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Message: [QUOTE="DomeHolmes, post: 5153043, member: 10113"] First time poster here. I’m now retired and have a little free time. I’ve always enjoyed this forum, Especially posts by guys like Money who have great insight. The two topics I wanted to touch on were defensive mistakes and if Fran was “outcoached.” There’s a lot of questions as to what errors were scheme and what were player mistakes, and many of the comments here refer to “cleaning things up”. For some of our personnel, it may be easier said than done. Some can be cleaned up but some probably can’t. For upperclassmen, Deuces angles, Grant diving at feet, and McDonald’s struggle to get off blocks and read plays probably are what they are. (All three are playing new positions, but the film does not lie. There are some bad habits, instincts, techniques, and physical abilities that cannot likely be changed) I could certainly be wrong, but I think all three of these guys will probably have less playing time by October . (especially on running downs.) Then there are structural things that can be cleaned up. For example, with only two linebackers in our system, when a defensive end crashes down the line of scrimmage, it’s only human nature for the linebacker to assume the play is going in that direction, and following the DE, he vacates any “contain“ he might have. On most of the big off tackle runs, this is what happened. Either the DE failed to set the edge or the linebacker failed to contain, or often both. This is why to run that 4-2 defense you absolutely need 4 DUDES on the DL. They need to set the edge and bend the middle. Then linebackers react. (In last year’s defense, McDonald and Wax were playing downhill filling gaps), and the difference between that, and this defense is likely more of a challenge for Wax, McDonald and Barron than I anticipated. (I really wanted to post a picture but couldn’t make it happen, I could not attach a screenshot for whatever reason). for anybody who likes to break down film, this is a great example. At the 3:18 mark of the first period Ohio had a third and four. There were some posters saying that Diggs was out of position and Ohio took advantage of his aggressiveness, and we were “out coached” by their coach/line coach. If you watch how this play unfolded, Diggs was doing what pass rushers do, (get upfield on a passing down) and both defensive tackles were in the A gaps as they should be, but so were both Wax and Barron. (McDonald was covering the tight end). If you freeze the tape at the 3:15 mark, you will see 4 Cuse defenders in a 2 yard area between the Ohio guards, and essentially Wax and Barron took themselves out of the play. Either Wax, who started on that side, should’ve taken the five hole, or Barron should’ve started farther back and been able to read and react. This is a great example, but there were so many examples of linebackers being out of place, and on the defensive line, Diggs was by far the biggest culprit of not setting the edge. (perhaps his reputation as a third down and long specialist would be accurate, but other ends were both more aggressive, and controlled the edge better. These things should be able to be cleaned up. The linebackers need to trust the defensive line more than they ever did and hopefully that will come in time. I thought for the most part the defensive line actually did a good job except for a few miss cues by defensive ends On the defensive line, I thought Diggs actually did way too much reading and reacting and got pushed out of plays. (On Tyus’ long cutback run, he never engaged the right tackle and ultimately was on his heels, and got pushed out of position), that, of course, was before the terrible tackling in the secondary. Watson generally did a good job pushing the pile and of course, getting his hand up. The two guys I thought performed the best were Jobity, who blew up lots of plays, and Simmons, who consistently set the edge and stood his ground and did not over persue. in the secondary, I thought Cinco was the only one who really distinguished himself. Making lots of good tackles many of them solo. There were a few posters that seemed to think that Fran got out coached, but most disagreed. I am in that camp as well . Ohio had a very good offensive line coach, and very good schemes, and very good execution, and it still was not nearly enough. If it weren’t for the blatant holding penalty that was not called on sparrow and the illegal hands to the face on Washington, we are looking at a 45 to 16 game. (Their QB also fumbled in the first quarter although a very close call, but that’s another three points there). All in all, Fran had his safeties playing very deep most of the game. And although the goal was to not give up long pass plays, the net result was giving up long run plays. But once we got the lead, there was no need to change that defense, even though it was not working particularly well. our goal line defense when the safeties were up tight was night and day different. As for the concern about their slot Receiver, Owen, we gave him lots of underneath stuff by design. His two big plays were a slant where Deuce allowed him the slant and should’ve tackled him after four or 5 yards, but was not quick enough, and there was no middle safety, resulting in a long play. That was a player mistake, not scheme. His other big catch was over the middle when we were in sort of a Tampa 2 scheme. The ball was thrown perfectly over the linebacker (who I believe was Heard) but the big breakdown was that he was the only receiver on a deep route and both deep safeties were 20 yards from Owen when he caught the ball. Because of the scheme it’s too hard to grade our pass defense, but I certainly would like to see more press coverage. But Fran Brown was certainly not out coached. I predict Ohio despite all of their personnel losses, will still be a good team. I am going to reverse tease Syracuse and Ohio this week as both are slight dogs. Sorry for the long post. Had a lot of thoughts to get out. [/QUOTE]

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