Hey PK -- What would you say you do here?

[Hookem2147 20926]

1 minute ago, 1leggedduck said:

I thought PK was Sark's 3rd choice, but if the Arnett info above is correct, then PK was his 4th choice. Boom, Arnett, Stoops, then PK.

Stoops was never an option to be DC. Ever.

[Codaxx 5591]

3 minutes ago, 1leggedduck said:

I thought PK was Sark's 3rd choice, but if the Arnett info above is correct, then PK was his 4th choice. Boom, Arnett, Stoops, then PK. I would think, without any evidence other than board poster yap, that if the BMDs didn't want Arnett, they wanted a DC with some big school success, and that would seem to be PK, at that moment in time.

The important question is what does Sark have to do to replace PK? Does he have to ask "may I" again, or can he pick out his guy and go with it? If his job rides on the call, and I think it may down the road, he should get to make the call.

Stoops was only as a LB coach, not a DC. I believe it went something like Boom, Quinn,  Odom, Arnett, and then PK. I do not know that level of interest in each one. 

Edited September 29, 2022 by Codaxx

[1leggedduck 443]

I thought Sark ran it past the powers that be and he was soundly rejected. 

[1leggedduck 443]

However you slice it, he has his 3rd-5th choice at DC. If there's someone out there he wants to replace PK with, will they let him do it, or will they insist on second guessing? Again, it seems like if the decision ends up being a pivotal one to his time at Texas, he should get the call, assuming it isn't freakish money or Barry Switzer.

[Tex-19 2869]

Wasn't Arnett the guy that interviewed at LSU or somewhere else and supposedly had an all-time terrible interview?

[Tex-19 2869]

I thought the sequence was Muschamp, Lanning, Dan Quinn, then PK. Maybe Odom in there somewhere too

[HtownHorn 14468]

5 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

Wasn't Arnett the guy that interviewed at LSU or somewhere else and supposedly had an all-time terrible interview?

Yes, then LSU pivoted to Freeman and he told them no before settling on a guy from the NFL with no DC experience at any level of football.

[Hookem2147 20926]

20 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

I thought the sequence was Muschamp, Lanning, Dan Quinn, then PK. Maybe Odom in there somewhere too

Forgot about Lanning. He was in the mix at some point.

Not sure how realistic Dan Quinn ever was as an option but it would have been interesting to see him in the college game.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Hookem2147

[Dignan 355]

On 9/26/2022 at 6:11 PM, LTtxfan said:

Texas vs Tech on 4th down

Ian Boyd•about 4 hours

Donovan Smith runs against Texas (Will Gallagher/Inside Texas).

Texas was 50% on 4th down against Texas Tech in their 37-34 overtime defeat. Not terrible, they only went for it two times and they converted one and missed the other. A pretty normal rate.

This wasn’t a normal game though, Texas Tech was all in on utilizing upset/comeback strategies to have a chance in this game, including going for it on 4th down eight times over the course of the game. They converted six of those eight, prolonging five different scoring drives

There was a lot for everyone to chew on after the game but the No. 1 factor in Texas’ defeat was how thoroughly beat they were on 4th down. They created one scoring drive for themselves with a conversion and blew another crucial opportunity, then yielded 27 of Tech’s 37 points by failing to stop even half of the Red Raider 4th down attempts.

This game would have been a blowout had either Tech not been so aggressive, or had they been stopped on the 4th down attempts of 4th-and-5 or longer, of which there were three (two conversions). It would have been a narrow Longhorn victory had they done even just a little better on 4th down.

So we’re going to review all the 4th downs in this game to see where it went awry for Texas.

4th-and-7 on Tech’s opening drive

This one was a little reminiscent of the Todd Orlando days. A 5-man, single-high match pressure where the blitz needed a little more time to get home. As Sark noted in his presser,

I felt like looking at the tape, we weren’t in sync enough with our pressure package and our coverage. For whatever reason, the way we had been playing pass defense early in the year, which was a lot tighter, a lot more aggressive, a lot more confident, it didn’t feel that way Saturday. Although we were getting home with some of our pressures and line games, the quarterback still had enough time to get the ball out because we weren’t tight enough on coverages. There were times that we did play it that way, and we had a lot of success. We’ve got to get those two things in sync, and we’ve got to trust our ability to cover people in tight coverage.

Jerrin Thompson is in man coverage on the boundary slot receiver and just made the comeback route too easy. No replay review to the consternation of Texas fans but I don’t think it would have changed the outcome.

4th-and-goal on Tech’s opening drive

“From four yards out, surely this is a passing…nope.” You can almost see that thought process play out for the Texas defenders. Ovie Oghoufo races in, sees it’s not a passing play and finds his momentum turned against him as the tight end turns him inside and down to the turf. Diamonte Tucker-Dorsey was also hesitant and doesn’t meet the ballcarrier, 6-foot-5 and 230-pound Donovan Smith, until two yards past the line of scrimmage where the quarterback has the momentum to fall forward into the end zone. Jaylan Ford was almost Johnny on the spot from the other side but narrowly missed his diving tackle attempt.

This is zone-follow, a quarterback run play that feigns zone-read before turning the running back into a lead blocker in the cutback lane. It’s really more like duo or power for the quarterback, Texas used to run it for Sam Ehlinger.

4th-and-1 on an eventual Texas touchdown drive

This is quarterback counter from the Wildcat, or “Ro-cat” formation with Hudson Card flexed out as a receiver and Roschon Johnson taking the snap at quarterback. Cole Hutson pulls to kick out, Gunnar Helm leads, Bijan takes a fake hand-off and goes to obstruct backside pursuit.

Helm helps clear the hole but actually misses his man. It doesn’t matter, Roschon isn’t met by a tackler until he’s at the mark to gain.

4th-and-5 on a failed Tech drive after the half

I noted in my preview Tech might have problems stemming from Ryan Watts playing man coverage on their boundary receiver and freeing up Jerrin Thompson to poach routes on the other side of the field. They did exactly that here and Thompson landed one of a few big warning shots coming from the boundary to force an incomplete passes.

Notice Texas is in press-quarters coverage on both sides of the formation with their cornerbacks. “Soft coverage” wasn’t really an issue in this game. Nor coverage in general, unless it was 3rd-and-a-mile or 4th down.

4th-and-2 on a failed Texas drive after the half

This too, is the zone-follow play. Texas runs it with motion from Gunnar Helm to execute a trap block on the backside against the end man on the line while they block down on everyone else. This is a first down but for Cole Hutson losing Tony Bradford (former North Shore champion) on an inside slant. For as strong a runner as Roschon is, he can’t just run through a 300-pound defensive tackle hitting him square with momentum.

4th-and-4 on an eventual Tech field goal drive

From the end zone view you see Jahdae Barron is playing in the middle of the field in a 3-down, flyover defense package Texas utilized a few times in this game. He just loses track of this middle curl route. Shame for Texas the spy doesn’t either commit sooner to chasing the quarterback or hang back to contest this easy middle window.

4th-and-1 on an eventual Tech touchdown drive

Zone-follow again! This time Tech is in the touchdown play formation with the tight end and three receivers to one side of the field. Texas walks down Jaylan Ford to the edge and he regrettably gets too far upfield and then tries to spin off the running back’s lead block and make the play himself. Ideally he’d have met the back a little shallower and shoved him inside to remove the running lane. Barryn Sorrell also loses his rep against the tight end who blocks down and moves him inside.

Jerrin Thompson is there in a flash to hit the quarterback before the sticks and DeMarvion Overshown gets there quickly as well but they cannot prevent 230-pound Smith from falling forward for the first.

4th-and-goal on a failed(?) Tech drive

This was a no-brainer decision by Tech, unlike some of the other aggressive calls made by Joey McGuire. I included the 3rd-and-goal just before this play because they called the same zone-follow play twice in a row and were at last punished for trying to go back to the well.

Texas has Justice Finkley in there now. On 3rd-and-goal he disrupts the tight end, then comes off and meets the running back lead block to help blow this up. Byron Murphy also rag-dolls an offensive linemen to help get the stop. On 4th-and-goal Texas finally knows what’s up and has Finkley on the wide edge with Vernon Broughton and Jaylan Ford up on the line inside. They destroy the intended lane and Smith tries to dive the other direction to get what he can, which isn’t enough.

At last, zone-follow is beaten, but the Texas offense is backed up and can do little about it.

4th-and-5 on an eventual Tech touchdown drive

Texas has a nice call on this one. They’re in tight coverage and Overshown comes from the weakside to get under the quick route and stays on it. However, when Smith scrambles ahead out of the pocket he basically Euro-steps DMO and then falls forward for the first down.

The call is solid, the personnel package is not great. They have Jett Bush as a defensive end executing an inside stunt with Keondre Coburn while T’Vondre Sweat and Jaylan Ford work off either edge. They don’t get pressure and don’t contain well.

This game Texas needed their young Edges to play more to spell Sorrell and Oghoufo. Neither Prince Dorbah nor Jett Bush gave them enough in their snaps on the Edge (Bush also played at Mike and was more effective there). Oghoufo is in this play but he drops back to carry the running back on a wheel route.

4th-and-3 on eventual Tech field goal drive

Similar to the play above, two things go wrong here. First of all, that’s a heck of a play by Donovan Smith to hit the crosser while backpedaling with pressure in his face. He made plays on virtually every single Tech 4th down conversion and used both his feet and his arm to do so.

The killer for Texas here is they’re in press-man coverage with a single deep safety and two underneath defenders in Overshown and Oghoufo (who looks exhausted). Those two underneath defenders get caught in no man’s land. They aren’t deep enough to contest the throwing windows but they aren’t closing fast enough to help the pass-rush either. Smith and the high volume of snaps has discombobulated them by this point

So there you have it. Much of this game came down to Texas not being ready to handle Donovan Smith on 4th down using his legs. It’s an understandable issue, Josh Allen and many other big, mobile quarterbacks give great defenses fits all over football in a similar fashion, but had Texas been even just a little bit better they would have survived with a win. Main take aways for the staff should be getting the young Edges more acclimated to spell the starters more (or simply trusting them) and more coaching up at linebacker.

This is good stuff. IMO, MOST times we had the right play called just couldn't execute. I mean that last one was just a great play by Smith and lucky catch. EASILY could've been our ball. Maybe I am a fool, but this looks to me like our players just aren't making plays. Slow reaction times etc. Like the original post said, some of the backups/younger guys HAVE to step up. I am not giving up hope yet....

[WinningIsHard 4016]

3 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Well, if a fan poll says it then it must be done.

Those are the rules.

Who in their right mind would come coach here if we fire a respected DC before he finishes his second season? We should just become a basketball school and stop all this nonsense. Plenty of money to get to the final 4 every year lol. 

[Tex-19 2869]

2 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

Forgot about Lanning. He was in the mix at some point.

Not sure how realistic Dan Quinn ever was as an option but it would have been interesting to see him in the college game.

Quinn was Muschamp's DC at Florida for a while

[Hookem2147 20926]

2 minutes ago, WinningIsHard said:

Who in their right mind would come coach here if we fire a respected DC before he finishes his second season? We should just become a basketball school and stop all this nonsense. Plenty of money to get to the final 4 every year lol. 

Yes, PK is respected and as someone who has defended him on this board I will say that I see improvement in certain aspects of this defense, but at some point this is a results oriented business. I understand he has a reputation and is highly thought of and all that, but at some point what he did in 2014 shouldn't be brought up when discussing what we are doing in 2022.

This is a results-oriented business. If his pass defense continues to get shredded and he can't find a way to stop the bleeding then unfortunately there are consequences to that. Life isn' fair. I am sympathetic to the fact that the personnel on this roster at certain positions that is subpar, but we are paying him almost $2 million a year to be a problem solver. 

And to be quite honest he is probably fortunate we brought him back for a second year because Sarkisian could have easily cut bait and no one would have batted an eye considering the defensive performances last year. Sarkisian passed on using a get out of jail free card, and he might be forced to use it this year if we continue down a certain path whether PK is deserving of it or not.

 

[WinningIsHard 4016]

11 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Yes, PK is respected and as someone who has defended him on this board I will say that I see improvement in certain aspects of this defense, but at some point this is a results oriented business. I understand he has a reputation and is highly thought of and all that, but at some point what he did in 2014 shouldn't be brought up when discussing what we are doing in 2022.

This is a results-oriented business. If his pass defense continues to get shredded and he can't find a way to stop the bleeding then unfortunately there are consequences to that. Life isn' fair. I am sympathetic to the fact that the personnel on this roster at certain positions that is subpar, but we are paying him almost $2 million a year to be a problem solver. 

And to be quite honest he is probably fortunate we brought him back for a second year because Sarkisian could have easily cut bait and no one would have batted an eye considering the defensive performances last year. Sarkisian passed on using a get out of jail free card, and he might be forced to use it this year if we continue down a certain path whether PK is deserving of it or not.

 

I understand that he’s paid well and results matter, and I won’t even get into the garbage that he was handed to work with because it’s fruitless. I’m asking who in the fuck would come here if he fails? He’s being paid what he’s being paid because that’s what his resume and experience called for. We can keep recycling these guys over and over but eventually one of them has to be given a chance to build something solid. We signed like 7 DL/edge players last class. There’s a reason for that. 56 pass attempts, no sacks. Not one DL could just say I’m going to whip this guys ass and make a play in 56 tries. It’s embarrassing. 
 

i just realized I said I wouldn’t get into what he has to work with and then I did anyway, haha. I’m regarded 

Edited September 29, 2022 by WinningIsHard
Just wow

[Codaxx 5591]

17 minutes ago, Tex-19 said:

Quinn was Muschamp's DC at Florida for a while

Sark was Quinn's OC and out of work. Jerry Jones swooped in and ended that thought

[Hookem2147 20926]

7 minutes ago, WinningIsHard said:

I understand that he’s paid well and results matter, and I won’t even get into the garbage that he was handed to work with because it’s fruitless. I’m asking who in the fuck would come here if he fails? He’s being paid what he’s being paid because that’s what his resume and experience called for. We can keep recycling these guys over and over but eventually one of them has to be given a chance to build something solid. We signed like 7 DL/edge players last class. There’s a reason for that. 56 pass attempts, no sacks. Not one DL could just say I’m going to whip this guys ass and make a play in 56 tries. It’s embarrassing. 

I understand what we are saying, but there are plenty of guys who would leave their current situation for close to $2 million..

I am in agreement that cycling through guys is sort of how we got to this situation. But we need to see a solid foundation and week to week growth. I would love nothing more than to have a DC be here 5 years and implement his system and recruit all his players and all of that. But I also think it's not smart to just run things back just so you can scream 'continuity!', There is a fine line.

[Tex-19 2869]

I'll be honest, I'm actually less worried about the defense than I am about overall 2nd half performance. In Sark's 9 losses, 5 had halftime leads (1 tied - Bama). On the flip side, no halftime comeback wins. Easy to blame the defense but if the offense doesn't go limp in 2H, we still beat OU and OSU last year plus now Tech.

[UTEE97 3429]

On 9/26/2022 at 4:12 PM, GringoSalado said:

This cocksucker is just stealing money at this point. Hope he fucking loses it all to some Nigerian scammer. Appears stupid enough for this to be a realistic fantasy.

He has a 3 year guaranteed contract ar $1.7M per year, so he has already stole the money whether or not Sark keeps him. Perhaps this is why CDC may not have pushed Sark to get rid of the guy after last season.

[Burt Macklin 18989]

2 hours ago, Tex-19 said:

I'll be honest, I'm actually less worried about the defense than I am about overall 2nd half performance. In Sark's 9 losses, 5 had halftime leads (1 tied - Bama). On the flip side, no halftime comeback wins. Easy to blame the defense but if the offense doesn't go limp in 2H, we still beat OU and OSU last year plus now Tech.

You’re really mixing up priorities here. The defense has been the worst part of our team two years in a row. If they improve, most of these second half concerns would be non-existent. 

[40acredropout 2901]

It truly has been death by a thousand papercuts this year.

Our defense ranks 22nd in county in allowing only 4.77 yards per play.

In terms of limiting big plays, opponents only get 7+ yards on 9.5% of plays which ranks 6th in the county.  10+ yards-  4.8% of plays which ranks 14th overall.

I didn't think we'd fare terribly in these metrics but also didn't think we'd rank that highly.  There has to be an adjustment.  Patient teams are going to continue to slice and dice us for 5 yards at a time and control the clock as long as we are giving it to them.  

Edited September 30, 2022 by 40acredropout

[Hookem2147 20926]

1 hour ago, 40acredropout said:

It truly has been death by a thousand papercuts this year.

Our defense ranks 22nd in county in allowing only 4.77 yards per play.

In terms of limiting big plays, opponents only get 7+ yards on 9.5% of plays which ranks 6th in the county.  10+ yards-  4.8% of plays which ranks 14th overall.

I didn't think we'd fare terribly in these metrics but also didn't think we'd rank that highly.  There has to be an adjustment.  Patient teams are going to continue to slice and dice us for 5 yards at a time and control the clock as long as we are giving it to them.  

On the flip side, it’s really damn hard for college offenses to put together 12+ play drives and execute for 5 yards of a time. Maybe we are due for some positive regression in that department idk. Trying to think of a glass half full approach to those stats.

[Born Burnt 6147]

I saw Sark say on Longhorn Weekly this evening that Maalik Murphy is getting looks on defense. Has that been mentioned before?

[Hookem2147 20926]

1 minute ago, Born Burnt said:

I saw Sark say on Longhorn Weekly this evening that Maalik Murphy is getting looks on defense. Has that been mentioned before?

He said Murphy was giving the defense good looks on scout team.

[LTtxfan 48952]

3 minutes ago, Born Burnt said:

I saw Sark say on Longhorn Weekly this evening that Maalik Murphy is getting looks on defense. Has that been mentioned before?

 

[Born Burnt 6147]

4 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

He said Murphy was giving the defense good looks on scout team.

Okay, thanks. Was (and still am) knee deep in the whiskey.

[Codaxx 5591]

13 hours ago, 40acredropout said:

It truly has been death by a thousand papercuts this year.

Our defense ranks 22nd in county in allowing only 4.77 yards per play.

In terms of limiting big plays, opponents only get 7+ yards on 9.5% of plays which ranks 6th in the county.  10+ yards-  4.8% of plays which ranks 14th overall.

I didn't think we'd fare terribly in these metrics but also didn't think we'd rank that highly.  There has to be an adjustment.  Patient teams are going to continue to slice and dice us for 5 yards at a time and control the clock as long as we are giving it to them.  

2021 defense was just wretched, but this one is more painful to watch. They didnt get to many 3rd and 4th downs last year and could not stop the run. This year they are winning a lot of plays, but just can not get off the field or come up with a timely play (more likely make a timely mistake) 

[Huckleberry 32694]

14 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

On the flip side, it’s really damn hard for college offenses to put together 12+ play drives and execute for 5 yards of a time.

Apparently not. 

[LTtxfan 48952]

8 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Apparently not against Texas Defense

FIFY

[PilotsError 2281]

yes that was the joke.

[Sal 1088]

PK can step on Legos if he can’t figure out how to get us off the field on 3rd and long. We might have the worst 3rd/4th down defense in the country

[Fondren & Main 6665]

We need edges.  We have one.

[Hank_Hill 18484]

Do we?

[Fondren & Main 6665]

5 minutes ago, Hank_Hill said:

Do we?

Sorrell seems to be developing.  Send Ovie back to ND.

[Thatguy 8492]

  Tonight WVU played right into our hands with their formations and offense. They employed such packages that allowed us to keep a four man front(in PK's system) and bring pressure from close. However, Tech spreads you out 5 wide. Now you have a choice to make. Rush less guys. Rush 4 and play man. Bring some heat and leave yourself exposed if it doesn't hit home. PK chooses to run light boxes when faced with 5 wide or even 4 and a back. 

   Our secondary is still struggling. They play zone like high school kids. They panic with the ball in the air. Hopefully that gets cleaned up. Our edge rushers are struggling. Seems like Daniels had a month at times to get the ball out. If we had some legit edge guys we could play tighter knowing we can get home before you can get the ball out. Regardless, I don't like PK's defense, but at least they played with some heart and effort. We face a lot of QB running threats in the coming weeks. Hopefully we have a way of dealing with them. 

[Elmer_Fudd 22088]

[dcar00 14028]

the run D is noticeably better.  Good job on PK and Bo Davis.

[Dahobbs 17420]

1 minute ago, dcar00 said:

the run D is noticeably better.  Good job on PK and Bo Davis.

Yup. Really, our struggles are just not panicking on deep balls and defending slants (or anything in the very middle of the field). Everything else we seem to be pretty good at. 

[hookem48 4631]

no edge pressure is a fucking killer no matter the stats

[jw4381 3063]

I’d like to see, oh I don’t know, maybe our DBs turn and look for the ball once in a while…

[HtownHorn 14468]

8 minutes ago, hookem48 said:

no edge pressure is a fucking killer no matter the stats

This defense is void of playmakers at any level right now. The DBs had 2-3 chances to get an INT last night and didn't make the play. Just like last week, Tucker-Dorsey had a chance to stop Smith at the 2 on the 1st drive and Smith carried him into the EZ. Cook had a chance to stop Smith 3 yards short on 4th down on their last drive in regulation and whiffed. Texas also had a chance to get a FR against Tech and didn't do it.

Texas makes any of those plays against Tech and they are 4-1 right now and pushing towards the Top 10.

Watts makes the sack against Bama, we are 5-0 and likely in the Top 5. We'd be overrated, but nonetheless the narrative would be different.

Edited October 2, 2022 by HtownHorn

[SuckitKevin 915]

This defense is much improved. It is, however, susceptible to teams willing to be patient and dink/dunk their way down the field with short passing. We need to have a plan to counter that going forward because teams know it works and will try it. Creating negative plays is one way to do it but that is difficult without elite edge players. We’re better but not where we want to be yet. I noticed Dorbah playing quite a bit yesterday, maybe we’ll get lucky and someone will come on. On a positive note, I thought the officiating was much better yesterday other than the ridiculous personal foul on Sweat.

[Codaxx 5591]

25 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Yup. Really, our struggles are just not panicking on deep balls and defending slants (or anything in the very middle of the field). Everything else we seem to be pretty good at. 

I think the defense is what it is this year. They play solid defense and I have not seen glaring mistakes (coverage busts). The LBs really struggle in zone. They tend drop to a spot and stare at the QB and have little pattern recognition. Safeties are on the slow side and just aren’t play makers. The pass rush is missing a solid rusher off the edge. DTs have played well all year. Overall they will force offenses to execute, but lack play makers to dominate an offense 

[Burt Macklin 18989]

16 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

I think the defense is what it is this year. They play solid defense and I have not seen glaring mistakes (coverage busts). The LBs really struggle in zone. They tend drop to a spot and stare at the QB and have little pattern recognition. Safeties are on the slow side and just aren’t play makers. The pass rush is missing a solid rusher off the edge. DTs have played well all year. Overall they will force offenses to execute, but lack play makers to dominate an offense 

I agree that we can live with the level of play we’re getting from each position group right now, especially the DTs overall and our whole front 4 in Run D, from a level of play perspective. The problem is when you combine their level of play with how often we are at a massive schematic disadvantage.

Way too often our scheme doesn’t even give our guys a chance to make a play. We’re constantly 7-10 yards deep and bailing on critical 3rd and 4th downs. PK doesn’t even give our defense a chance to get a stop in those situations. Last night, WVU had a critical 3rd and 6 where we did exactly that. Thankfully they ran a draw, but if Daniels had thrown it, they had an easy curl route right at the sticks to the slot receiver with no defender near him. We’ve seen that happen over the last two years. It’s truly inexplicable at this point. 
 

Our defensive personnel is good enough for us to win plenty of games this year. Unfortunately, they’re not good enough to make up for all of PK’s dumbassery. 

[ClubWhatever 12086]

1 hour ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

Does this include pick 6s by your own putrid offense and blocked punts/ field goals by your shitty special teams?

Edited October 2, 2022 by ClubWhatever

[Newdoc 3429]

1 hour ago, jw4381 said:

I’d like to see, oh I don’t know, maybe our DBs turn and look for the ball once in a while…

I think our db’s missed this tidbit in junior high. Or had it taught out of them. I’ve tried to lower my stress by lowering expectations. It didn’t happen last year. 
 

[LTtxfan 48952]

1 hour ago, Burt Macklin said:

I agree that we can live with the level of play we’re getting from each position group right now, especially the DTs overall and our whole front 4 in Run D, from a level of play perspective. The problem is when you combine their level of play with how often we are at a massive schematic disadvantage.

Way too often our scheme doesn’t even give our guys a chance to make a play. We’re constantly 7-10 yards deep and bailing on critical 3rd and 4th downs. PK doesn’t even give our defense a chance to get a stop in those situations. Last night, WVU had a critical 3rd and 6 where we did exactly that. Thankfully they ran a draw, but if Daniels had thrown it, they had an easy curl route right at the sticks to the slot receiver with no defender near him. We’ve seen that happen over the last two years. It’s truly inexplicable at this point. 
 

Our defensive personnel is good enough for us to win plenty of games this year. Unfortunately, they’re not good enough to make up for all of PK’s dumbassery. 

 

It is frustrating how we don't "defend the sticks" on 3rd and long... fuckin' ridiculous

[Hookem2147 20926]

10 hours ago, Thatguy said:

  Tonight WVU played right into our hands with their formations and offense. They employed such packages that allowed us to keep a four man front(in PK's system) and bring pressure from close. However, Tech spreads you out 5 wide. Now you have a choice to make. Rush less guys. Rush 4 and play man. Bring some heat and leave yourself exposed if it doesn't hit home. PK chooses to run light boxes when faced with 5 wide or even 4 and a back. 

   Our secondary is still struggling. They play zone like high school kids. They panic with the ball in the air. Hopefully that gets cleaned up. Our edge rushers are struggling. Seems like Daniels had a month at times to get the ball out. If we had some legit edge guys we could play tighter knowing we can get home before you can get the ball out. Regardless, I don't like PK's defense, but at least they played with some heart and effort. We face a lot of QB running threats in the coming weeks. Hopefully we have a way of dealing with them. 

For whatever it’s worth, Neal Brown said after the game that we showed some fronts we hadn’t shown on film previously. Referenced some 3-down stuff we did.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Hookem2147

[Hookem2147 20926]

We are playing winning football along the DL and most of the time at corner. As was mentioned above, we just can’t seem to defend the middle of the field with our nickels/LB’s/safeties. We seemed to be a tad more in sync yesterday with our coverages and were at least closer to making some plays than we were against Tech, but it’s the #1 concern at this point. Slants and crossing patterns in the middle of field are our kryptonite. 

[Hookem2147 20926]

 

[HtownHorn 14468]

2 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

 

Wish he could hold onto the balls that hit him in the hands too.

[Brothahorn 10085]

7 hours ago, Hookem2147 said:

For whatever it’s worth, Neal Brown said after the game that we showed some fronts we hadn’t shown on film previously. Referenced some 3-down stuff we did.