Too many of you are getting caught up in 4-3 vs. 3-4 - its not that important (long)

Yes, there are many defensive gurus who believe that the odd man front is currently best against the spread offenses (mainly in that it gets just a bit more speed on the field), but there are still a good many successful 4 man fronts in todays game.

Whether you are running a 4-3 or 3-4, there are several things which are very important which we are currently struggling with -

1. Everyone must know their role/assignment, and be able to read their keys to achieve their assignment. We are struggling here big time. Simple motions confuse us. Crossing receivers, underneath routes, rubs, picks - if you can't do these simple things, you could have 13 players on the field and still not play good defense.

2. You have to be multiple - you have to show the offense different looks, make them look, confuse them. The moment the offense knows what you are doing, you are done. We are already having problems with this before we "simplified" the defense. Playing almost exclusively man is a bad recipe. MSU threw all over us. Auburn had several huge plays which were designed to work, and could only work against man. Look at all of the best defenses and they will throw lots of different coverages around, especially with pressure.

3. Passion and commitment - with the spread offenses, every single player must be playing hard every single down. The area each defender covers can be exploited if they are not fully engaged and doing their job. All it takes is one player not focused, not going 100%, and its a big play.

I'm of the opinion that Bo has routinely struggled against some spread teams, going back to his days at LSU. I don't know if its the style his defensive communicates, how his DBs switch off receivers, the man principals, the lack of adjustments, or the offense just knowing what he's going to do. Lots of good DCs have had bad games against spread offenses, so he's not alone. But it does seem that he has less good games than bad.