OU defensive scheme(s)

[landrun]

I'm not a football x and o's guy, wish I were though. :)

My questions is this, it seems to me we played a different defensive scheme in the first half of the OSU game and the entire Nebbish game.

To my untrained eye, I would say it looked like a 5-2 defense. But maybe they call it a nickle because I don't think we had 5 DL in but an extra db. So I guess that makes it a nickle?? Also, it looks like we normally play a 4-3? Is that correct?

It just looks like to me that when we 'stack the line' on defense by bringing up the dbs into the los, we play a much faster d and get to the qb far better. So much better it makes me wonder why we don't play with what I call the nickle or 5-2 defense every game??

Can anyone answer this or explain to me why we seem to play with a soft 4-3, bend but don't break (but often we actually do break :) ) defense?

[AlboSooner]

We mixed between Oklahoma 50, 3-4 and 4-3. I think Brent has excelled with bringing different schemes. I love that okie 50 look, when the DT's and the DE's are standing up, shuffling at the line. I have yet to see the opposing team pick that up and defend it well.

The D abused Martinez and their running backs. IN that long run, our all American safety took the wrong gap.

[Okie Hillbilly]

Good pick up on your part. The coaches will many times make reference to a "50" front. However, do not confuse this with old school 5-2 or "Okie" defenses that employed 5 traditional down lineman. In today's game that would limit your defensive speed. Our 5 man front would many times include 3 or 4 D ends, or a linebacker or 2, or a rolled up safety/Roy back. We would then vary what we did with those 5, by bringing all, dropping some, or blitzing additional (see Tony Jefferson's sack in 4th Qtr).

I think we would still rather run a base 4-3 or 4-2 nickel (nickel referring to 5 defensive backs to answer another of your questions, with "dime" being 6 DB's). But BV was able to use a 50 to get more of our athletes on the field at the same time, while covering our lack of D tackle depth/talent/experience. Great coaching adjustment IMHO.

[landrun]

So the "50" defense is 5 'linemen'. 2 are DTs and the other 3 are DEs or a linebacker mixed in? If it is a linebacker, do we have 3 in the game, with 1 on the line or just 2 LBs in with an extra db??

Also it looks like we normally play a 4-3. I'm going to guess about 80% of the time (throughout a season). Am I wrong there?

I guess the D I like to see is the "50" (pronounced fifty I guess?)
All I know is the D against Nebbish was outstanding I don't understand the logic of not playing it more ... a LOT more.

[Okie Hillbilly]

Landrun,

As to your question about our playing a "soft" 4-3, with a bend but don't break philosophy. I assume you are not asking about any variation of a prevent, but instead our normal 4-3. I think many of the teams we face (TT, Mizzou, O-State, and the like) rely on an option passing offense (think of a passing variation of our wishbone days). That meaning, if you tackle well and play your assignments correctly, the offense will have to string together a dozen or so plays to move to score. We feel that most times we can make a pass break up or they will miss a play and then have to punt before that 10 or 12 string of plays occurs.

While that is frustrating at times for me to watch, I have to realize that not everybody has 2 potential 1st or 2nd round draft choices to play corner, like Nebbish does this year ( I would like to point out that the lost BTW!) I think you will see us employ more confidence in our corners over the next couple of years as Hurst and Fleming are just going to get better and better, and roll the dice more often with aggressive defensive play calling.

[Okie Hillbilly]

You are right that the "50" refers to the front. The reason you don't see it more is that a traditional 5 man front with a Nose, 2 DT's and 2 DE's would leave too many skill players unaccounted for against spread offenses. Remember, 2 of the DE's we used (Beal and R Lewis) came to OU as linebackers, giving us flexibility in dropping them into short pass coverage.

[landrun]

Landrun,

As to your question about our playing a "soft" 4-3, with a bend but don't break philosophy. I assume you are not asking about any variation of a prevent, but instead our normal 4-3. I think many of the teams we face (TT, Mizzou, O-State, and the like) rely on an option passing offense (think of a passing variation of our wishbone days). That meaning, if you tackle well and play your assignments correctly, the offense will have to string together a dozen or so plays to move to score. We feel that most times we can make a pass break up or they will miss a play and then have to punt before that 10 or 12 string of plays occurs.

While that is frustrating at times for me to watch, I have to realize that not everybody has 2 potential 1st or 2nd round draft choices to play corner, like Nebbish does this year ( I would like to point out that the lost BTW!) I think you will see us employ more confidence in our corners over the next couple of years as Hurst and Fleming are just going to get better and better, and roll the dice more often with aggressive defensive play calling.

I really appreciate the responses in this thread.

So if I understand you correctly, you're saying that we play the 4-3 because we don't feel our DBs are good enough to cover man to man and the 4-3 is a zone defense? (I have no idea if that is true but it seems to me that is what you're saying)

When we play a 4-3, do we have 3 true linebackers in or do we really have an extra db in lined up as a LB? It just seems to me that when we line up with 4 DL we get beat over the middle, behind the DBs, all night long. Plus, we get zero pressure on the QB.

[Okie Hillbilly]

Did you notice how vulnerable we were to the inside run on the keeper from the wildcat? That is why we like to run a 4-3 or 4-2-5 if we have a Dusty and Tommie Harris to put on the field, or a healthy Adrian Taylor and GM!

[NormanPride]

Moving Macon inside once Ronnell got healthy has opened up this D, and having Box back healthy completed it. They are a very good D now, and we just need the safeties and LBs to play assignment sound D to be very, very stout. Our corners are unbelievably good, especially since we have a poor pass rush. How many times did Maartinez have 5+ seconds to throw before even having to dance around? GREAT concentration by the secondary.

[landrun]

I just want to say that I hated to see Macon was a senior. This guy played a GREAT game this weekend. I hope he can make it in the pros. I was very impressed with him.

[Okie Hillbilly]

I really appreciate the responses in this thread.

So if I understand you correctly, you're saying that we play the 4-3 because we don't feel our DBs are good enough to cover man to man and the 4-3 is a zone defense? (I have no idea if that is true but it seems to me that is what you're saying)

When we play a 4-3, do we have 3 true linebackers in or do we really have an extra db in lined up as a LB? It just seems to me that when we line up with 4 DL we get beat over the middle, behind the DBs, all night long. Plus, we get zero pressure on the QB.

No, you can run just about any cover scheme you want out of a base 4-3 (that just tells you what your "front 7" are doing). You will hear terms for coverages (like "cover 2") that will give you an idea what the Defensive backfield is doing.

We don't necessarily think our DB's aren't good enough to cover man to man, our basic philosophy is zone with our corners playing "field" or "boundary" responsibilities. You must realize that man coverage can be great, it has its own risk/reward outcomes. Bob and BV usually like some version of zone.