Some games from last year.
I just rewatched the bowl game, and from what I saw the defense actually did well save two mind blowing busted coverages. The first TD; our safety got pulled off his mark by being too aggressive. Also the backer didn't carry the WR up the seam creating a wall between him and the WR. Also the coverage call was questionable, they were in a three wide formation with two WR's to the wide side, this formation can cause serious match up issues with route combinations if you don't have a seasoned LB'er (our guy was a true freshman). Why we didn't run more dime/nickle (we actually ran a lot of nickle) against that team in those formations is head scratching.
But our D wasn't the issue IMO. The O was and in a major way. After the defense realized that we wanted to feature Duke they did he same thing as L'Ville; stack the box and key Duke. Andre Ware made a statement that could be the mantra for the season; use your other weapons other than Duke. Also, if they stack the box run short hitche's and allow our playmakers to operate in space (see the Lewis scamper for big yards after the catch). The play selection also became predictable and not creative after the defense adjusted. This was a common theme in our losses to Neb (our defense was actually ass that game), GT, VA and Pitt and portions of the FSU game. I think we became way too predictable with Duke and didn't have the monster O-line/blocking schemes to over power/out flank loaded boxes.
We cannot become predictable this year, balance must be key to have any type of succes against good teams. It was staggering how many times we tried to run it on 3rd and +5 in the bowl game. Staggering!
As I have said; I'm meh on this staff now, if we win, fine. If we lose get a dude in here that can run a powerhouse D1 program. Way too much talent to lose the way we did last year. Way too much.
I just rewatched the bowl game, and from what I saw the defense actually did well save two mind blowing busted coverages. The first TD; our safety got pulled off his mark by being too aggressive. Also the backer didn't carry the WR up the seam creating a wall between him and the WR. Also the coverage call was questionable, they were in a three wide formation with two WR's to the wide side, this formation can cause serious match up issues with route combinations if you don't have a seasoned LB'er (our guy was a true freshman). Why we didn't run more dime/nickle (we actually ran a lot of nickle) against that team in those formations is head scratching.
But our D wasn't the issue IMO. The O was and in a major way. After the defense realized that we wanted to feature Duke they did he same thing as L'Ville; stack the box and key Duke. Andre Ware made a statement that could be the mantra for the season; use your other weapons other than Duke. Also, if they stack the box run short hitche's and allow our playmakers to operate in space (see the Lewis scamper for big yards after the catch). The play selection also became predictable and not creative after the defense adjusted. This was a common theme in our losses to Neb (our defense was actually ass that game), GT, VA and Pitt and portions of the FSU game. I think we became way too predictable with Duke and didn't have the monster O-line/blocking schemes to over power/out flank loaded boxes.
We cannot become predictable this year, balance must be key to have any type of succes against good teams. It was staggering how many times we tried to run it on 3rd and +5 in the bowl game. Staggering!
As I have said; I'm meh on this staff now, if we win, fine. If we lose get a dude in here that can run a powerhouse D1 program. Way too much talent to lose the way we did last year. Way too much.
