Weren't we supposed to have a stout secondary?

[wishbonesooner]

Seems like any halfway decent QB makes us look pretty ordinary. I don't get it.

[SelmaBamaFan]

IMO, a secondary is only as good as its pass rush. Bama's secondary is sposed to be pretty good too, but we give the QB all day to throw and they get picked a part.

Seems OU is having the same problem against Texas.

[possumfat]

We need a coaching change on the defensive side............waste of our talent.

[soonersn2007]

Careful of saying anything that might be truthful, b/c some kool-aid drinkers on these boards like neg speking people.

[INGRAM1]

I do not think that a coaching change is necessary, you can only put the player in a position to make plays, not make them. I thought that we killed ourselves and our o coordinator sucked in the first half. Go sooners.

[NASASooner]

Today's problem in the secondary was mostly due to a poor push by the defensive linemen in my opinion.

[Eielson]

Despite the stats I didn't think we were picked apart like we have in the past. We were in position most of the time. Texas has just got some studs at receiver. Can't complain too much when Limas Sweed is pretty much a non factor.

[meoveryouxinfinity]

I thought secondary was good. Reggie looked awesome most of the time and broke up some major plays.

[arlington]

Our pass rush is way too inconsistent and our backers cant cover. Thats alot of pressure for 4 guys to cover soft zones and do it well enough to compensate for the weaknesses of the other sections..

[soonersn2007]

Wow, I go from 38,000 to -918,000 in points for that comment above. How about you go fvck yourself, you fvcking piece of ****.......at least have the balls to sign ur negspek.

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.

[tulsaoilerfan]

I thought secondary was good. Reggie looked awesome most of the time and broke up some major plays.
other than covering the TE, i agree; you can't give a good QB that much time to throw and expect any defensive backs to cover the receivers; when we got pressure Colt pretty much folded.

[DrZaius]

I thought we did well in the secondary....Our line was not getting the pressure I thought it should. You could give me a full minute to choose my pass and I will smoke you. PRESSURE from the line was the difference.

[Killerbees]

Wow, I go from 38,000 to -918,000 in points for that comment above. How about you go fvck yourself, you fvcking piece of ****.......at least have the balls to sign ur negspek.

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.


Exactly how does having the hammer dropped on you stop you from "discussing observations". Grow up.


On topic, we need something to get a more consistent pass rush. DBs cant cover forever back there.

[GottaHavePride]

Wow, I go from 38,000 to -918,000 in points for that comment above. How about you go fvck yourself, you fvcking piece of ****.......at least have the balls to sign ur negspek.

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.
1. We won. Texas has talented recievers. Chill the **** out.

2. Discussing observations is one thing. Whining about coaches that seem to be doing a pretty good job to most other people around here will earn you negspek.

3. If you can't take a negspek or two, turn the damn feature off. If you have 38,000 and say something that offends someone with roughly 43,000,000 then yeah, you're gonna drop a lot.

4. Oh yeah, I don't bother with negspek. Have a nice ban.



EDIT: Oh, and I didn't even mention that circumventing the profanity filters is pretty much grounds for a baning by itself, not to mention telling people to **** off and die.

[GottaHavePride]

Exactly how does having the hammer dropped on you stop you from "discussing observations". Grow up.


It depends on what kind of hammer you're talking about...

[GrapevineSooner]

Wow, I go from 38,000 to -918,000 in points for that comment above. How about you go fvck yourself, you fvcking piece of ****.......at least have the balls to sign ur negspek.

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.

I don't think you'll be missed.

[GrapevineSooner]

BTW, you don't think Colt McCoy and the Texas receivers had anything to do with that, do you?

[Ruuuuuufus]

Secondary played a pretty good game today. They were excellent in coverage. It was our LBs that couldn't cover Finley.

[Killerbees]

It depends on what kind of hammer you're talking about...


lol i guess it does, I was of course referencing the neg hammer of doom, like the one i got introduced to a few weeks back for my Bradford comments.

[Sooner J]

The only passed that worked was the tightend seem and after the first drive of the second half that was done. Sweed get's 1 catch and our secondary is bad. People need to remember that this is still a big game and just because a team has done bad coming into game, doesn't mean that they are not going to get up for the game. I don't care if we won by .5, we still won and are still in the national title hunt. GREAT JOB SOONERS!!!!!

[jduggle]

As usual the LB's don't know what to do in our zone coverage. Without a pass rush...it's pretty easy for any offense to find holes in a cover 2.

[SoonerGM]

Our pass rush is way too inconsistent and our backers cant cover. Thats alot of pressure for 4 guys to cover soft zones and do it well enough to compensate for the weaknesses of the other sections..

bump to this, i agree. a combination of those 2 were the problem. the defensive backs actually played pretty well.

my question, why isnt our dline more destructive? i mean we have to DT's that were rated #1 in the nation coming out of highschool. i sure do miss tommie and dusty :(

[DrZaius]

Wow, I go from 38,000 to -918,000 in points for that comment above. How about you go fvck yourself, you fvcking piece of ****.......at least have the balls to sign ur negspek.

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.

That is AWESOME!

[Tulsa_Fireman]

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.

G'night, princess.

I'll be sure and sign my neg for you, too.

[birddog]

Wow, I go from 38,000 to -918,000 in points for that comment above. How about you go fvck yourself, you fvcking piece of ****.......at least have the balls to sign ur negspek.

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.

heh. how do you act when we lose?

**** off dip ****.

[Killerbees]

Secondary played a pretty good game today. They were excellent in coverage. It was our LBs that couldn't cover Finley.

I mostly agree but I think our defensive scheme puts a lot of pressure on our LBs to cover deep (>10yds) passes and runs at the same time. Our D played pretty well I thought besides a couple of plays of course but that is to be expected.

This is just an impression but I dont believe our overall D scheme has been as good since Mike left and we seem to have trouble adjusting when things go wrong. I know a lot of people dream of him coming back but I just dont see that happening and I am not going to yell for Brent to get fired but I wont be depressed if he takes a HC job somewhere.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

I mostly agree but I think our defensive scheme puts a lot of pressure on our LBs to cover deep (>10yds) passes and runs at the same time. Our D played pretty well I thought besides a couple of plays of course but that is to be expected.

Find me a defense that doesn't. LBs have to check on the under and hunt for the football. It's why the draw and playaction work.

[ruf/nekdad]

Wow, I go from 38,000 to -918,000 in points for that comment above. How about you go fvck yourself, you fvcking piece of ****.......at least have the balls to sign ur negspek.

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.

Bu Bye, thanks for playing the game.:pop:

[cvsooner]

Defensive line could have played better, especially considering Texas' o-line was supposedly inexperienced and hurt.

English came up with a couple of key sacks, though, and McCoy recoved a fumble at a key moment. (made up for the dumb penalty.)

Couldn't believe English didn't get called for roughness on that one play, but maybe it was our turn for a break.

If Missouri had a defense, I'd be a lot more worried about next week. Defense has to play better...and nine penalties could have been a killer. Punt return coverage was weak, too. All fixable, I hope.

[PLaw]

Seems like any halfway decent QB makes us look pretty ordinary. I don't get it.

Most of it is on the defens coaches and their play calling. Not being quick enough to mix up once the opposing O figures out the scheme. We've got good kids that aren't out of position as much as they have been in the past few years.

[Killerbees]

Find me a defense that doesn't. LBs have to check on the under and hunt for the football. It's why the draw and playaction work.

Yes I know a LB has to cover pass and run but what I am saying is that our particular scheme leaves them stranded sometimes. It hard to fault them on deep passes as a former LB myself.

[Frozen Sooner]

In all honesty, we need to take Ryan Reynolds off the field in passing situations and put Lew Baker in.

And nice job beating me in here GHP.

[BlondeSoonerGirl]

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that we have a poster named 'possumfat'.

Heh.

[Frozen Sooner]

You know, I remember a time when after we beat Texas we were generally happy with the coaching job. :D

[tulsaoilerfan]

You know, I remember a time when after we beat Texas we were generally happy with the coaching job. :D
LOL, i'm actually pretty happy with the Defensive staff today; we shut down the TE in the second half, and Texas only put together 2 decent drives, one of which ended in a fumble; i'm also happy that later in the game KW finally called some play action passes and some first down passes; those worked pretty well i would say. :D

[r5TPsooner]

Seems like any halfway decent QB makes us look pretty ordinary. I don't get it.



Umm, that was a pretty good performance today by our secondary. If you're referring to the UT TE that burned our D in the 1st half, blame that on the LB's as that's there assignment. It was corrected in the 2nd half as we change coverages and stopped blitzing as much.

[Soonerus]

Texas got close to 200 yards of their passing yardage to the tight ends against our linebackers...nothing to do with our secondary, we have a great secondary...

[Frozen Sooner]

Umm, that was a pretty good performance today by our secondary. If you're referring to the UT TE that burned our D in the 1st half, blame that on the LB's as that's there assignment. It was corrected in the 2nd half as we change coverages and stopped blitzing as much.

Yep. There's two things that hurt us in pass coverage today:

1. Pass rush was inconsistent. A lot of this is due to our lack of depth at DE. John Williams' injury is REALLY hurting.

2. Ryan Reynolds is a MONSTER run-stuffer but looks to have to problems backpedaling in coverage. Not trying to hate on the kid-he's outstanding vs. the run and he's shown a ton of heart coming back from injuries.

Rewatching the game, Lew Baker gave up one of those huge passes to Finley, so I guess it's not really Ryan's fault-Finley's just one of those TEs that causes matchup problems, much like we envision Gresham doing (and he does from time to time.)

Had our pass rush been more effective, the TE passing game would have blown up. A big ol' DT in your face makes throwing deep over the middle tough.

[cheezyq]

As usual the LB's don't know what to do in our zone coverage. Without a pass rush...it's pretty easy for any offense to find holes in a cover 2.

Good point. I've noticed that too in the past. We are incredibly vulnerable over the middle. We cover the deep ball fairly well, but we allow catches over the middle and then miss tackles all the way down the field. It seems like OUr LBs are lost in pass coverage.

[r5TPsooner]

Yep. There's two things that hurt us in pass coverage today:

1. Pass rush was inconsistent. A lot of this is due to our lack of depth at DE. John Williams' injury is REALLY hurting.

2. Ryan Reynolds is a MONSTER run-stuffer but looks to have to problems backpedaling in coverage. Not trying to hate on the kid-he's outstanding vs. the run and he's shown a ton of heart coming back from injuries.

Rewatching the game, Lew Baker gave up one of those huge passes to Finley, so I guess it's not really Ryan's fault-Finley's just one of those TEs that causes matchup problems, much like we envision Gresham doing (and he does from time to time.)

Had our pass rush been more effective, the TE passing game would have blown up. A big ol' DT in your face makes throwing deep over the middle tough.



Perfectly stated. Baker also whiffed on a sack and a few run plays for loss.

Can anyone name one or more BIG plays that a DB gave up?

I thought the secondary played well except for wrapping up on some sure tackles.

[Vaevictis]

We are incredibly vulnerable over the middle.

It seems that way to me also. It feels like a disproportionately large number of pass completions happen 7-12 yards out over the middle. I don't know what the deal is there.

But that said, I just got back from the game, and that was the loudest I've heard Sooner fans in a good long while. And I'm hoarse. Other than the suckage that are allergies, it was a good day.

[misplaced_sooner]

I lurk on this site alot at work. I don't see how anybody can defend Venalbes. Ever since he took over this defense, they have been suspect in the secondary. Why? Discipline.

The facts are:

The first TD was b/c the defender didn't stick with his assignment. Had he stayed on his man, then maybe they wouldn't have scored. There were 2 other defenders there to attack McCoy.

Secondly, the TE for Texas. How in the hell do you let the same guy beat you on the same play 3 different times? Is Brent eating ice cream on the sidelines or is he yelling "Hey somebody cover that guy?".

God forbid we play an spread offense with a mobile QB..... Oregon, Boise St ring a bell?

Hopefully somebody will hire Brent as a head coach and he can be on his way!

Andrew

[Sooner02]

Wasn't the problem Bo Pellini a few years back? Seems to be working out for LSU.

[Redgiant2]

Venables needs a new job as either a position coach or the assistant to Mike. The secondary made a few plays today although those plays were against an extremely mediocre offense. The D could not handle a top 10 team. The LB's are horrid against the pass.

Don't look now misplaced, Mizzou is coming to town. Next weekend should be interesting.

[ouwasp]

Mizzou has a couple of good TEs. Real good, if the preseason pub meant anything.

I say OU responds to the challenge. It sure is something all the rags will be yacking about this week...

[toneful]

Careful of saying anything that might be truthful, b/c some kool-aid drinkers on these boards like neg speking people.

ya think?:rolleyes:

[INGRAM1]

Relax, players play the game. i think that Bobby Jack coaches the secondary right? Yeah Mr. Veanbles is the DC but if the players blow assignments how is that the dc 's fault. I think that he well get a head coaching job soon. Good Luck to him. I have been following this site for around 1.5 years. Being in the military not much time to post. Everyone on here except a few seem pretty smart about OU football. Go Sooners.

[WakeflyingSooner]

Mizzou has a couple of good TEs. Real good, if the preseason pub meant anything.

I say OU responds to the challenge. It sure is something all the rags will be yacking about this week...
It would be nice to see them come in as close to the top 10 as possible.
Mizzou sis look very good vs. Nebraska! Should be a great game.

[Rock Hard Corn Frog]

Secondary played a pretty good game today. They were excellent in coverage. It was our LBs that couldn't cover Finley.

Yep. In particular Reynolds has trouble in coverage. Colo exploited it some as well. On the flip side Reynolds has a great instinct for coming up and stopping the run. Ther Whorn O-line did a decent job today too. Our D-line made enough plays but there were some times that McCoy had 5-6 second to throw the ball. I thought the corners and safeties played pretty well. Teams are going to try to find some way to attack our defense and that looks like the primarily plan right now. I'm confident that we can adjust and that our D-line is going to get more pressure against our upcoming opponents.

[Rock Hard Corn Frog]

Secondary played a pretty good game today. They were excellent in coverage. It was our LBs that couldn't cover Finley.

Did I mention that I like puppies, long walks on the beach and double posts?

[Curly Bill]

Mizzou has a couple of good TEs. Real good, if the preseason pub meant anything.

I say OU responds to the challenge. It sure is something all the rags will be yacking about this week...

Saw them tonight against Nebish and their TE's did play really well. My guess is after Finley gave us trouble today we'll work on that and be ready for them.

[Crucifax Autumn]

I just hope they make the top 10 so we can knock 'em off. I seriously doubt we'll have all that much trouble with the TEs. I imagine after today and last week Bob's gonna be taking an active role all week in fixing our weak spots on defense.

I also agree with what was said before, good play from the defensive end position and lots of pressure on the opposing QB would do wonders for our pass defense.

[Boarder]

The second half adjustment was putting "not Reynolds" on the TE. It seemed to work like a charm.

[Rogue]

^ Yup, Boarder's got it.

[tnraider1]

As stated already the problems against the whorns lay with the DL and LB's not the secondary. Deon Sanders couldn't cover a guy for ten seconds. Colt stood back there without pressure for most of the day and picked us apart from time to time. The DL couldn't get much push, English finally ran into a OL that could contain him better, and he's probably had 70% of our QB pressures this year. One of the other DE's is going to have to step up against Misery or the D will be in for a long day. Venables has to realize that if the front 4 can't get it done, you have to give them some help. He did call a couple of decent blitzes, but not enough to rattle Colt in my opinion. Chase > Colt at this point and we will need to be in his face all day, or it will be a long day, and probably a shootout.

[SoonerBOI]

I'll take the win. I'm proud of our beloved Sooners!

[Scott D]

Wow, I go from 38,000 to -918,000 in points for that comment above. How about you go fvck yourself, you fvcking piece of ****.......at least have the balls to sign ur negspek.

As this will be my last post, fvck off and die to all these anal retentive people on these boards who won't allow observations to be discussed.

[Coach Stoops]I'm pretty sure we can find another person around here with 190 posts to complain about negative reputations without "signatures"[/Coach Stoops]

:D

[Scott D]

Yep. There's two things that hurt us in pass coverage today:

1. Pass rush was inconsistent. A lot of this is due to our lack of depth at DE. John Williams' injury is REALLY hurting.

2. Ryan Reynolds is a MONSTER run-stuffer but looks to have to problems backpedaling in coverage. Not trying to hate on the kid-he's outstanding vs. the run and he's shown a ton of heart coming back from injuries.

Rewatching the game, Lew Baker gave up one of those huge passes to Finley, so I guess it's not really Ryan's fault-Finley's just one of those TEs that causes matchup problems, much like we envision Gresham doing (and he does from time to time.)

Had our pass rush been more effective, the TE passing game would have blown up. A big ol' DT in your face makes throwing deep over the middle tough.

it should be mentioned that on a couple of Finley's big gains on those quick routes over the middle, we had one if not both safeties blitzing, and we were trying a cushion zone with a backer (reynolds/lofton) short and the nickleback (lendy) deep.

[Rogue]

Invoking Ahmed Kabba. Nicely done.

[BIG_IKE]

The secondary did FINE...

I am not sure if you have been watching this guy Jermichael Finley but he is probably the most dangerous TE in the country. We adjusted and adapted. He is not tight end fast he is receiver fast. Our secondary just took on one of the best receiving corps in the nation and won, so I say they did fine. I cant think of another team with the depth they have at receiver. Sweed, Cosby, Shipley, Jones, Pittman, Finley...they still have the SAME national championship receivers plus some newcomers. Besides, half the yards came from the TE.

but hey WE WON.

[KRYPTON]

This thread was just another pedestrian gripe about our pass coverage woes until all AWESOMENESS broke loose... great stuff.

But back to the boring topic at hand, I hope the experience against Jermama Finley pointed out to Venables that he can't depend on his LB's for coverage. We've never consistently been able to do so. We can drop them off underneath and get INT's (A&M 2000, Holiday Bowl 2005) but to put them into a situation where they capture and track a TE... oof, I get verklempt just thinking about it.

SO - Let the LB's either blitz, or fake it and drop back underneath, and perhaps keep 5 DB's on the field all the time to handle the down the middle stuff. I still don't like the lack of aggression from our DB's on pass coverage, I still have opinions about certain defensive coaches, but clearly shifting the safeties around a bit at halftime plugged up the gut and we were in good shape.

[wishbonesooner]

Sorry about the boredom there krypton, but there are some of us that don't have the ability to coach, so we ask questions.

[OU Adonis]

Our defense isn't as good as it could be I think thats apparent. I don't think teams like Mizzou are intimidated by our defense right now. We need to get to that level.

[Partial Qualifier]

This thread is kinda silly, I mean are you Venable-haters expecting us to hold every opponent to 50 yards rushing and 100 yards passing every game ??

When asked about RR's TE pass coverage, Stoops pointed something out re: the 2 big passes to JerMama Finley (thx krypt). Neither was Reynold's fault -- one time we had a safety on top and reynolds in tight coverage and a corner coming up to the side, excellent coverage but the guy made a great play to get the ball, then our guys knock each other down & get in each other's way and thus he got another 40 yards on the play. The other big one, Stoops said from the formation they were in, the TE was NOT RR's responsibility.

:pop:

[Curly Bill]

This thread is kinda silly, I mean are you Venable-haters expecting us to hold every opponent to 50 yards rushing and 100 yards passing every game ??

Yes please!

[soonerboy_odanorth]

I must have missed the part where we basically shut Texas completely down in the last 10 minutes of the game....

[OU Adonis]

I must have missed the part where we basically shut Texas completely down in the last 10 minutes of the game....

When games last 20 or 30 minutes that will mean more to me. To say we have a defense that we are happy with would be inaccurate.

Or are you happy with the way our defense is playing? Right now I think our defense is in the top 20 but its not a top 10 team. For us to win a NC we really need a top 10 D.

[Boarder]

This thread is kinda silly, I mean are you Venable-haters expecting us to hold every opponent to 50 yards rushing and 100 yards passing every game ??

When asked about RR's TE pass coverage, Stoops pointed something out re: the 2 big passes to JerMama Finley (thx krypt). Neither was Reynold's fault -- one time we had a safety on top and reynolds in tight coverage and a corner coming up to the side, excellent coverage but the guy made a great play to get the ball, then our guys knock each other down & get in each other's way and thus he got another 40 yards on the play. The other big one, Stoops said from the formation they were in, the TE was NOT RR's responsibility.

:pop:
One of those long passes to the TE, Reynolds was running right with him. The only problem was that he was just kind of keeping him company unless he got lonely. He did nothing resembling "coverage". Nothing to break up the pass, nothing. Just running beside him until the ball got there and Finley reached up and caught it. He's not good in coverage.

However, the second half the coaches adjusted and everything was groovy. So, that's good. that's how it's supposed to work.

[Partial Qualifier]

True Boarder - I agree, and I will agree with anyone who says Reynolds isn't suited to pass coverage and covering 6'5" tight ends in particular. I'm just not ready to fire Venables.





Yet.







;)

[SoonerKnight]

I must have missed the part where we basically shut Texas completely down in the last 10 minutes of the game....

Exactly! In 2000 our defense was huge it shut teams down and allowed for the offense to play a lot. It also was funny how in 2000 our defense would shut an opponant down and then the offense would score 20 seconds later.

This year we have a great Offensive line that gives Sam plenty of time to throw. Our defense has stopped decent teams and the one loss was a result of the defense being on the field too long. I think we all knew that our defense would be young and take time to get better. Our offense needs to keep on clicking and the defense will follow by season's end. IMHO.

[kevpks]

I think we will be fine, at least throughout the regular season. Teams like Mizzou and Tech like to dink and dunk you to death. That strategy doesn't really work against our team speed very well. Plus I like our chances in a shootout. Let's also not forget how great we are against the run. Teams like OSU and A&M don't stand a chance if they can't get the running game going. I guess that just leaves ISU and Baylor, who are terrible.

[soonercoop]

Don't you remember when Mike Stoops was at OU the linebackers had more attitude and fire in every play, and they never really planted before the snap. They were ready to kill the quarterback every play.

[trpltongue]

I took a quick look at a couple of defensive statistics for OU since 1999, noteable, # games allowing less than 7 points, # games allowing 0 points, and average opponents score/gm. There is a noticeable drop-off in performance in 2005 and 2006, but other than that, the defense has been pretty damn consistent on a yearly basis:



Year shutout 7 or less opp pt/gm
2007 0 1 15.3
2006 1 3 17.3
2005 0 1 23.1
2004 2 5 16.8
2003 1 4 15.3
2002 2 4 15.4
2001 1 4 13.0
2000 0 4 14.9
1999 2 4 19.1


My only gripe right now would be our D-line technique and blitz packages. Watching the D-line we seem to be bull rushing most of the time with very few "moves". Re-watching the 2001 OU-UT game I remembered how our D-lineman would cross, twist etc. and behind them our linebackers were stunting, crossing, and causing general mayhem. Our blitz packages were well disguised and full of mis-direction.

Now our guys are damn near stationary at the snap and our blitzes are almost comical because the corner or safety will line up on the outside edge well before the snap and the o-line has plenty of time to see and identify him.

I've also noticed a trend of missing the quarterback on blitzes, even when coming from the blind side. I don't know why this happens so much but we seem to miss the qb on the rare occasion that guys get through unblocked. This has gotten better since 2005 though.

I think that if we did a better job disguising our coverages / blitzes they'd be much more effective.

[soonerboy_odanorth]

When games last 20 or 30 minutes that will mean more to me. To say we have a defense that we are happy with would be inaccurate.

Or are you happy with the way our defense is playing? Right now I think our defense is in the top 20 but its not a top 10 team. For us to win a NC we really need a top 10 D.

It should mean a tremendous amount to you that in the most critical part of the game, with more than enough time to have 2 or 3 possessions, our defense stepped up huge.

Not only that, but that it came against our most bitter rival, who last I checked is not without talent. In fact, some would say they have some of the finest talent in the country. And according to most of the horny-toads I talked to after the game, collectively that talent put together their best game of the season.

Is the defense quite where I want it to be yet? No, not yet. But it is a young defense still, with a tremendous amount of potential, and that 4th Q against the shorthorns was very positive.

Now reading all these comments you know what I think is this defense's biggest problem? It's that these ain't the 80's, and we're not playing in a run-dominated old Big 8.

Those incredible defensive stats we built in the 80's against everyone didn't mean squat when we ran into the more sophisticated and overall more talented Miami Hurricanes.

And now everyone has a couple or three 4.4-4.5 receivers and their playbooks look like a mess of stacked spaghetti.

Yes, Mizzou will test us. But they did last year, too.

Maybe we shouldn't hit the panic button unless they hang 30 or more and we lose.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

I don't know if losing Williams has anything to do with it, but since Tulsa, our D has seemed unhealthy. Perhaps coincidence with the opponents, but sometimes one person can really wreck havoc. Wasn't he doubleteamed most of the time?

[stoops the eternal pimp]

North Texas and Utah St have made a lot of defenses look super..

College football is morphing into Arena football

[MiccoMacey]

The problem with our pass coverage is we consistently play a much more aggressive soft zone cover 2, with man to man o the corners. With the speed of our players, our lateral shifts are three to four times the splits other cover two teams are using. Basically, when we lign up in our four and five db sets, we are using the philosphy of covering the space between the receivers and the ball, which is efective against teams that use a three or even four receiver set. But when there are only two or three receivers th space we have to cover is larger than our dbs can cover. Kind of like the "big sky, little bullet" theory. Once we started utilizing a more vertical approach on the underneath pass routes, the QB had to decide to throw to either a person or a general area where the receiver could run into the ball. Kind of like on the line, we used "A" and "B" gap coverage on our support or weak side, but were left wide open in our "C" gap coverage. That puts waaay too much pressure on the corner to cover both the receiver and the open space.

Hope that cleared things up.

[Desert Sapper]

I'm worried about the two-headed TE monster for Mizzou. Martin Rucker leads all TEs in the NCAA in receptions and yardage per game. Coffman is no joke, either. Chase Daniel gets the ball to his TEs, and we have a problem covering the big zone gap behind the MLB. I sure hope we figure out a good way to cover that gap by Saturday (maybe more nickel and a two LB set with Lofton and Lew Baker). Either that, or blitz every other down. I don't think we can pressure Daniel with a 4-man rush and I doubt we can cover either Mizzou TE with our LBs (except maybe Baker). If our deep and mid-coverage gets confused like it did with CU, it could be a problem.

[OU Adonis]

Those incredible defensive stats we built in the 80's against everyone didn't mean squat when we ran into the more sophisticated and overall more talented Miami Hurricanes.



Miami averaged 323 yards and 25 points against us those three games.