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

[Llewelyn Moss 208]

4 minutes ago, Laxtonto said:

The PK D expects you to get enough pressure that they have to throw somewhat quick on 3rd and long. If you cant get to the QB (either through lack of talent and/or massive holding) they have time to flood the zone and get the long pickups (especially when our guys are very bad at zone D right now).

We need a real EDGE and this D would look outstanding. If you have to consistently account for a rusher means less guys in the pattern and/or getting the ball out quickly.

This is the clearest explanation of the tendency to give up 3rd (and 4th) and medium/long I’ve seen. Thanks homie

[Rimbo 25916]

Our defense has held some really good offenses to below their average this year.

[Laxtonto 12080]

1 minute ago, Rimbo said:

Our defense has held some really good offenses to below their average this year.

I agree. PK's scheme works. It is just incredibly frustrating knowing how much better this D and the team overall would have looked all season with that one missing piece. Hopefully the D's success this year allows us to grab a legit difference maker off the EDGE and that will make the rest of the D look that much better.

[Acropora 856]

That defense played better and we started to make some nice adjustments, including covering the dagger concept that burned us a couple times before.  

You put ossai on this team and it's 7 points a game better.  Will be essential to get/develop a good edge and keep sweat to pair with Murphy/Collins next year

[tonedeaf 56]

Hey PK, I am pleased.  🤘🤘

[Dbeasy 15043]

16 minutes ago, Laxtonto said:

The PK D expects you to get enough pressure that they have to throw somewhat quick on 3rd and long. If you cant get to the QB (either through lack of talent and/or massive holding) they have time to flood the zone and get the long pickups (especially when our guys are very bad at zone D right now).

We need a real EDGE and this D would look outstanding. If you have to consistently account for a rusher means less guys in the pattern and/or getting the ball out quickly.

This is a really interesting point, because there were a few plays where I noticed Overshown rushing from the edge and he’s just too small to get past the tackle. He just ran into this wall of blubber, and couldn’t really get around it either. 

[TommyGufano 6021]

11 minutes ago, Laxtonto said:

I agree. PK's scheme works. It is just incredibly frustrating knowing how much better this D and the team overall would have looked all season with that one missing piece. Hopefully the D's success this year allows us to grab a legit difference maker off the EDGE and that will make the rest of the D look that much better.

The dummy from Denton Ryan/Bama shoulda come here instead of Arkansas

[Laxtonto 12080]

Just now, Dbeasy said:

This is a really interesting point, because there were a few plays where I noticed Overshown rushing from the edge and he’s just too small to get past the tackle. He just ran into this wall of blubber, and couldn’t really get around it either. 

Zone is "safe" because if the throw is quick there is less time for the players on the field to spread out from their presnap assignments and read/react to the offense entering their zones.  As the O has more time the D is fanning out and creating larger and larger windows and you are now relying on their ability to read and react and to pass guys off to the next man plus maintain positioning.  This provides the windows that make the 3rd and longs so frustrating.

 

Most of those long conversions are after the O has time to stretch the zone out. If they have to throw quick, most likely the D is in position to limit the RAC and so you wont see the big pickups.

 

PK is trying to cut the baby in half by limiting RAC on the quick pass and theoretically limiting the big play (if we only had better S play, but I digress), predicated on the idea we get some pressure. If you can convert 6 3rd downs that way in a row, the O will probably score that drive. But, that is hard to do if the D can get any sort of consistent pressure.

[Rickylovesweed 14269]

PK has a much better track record as a defensive coordinator than Sark has as a head coach. We really shouldn't be surprised the defense has improved this much. The idea that PK would all of a sudden start sucking here never made any sense. 

 

[Elmer_Fudd 22208]

PK held Baylor to 2.6 yards average per rush.  And this was a Sr filled OL and was tabbed as one of the top OL's coming into this year.

[Rickylovesweed 14269]

The end of this season you could see why PK's defense has been good in years past. His scheme does a great job of stopping the run. Fix the pass defense with better DBs and add some more edge talent. 

[victory88 5663]

Props to PK.  Players are developing, they seem bought in, we are elite at stopping the run, and we’ll probably have 4-5 players drafted from this defense in Coburn, Sweat, DMO, Watts, and potentially Ford.  Cook will also find his way on a roster as a UDFA.  Very good chance we will have the big 12 defensive player of the year.

 

For all the shit I’ve talked about you PK, I’m glad you’re in burnt orange now.

[GreenspointTexas 9600]

The defense is borderline elite. Masterful job by Pk this season

[BurdineBandit 815]

1 hour ago, Laxtonto said:

 

We need a real EDGE and this D would look outstanding. If you have to consistently account for a rusher means less guys in the pattern and/or getting the ball out quickly.

I remember during some 3rd and 8 or so I looked at Ovie and just wished he would do anything at DE.... Shapen just fired a dart over the middle since our DEs were too busy hand-fighting with the OTs. Frustrating but this D is good in spite of it. Rough to wach Micah Parsons off the edge yesterday and then realize that a guy like 18 has been playing tons of downs for us for 2 years now without a hint of an NFL rush move.

[Rickylovesweed 14269]

This will be 10 out of 13 years PK has finished with a top 25 defense per FEI. 1 of those outside the top 25 was also the Covid year where Washington only played 4 games and had a lot of players missing due to Covid. 

It's kind of wild that we wanted this guy gone (myself included at certain stretches). All he does is produce top 25 defenses. 

 

 

[Levi 2585]

19 minutes ago, victory88 said:

Props to PK.  Players are developing, they seem bought in, we are elite at stopping the run, and we’ll probably have 4-5 players drafted from this defense in Coburn, Sweat, DMO, Watts, and potentially Ford.  Cook will also find his way on a roster as a UDFA.  Very good chance we will have the big 12 defensive player of the year.

 

For all the shit I’ve talked about you PK, I’m glad you’re in burnt orange now.

Healthy arm Cook is a guy that gets drafted. I still think he might. 

[Elmer_Fudd 22208]

49 minutes ago, Rickylovesweed said:

The end of this season you could see why PK's defense has been good in years past. His scheme does a great job of stopping the run. Fix the pass defense with better DBs and add some more edge talent. 

I actually think we'll be solid next year at CB and NB with Brooks-Watts-Barron.  Brooks got more PT today than Jamison.  Would like a little more speed/athleticism at Safety.  Supposedly we are in the works for a legit Safety behind the scenes??  EDGE, I think a year of spring/winter and guys like Tapp, Bledsoe, Finkley, and Burke can be a factor.  We need another LB to pair next to Ford next year and a 3rd LB as well (Hill, Lefau, portal addition?).  Talks also on the recruiting board we will bring in a good EDGE defender.

[Elmer_Fudd 22208]

Also, props to Choate, Bo, and even Joseph as those units improved a lot from the shit show of last year.

[hookemATL 11712]

18 points surrendered by the defense and a really impressive 2nd half.  Was really nice feeling like we were going to get to the QB if we wanted to on those last drives for Baylor. 

[HtownHorn 14674]

1 minute ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

I actually think we'll be solid next year at CB and NB with Brooks-Watts-Barron.  Brooks got more PT today than Jamison.  Would like a little more speed/athleticism at Safety.  Supposedly we are in the works for a legit Safety behind the scenes??  EDGE, I think a year of spring/winter and guys like Tapp, Bledsoe, Finkley, and Burke can be a factor.  We need another LB to pair next to Ford next year and a 3rd LB as well (Hill, Lefau, portal addition?).  Talks also on the recruiting board we will bring in a good EDGE defender.

I wonder if Guilbeau gets moved to S?

[Rickylovesweed 14269]

I think the encouraging thing with PK is he can evaluate players. We were all pissed about the defense not adding more transfers but outside of edge I think this was the right decision. 

I thought we should have added more on the interior DL and in the secondary but all in all I think it played out alright. 

[Dbeasy 15043]

Just to add to the PK love fest, the turnaround has been remarkable. It’s very encouraging. I thought after that long first half of being on the field for long periods again they were going to regress. But the second half was spectacular.

Sark should be able to improve the offense and with continued good defensive play, they have a shot at being pretty good next year. 

[ClubWhatever 12120]

Still can’t coordinate the back end.  Jaylon Ford saved his bacon twice.  

[LTtxfan 49151]

12 minutes ago, Elmer_Fudd said:

I actually think we'll be solid next year at CB and NB with Brooks-Watts-Barron.  Brooks got more PT today than Jamison.  Would like a little more speed/athleticism at Safety.  Supposedly we are in the works for a legit Safety behind the scenes??  EDGE, I think a year of spring/winter and guys like Tapp, Bledsoe, Finkley, and Burke can be a factor.  We need another LB to pair next to Ford next year and a 3rd LB as well (Hill, Lefau, portal addition?).  Talks also on the recruiting board we will bring in a good EDGE defender.

BJ Allen had a non-football injury that set him back early this year.  Coaching Staff still have high expectations for him at Safety...

[fellside 1113]

18 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

BJ Allen had a non-football injury that set him back early this year.  Coaching Staff still have high expectations for him at Safety...

I've seen a couple things that make me think Allen might portal. Some frustrations there.  Not sure though.

[utexas8 1436]

[Pam Cummings 9639]

PK made fools of all of us. Awesome.

[Elmer_Fudd 22208]

1 hour ago, fellside said:

I've seen a couple things that make me think Allen might portal. Some frustrations there.  Not sure though.

His brother is a 24' commit for us so would be something to watch.

[Ignatius 4017]

On 11/20/2022 at 2:07 PM, JOSEYWALES66 said:

The defense against the quick pass to a sideline where one or more receivers block for another receiver who catches the ball behind the line of scrimmage has never been better.   It’s been impressive to watch. 

Jesus OU killed us on that fucking play for like 2 decades….

[Michael Knight 12977]

to answer the OP , he fucks

[Hookem2147 21202]

Dunlap with some end of season notes on the defense:

Spoiler

As always, we'll give some quick analysis along with the tiered rankings (WHICH ARE NOW FINAL for 2022) and are derived via a proprietary scoring formula, and based on the following advanced charting statistics (please note the distinctions in how tackles, etc. are counted and why these stats will always differ from the official university stats):

Click Images to Enlarge

DEEP DIG DEFENSIVE LEGEND (click link to view)
***Please note since 2019: -1 point has been added for any defensive penalty outside of defensive pass interference which is always considered a coverage burn and is not double-counted. Please also note that since 2019, missed tackles that result in blown contains are counted as blown contains (-1) and are not double-counted as both a blown contain and a missed tackle***

Defensive Participation Log: Baylor
 

Defensive Snap Counts By Week and Percentage of Total Defensive Snaps Played - 2022 FINAL:
 

Defensive Productivity Market-Share Percentages and Snaps per Production Caused Metrics - 2022 FINAL (snaps per disruption caused is colored coded from blue/best to white/median to red/worst):
 

Quick Hits and Thoughts

Well, another season of the Deep Dig in the books.

Congratulations to Jaylan Ford, our RUNAWAY 2022 King of the Mountain.

It's hard to believe it's been a decade of these columns. Over that time, it's likely enough to have written a book. A strange, cockamamie and oftentimes depressing fever-dream of a book, but a book nonetheless. The series always stops at the end of the regular season, because it's the only way to keep things consistent with a football team that hasn't made it to a bowl game every season since we started this endeavor back in 2013. We will see you three more times before reconvening for the start of a 2023 season that we anticipate to be monstrous: 1) we still have the offensive final to come out this week; 2) the bowl game edition; and 3) the 2023 spring game edition. As for the 2022 defense, however, this is where we bid you farewell. We hope you have enjoyed this transmission from our dark basement and we wish you godspeed.
 

*****

OK, so now that the Deep Dig dishes are done, there are a million things to unpack from the season and look forward to regarding team-building. The pinned transfer portal thread is already piping hot and we're about to learn about the fallout from attrition and all the rest among the current team as it stands.

One thing that really piqued my interest this week, though, was an NFL scout calling me to ask about some of the players on this Texas defense, specifically the defensive line -- and specifically Keondre Coburn and T'Vondre Sweat.

When trying to answer how good I really thought these guys were in comparison to previous lines, I took advantage of the fact that I've spent a decade of my life chronicling the minutiae of the Texas defensive line's play and can, at least to some degree, quantitatively compare outcomes.

It gets lost a little bit in the shuffle that the interior of the Texas defensive line did not just undergo a "bounceback" from a down 2021 season during the 2022 campaign. Fans were all hoping for that, but they actually got more than just that:

 

EXPLANATION OF THE CHART ABOVE: Listed are the top 3 interior DL/part-time defensive ends who also played interior DL from each season dating back to 2015 in the metric I've named "snaps per line disruption," a statistic invented by the Deep Dig to give an idea of the impact a player is/was having on the opponent on or around the line of scrimmage. That is the farthest column right and it is the metric by which the chart is sorted. It shows how often the player generated either a sack, QB hit, QB pressure, TFL, batted pass or run-stuff. The color-coded column in the middle is "snaps per production caused" and is the same metric you see used in the weekly market share rankings, like the one above. "Production” gets corresponding positive points for assisted tackles, tackles, sacks, QB hits, pressures, TFLs, batted passes, fumbles caused, fumbles recovered, run-stuffs, PBUs, interceptions, blowups, defensive TDs, safeties and lockdown bonuses (for DBs). Points get taken away for missed tackles, penalties, completions allowed, coverage burns and blown contains. It is is colored coded from blue/best to white/median to red/worst.

What we see here is that Texas not only had a bounce-back year in line disruption, it had a banner one -- and Keondre Coburn might not be getting enough credit for leading the way in this surge. Texas' Top 3 in this metric sit pretty damn high in the historical standings while Coburn himself squeezed right in the middle of NFL players like Hassan Ridgeway, Poona Ford and Malcolm Roach.

Coburn is not going to be an early-round pick (at least at this time and prior to physical testing) based on what I am hearing. It seems like scouts saw the production this season on film (many of the things the Deep Dig charts are not covered in traditional stats and captured some of this sentiment) and they sort of wonder what kind of player they have on their hands here and why has there been an up-and-down nature to his game from season-to-season? Is 2022 Keondre Coburn what we can expect moving forward? As of now, I don't think Coburn is going to get invited to one of the major two All-Star games (Senior Bowl or Shrine Game) unless it is as a backup to other options that fall through. That is what it is, and is not the end of the world, but it is at least a little telling. Texas just had a really good year right in Coburn's neighborhood of the field, and you'd typically think this would elevate his draft stock a bit more than it seems to have based on early conversations.

What I can say is that at least a few people in the NFL world are just as high or higher on T'Vondre Sweat than they are on Coburn -- which was, of course, surprising to hear. Scouts like his athleticism to get off blocks and this one in particular mentioned all the batted passes this year and the coordination and explosion needed to get up for them out of engagement.

And with Sweat expected to return to Texas for 2023 (I'm not counting that chicken until it hatches, but OB has heard from plenty of different folks that things are looking this way), you already have the bedrock of the 2023 defense firmly and very strongly in place across the front and in the trenches with Byron Murphy at nose tackle and T'Vondre Sweat at defensive tackle.

Clearly, Sweat returning would be far more important than anything that might happen in that transfer portal.

 

[Thatguy 8685]

On 11/20/2022 at 1:07 PM, JOSEYWALES66 said:

The defense against the quick pass to a sideline where one or more receivers block for another receiver who catches the ball behind the line of scrimmage has never been better.   It’s been impressive to watch. 

This made me think of this dude

 

 

[Enemy07 288]

If Coburn, Sweat, Ford, Watts, and Barron all return, I predict Texas is a top 20 defense. We just need to plug in a few solid players at Safety and Edge to become elite.

[pacman 7355]

https://www.on3.com/teams/texas-longhorns/news/texas-football-defensive-improvement-by-the-numbers/

 

Quote

Scoring and total offensive stats got drastically better

Points allowed per game went from #99 at 31.1 ppg to #29 at 21.2 ppg

TeamRankings has an “only defensive points allowed” (instead of total team points allowed) that has Texas at #14 with only 19.3 ppg from the defense

Yards per game went from #100 at 425.6 to #51 at 362 (not the most useful statistic)

Yards per play went from #102 at 6.03 to #19 at 4.9 (much more useful)

Points per play went from #93 at 0.43 to #11 at 0.28 (astonishing improvement)

The ratio of punts forced to scores allowed increased massively from #101 at 0.7 up to #20 at 1.5

Money downs didn’t show great improvement, but red zone defense was much better

3rd Down percentage allowed went from #102 at 42.35% down to #79 at 39.9%

4th Down percentage allowed was #84 in 2021 and remained #84 in 2022 at ~57%

Red Zone scoring percentage went down from #90 at 86% to #16 at 76%

Red Zone TD percentage went down from #52 at 57% to #20 at 50%

Rush defense got almost unimaginably better

Yards per rush went from #114 at 5.15 all the way down to #17 at 3.35 per rush

Rushing yards per game improved from #114 at 201.6 all the way down to #28 at 123.0 per game

Passing defense saw solid improvements

Opponent completion percentage dropped from #125 at 67.6% to #103 at 62.7%

Opponent passer rating dropped from #80 at 137.83 down to #43 at 125.26

Yards per attempt went from #47 at 7.1 down to #22 at 6.4

Passing yardage per game increased slightly from 224 to 239 but that is due to passing attempts increasing from 31 to 37

Sacks went from #98 at 1.67 per game up to #53 at 2.25 per game

Passes defended per game went up from #110 at 3.17 to #44 at 4.5

As a cohesive unit, here’s how the numbers look

ESPN’s FPI Defensive Efficiency shows Texas’ defensive ranking dropping from #59 down to #23 in the country. FootballOutsider’s Defensive FEI has Texas improving from #52 all the way up to #9 in the country. F+ (a combination of FEI and SP+) has Texas moving from #67 up to the #12 defense in the country. Sports-reference has a Simple Rating System (essentially only looks at how you held your opponent in relation to their season averages) that has Texas moving from #96 all the way up to the #7 defense in the country.

 

It was fun to see it on the field, but sometimes we can allow the most memorable aspects of defense — an unfortunate drive sustained by 4th down conversions as an example — cloud the much bigger picture. The big picture is crystal clear: the defense made tremendous strides this season and with another year of development and some key additions, it will be poised to make another noticeable jump.

 

[closetohumping 17437]

Hi is this the fuck PK thread?

[LTtxfan 49151]

We got Akana 💥 

 

[LTtxfan 49151]

 

Thx for finding this @TheMailBox357

[LTtxfan 49151]

Redemption story of the Texas Longhorns' defense will culminate against Pete Kwiatkowski's former team

By FUCK CHIP BROWN 14 hours ago

Quote

SAN ANTONIO — When Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski arrived in Austin in 2021 after seven seasons leading defenses at Washington, he had a reputation in coaching circles as a “silent assassin” - a soft-spoken guy who could X and O with anyone in college football.

That reputation obviously took a hit in 2021, when he left a career comfort zone in the Pacific Northwest to run the Longhorns’ defense - and seemingly ran it into the ground after giving up an average of 31 points, 200 yards rushing and 5.2 yards per carry (second-worst in school history) during a dismal 5-7 season.

When Kwiatkowski was asked about last year’s pass rush, following that 5-7 season, he blurted out, “What pass rush?”

What a difference a year makes.

Kwiatkowski’s defense now leads the nation in quarterback pressures and his reputation as a silent assassin has been restored after Texas’ defense got progressively better as the 2022 season wore on, giving up an average of 21.2 points, 123 yards rushing and 3.3 yards per carry.

One of UT’s best defensive efforts, unfortunately, came in a 17-10 loss at home to College Football Playoff-bound TCU - a game in which the defense scored UT’s only touchdown (on a scoop-and-score by Jahdae Barron).

"I just liked how poised we were and how we communicated," said Kwiatkowski when asked about his defense's performance against the Horned Frogs.

Ironically, Kwiatkowski’s final test this season on Thursday will come against his former team - the Washington Huskies - who lead the nation in third-down conversion rate (57 percent) with a quarterback - Michael Penix Jr. -who leads the nation in passing yards (4,354) and has been sacked only seven times all season. (Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers was sacked eight times in UT’s last five games.)

“I know a lot of those guys; recruited a lot of those guys and obviously have a history with Washington,” said Kwiatkowski, who compares the Huskies to the high-tempo offenses of Texas Tech and UTSA.

“The ball comes out quick,” Kwiatkowski said. “Penix will scramble to throw, and he does a good job of getting the ball out of his hands to some really good playmakers. That’s why he’s only been sacked (seven) times this season. This will be a heck of a challenge.”

Head coach Steve Sarkisian doesn’t make assistant coaches available during the season. So Monday’s Alamo Bowl press conference was the first opportunity to ask Kwiatkowski questions about the resurgence of Texas’ defense this season - from what role former TCU coach Gary Patterson played to whether middle linebacker Jaylan Ford is ready to turn pro?

“He’s getting there,” Kwiatkowski said of Ford. “I’d like to see him come back.”

Ford, a junior who leads the team in tackles (109), interceptions (four), forced fumbles (three) and recovered fumbles (two), told reporters Monday he’ll decide after the bowl game whether he’ll stay or turn pro.

Kwiatkowski interrupted Ford with a smile and said, “That’s not the answer I wanted to hear.”

Kwiatkowski said he was already in the process of changing UT’s pass coverage from a lot of two-deep zone to quarters-match when Patterson was hired as a special assistant before last season.

Patterson, whose TCU defenses ran quarters-match coverage, “came in with a lot of knowledge of how teams in the Big 12 like to attack quarters match,” Kwiatkowski said. “So, that knowledge helped us a lot (in putting together game plans).”

When asked how he felt when Patterson was hired, especially coming off the season Texas’ defense had in 2021, Kwiatkowski said, “I embraced it.”

“I'm always about what can we do to better ourselves, better the organization, better the defense,” Kwiatkowski added. “Having Gary come in, he’s a great sounding board. He's been in the league forever, and is obviously a really awesome defensive coach.

“So his ideas were welcomed. I’m a big boy, and I understand that this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately profession. So I embraced it and used it to help us get better.”

Kwiatkowski said he moved from the booth to the field this season, because he knew from being in the booth last season "that we had good eyes up there relaying good information."

This year's defensive turnaround began with Sarkisian's focus on team-building during the off-season, which helped the Longhorns’ defense come together, Kwiatkowski said. Having a team like Alabama to prepare for in Game 2 helped players understand how much attention to detail was needed to execute at a high level.

Texas lost to the Crimson Tide 20-19, but Kwiatkowski said that performance “gave them the confidence that they can go out and compete with anybody. I think it also really stressed the importance of the attention to detail needed in practice, right up to the walkthrough - that whole process - for the remainder of the season.”

In both teams’ Big 12 opener back on Sept. 24, the Longhorns were caught off guard by how much Texas Tech went for it on fourth down (the Red Raiders converted 6-of-8) in a 37-34 overtime loss that Texas led 31-17 late in the third quarter.

Washington went for it on fourth down four times in three separate games this season.

“They’re like Texas Tech,” Texas senior nose tackle Keondre Coburn said Monday. “They like to throw the ball around, and they’re going to go for it on fourth down.”

A satisfying smile came across Kwiatkowski’s face when Coburn was asked about the Longhorns’ motivation for playing in Thursday night’s showdown with the Huskies …

“We dominated - I felt like - all year,” Coburn said of UT’s defense. “I love these dudes up here (referring to his teammates). For us, it’s an opportunity to showcase our skills against a highly ranked team from a different conference - the Pac-12. So, let’s get it on, go play and have fun.”

 

[TheMailBox357 213]

Great article on how Gary Patterson improved the defense from X&O's POV:

 

 

[Vertigo 20276]

29 minutes ago, TheMailBox357 said:

Great article on how Gary Patterson improved the defense from X&O's POV:

 

 

Spoiler

When Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski was made available in promotion of the Alamo Bowl against the Washington Huskies, he was asked directly about the role of “special assistant to the head coach” Gary Patterson.

[Get Inside Texas Plus until the start of the 2023 season for $10!]

Close observation of the team on Saturdays revealed the former TCU head coach regularly patrolling the Texas sideline while Texas’ defensive schemes began to more closely resemble the Horned Frog method over scattered and often ineffective methods of 2021.

“One of the things he really helped with was playing match quarters. He’s seen all the issues that teams try to attack you with. He was really good at bringing those to our attention. We’re seeing them in practice before they played the game. Sometimes they showed up and sometimes they didn’t. Guys were seeing all those issues and now they’re able to self-correct because they know what issues and what offenses can do to try to attack pattern-match quarters coverage.”

Pete Kwiatkowski at the Alamo Bowl press conference

I myself wrote throughout the season that Texas had clearly embraced the Patterson-style of match quarters coverage. Match quarters is a two-high coverage system where the safeties align 10-12 yards off the ball but initially stay flat-footed while reading the receivers and line for their assignment keys. When executed well, the flat-footed play of the safeties can allow them to read plays and arrive where needed against run or pass more quickly than if they were racing downhill or backpedaling at the snap.

As you might imagine, the trick of the scheme is training your defenders (particularly the safeties) to all read the same things from the offense and work together. If you think your assignment in the scheme is to cover one route and the safety thinks it’s another, you get costly busts.

Patterson’s many years as a pioneer of playing base nickel defense with quarters coverage, with almost a full decade of that in the Big 12 conference, made him invaluable to Texas in uploading the system. Kwiatkowski had some other interesting notes on the changes and Patterson’s role in implementing the system.

“Before Gary came on, we were moving to more match quarters. When we were able to hire Gary, he obviously has an extensive knowledge of it. He knows all the warts and all the issues that offenses try to attack you with in that. That’s where he was invaluable as far as heading off a lot of potential problems, and getting our guys repped and seeing it. Now, they can self correct and anticipate those types of issues that come up.”

Pete Kwiatkowski at the Alamo Bowl press conference

Texas could clearly be seen playing quarters throughout the 2021 season but often a different variety than what they’ve done in 2022, particularly earlier in the season.

Kwiatkowski had a telling back and forth with Inside Texas’ Joe Cook during the presser on their adjustments and how they helped them.

Joe Cook: Were you more closed middle field at Washington?

(Closed middle field coverage means one deep safety staying on top of post routes)

Pete Kwiatkowski: “We were match third, thirds team for sure. (Then) more of a vision quarters philosophy.”

(A match third team means match 3 coverage, basically a blend of Cover 3 and pure man-free coverage. Both feature a deep post safety and then the nickel and other safety covering inside receivers in match coverage, which is close to man coverage. “Vision quarters” means playing off coverage with two deep safeties and the defensive backs all empowered to play loose man to try to jump routes based off reading the quarterback’s eyes.)

JC: Do you think that’s why last year was a struggle, because you were changing kind of the core coverage?

PK: “Two years ago, we were more vision than match. We weren’t good at it. It was just too loose. Previously, a lot of those guys were already accustomed to a match quarters type structure of a match-third structure, so when we made the change they actually picked it up. There was a lot of recall.”

(Texas had been playing mostly match quarters and match 3 under both Todd Orlando and Chris Ash in previous seasons, so adjusting to Patterson’s brand was much more intuitive than trying to master the very loose and player empowering “vision quarters” scheme.) 

 

Overall, Texas’ search for a clear identity on the back end of the defense was one of the most important challenges for the Steve Sarkisian and Pete Kwiatkowski era. Jimmy Lake was responsible for much of the approach on the back end for Washington and his preferred Match 3 schemes were not the same as the more quarters-based approaches utilized by Terry Joseph and Blake Gideon in their previous stops.

 

Texas was already moving to an approach more comfortable for their players and new defensive backs coaches after struggling with the Washington way but Gary Patterson gave proficient and holistic insight into how to structure the back end of the defense to make the most of the Longhorn’s athletes against Big 12 competition. Credit Sark for making the hire, Patterson for bringing his expertise, but also Kwiatkowski for showing once again in his career a high capacity for collaboration and sharing the credit.

 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

On 11/25/2022 at 6:19 PM, Pam Cummings said:

PK made fools of all of us. Awesome.

To an extent. It was also this season, the year of our Lord 2022, where we played a lot of inexplicably soft defense, inappropriate fronts and converses versus downs and distance and had substitution patterns that bordered on the inane. 
 

Somewhere around the KSU game someone largely put an end to that BS. If it was PK then kudos to him. I hope it continues, and will be watching to see if the issues above rear their head again in the future. Sark is getting some of that treatment too. 

[Alphie Solomons. 231]

Nobody has been harder on this defense this year than I,  specifically the pass defense.   Not necessarily this coach but definitely, in general, this coach.

That defense in the first sequence in the Alamo Bowl was fucking brilliant, and it was coaching.   100% dragging the play clock and causing confusion right where they are weakest.   That's film study, that's coaches involving themselves directly and that needs to be said in this thread, no matter where this game ends up.

thanks, 

Alphie

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

12 hours ago, Alphie Solomons. said:

Nobody has been harder on this defense this year than I,  specifically the pass defense.   Not necessarily this coach but definitely, in general, this coach.

That defense in the first sequence in the Alamo Bowl was fucking brilliant, and it was coaching.   100% dragging the play clock and causing confusion right where they are weakest.   That's film study, that's coaches involving themselves directly and that needs to be said in this thread, no matter where this game ends up.

thanks, 

Alphie

We still can’t get off the field on 3rd and 4th down, and do things like trot out Broughton, Bush and DTD as a package. Ford had an off night, likely because the Washington coaches involved themselves directly, and we had nothing at LB in addition to our ends being owned and our DB’s consistently giving up extra chain moving yardage on money downs.  

We played pretty darn good defense for about a quarter and a half. And then it was the usual shit that got us beat 4 other times this year combined with the offense doing much of the same. A competent opponent will do that to you, and ask you the questions you couldn’t answer during the season. We still didn’t have answers. Some of that is roster issues, some of that is stubbornness and some of that is poor evaluation in all three phases last night. 

[Codaxx 5731]

4 minutes ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

We still can’t get off the field on 3rd and 4th down, and do things like trot out Broughton, Bush and DTD as a package. Ford had an off night, likely because the Washington coaches involved themselves directly, and we had nothing at LB in addition to our ends being owned and our DB’s consistently giving up extra chain moving yardage on money downs.  

We played pretty darn good defense for about a quarter and a half. And then it was the usual shit that got us beat 4 other times this year combined with the offense doing much of the same. A competent opponent will do that to you, and ask you the questions you couldn’t answer during the season. We still didn’t have answers. Some of that is roster issues, some of that is stubbornness and some of that is poor evaluation in all three phases last night. 

This pretty much sums it up. Texas went 8-5 this year, because time and time again they didn’t make plays at critical moments. That includes all 3 phases. Last night Quinn misses a throw on 4th and 1. Quinn is solid and there are critical drops. Washington goes 13-23 on critical downs (that leads to 5 drives of 10 or more plays). Brooks drops an int in 4Q. That is the difference between 8 win teams and 10+ win teams. Good teams find ways to make plays at critical moments. 

[TwiceHorn 31443]

8 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

This pretty much sums it up. Texas went 8-5 this year, because time and time again they didn’t make plays at critical moments. That includes all 3 phases. Last night Quinn misses a throw on 4th and 1. Quinn is solid and there are critical drops. Washington goes 13-23 on critical downs (that leads to 5 drives of 10 or more plays). Brooks drops an int in 4Q. That is the difference between 8 win teams and 10+ win teams. Good teams find ways to make plays at critical moments. 

So, what do we blame it on when the team plays a pretty solid overall game but just blows it on a handful of plays that cost us the game?

Coaching?  Talent?  Just being headfucked?

[Codaxx 5731]

1 minute ago, TwiceHorn said:

So, what do we blame it on when the team plays a pretty solid overall game but just blows it on a handful of plays that cost us the game?

Coaching?  Talent?  Just being headfucked?

No idea. That is the great mystery of sports. Some teams just find ways to win (TCU this year). I wish I could put a finger on it, because I would have emailed the AD and figured this out 8 years ago 

[Laxtonto 12080]

16 minutes ago, Bobby_Batronic said:

We still can’t get off the field on 3rd and 4th down, and do things like trot out Broughton, Bush and DTD as a package. Ford had an off night, likely because the Washington coaches involved themselves directly, and we had nothing at LB in addition to our ends being owned and our DB’s consistently giving up extra chain moving yardage on money downs.  

We played pretty darn good defense for about a quarter and a half. And then it was the usual shit that got us beat 4 other times this year combined with the offense doing much of the same. A competent opponent will do that to you, and ask you the questions you couldn’t answer during the season. We still didn’t have answers. Some of that is roster issues, some of that is stubbornness and some of that is poor evaluation in all three phases last night. 

Part of the “can’t get off the field on critical downs” is less scheme and more of a jimmy and joes problem.

We get killed on 3rd and 4th downs because when it comes to critical plays, most offenses has more dynamic guys that can win a one on one matchup than we have defenders that can lock someone down. We had a walk-on playing key downs off and on this season on D. Last year we had a statue at LB playing because he was still better than the other junk on the roster.

We are woefully weak at LB and EDGE and Safety is a concern. 2 more solid players at any of those 3 positions and the outcome of many of those critical downs swing the other way. 
 

We saw it last night with UW. When they absolutely needed a play we didn’t quite have enough true talent to overcome what they have on the field.

 

I will say this though, safeties weren’t as bad last night than earlier in the season.

 

PK did a great job this year, but next year I expect more. Year 3 for him and he should now have more of the type of guys he needs for his system.

[TwiceHorn 31443]

9 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

No idea. That is the great mystery of sports. Some teams just find ways to win (TCU this year). I wish I could put a finger on it, because I would have emailed the AD and figured this out 8 years ago 

My best guess would be that coaching turnover and the unpleasantness of Herman's late tenure has a lot to do with it and hopefully the further we get into continuity with our coaches' guys alleviates some of it.

But, as I said on another thread, Sark seems to have some stubbornness as to player "hierarchies" and the depth chart and/or his evaluations of players that he seemingly won't deviate from and I could see that causing some friction similar to the coaching turnover, in addition to just producing some bad football.

Edited December 30, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Codaxx 5731]

4 minutes ago, Laxtonto said:

Part of the “can’t get off the field on critical downs” is less scheme and more of a jimmy and joes problem.

We get killed on 3rd and 4th downs because when it comes to critical plays, most offenses has more dynamic guys that can win a one on one matchup than we have defenders that can lock someone down. We had a walk-on playing key downs off and on this season on D. Last year we had a statue at LB playing because he was still better than the other junk on the roster.

We are woefully weak at LB and EDGE and Safety is a concern. 2 more solid players at any of those 3 positions and the outcome of many of those critical downs swing the other way. 
 

We saw it last night with UW. When they absolutely needed a play we didn’t quite have enough true talent to overcome what they have on the field.

 

I will say this though, safeties weren’t as bad last night than earlier in the season.

 

PK did a great job this year, but next year I expect more. Year 3 for him and he should now have more of the type of guys he needs for his system.

Defense lacks playmakers. There are some good players on defense, but not playmakers. Ford has been solid there, but there isn’t a playmaker in the secondary or DL. 

[Laxtonto 12080]

4 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

Defense lacks playmakers. There are some good players on defense, but not playmakers. Ford has been solid there, but there isn’t a playmaker in the secondary or DL. 

Yep. Solid players can make a defense average or better, but unless you have difference makers at a couple of positions that is your ceiling.

 

Hopefully we are getting close to having a few of those “oh shit, did you see that” type players on D.