My first post...first of all, just wanna say I'm glad to see a large free site like this one. Huskermax with its paid registration system, u just end up with the same 15 guys talking about the same stuff over and over.
Anyway, it's been known for a long time that Bo has had trouble covering for running qbs. Why is this the case? We all saw how he was able to create a defense that was able to stifle the spread, fun-n-gun attacks in the Big 12. Why all the difficulty in scheming to take away a running qb? My own theory--and I'm far from an ex-coach or anyone with any inside knowledge--is that Bo is too obsessed with man coverage or the matchup-zone system that he uses, which from my understanding is really a man-system disguised as a zone on the pre-snap read. This is why we keep seeing slow-footed LBs like Compton and Whaley trying to spring downfield and cover a speedy slot WR in the UCLA and OSU games. The advantage to using conventional zone coverages is that if the qb takes off to scramble (or in a design QB run like we've seen a lot this year), the entire defensive back 7 sees it. In man, nobody sees it except for maybe one LB and a safety. And the way our safeties are playing this year, seeing it doesn't mean they're gonna even come close to stopping it!
I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on this, especially people with more X and O knowledge than me. Of course if you're gonna use zone pass coverages, u also have to have the ability to get to the QB otherwise the WRs will find gaps in the zone and exploit them. But to me, it makes a lot more sense to use a mixture of standard zone, matchup zone, man coverage with blitzes, zone blitzes, and a QB spy at times that varies between LBs or safeties so that the QB can't figure it out. I think someone with Bo's defensive expertise shouldn't be struggling with running qbs as much as we have.
