Defense

[penguinpower]

I feel like I am the only person that has this concern, but because I was unable to attend the scrimmages and see the fall practices I just do not have a good feel for the secondary, however, here are my observations through he last 2 games:

1. During the Pitt and Valpo games the safety was out of position on several snaps. Pitt could have burned us if they would have been able to catch the ball. Valpo just didn't have the time or the speed at WR.
2. We are playing a lot of zone and the LB's always give up the underneath stuff. Why don't we play man to man? Did we play man to man in the spring? I just have not seen what we can do back there.
3. Is it me or do the LB's seem to be less significant than in years past? How are they staking up with team tackles?
4. Are we just now showing our hand to wait for conference play? What is going on here?

I would like to know if anyone else has observed this.

[southbeach]

Our safety during the Pitt game always went for the run fake which resulted in the receiver running buy him.
Fortunately their qb over threw the Pitt receivers. By comparison the Pitt safety had the same problem and Hess
also over threw our receivers. Btw both safeties from mooney.

[ysufan0505]

Defense will be fine. Have some faith

[ELPENGUIN]

Of course we are not showing our hand.  Do see blitzing yet?

[KentStGuin15]

The game plan vs Pitt was perfect if you knew anything about Pitt
Sunseri always has had problems with his long passes in college and Chryst is a guy who loves to run the ball and wear a D down

[penguinpower]

Just asking.  With the safety playing out of position, I would target the long ball if I were coaching against us.

[KentStGuin15]

Just asking.  With the safety playing out of position, I would target the long ball if I were coaching against us.

diffrent strategy for every team, obviously we wont play the saftey up if a QB can hit a deep pass
but if we are playing the safteys up it probably means you're QB has poor accuracy on his longer passes and you'll lose 100% of the time

[YSUGO]

Our one Safety from Mooney was out of position alot, He looked lost and wasnt making his reads very fast...he was yds away when the TE fell...he is our achilles heel and a better prepared team will take advantage.

[KentStGuin15]

is this concept really that hard to grasp? we played the S up because Sunseri is not a threat to beat you with the deep pass. we wont play the S up when we play a team with a QB who can hit deep passes. please stop acting like we will run the exact same D strategy for every single game.

[penguinpower]

YSUGO is correct and even though Sunseri is not a very good QB, the S was out of position on a cross over the middle on more than one play.  Pitt had players had the ball go thru thier hands.  Just because we won doesn't mean we don't have area that need improvement.  I heard the coaches say that Peterman was Rusty, well, I am also talking about #8 not Peterman. I am not picking on #8 either just calling it as I see it just like any other Y-town person.

The LB's frequently go into zone coverage on underneath routes too.  I know that the game is changing because QB's get rid of the ball so fast these days, but I can't stand watching us give up yards in the middle 3-4 years in front of the LOS.  Pitt still had good receivers and TE's and they made us look silly on a few plays that they didn't connect on.  I know that I am being tough on the team and coaches, but I am concerned about this until I see us man up and play tight.  I hate the damn zone.

I know it was complete domination of Pitt, but Pitt is not that good this year and as a result it is difficult for me to measure us up.  I am not b****ing either, just have some concern and no one here has pointed this out.  I want that NC.

[KentStGuin15]

No he is not correct, the Saftey was not playing out of position he was playing up to stop the run.

[IAA Fan]

I agree with Power and said this right from the start. We are wide open over the middle, and even Valpo picked on us there. All Hoffman had to do was shift from passes in the flat in the first half, to the hatch for the rest. I mean he was 29 of 39 against us. This week's QB is better than Sunseri or Hoffman. Their O-line is more mobile than Valpo's, and bigger. If we let an MVFC QB go 29 of 39 ...he is going to rack up 300+ yards against us. Just in shear numbers that is 3+ TD's.

Our savior against Valpo was our speed. We missed so many first-attempts on tackles, but we are so fast, we were able to haul them down from behind. What do you think happens when Bell gets outside on us? We will be taking the Payton away from Cookie Monster, and giving it right to Bell. I too fear the secondary is weak. Peterman is very good, but as a corner, should not be our #2 tackler. We can all agree on k/p coverage issues.

I will say this, we are tackling better than we have ever been since Wolf got here. We lock on to the opposition and drop ourselves to the ground. Not so much of this hand tackling this year ...very very nice. Combine that with speed, and we are going to to make up for many of these mistakes.

Tomorrow' we will face a QB that is true run-threat for the first time. He is not a SoCon-type of runner ...more of a CAA-type. Does what he has to, to keep the threat alive. They play a great deal like old-school 'nova. The Danes will have two runners, and a threatening QB in at the same time. Similar to what we did with those designed QB run plays at Pitt. The idea is to fool the LB's and leave the secondary exposed. On D, I think their coach is predictable, and will play to his strength in pressure. However, I do not think they have faced an O-line like ours before. Once we give them a dose of Cook, then hit them with Pace (not to mention that Bellamy is starting to regain his form). Their blitzing will stop, and go more into run-stopping. Then coach M will open up the offense. The question is ...how long will it take? 1-quarter ...4? I think we will play by halves, and would not mind receiving the ball on the second-half ...as UA seems to play best in the 2nd & 3rd quarters. A nice long opening drive after the half could be the ticket. I suspect Wolf will want to put up points early though.

[penguinpower]

No he is not correct, the Saftey was not playing out of position he was playing up to stop the run.

The S's assignment is to stop the run or force it inside if it is a run running play, or to drop in pass coverage if it's passing play. The sooner the safety can make the determination the better his chance to stop it, but he needs to make the read.

The S is supposed to key the end man on the line of scrimmage to determine the initial read to determine if they are running or passing. If they are passing and the defense is in man coverage the S needs to find his receiver.  If the defense is in zone then the S has to drop back into his zone as fast as he can and watch the receivers coming into the S's coverage area.

If the S reads a run, then his assignment is to either make the tackle, or force the run back to the inside so the rest of the team assist.  If the ball is run to the weak side of the defense  then the S needs to stay home to cover a reverse or counter.

YSUGO is correct, he was not in position.  Don't tell me how the DB's are supposed to cover.  I played the game of football  and I am a student of the game and I have some concerns.  It is not just about playing the run.  If he was playing the run then he made the reads incorrectly on multiple occasions.

[ysubigred]

Good lord!! Enough already!! The Defense is alright and will step up when called upon 

Bend don't break is all you can hope for these days with all the new offenses, talent and speed that's presented in football above the DII level.

Last time I check we've done well so far. Cincy gave up more yards at home to Pitt than we did at Pitt's home field.  Last week was an exhibition game with a whole lot of schemes and changes throughout the game.

How many yards did McNair throw for back in the day?? Bend don't break remember that!! 

Cincy's D gave up 415 yards to Pitt

YSU gave up 369 yards to Pitt

Valpo got a whopping 190 yards against a slew of back up's, starters, etc.. I thought I seen Pete and Penny in for a series LOL!!

I'm still concerned about the offense believe it or not    Can they pull out a win in the last 2 minutes of a game like they COULD NOT last year  We'll see but I'm confident they can but the "D" won't have them in that situation this year 

[IAA Fan]

Good lord!! Enough already!! The Defense is alright and will step up when called upon 

Bend don't break is all you can hope for these days with all the new offenses, talent and speed that's presented in football above the DII level.

Last time I check we've done well so far. Cincy gave up more yards at home to Pitt than we did at Pitt's home field.  Last week was an exhibition game with a whole lot of schemes and changes throughout the game.

How many yards did McNair throw for back in the day?? Bend don't break remember that!! 

Yes and it is still embarrassing to look up the NCAA records and see McNair's records ...and all of them were in one game ...against YSU ...which also is mentioned.   

We can keep the trophy though 

I still remember Stoudt on ESPN/ABC doing the game. They were all raving about McNair ...Cliff says ..."I don't know what game game you guys are watching; but has anyone seen the score ..."