Impressed with the D Line

Blackshirtsguru

All-American
I was fairly impressed with the front 4. (Yes I know it was only Fresno State) I know it's early but Coach Parella has them heading in the right direction.

 
Against the run they're stout. Pass rush needs to get better sooner rather than later though or experienced QB's are going to pick them apart.

 
That is going to be difficult to do when they stretch the field out. I do like how we rang up the blitzes when need be. I chalk it up as growing pains with a new coach.

 
That is going to be difficult to do when they stretch the field out. I do like how we rang up the blitzes when need be. I chalk it up as growing pains with a new coach.
Fortunately though, in the two games that really matter in regards to making it to Indy - Wisconsin and Iowa - those two teams don't really do a ton of stretching the field laterally. Ohio State...they're a different story.

I like our front seven's potential for stopping the run in conference play.

 
The defensive line did great work against Fresno State. The backups got some playing time as well, no injuries(?), and some time before the next game to improve on whatever that might need improvement, so all is good.

 
Parella at least has Freedom and Dzuris playing on the correct sides now. Freedom at LE and Dzuris at RE was nonsense.

 
Parella at least has Freedom and Dzuris playing on the correct sides now. Freedom at LE and Dzuris at RE was nonsense.
I thought they switched sides based on situation last season and did so again against FSU, but correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Parella at least has Freedom and Dzuris playing on the correct sides now. Freedom at LE and Dzuris at RE was nonsense.
I thought they switched sides based on situation last season and did so again against FSU, but correct me if I'm wrong.
The D they play has an Open End and a Base End, which is based off the strong side of the offense. It's not a right end and a left end.
 
The new style of football makes the D line look ineffective, but I thought they did great and the blitz calls were effective most of the time. Still need help from the secondary and I think it'll come as they get better at tight coverage. We seem to have an abundance of young athletes in both areas.

 
I've rewatched most of the game. I must say, I really like what they are doing with the front seven.

If they keep getting better at that scheme, I am really going to like this.

 
Against the run they're stout. Pass rush needs to get better sooner rather than later though or experienced QB's are going to pick them apart.
They were running QB contain most of the night so take what you saw with a grain of salt. Stoltenberg and the DE's were defenintly spying the qb, they respected his running ability.

The only one early on and through out the night i saw rush the passer hard was Maurice, and he did good.

When they let the boys get after the passer in a dedicated puss rush i liked what i saw.

 
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I only watched the game 1 time but I thought that outside of Freedom that our Defensive ends looked pretty slow off the edge.

 
I see this a lot. "how we gonna get pressure with our 4?" Well, first off, it's 5 on 4. Sometimes 6 on 4. So it's just not gonna happen often. Watch a whole bunch of games and tell me how many teams are consistently getting pressure with only 4. Aside from the teams that have a big boy stud rush end, it's pretty much none. But what you really want from a Dline, especially a young one like we have, is being technically sound against the zone game, and not taking themselves out of the play. I thought these guys did pretty well for game one. And like Ive said all fall, this young and inexperienced Dline has two things going for them. Two level of straight up ballers behind them.

 
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