quote:
It's a really vanilla defense, they had to go way out of the box just to implement a 3 man DL and cover 3 type of scheme to play MSU. We didnt show anything outside the ordinary against Auburn. It's pretty clear to me Daronte is keeping things very simple, which can maybe help negate defensive breakdowns but it can also be pretty easy to gameplan against and adjust to in game with zero in game adjustments from the defense.

It's a pretty basic bend dont break 4 man front defense. It's clear they are trying their hardest to create a defense easy to play in and limit big plays as much as possible which is what killed us last year.

This is correct.

And, the major problem is two-fold.

#1, being more aggressive can hide your weaknesses. For example, it's pretty clear our LBs are a weakness in coverage. But, if you bring a LB from time to time...maybe even "a lot", you get the production out of that position and shift the responsibility to the strength of the defense (coverage on the back end). Additionally, on run downs, you can more easily make sure with a blitz that you set the edge and force the runs into the strength of our DL (tackles.)

#2, this defense has (or at least had before Stingley was injured) enough talent to legitimately become an upper echelon defense. The DBs combined with the ability to pass rush could have been a combination that caused a LOT of problems for opposing offenses.

In short, he was just the wrong hire for this team. Orgeron hired a Chavis type (minus the run blitzes). He needed to hire an aggressive coordinator. It's a textbook example of reacting to a previous negative event (Pelini). Orgeron demanded a sound defense and that's what he's getting. The problem is that isn't enough for this team.

This team should be at worst 4-1 with an elite defense that is buying time for the offense to get its shite together. Instead, we are an average to good defense that fatigues by the 4th quarter and plays it's worst during game winning time.

I believe this team and the season is about to fall apart. I think we are about to lose every game until ULM.

If Orgeron was smart (he's not), he'd play his final card. He'd go to Jones and demand he ramp up the pressure and be overly aggressive moving forward. I think that's the last chance for this team. Unfortunately, I think it's a lost cause because I have no faith that Daronte Jones could successfully implement that in short order. I'd bet they are starting from scratch on blitz packages.