Defense

[Cuse On 3]

You want Erob coaching DL?

A lot of it is scheme and technique. The players are mostly in the wrong position most of the time. And even if they are they don’t make the play.

Reese is a good example. He is clearly a backside
Pass rusher not a run stopper but in today’s RPO game you have to be able to do both. So watch Reese set the edge against Duke. I’m waiting…still watching?? Yeah that’s right he didn’t. Nor did the other edge allowing Duke to bounce everything outside.

Secondly then we want to “pressure”. Watch where it comes from. Our LBs straight rushing the middle leaving all the dbs on an island. Also ever notice our guys stop rushing as soon as the qb moves one way or the other. It’s crazy

We desperately need a new DC

 

[Nicknack]

We desperately need a new DC

Problem is that Fran has been married 20+ years

 

[anomander]

You want Erob coaching DL?

A lot of it is scheme and technique. The players are mostly in the wrong position most of the time. And even if they are they don’t make the play.

Reese is a good example. He is clearly a backside
Pass rusher not a run stopper but in today’s RPO game you have to be able to do both. So watch Reese set the edge against Duke. I’m waiting…still watching?? Yeah that’s right he didn’t. Nor did the other edge allowing Duke to bounce everything outside.

Secondly then we want to “pressure”. Watch where it comes from. Our LBs straight rushing the middle leaving all the dbs on an island. Also ever notice our guys stop rushing as soon as the qb moves one way or the other. It’s crazy

That's the lack of hustle that's been noticeable in every game except Clemson. Just don't get it?

I really don't want Robinson coaching anywhere but i'd like his alleged recruiting chops.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Hoping that our D would show up was kind of like hoping for a winning lotto ticket. Or even hoping for a ticket that didn't open your wallet, take out all the cash, and kick you in the groin.

Under Fran, our D has been poor and that was even before yesterday's train wreck.

I don't recall how we ranked nationally last year or this year but it was not good. In addition, last year, we finished 14th out of 17 ACC in defense, and THIS WAS ON A 10-WIN TEAM! A team that won 10 games was still one of the worst defensive teams in the conference. ERob should be sending McCord NIL $$$ for life.

Prior to yesterday's stinker, we still ranked 14th in the conference on defense this year and THAT INCLUDED GAMES VS COLGATE AND UCONN.! Thanks to yesterday's fiasco, we now rank 16th out of 17 ACC teams on defense.

We might say that the offense didn't do the D any favors yesterday, and while that's true, what about all of last year? What about the games this year with Angeli? It kind of throws any excuse for the D right out the window.

We all hope that Rickie or somebody can improve the offense from yesterday, but even if they do, we still have whatever Saturday morning cartoon festival is going on over on the defensive side of the ball.

YPP in FBS games last 10 seasons:

5.07 2022 (ACC T-4th / National T-25th)
5.30 2021 (ACC 5th / National 35th)
5.58 2023 (ACC 9th / National 56th)
5.82 2020 (ACC 7th / National 70th)
5.99 2018 (ACC T-10th / National T-86th
6.35 2024 (ACC 16th / National 109th)
6.38 2019 (ACC 12th / National 104th)
6.51 2025 (ACC 16th / National 114th)
6.66 2017 (ACC 14th / National 117th)
7.21 2016 (ACC 14th / National 126th)

*ACC only had 14 teams, so those are last place finishes.

You can't preach DART and let this keep happening. Look at how much worse we are the last two years vs the prior 4 years. If it is the system, then we need to change coaches. If it is the talent, then that too is on the coaches as they bring these kids in.

I still don't get how they did not bring in another edge and more LB help. It was a glaring need.

BTW, how bad was Ward? Even his "good" year was not very good. A different DC and we might squeeze a Bowl out those first two years, and that 4th year.

 

[djorange1989]

YPP in FBS games last 10 seasons:

5.07 2022 (ACC T-4th / National T-25th)
5.30 2021 (ACC 5th / National 35th)
5.58 2023 (ACC 9th / National 56th)
5.82 2020 (ACC 7th / National 70th)
5.99 2018 (ACC T-10th / National T-86th
6.35 2024 (ACC 16th / National 109th)
6.38 2019 (ACC 12th / National 104th)
6.51 2025 (ACC 16th / National 114th)
6.66 2017 (ACC 14th / National 117th)
7.21 2016 (ACC 14th / National 126th)

*ACC only had 14 teams, so those are last place finishes.

You can't preach DART and let this keep happening. Look at how much worse we are the last two years vs the prior 4 years. If it is the system, then we need to change coaches. If it is the talent, then that too is on the coaches as they bring these kids in.

I still don't get how they did not bring in another edge and more LB help. It was a glaring need.

BTW, how bad was Ward? Even his "good" year was not very good. A different DC and we might squeeze a Bowl out those first two years, and that 4th year.

How bad was Ward? We have his defensive doppelgänger now! I would kill for Tony White again, hell I would take the mailing it in 2023 version of Rocky Long at this point too

 

[PhatOrange]

Do we ever run any stunts?

I've blocked out Saturday to even remember what we did, but as with any other game, I think it's just straight ahead over and over and over.

And then our blitzers (at least we're blitzing now) but it seems they run straight into lineman. Just spitballing here but without any stunts and making OL turn hips to move and account for stunting DL it seems we have no chance of creating a gap the backers can run through. The D is bad and in my nose bleed seat it's scheme, coupled with poor technique at spots.

 

[dollarbill44]

The defense was not great but our offense was so much worse and Collins put our defense in terrible positions today

Don't blame the defensive performance on Collins. Duke didn't have many short fields. Here are the length of scoring drives:
70 yards
75 yards
61 yards
53 yards
60 yards
71 yards

 

[orange_in_VA]

YPP in FBS games last 10 seasons:

5.07 2022 (ACC T-4th / National T-25th)
5.30 2021 (ACC 5th / National 35th)
5.58 2023 (ACC 9th / National 56th)
5.82 2020 (ACC 7th / National 70th)
5.99 2018 (ACC T-10th / National T-86th
6.35 2024 (ACC 16th / National 109th)
6.38 2019 (ACC 12th / National 104th)
6.51 2025 (ACC 16th / National 114th)
6.66 2017 (ACC 14th / National 117th)
7.21 2016 (ACC 14th / National 126th)

*ACC only had 14 teams, so those are last place finishes.

You can't preach DART and let this keep happening. Look at how much worse we are the last two years vs the prior 4 years. If it is the system, then we need to change coaches. If it is the talent, then that too is on the coaches as they bring these kids in.

I still don't get how they did not bring in another edge and more LB help. It was a glaring need.

BTW, how bad was Ward? Even his "good" year was not very good. A different DC and we might squeeze a Bowl out those first two years, and that 4th year.

I actually kinda felt bad for Ward during his time here because the hurry up system had his defense on the field for 40 minutes a game. Going fast is fine if you keep getting first downs but going 3 and out in 30 seconds destroys the defense. He's also still getting DC jobs and is back in the P5 at ASU. I don't see a world where Robinson gets a DC job after Cuse because the only school where his best friend is the HC is ours. Lol

 

[OttoinGrotto]

YPP in FBS games last 10 seasons:

5.07 2022 (ACC T-4th / National T-25th)
5.30 2021 (ACC 5th / National 35th)
5.58 2023 (ACC 9th / National 56th)
5.82 2020 (ACC 7th / National 70th)
5.99 2018 (ACC T-10th / National T-86th
6.35 2024 (ACC 16th / National 109th)
6.38 2019 (ACC 12th / National 104th)
6.51 2025 (ACC 16th / National 114th)
6.66 2017 (ACC 14th / National 117th)
7.21 2016 (ACC 14th / National 126th)

*ACC only had 14 teams, so those are last place finishes.

You can't preach DART and let this keep happening. Look at how much worse we are the last two years vs the prior 4 years. If it is the system, then we need to change coaches. If it is the talent, then that too is on the coaches as they bring these kids in.

I still don't get how they did not bring in another edge and more LB help. It was a glaring need.

BTW, how bad was Ward? Even his "good" year was not very good. A different DC and we might squeeze a Bowl out those first two years, and that 4th year.

They tried to recruit more edges and lbs out of the portal, but we didn't get commitments.

That's the other side of the coin with the portal. Sure, you might have the chance for instant help. But they have to decide you're the right fit for them too. It's not a grocery list and you just pick up "pass rush generating defensive end" and "run stopping linebacker" whenever you want.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I actually kinda felt bad for Ward during his time here because the hurry up system had his defense on the field for 40 minutes a game. Going fast is fine if you keep getting first downs but going 3 and out in 30 seconds destroys the defense. He's also still getting DC jobs and is back in the P5 at ASU. I don't see a world where Robinson gets a DC job after Cuse because the only school where his best friend is the HC is ours. Lol

I don't watch much of ASU but Ward was awful here. Our TOP wasn't horrible (FBS games 28:32 in 2016 and 30:01 in 2017). I was done with Ward after the Notre Dame game in 2016. That was a bad team that toyed with us. Completely inept that day.

 

[wfschrec]

They tried to recruit more edges and lbs out of the portal, but we didn't get commitments.

That's the other side of the coin with the portal. Sure, you might have the chance for instant help. But they have to decide you're the right fit for them too. It's not a grocery list and you just pick up "pass rush generating defensive end" and "run stopping linebacker" whenever you want.

Yeah you need Amazon for that type of stuff

 

[HRE Otto IV]

They tried to recruit more edges and lbs out of the portal, but we didn't get commitments.

That's the other side of the coin with the portal. Sure, you might have the chance for instant help. But they have to decide you're the right fit for them too. It's not a grocery list and you just pick up "pass rush generating defensive end" and "run stopping linebacker" whenever you want.

Did we? It seemed we weren't in the conversation for many and people here were complaining that we were not targeting more guys.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Did we? It seemed we weren't in the conversation for many and people here were complaining that we were not targeting more guys.

We definitely were. Linebacker especially.

 

[tbonezone]

Don't blame the defensive performance on Collins. Duke didn't have many short fields. Here are the length of scoring drives:
70 yards
75 yards
61 yards
53 yards
60 yards
71 yards

when you're averaging 8 yards per play ... no field is too long.

 

[dollarbill44]

when you're averaging 8 yards per play ... no field is too long.

View attachment 255587

Was it only 8 yards per play? It felt like more.

 

[timkay99]

That's the lack of hustle that's been noticeable in every game except Clemson. Just don't get it?

I really don't want Robinson coaching anywhere but i'd like his alleged recruiting chops.

I don't think its a lack of hustle, I think it is bad angles.

Braheem Long had a rough game and took some bad angles and missed some tackles. He had a great game against Clemson taking some good angles and making his tackles.

Duke essentially schemed away from Devin Grant to neutralize him and made the other safeties beat them. And the safeties had a rough game tackling.

It seems the defense is trying to balance sound football older players (McDonald when healthy, Buxton, etc) who may have some athletic deficiencies with some younger, more athletic players who are more prone to blow assignments.

Reese has been a surprise, as I share AZ Orange's notice earlier with wondering what he is doing on any given play. Hasn't played like a 25 year old to this point and makes the fall off from Diggs so much bigger, as it seemed we hoped he'd be our primary pass rusher. Couple that with David O not progressing and there is a lot of potential playing time available for Wilson and Rodgers when they get on campus.

It is hard to tell where the gap fill errors on some of these runs are. Haven't really seen a D give up long runs when a team is trying to run out the half before and we've done it at least 3 times. Sure it is related to my prior paragraph.

And also share the sentiment that I have been surprised at how much Kerr has struggled as the nickel.

 

[OttosShoes]

Defense has some stuff to clean up but TBH I think it looks worse than it is.

When the offense can't get anything done, the defense ends up back on the field while they're still catching their breath, and they end up playing way more football. That's tiring and demoralizing.

Same exact D but Angeli has the offense? I think Duke puts up like 27. That's reasonable to me and a winnable game.

 

[mustacheovich]

 

[anomander]

Now that’s a prime example of not making adjustments on the fly. Something great coordinators do.