Good Game for Caponi and the Defense

[Mean Green 93-98]

Just saying.  We've given him a lot of grief for last season, a lot of it deserved, but he deserves some praise for a good game as well.  Not counting garbage time, he essentially held Tulsa to 3 points.

[BigWillie]

I was going to make a thread about this, but I will just use this one. 

What changed? I think this defense has looked completely different in the past 2 weeks. You could argue that Wyoming wasn't a good offense, ok, but Tulsa was better on offense and they dominated them.

This defense has done 3 things that I haven't seen really all year.

• Tackling
• Turning the ball over
• Stopping the run

I will stop using the word play on Caponi's name, at least for now.

Lastly, do we think it was a scheme change? Did it come from Caponi or is he just the face of someone else that is now running the defense?

Edited 16 hours ago by BigWillie

[peanuts104]

If you're going to only use 3 down linemen, it makes sense that a defense that uses 4 linebackers is more effective than one that uses 3. I get that the star position is supposed to be a hybrid safety/LB but it just hasn't worked here for whatever reason. We stopped the run because we had four linebackers in position to fill run gaps past the line of scrimmage. And, unfortunately, I think having a really complex backfield with a mix of 5 safeties and corners only works if you have the best personnel AT OTHER POSITIONS NOT IN THE BACKFIELD. For a 3-3-5 to work, the front 3 and linebackers have to be perfect and that is asking a lot. Happy with the 3-4 and multiple D change.

[UNT86]

We have played almost exclusively man in our secondary the last two weeks. Rarely have we had an actual free safety and have not played two high at any point.  Our coverage has been outstanding.  And yes, we have started tackling and being physical. 

Out scheme is very simple, but that allows players to key fast. Sometimes we still don't fit correctly, but that will get better with film.

[jtm0097]

Hats off to Caponi and staff for making adjustments. It was nice to see them mix up the different looks. 

The defense is improving and the offense has shown the ability to be explosive. 

Also, kudos to the special teams. Blocking punts, great returns, and hitting a FG.

Nature is healing, we are 4-1.

[TIgreen01]

Is it just me or are we rotating more players across the front 7, and especially along the dline, than we did last year?  Just trying to keep up with all the numbers moving in and out the first few games was a challenge.  Dline visibly looks bigger than last year, as well.  

[Green Lantern]

1 hour ago, UNT86 said:

Out scheme is very simple, but that allows players to key fast. Sometimes we still don't fit correctly, but that will get better with film.

Yes! Making this alignment shift seems to have allowed the players to read and react much quicker. The extra LB out there has helped set the edge more consistently. 

Credit to the defense yesterday. They played well and definitely kept us in the game while the offense was sputtering early. Was really nice to see. Big improvement on that side of the ball these last two games. Credit to the players and coaches for making the change.

[3_n_out]

8 hours ago, BigWillie said:

I was going to make a thread about this, but I will just use this one. 

What changed? I think this defense has looked completely different in the past 2 weeks. You could argue that Wyoming wasn't a good offense, ok, but Tulsa was better on offense and they dominated them.

This defense has done 3 things that I haven't seen really all year.

• Tackling
• Turning the ball over
• Stopping the run

I will stop using the word play on Caponi's name, at least for now.

Lastly, do we think it was a scheme change? Did it come from Caponi or is he just the face of someone else that is now running the defense?

That’s the big question. It would be nice to know, but I don’t think they’ll throw anyone under the bus by saying who decided and if anyone was demoted. The important thing is that they made the change and it’s working. Humility and a lack of a paycheck often can steer things right.
With the announcers talking a lot about Caponi and his engagement on the sideline, he seems to still be calling plays. Maybe things the best version of Caponi and why we hired him away from a P4 program. 

[UNT Family Man]

Only gave up like 260 ish before the last two drives. Much improved 

[GreenEggs&Ham™]

Never played football myself, but does it make sense that NT's offense will improve over time now because they are no longer practicing against the 3-3-5 defense that couldn't stop the run nor put pressure on the QB? Again, I never played football, so I am just speculating.

[GoGreenBeans]

Defense has been great the past 2 games. I don’t even really count the Tech game against Caponi too much because our offense did 0 favors for the defense. Seems like things are starting to click for the defense, now we just need the offense to put together sustained drives. It’s nitpicky, but we need to let the defense get a breather! 

[3_n_out]

4 hours ago, GreenEggs&Ham™ said:

Never played football myself, but does it make sense that NT's offense will improve over time now because they are no longer practicing against the 3-3-5 defense that couldn't stop the run nor put pressure on the QB? Again, I never played football, so I am just speculating.

During the season, the offense typically goes against a scout team defense that runs the opponent’s style. So, they’re not running against our base defense. 

[3_n_out]

3 hours ago, GoGreenBeans said:

Defense has been great the past 2 games. I don’t even really count the Tech game against Caponi too much because our offense did 0 favors for the defense. Seems like things are starting to click for the defense, now we just need the offense to put together sustained drives. It’s nitpicky, but we need to let the defense get a breather! 

We can only hope that performance against Tech was on outlier. Seven more games to go to find out. 

[aztecskin]

7 hours ago, UNT86 said:

We have played almost exclusively man in our secondary the last two weeks. Rarely have we had an actual free safety and have not played two high at any point.  Our coverage has been outstanding.  And yes, we have started tackling and being physical. 

Out scheme is very simple, but that allows players to key fast. Sometimes we still don't fit correctly, but that will get better with film.

Yeah Morris says "A split safety look" but I also saw a lot of single-high. I think we are getting more heavy players on the field. Then we are also just tackling better. We are mixing it up -- different looks here and there -- so we are not so predictable. I think the 3-high has a lot of advantages but we had nothing in response when teams would attack it. 

So it really is about just having something else in the toolbag to go along with better performing.