Defensive Coordinators, Year 3 | Page 2 | Syracusefan.com

Defensive Coordinators, Year 3

tep624 said:
2011 was the year that Marjinovich was playing significantly hurt the entire second half of the season because we had no other options. I'd say that from a depth perspective, outside of LB Ward probably has more to work with.
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Yeah - that's one of the reasons these comparisons are tough. But in year 3, you're rolling out guys who have at least been in the system for 3 years and/or were recruited to play in that system. But injuries and depth issues hit us harder due to natural recruiting limitations.
 
TheCusian said:
They'd have to, to keep up since their D is ranked #104th.
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I couldn't watch it, I'd have to look away. Every once in a blue moon this defense will impose their will, the rest of the time it's looks soft, just like Ward.
 
I think our D has been great but I don't expect them to be Alabama. They have given us a chance to win every game. Our high tempo offense makes it harder for them to play well as the game goes on but vs UNC they were at their best late never giving the ball back to us down more than 7.

But again I temper expectations and understand that our P5 games are always against teams who have higher recruiting rankings than us. They will get their yardage. The offense is who lost us Pitt and Clemson doing nothing for long stretches IMO.
 
CousCuse said:
I couldn't watch it, I'd have to look away. Every once in a blue moon this defense will impose their will, the rest of the time it's looks soft, just like Ward.
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Lol. Trevor Lawrence doesn't remember his first start thanks to the soft D. The FSU QB got destroyed.

#9 in TO margin
#23 in Sacks
#13 in INT
#43 in tackles for loss
 
TheCusian said:
Lol. Trevor Lawrence doesn't remember his first start thanks to the soft D. The FSU QB got destroyed.

#9 in TO margin
#23 in Sacks
#13 in INT
#43 in tackles for loss
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TL was in his first start and the hit was odd. FSU is not the same team now as they were then. How many huge plays have they given up?
 
Cusefan0307 said:
Yet we have had a chance to win every game. Something you couldn’t say about the former staff.
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Because we have a great upper classman QB, that a lot of people want to throw under the bus. People will defend just about anything now, if it fits their agenda.
 
I think people look at results of plays and not what we running on D. we play more man than people think but because guys get open its a zone issue.. you have to mix it up. UNC went down the field first drive and we blitzed like crazy, we played zone and guys missed tackles so unc goes for it on 4th and one and the drive lives on.. make the tackle and they punt out of the box.

sometimes the O calls a good play, sometime the D screws it up.

The Ds that are the best are the ones that have dominant Dline dudes, which we dont, or dynamic LBs which we dont.. you deal with what you have, mixnmatch and try to survive. if you add in safeties which take bad angles and you get over aggressive on the front end suddenly you get big plays.
 
CousCuse said:
TL was in his first start and the hit was odd. FSU is not the same team now as they were then. How many huge plays have they given up?
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I thought you said we were playing "soft"?

Couple of notes:

- I am not claiming we have a great defense.
- I am not claiming that Ward is a better DC than Shafer. Yet.
- We are very good on 3rd down. We are very good on passing downs.
- We are not great against the run (though when we focused on it in the 1st 3 Q vs UNC, we were good)
- We give up big plays from time to time. That's bad.
 
OttoinGrotto said:
I'm cautiously optimistic that this is where improvements in talent and depth are showing up.
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Agreed.

I also wonder if we’re starting to see our offense making opposing teams offense uncomfortable? We’re good enough on O that opposing teams are forcing throws, passing more, etc.
 
CousCuse said:
Because we have a great upper classman QB, that a lot of people want to throw under the bus. People will defend just about anything now, if it fits their agenda.
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Haha, speaking of agenda. Hey, who threw the tying and winning TD passes last weekend?

I'll let you in on a little something. People aren't throwing any qb's under the bus. They're pointing out that one is hurt.
 
dungey is what he is.. plays with heart will try to run threw a wall to win.

say what you want for troy nunes, but he gave you everything he had on every play.. sometimes he made bad decisions and so does Eric.
 
sufandu said:
Haha, speaking of agenda. Hey, who threw the tying and winning TD passes last weekend?

I'll let you in on a little something. People aren't throwing any qb's under the bus. They're pointing out that one is hurt.
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My point there was that in college football, teams usually play much better when they have an experienced senior QB who can run the offense and has started and played against great teams at home and on the road. The other players on the team can see that and it bolsters them. And as far as Shafer goes I would defend him and any other coach who lost all their QB's and are down to walkon's 2 years in a row.
 
TheCusian said:
This makes no sense. It's *harder* to be a defensive coordinator in this philosophy. You're defending more possessions.
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Bingo. I agree completely.

I think that’s part of what makes our D underrated. Put a ‘normal’ offense on the other side of the ball for us, and the D would shoot up in rankings.
 
orange79 said:
You know 'agenda' works both ways, right?

It's not necessarily an 'agenda' to state your opinion.
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I have watched football for going on 50 years and if you want to tell me this defense is the product of some new age football enlightenment and still has these egregious laps 3 years on, well, I'm just not buying that.
 
I liked Shafer's schemes, but it left us so vulnerable. It was like a kid playing Madden and blitzing every play. We just didn't have the talent across the board to get a rush anywhere else, and the DBs weren't good enough at 1 on 1. But still, lots of blitzing.
 
can anyone tell us what D is good these days? VT gets lit up time after time once by a passing team like Old D and this week by a running team in GT. Ok couldnt begin to stop Army. Defenses are struggling and once an offense gets you on its heals you are in trouble. one reason we run this style is to try and make teams make a bunch of plays to move the ball. we will give up big plays but teams with way more talent than us do too.
 
We need to remember that comparing Ward’s defense to past SU defenses is not a real barometer. Is there tangible improvement? Yes, turnover rate, third down efficiency, and red zone efficiency are all good looking numbers this year. It’s a bend, don’t break defense and it’s working for us with a weak conference (let’s be honest, the ACC is mediocre at best this year).

That all being said SU football has been pitiful in every major measure since 2001. We should take a look at Ward in comparison to WVU, Baylor, WSU that play similar styles of offense.

I looked at third season DCs at those schools under Briles, Leach, and Holgorsen:

2010 Brian Norwood at Baylor (7-6) Fired
Yards/game: 435 (104)
Pass yds/game: 265 (114)
Rush yds/game: 170 (79)
Points/game: 30.5 (89)

2013 Phil Bennett at Baylor (11-2)
Yards/game: 360 (28)
Pass yds/game: 215 (34)
Rush yds/game: 145 (39)
Points/game: 23.5 (36)

2014 Mike Breske at Washington State (3-9) fired
Yards/game: 442 (99)
Pass yds/game: 297 (127)
Rush yds/game: 146 (43)
Points/game: 38.6 (117)

2017 Alex Grinich at Washington State (9-4) moved to OSU
Yards/game: 314 (15)
Pass yds/game: 167 (9)
Rush yds/game: 146 (42)
Points/game: 24.4 (47)

2016 Tony Gibson at West Virginia (10-3)
Yards/game: 431 (79)
Pass yds/game: 256 (99)
Rush yds/game: 176 (66)
Points/game: 23.4 (36)

2018 Brian Ward at Syracuse (5-2 so far)
Yards/game: 416 (92)
Pass yds/game: 236 (84)
Rush yds/game: 180 (90)
Points/game: 26.9 (70)

Obviously there are some better stats and all that moneyball business you can use. However, the raw numbers do have a telling story. My bet is that if these numbers remain we will see two more wins this season at the most (unless the offense plays out of it’s mind the rest of the way). I think it will be hard for Dino to justify keeping Ward around even with an improved bend but don’t break defense.

Some of you will talk about the efficiencies I mentioned in my first paragraph to defend. I will say this. Football, warfare, politics, marketing, etc. are about probability over the long term. If you give up a lot of yards consistently then your probability of having a good scoring defense decreases exponentially. Efficiencies always give way and correct to the yardage truth over the course of a season.

Furthermore, Ward’s demeanor on playcalling and inability to make timely adjustments make it seem that he is way in over his head at this level. He never looks confident in what he is doing and that is 3/4 of the battle as a leader. This defensive talent is what has kept us in ball games, not Ward’s schemes or coaching. We are squandering talent and spotting points on that side of the ball. Maybe he proves me wrong, but I doubt it.
 
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