Defensive Coordinator

[TheColonyEagle]

1 minute ago, Cr1028 said:

Could be that, could be wanting to play in the NFL, could be wanting to win a national championship, could be wanting to play for the two best coaches in college football. But you are probably right, I’d put having 4 down lineman instead of 3 as the reason they’d want to play at #1 Clemson or #2 Alabama.

I didn't say THE reason.

But as much as college football has changed over the past 20 years....Clemson and Alabama win games because they control the line of scrimmage. It still gets down to the trenches....even with big offenses that sling it around. So when the top DL recruits every single year are looking at Bama/Clemson or USC or OU or Oregon, etc....they're going to go to the school that takes DL seriously...they're #1 and #2 in the nation every year because they have the best DLs in the nation every year.

I wonder if we had the best DL in CUSA or G5 if we would win more?

[wardly]

You can't beat bigger, stronger, faster, which why our defense has been terrible the past two years.

[Cr1028]

37 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

I didn't say THE reason.

But as much as college football has changed over the past 20 years....Clemson and Alabama win games because they control the line of scrimmage. It still gets down to the trenches....even with big offenses that sling it around. So when the top DL recruits every single year are looking at Bama/Clemson or USC or OU or Oregon, etc....they're going to go to the school that takes DL seriously...they're #1 and #2 in the nation every year because they have the best DLs in the nation every year.

I wonder if we had the best DL in CUSA or G5 if we would win more?

We absolutely would win more with the best DL in CUSA. Alabama and Clemson have the luxury of running a 4-3 because they have depth at the defensive tackle position.

Alabama has 7 defensive linemen who weigh at least 300lbs. Clemson also has 7. USC has 6. Texas has 3.  Oregon has 3. We have 2. OU has none. It depends a lot on what type of offenses you face and what kind of talent you can procure. We could do better but we are not equipped to field a 4-3 right now and I’d be concerned about even more lack of speed if we threw another d tackle in there. We need to mix in more blitzes and become more of an attacking defense. Sure we will get hit for a big play a bunch but we will also make more big plays and create turnovers. The bend don’t break approach just allows your defense to get demoralized and eventually give up.

[Withers940]

Im no defensive specialist but I do know that 5 against 3 isn't great match up and you could have a 2 on 1 match up on every snap, if the TE or RB stays into block. Our best player on the line is doubled every single play which takes him out of the equation completely. I haven't caught every play but it seems every time we do line up a 4 man front, we cause enough pressure that it causes an incompletion or a turn over.

It would be different if we actually blitz the QB but I feel like we rarely do that. We create no chaos at the line of scrimmage, it seems to be so vanilla just like our offense. You see other 3-3-5 defenses where there is a lot of movement around the line of scrimmage and they cause confusion for the Qb and line not knowing where the pressure is coming from. You see stand up rushers, switches, etc

Not an expert but if we are going to stick with the 3-3-5 at least mix it up and show multiple fronts with different attacks 

[TruthSetYouFree]

On 10/12/2020 at 2:13 PM, Withers940 said:

Honestly at this point, I would take anyone over Bowen. Ekeler, Jennings, Scott, Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny.....Anyone

 

I feel that a small portion of our failures is personnel but the big issue is our play calling and coaching. These kids are not that bad to were we are giving up 40 plus points a game.

Send every last coach on defense to coach YMCA ball until retirement. Coaches are a POS! I’m sure the UNT fan that actually screamed the entire time during the game said POS a hundred times. Blown assignments for 3 straight games. No defensive line pressure!  Linebackers tackling 6-10 yards downfield. secondary getting beat like a drum. You know it’s bad when the secondary leads the team in tackles. Offense can’t covert on 4th downs. Field goal kicker missing easy field goals. Hope UNT has some very wealthy Alumni to cut every coach on staff! Jaelon Darden is a beast! Other WR’s can’t catch a cold!
 

We have a stable of running backs why can’t the team play ball control and eat up the clock and take strategic shots downfield. Keep defense off the field and give the team a chance to win and stop these Interstate 45 plus scores. 600 plus yards a game given up on defense! I’ll take the best high coaches in Texas high school football over Clint Bowen. If Bowen is back next year and Littrell manages to keep his job, Littrell will be looking for a OC job minimum in 2022. Littrell will get a COVID pass this year. Unless UNT gets some more junior or senior players albeit through grad transfers or JUCO, UNT fans you are fooling yourself if you think next years team will be any better than this year. 

Over hyped recruiting has given a false sense of security.
 

COVID will still have an impact in 2021.

DRASTIC TIMES CALL FOR DRASTIC MEASURES!

-Hire a OC

-Fire Bowen & Jennings & all of them!

-Get a great DC and stop giving recycled friends jobs

-Littrell is on a 1 year plan.. 2021 Put up or Get Out of Denton. 

 

[Monkeypox]

Alabama was more successful when they ran a 3-4. In fact, there's a lot of discussion around their defensive decline in the last 3 years, coinciding with their move to a 4-3 from the 3-4 (which they ran for all of Saban's tenure through 2017). Clemson runs a 4-man front (4-3 with smaller hybrid players or 4-2-5 historically).  Georgia runs a 3-4 base and a good bit of 3-3-5. But those teams can run whatever they want. They recruit NFL linemen, linebackers, and dbs.

That said, the 3-3-5 (tite front) has replaced the 4-2-5 (the original "spread defense") for a number of schools, in part to combat the Spread RPOs and zone runs. RPOs were developed to attack the weak-side linebacker, make him choose between covering the B gap or dropping into coverage. When he makes that choice, he's always wrong. The idea of a tite front 3-3-5 is to force the action to the outsides by leaving no open B gaps. Force running backs and QBs to run East-West before they can turn upfield. And then you're using your speed at LB and DB to attack in space. The idea here being that your LB and DB are going to be better in space than a bunch of 300-lb linemen.

However, you've got to have a good hybrid DE/OLB and a NT. And then, if your ends don't have enough power and leverage, they can get washed inside on run plays and pushed into each other like a reverse wedge. This isn't the end of the world if your linebackers can do their job in space. I mean it creates a big wash of bodies that is generally tough even for the RBs to get through. But UNT is suffering from BOTH issues on run plays. Even in the looks you WANT from our defense, our DEs are getting demolished and our LBs aren't reacting quickly enough or making plays in space. This can be seen in our defensive lowlights throughout the season.

Currently, the defensive coordinator/scheme everyone is looking at is actually the 3-man front run by Iowa State DC Jon Heacock.  San Diego State was one of the top defenses in the country last year... running a 3-3-5. The reason a lot of these coaches state for their defensive preference? They don't have access to top level recruits - specifically linemen and linebackers. You really want our linebackers (or, in this case, offensive freshmen playing out of position) matched up in coverage on opposing RBs and slot receivers?

The point is, I don't think the front we have is the reason we aren't good on defense. The truth is if you want to have a good defense, you have to be flexible and your guys have to be well-coached and confident in their assignments.