

You spent a lot of time putting that together.  It was the worst D in the country last year.  As bad as it’s gone, they are improved.  Give it time.

We gave up 36.4 ppg last year and are currently at 39.2 --- I get he took over a bad unit, but I think at times he doesn't put us in good positions against run first pro-style teams. I was impressed with Chin several times last year so it's not like I don't think he can turn it around. Just that it's going to be tough to find a machine like he had in Griffin which impacted that defense so much along with 1st rounder Hughes. 

 

[Mavric]

Obviously we need to be better.  I do think we will improve as guys get more familiar with the system and get can get some more complex calls installed.

That being said, my biggest criticism is definitely staying in our base defense too much.  I don't care how good your starters are, it's hard to match up with four WRs or a three TE set with your base personnel on the field.  I thought we should have played more Nickel against Colorado and Troy.  It's not like we didn't have those packages in - we went to them on third-and-long type situations.  And we definitely needed to find a way to get another big body on the field against Wisconsin - though that's not nearly as straight-forward as going Nickel would be.

Hopefully some of those adjustments are still on the way.  But it doesn't seem like we're always putting our guys in the best position to be successful.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

The defense really excited me at times during the Colorado game. The front 7, as a whole, looked pretty great in that game. Maybe Colorado's O-Line/Offense just made the Cornhusker defense look like world-beaters. It still kills me that we lost that game at the end. It makes me wonder how we would have looked/played against Akron and how that might have affected the Colorado game (might we have looked even sharper)? Then Colorado hurts Martinez and I think the whole team had a let-down against Troy.

Coulda, woulda, Shoulda.

I'm with the voices saying "Give Chin his first run through the Big 10 to see what he's going to be up against". I do wonder how we run a scout team simulating Big 10 opponents with no fullback on the NU roster, though. 

I think you are over-estimating the number of Big Ten offenses which run old-school power football with a fullback.  Going by my memory, here is a breakdown of the offense-style by team.  I have only 4 conference teams that are running an old-school, power-based pro-style offense.

Wisconsin - power, pro-style

Iowa - power, pro-style

Minnesota - spread

Illinois - spread

Northwestern - spread

Purdue - spread

Nebraska - spread

Ohio State - spread

Michigan - pro-style

Michigan - pro-style, trending towards spread though

Indiana - spread

Rutgers - spread

Maryland - spread

Penn State - spread

 

[Vince R.]

I have no qualms with the D. I think they are further ahead than I expected. Nebraska needs to improve their talent on the line and in the secondary. Once that happens, they will be one of the better Defenses in the conference. Chin's has a tall task this year, and when the O fails to score in the first half during multiple games, it becomes impossible to call a really great game. 

 

[BIG ERN]

I think you are over-estimating the number of Big Ten offenses which run old-school power football with a fullback.  Going by my memory, here is a breakdown of the offense-style by team.  I have only 4 conference teams that are running an old-school, power-based pro-style offense.

Wisconsin - power, pro-style

Iowa - power, pro-style

Minnesota - spread

Illinois - spread

Northwestern - spread

Purdue - spread

Nebraska - spread

Ohio State - spread

Michigan - pro-style

Michigan - pro-style, trending towards spread though

Indiana - spread

Rutgers - spread

Maryland - spread

Penn State - spread

To win the B10 we first have to win the West. The top two teams have been Wisconsin (by far) and Iowa...we are 1-7 against Wisconsin since joining the conference. We have lost the last 3 games vs Iowa. I'm not saying we have to become them by any means, but we have to figure a way out to win those games. 

 

[Undone]

Excellent post.

Something that he has to realize and figure out is 'numbers' football. I waited to make the topic as I thought he would change it up more for Wisconsin, but I didn't see it happen. There have been countless times this year where teams are running 2 TE and a FB, on 3rd down, and we still sit in our base 3 lineman down defense.

And it's actually worse than that - when we line up with our base three down linemen with Gifford as a stand-up rush end it practically feels like we're playing with only 10 men out there. Because Gifford physically can't get into position against a guy that far outweighs him and I hate to say this, but he just doesn't really have the moves to get off of the block to impact things when it's a called run play.

This is especially bad when the other team is running an inside zone; their running back can just go to the other B gap (where there's probably a double team on one of our three down lineman). It's getting incredibly frustrating to watch over and over. If Chinander's going with this personnel, then stick Gifford off the line of scrimmage where he can maneuver into a gap.

I'm with you, Ern. It makes you wonder why they stick with it when - numbers wise - it's not just horrible on film but also horrible on paper.

And where it will probably just get worse and worse is when a decent offensive coordinator goes with designed run plays that go to the opposite side that Gifford is on, based on which end he lines up on.