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Is the D correctable?

18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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I thought the D started the year reasonably well. In spite of allowing 31 to UNC, they were dealt a tough hand in that one as we found out we had no OL and the offense was incapable of sustaining any drives. Nevertheless, they picked Maye off 2x (once well inside UNC territory but we couldn't score) and shut out UNC for about the last quarter and a half of the game. Overall, I wasn't terribly upset with their performance against one of the better QBs they were slated to face this season. Against UGA, they performed admirably for the first half against a vastly superior team before the bottom fell out.

Starting with the MSU game, though, the D has just cratered. Giving up massive chunk plays. Early on, you could attribute some of the issues to the OL problems causing no run game and too many sacks which killed our drives and put the D back on the field too quick. But the OL has made some incremental improvements while the D has gone the other direction.

Just not sure if there's anything schematically we can do, or if the performance just caught up to the lack of talent.
 
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gamecox4982

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They absolutely could get better but not good enough to make a difference in Wins and Losses. I honestly believe we need to make a change in DC, White just isn’t getting the job done. If I were Beamer I would go after Jeremey Pruitt. I know he has some baggage but who cares. Saban has proven hiring coaches with baggage works.
 
18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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gamecox4982 said:
They absolutely could get better but not good enough to make a difference in Wins and Losses. I honestly believe we need to make a change in DC, White just isn’t getting the job done. If I were Beamer I would go after Jeremey Pruitt. I know he has some baggage but who cares. Saban has proven hiring coaches with baggage works.
Click to expand...

Pruitt has a show cause running through 2029.
 
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Deleted11512

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18IsTheMan said:
I thought the D started the year reasonably well. In spite of allowing 31 to UNC, they were dealt a tough hand in that one as we found out we had no OL and the offense was incapable of sustaining any drives. Nevertheless, they picked Maye off 2x (once well inside UNC territory but we couldn't score) and shut out UNC for about the last quarter and a half of the game. Overall, I wasn't terribly upset with their performance against one of the better QBs they were slated to face this season. Against UGA, they performed admirably for the first half against a vastly superior team before the bottom fell out.

Starting with the MSU game, though, the D has just cratered. Giving up massive chunk plays. Early on, you could attribute some of the issues to the OL problems causing no run game and too many sacks which killed our drives and put the D back on the field too quick. But the OL has made some incremental improvements while the D has gone the other direction.

Just not sure if there's anything schematically we can do, or if the performance just caught up to the lack of talent.
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I guess the D against UNC wasn't terrible. But it was bad, and had nothing to do with the O. UNC scored on 3 of their 4 1st half drives. The one they didn't, the D did do a good job coming up with a 4th and 3 stop, however, that was a 13 play 54 yard drive that took 6:31 off the clock. They got 4 first downs on that drive. Their next drive was a 13 play 42 yard drive that took 6:20 off the clock. Regardless of how the O was performing, they shouldn't have been "worn down" that early in the game. The game was cooked on UNCs first two drives coming out of the half. Coming out of the half, the D shouldn't have been gassed. And they went through us like a hot knife through butter. Conversely, it was late in the game when they actually got stops. So to me, that theory that it's the Os fault for not staying on the field is bogus.

I think teams have just figured us out, and White doesn't seem capable of making changes to keep OCs guessing.
 
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Deleted11512

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gamecox4982 said:
They absolutely could get better but not good enough to make a difference in Wins and Losses. I honestly believe we need to make a change in DC, White just isn’t getting the job done. If I were Beamer I would go after Jeremey Pruitt. I know he has some baggage but who cares. Saban has proven hiring coaches with baggage works.
Click to expand...
I don't know if you know this, but we ain't Bama. Pruitt would be a terrible fit here.
 
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Viennacock

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I agree that we can make some improvements but won't make a difference in wins and losses. We have top tier SEC safeties and we are near or at the bottom of the country in passing defense.

Clear we have schematic issues that won't get resolved this year. Changes are needed. There is talent on the defense. Players need to be coached up and put in the correct positions to make plays.
 
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18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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DaboSits2PeePee said:
I guess the D against UNC wasn't terrible. But it was bad, and had nothing to do with the O. UNC scored on 3 of their 4 1st half drives. The one they didn't, the D did do a good job coming up with a 4th and 3 stop, however, that was a 13 play 54 yard drive that took 6:31 off the clock. They got 4 first downs on that drive. Their next drive was a 13 play 42 yard drive that took 6:20 off the clock. Regardless of how the O was performing, they shouldn't have been "worn down" that early in the game. The game was cooked on UNCs first two drives coming out of the half. Coming out of the half, the D shouldn't have been gassed. And they went through us like a hot knife through butter. Conversely, it was late in the game when they actually got stops. So to me, that theory that it's the Os fault for not staying on the field is bogus.

I think teams have just figured us out, and White doesn't seem capable of making changes to keep OCs guessing.
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Ha, yeah, that's why I said "reasonably well". I was just thinking, for all things considered, going up against Maye, they held their own ok, and they gave the offense the ball at the UNC 38, with a chance to make it a one-score game. UNC's last 4 possessions went INT, INT, punt, punt. So at least they gave us a shot. O just couldn't muster anything b/c the OL was getting blasted.

Not saying they were gassed b/c the O couldn't stay on the field, but against a team with a QB like Maye, the best defense is to keep him off the field by your offense staying on the field. I think they actually fared rather well early on, all things considered. The offense didn't help matters by going 3 and out for -2 yards on the first series. Nevertheless, after the O tied it up at 7, the D forced UNC to turn it over on downs, which was a huge win against their offense, but we went 3 and out for -1 yard faster than you can blink on the ensuing offensive series.

The D, even with little rest, still held UNC to a FG on the next drive, which again is a win against their offense.. After the O scored a TD to take the lead, the D did give up a TD to let UNC take the lead at 17-14, but the O had the ball with a chance to score and then get the ball back to start the second half. That was the major swing in the game, in my opinion. If we could have even gone into the half tied and then come out and get a score to open the 2nd half, it could have been a much different game. As it is, we punted at the end of the half and then came out in the 2nd half and had the fastest turnover on downs you'll ever see. Not sure I've ever seen a team go 4 and out in 42 seconds. That's a remarkable feat.

Was the D gassed coming out of the half? No. But that opening drive of the 2nd half by our offense was a morale crusher. At that point, if you're the D, you're thinking "man, we just aren't getting any help." I don't think they were worn down physically, but I'm sure they were mentally. When you see your offense go out and burn through 4 down in 42 seconds...how could it not be?

All that to say, they gave our offense multiple chances to stay on the field, eat some clock and score points, both in the first half and the second half. Again, against a QB like Maye, and you have to consider that factor, I think the D held their own reasonably well. It was not reasonable to ask them to hold UNC to under 20 points. As it is, they held UNC 6 points under their current season average. Our D held them to their lowest point total of the year so far. Can't really argue with that.
 
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Deleted11512

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18IsTheMan said:
Ha, yeah, that's why I said "reasonably well". I was just thinking, for all things considered, going up against Maye, they held their own ok, and they gave the offense the ball at the UNC 38, with a chance to make it a one-score game. UNC's last 4 possessions went INT, INT, punt, punt. So at least they gave us a shot. O just couldn't muster anything b/c the OL was getting blasted.

Not saying they were gassed b/c the O couldn't stay on the field, but against a team with a QB like Maye, the best defense is to keep him off the field by your offense staying on the field. I think they actually fared rather well early on, all things considered. The offense didn't help matters by going 3 and out for -2 yards on the first series. Nevertheless, after the O tied it up at 7, the D forced UNC to turn it over on downs, which was a huge win against their offense, but we went 3 and out for -1 yard faster than you can blink on the ensuing offensive series.

The D, even with little rest, still held UNC to a FG on the next drive, which again is a win against their offense.. After the O scored a TD to take the lead, the D did give up a TD to let UNC take the lead at 17-14, but the O had the ball with a chance to score and then get the ball back to start the second half. That was the major swing in the game, in my opinion. If we could have even gone into the half tied and then come out and get a score to open the 2nd half, it could have been a much different game. As it is, we punted at the end of the half and then came out in the 2nd half and had the fastest turnover on downs you'll ever see. Not sure I've ever seen a team go 4 and out in 42 seconds. That's a remarkable feat.

Was the D gassed coming out of the half? No. But that opening drive of the 2nd half by our offense was a morale crusher. At that point, if you're the D, you're thinking "man, we just aren't getting any help." I don't think they were worn down physically, but I'm sure they were mentally. When you see your offense go out and burn through 4 down in 42 seconds...how could it not be?

All that to say, they gave our offense multiple chances to stay on the field, eat some clock and score points, both in the first half and the second half. Again, against a QB like Maye, and you have to consider that factor, I think the D held their own reasonably well. It was not reasonable to ask them to hold UNC to under 20 points. As it is, they held UNC 6 points under their current season average. Our D held them to their lowest point total of the year so far. Can't really argue with that.
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Agree mostly. In the first half the O scored on 3 of our 5 drives. So it's not like the D was out there constantly. It felt like it b/c THEY couldn't get off the field on those two drives that almost took up an entire quarter. Disagree that the on side kick possession was a moral crusher. It was a 3 pt game. If that crushed the morale of our D then we got more problems than we thought, which I would rule out at this point.

After seeing this D perform for 6 games, I'm more inclined to think UNCs lower output is probably more related to game 1 under a new OC and missing their top WR weapon. If we played today, I believe they'd score at least 40 and have 500+ yards.
 
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Deleted11512

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18IsTheMan said:
I do not doubt that. I don't know if we have regressed a bit or if opposing OC's have just figured out our many weaknesses. Or both.
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I think it's both. The UNC game exposed some really bad coverage from our secondary. Everyone since then has had their way with us.
 
Prestonyte

Prestonyte

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Viennacock said:
I agree that we can make some improvements but won't make a difference in wins and losses. We have top tier SEC safeties and we are near or at the bottom of the country in passing defense.

Clear we have schematic issues that won't get resolved this year. Changes are needed. There is talent on the defense. Players need to be coached up and put in the correct positions to make plays.
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You are right on target. our positioning is horrible and HS offenses could easily scheme against our defense. It's clearly visible just watching the game on TV.
 
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18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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Prestonyte said:
You are right on target. our positioning is horrible and HS offenses could easily scheme against our defense. It's clearly visible just watching the game on TV.
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It seems that something like positioning should be relatively easily addressed, right?
 
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adcoop

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Need more corner depth for these spread offenses. Teams are just lining their best receiver in the slot and isolating them against "In the box" safeties. I think they should have experimented with some looks with those safeties at linebacker for spread offenses and get more corners on the field. May be a little too late for that now. Tough to change strategy that drastically midway through the season.
 
KingWard

KingWard

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We turned the offense around last year by ghosting a coordinator. I don't think that would work in this case, for a couple of reasons. We're either going to have to go the "simplify the defense" approach and hope we can be less lost, or suffer on and make the needed coaching and player acquisitions in the off-season, which will probably begin for us immediately after the UPC game.
 
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