To__ Orlan_o - _efensive Coor_inator

[Dbeasy 14980]

Roach at LB drove me crazy. It was obvious that wasn’t going to work. Mitchell is going to be great. Tillman looks to have real potential. Floyd getting injured hurt. Ayodele was a stretch pick.

[Burt Macklin 18999]

21 minutes ago, HtownHorn said:

Aranda uses a 3 man front, but Chaisson rushes the passer more than he tries to cover an elite WR 40 yards down the field. Aranda also doesn't blitz from all over. The LSU defense has 14 sacks and 6 INTs, but only give up 317.5 YPG in total defense. They also only give up 55% completions and under 100 yards rushing a game. Proving you don't need exotic blitzes from all over when you have elite talent on defense. Texas has very good talent overall, but elite talent in the secondary. The scheme and coaching are the biggest issues.

Lulz. This total bullshit. Aranda can rush Chaisson as much as he does because he has great CBs. We do not. Largely because all our talent at the position is 2nd year guys. Stingley is the exception. Other than him, Aranda has inherited talented upperclassmen CBs since he got to LSU.  If you look at Orlando’s defenses at UH and 2017 at Texas, he doesn’t rely as much on exotic blitzes when he has at least one CB he can trust and solid personnel up front. Orlando’s scheme will never be elite in terms of sack rate, but Charlie left him pretty thin at DL and edge rusher. 

Our secondary isn’t elite. We have a lot of good safeties, but no good CBs and Charlie didn’t leave a single good CB from the 16 or 17 classes. We should’ve taken a JUCO CB in the 19 class, but other than that, Orlando was getting left in a rough spot. 
 

Overall, our defense doesn’t have “very good talent,” either. Almost all of our most talented players are second or first years, other than Roach, Brown, and Jones. So while we have a plenty of 4 star guys, they’re almost all young, which means the level of “talent” Orlando has to work with this year isn’t that high. There’s an ocean-sized gap in ready to play talent between the units Orlando and Aranda get to coach this year.

[JBJ 3649]

9 minutes ago, Spider2YBanana said:

Dantonio will never change. He's had success with his defense, so in his mind nothing is wrong. Do Narduzzi and Dantonio run the exact defense?

Pretty much.  

Narduzzi is on the hot seat.  Dantonio will coach forever because (a) hes the best 4-3 coach since Jimmy Johnson (b) MSU could do much worse, and (c) he's well-liked.  Hell, I like him and wanted us to hire him after Mack. A decade later, I just think he's becoming a dinosaur.

[Funk Doctor Spock 11944]

Just now, JBJ said:

Pretty much.  

Narduzzi is on the hot seat.  Dantonio will coach forever because (a) hes the best 4-3 coach since Jimmy Johnson (b) MSU could do much worse, and (c) he's well-liked.  Hell, I like him and wanted us to hire him after Mack. A decade later, I just think he's becoming a dinosaur.

I agree with this. I like the guy, but yeah, he's a dinosaur. His offenses are beyond meh. He's had a few good RB's in Bell and LJ Scott, and some good WR's, but he seems defensive-minded only. He would be a terrible fit for our conference. Looking back, even when Harbaugh was great at Stanford, he wouldn't last here, either. 

[LTtxfan 49003]

Seems like problems with player development is a reoccurring theme.... Herman needs to make a few asst coaching changes for 2020.

Edited October 14, 2019 by LTtxfan

[Dbeasy 14980]

Lulz. This total bullshit. Aranda can rush Chaisson as much as he does because he has great CBs. We do not. Largely because all our talent at the position is 2nd year guys. Stingley is the exception. Other than him, Aranda has inherited talented upperclassmen CBs since he got to LSU.  If you look at Orlando’s defenses at UH and 2017 at Texas, he doesn’t rely as much on exotic blitzes when he has at least one CB he can trust and solid personnel up front. Orlando’s scheme will never be elite in terms of sack rate, but Charlie left him pretty thin at DL and edge rusher. 
Our secondary isn’t elite. We have a lot of good safeties, but no good CBs and Charlie didn’t leave a single good CB from the 16 or 17 classes. We should’ve taken a JUCO CB in the 19 class, but other than that, Orlando was getting left in a rough spot. 
 
Overall, our defense doesn’t have “very good talent,” either. Almost all of our most talented players are second or first years, other than Roach, Brown, and Jones. So while we have a plenty of 4 star guys, they’re almost all young, which means the level of “talent” Orlando has to work with this year isn’t that high. There’s an ocean-sized gap in ready to play talent between the units Orlando and Aranda get to coach this year.

The talent gap on the line is still significant. Coburn is good but still young. Roach is very good but still a little undersized. Graham is a little slow. It’s good talent, but not good enough to beat the top 5 in the country.

[Yesh 904]

It seems like cross-training the safeties has been a feature not a bug.  Is that because of concerns with depth and if an injury happens keeping the best 11 on the field?  If so is there hope that they can get to a point where there is a primary/backup at each position all good enough to play, rather than reshuffling all the time?

[JBJ 3649]

Is secondary development a problem?

The biggest surprise players have been Josh Thompson (true JR) and Chris Brown (RS JR).  Brandon Jones hasn't regressed.

The counter-argument is Kobe Boyce.

Everyone else is a true Sophomore or below.

Seems undecided to me.

......Right on cue, Chris Brown is out 6 weeks.

[6th Street 6357]

Caden Sterns has gotten worse with every game - constant blows coverage and misses tackles at key moments. Foster's coverage skills are still atrocious. Kobe Boyce is trash. Cook and Jamison look like JAGs

[Burt Macklin 18999]

4 minutes ago, JBJ said:

Is secondary development a problem?

The biggest surprise players have been Josh Thompson (true JR) and Chris Brown (RS JR).  Brandon Jones hasn't regressed.

The counter-argument is Kobe Boyce.

Everyone else is a true Sophomore or below.

Seems undecided to me.

......Right on cue, Chris Brown is out 6 weeks.

Cornerback development has definitely been an issue. The guys are young so I cut Washington some slack, but we’re still not seeing as much development as you’d like.

I think Naivar has coached the safeties fairly well, but moving them all over is hurting their development. Last year, BJ Foster repped primarily at Joker and excelled there, then Orlando moved him to Nickel all offseason-a position that clearly wouldn’t highlight his strengths-now, he’s being asked to play boundary safety and hold up in coverage (while likely being pretty significantly injured).
Foster was a fairly raw athlete who played more RB than Safety in HS. Moving him around this much and asking him to learn the ins and outs of this many positions is pretty much an impossible task. 

[LTtxfan 49003]

11 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Cornerback development has definitely been an issue. The guys are young so I cut Washington some slack, but we’re still not seeing as much development as you’d like. 
I think Naivar has coached the safeties fairly well, but moving them all over is hurting their development. Last year, BJ Foster repped primarily at Joker and excelled there, then Orlando moved him to Nickel all offseason-a position that clearly wouldn’t highlight his strengths-now, he’s being asked to play boundary safety and hold up in coverage (while likely being pretty significantly injured).
Foster was a fairly raw athlete who played more RB than Safety in HS. Moving him around this much and asking him to learn the ins and outs of this many positions is pretty much an impossible task. 

Seems like a lot of guys on defense don't know their assignments well.... They don't know what the FUCK they are doing....

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by LTtxfan

[Eskimohorn 5616]

Caden Sterns has gotten worse with every game - constant blows coverage and misses tackles at key moments. Foster's coverage skills are still atrocious. Kobe Boyce is trash. Cook and Jamison look like JAGs

Our problems in stopping OU from scoring points started with poor special teams and were compounded by a bad offensive gameplan and execution. We saw loss of talent and experience with injuries. Once Roach got dq’d, the floodgates opened in the run game. BJ Foster is not right and was in there to help with pass coverage. He played a lot of deep safety and could not effectively tackle after he separated his shoulder.

This is a beat up defense that, at best, can offer average resistance right now.

[ruitxn 295]

14 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

Caden Sterns has gotten worse with every game - constant blows coverage and misses tackles at key moments. Foster's coverage skills are still atrocious. Kobe Boyce is trash. Cook and Jamison look like JAGs

You are great at trashing.  I bet you you were a hell of a college defensive back.

[Slacks 6792]

We are giving wide receivers too much space. This fault lies both on the DBs and the lack of a pass rush. But, it is extremely difficult to tackle in space when the WR or running back is at full speed and able to make cuts at full speed.

the DBs don't decide how much space to give. that is scheme.

[Sejjr 3246]

24 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

Caden Sterns has gotten worse with every game - constant blows coverage and misses tackles at key moments. Foster's coverage skills are still atrocious. Kobe Boyce is trash. Cook and Jamison look like JAGs

Your posts remarkably continue to get worse as well. 

[LTtxfan 49003]

6 minutes ago, Snacks said:

2 hours ago, Bevo said:

We are giving wide receivers too much space. This fault lies both on the DBs and the lack of a pass rush. But, it is extremely difficult to tackle in space when the WR or running back is at full speed and able to make cuts at full speed.

the DBs don't decide how much space to give. that is scheme.

Sure seems like a scared defensive scheme.

[Thiefery 4969]

Caden has been hurt, and last season he was able to keep it simple and ball out because Boyd and Davis could hold their own from time to time.  This season Boyce and Green needed security blankets.  So Sterns and his hobbled knee gets a pass

[Gravy Train 974]

32 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Seems like a lot of guys on defense don't know their assignments well.... They don't know what the FUCK they are doing....

 

Boyd on the weekend:

Spoiler

The bigger concern was the Mike Stoopsian results produced by defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, who’s been doubling down on bad tendencies for about two seasons now. His Longhorn defenses stand in stark contrast to the Alex Grinch Oklahoma unit that regularly has good gameplans that play to his teams’ strengths and allow them to attack opposing weaknesses from a base look that sees minor modifications from week to week. Texas has run what has basically amounted to six different defenses in six games while demonstrating poor tackling technique. It’s not a lack of physicality but almost the opposite extreme, players regularly ducking their heads to try and land kill shots that have often had the effect of leading to a failure to break down and get ballcarriers down OR the injury of the defensive back.

 

[jinx 2635]

Some good stuff in here and @Burt Macklin seems to confirm my theory that we are just very young and that isn't translating well on the field.  It seems that it may have a lot to do with the injuries as well.  In a healthy elite program (which we aspire to, but have not reached) players like Sterns and Foster would have situational roles and be relied on for depth, not play every snap of every game as FR starters.  That wear and tear seems to be catching up to them.

The same seems true on the O side as well.  Our RB room is an acknowledged shit show, where our best RB is a true freshman that should be watching from the sidelines holding a clip board, and we have no 2nd option.  It seems that Ingram has never acclimated, but it would have been nice to have him pick up spare carries last year and not be "The Guy" from day one this year.  WR seems more of the same, and maybe it shouldn't be, but when you compare the raw skills of Duvernay and C. Johnson to Jake Smith and Eagles, the younger guys seem to have a lot more talent but not nearly the experience.

None of this excuses the piss poor effort we saw on Saturday, but the bigger picture has always shown that we are at least another recruiting class away from competing for real trophies.  Guys that Charlie left are good, but not great for the most part.    Georgia has confirmed their status as second tier, so the Sugar Bowl was a bit of fools gold.  

[JimmyHoffa 1188]

Can we start recruiting DB's that want to tackle? I don't care if they are a 5 star that run a 4.2 if they don't want to and can't tackle I don't want them on my team. Give me a 3 star that runs a 4.7 that isn't scared shitless to tackle someone. Please and Thank you. 

[horngasm2020 116]

oregon defense has a bunch of freshman 3stars (some from texas) replacing injured guys and they are dominating the country. 

"At the midway point of the season, the Duck defense is putting up ridiculous stat after stat. After Colorado, the Ducks have held five straight opponents to single-digit points for the first time since 1958. They've allowed just one touchdown in 63 drives played. An opponent has gone 33 consecutive drives in the second half without a touchdown. The Ducks have an interception in 13 of the last 15 games, including eight straight games with an interception. Nine different players this season has been credited with an interception."

 

youth isn't a valid excuse.

[Reynolds Woodcock 4675]

17 minutes ago, JimmyHoffa said:

Can we start recruiting DB's that want to tackle? I don't care if they are a 5 star that run a 4.2 if they don't want to and can't tackle I don't want them on my team. Give me a 3 star that runs a 4.7 that isn't scared shitless to tackle someone. Please and Thank you. 

Kobe Boyce is already on our team. I'll take the the fast four and five star guys, Please and Thank you.

[NowThis 931]

i bet some astute Texas HS coaches could fix this very quickly.

[Burt Macklin 18999]

12 minutes ago, horngasm2020 said:

oregon defense has a bunch of freshman 3stars (some from texas) replacing injured guys and they are dominating the country. 

"At the midway point of the season, the Duck defense is putting up ridiculous stat after stat. After Colorado, the Ducks have held five straight opponents to single-digit points for the first time since 1958. They've allowed just one touchdown in 63 drives played. An opponent has gone 33 consecutive drives in the second half without a touchdown. The Ducks have an interception in 13 of the last 15 games, including eight straight games with an interception. Nine different players this season has been credited with an interception."

 

youth isn't a valid excuse.

  Literally None of this is true. 75% of their defensive 2 deep is upperclassmen. They were missing 1 starter going into the game and lost 2 more during the game, and the young guys that do play were highly rated, like Thibadeux, who was the #1 recruit in the nation last year.

10 minutes ago, NowThis said:

i bet some astute Texas HS coaches could fix this very quickly.

I believe that you believe this.

[Sejjr 3246]

15 minutes ago, horngasm2020 said:

oregon defense has a bunch of freshman 3stars (some from texas) replacing injured guys and they are dominating the country. 

"At the midway point of the season, the Duck defense is putting up ridiculous stat after stat. After Colorado, the Ducks have held five straight opponents to single-digit points for the first time since 1958. They've allowed just one touchdown in 63 drives played. An opponent has gone 33 consecutive drives in the second half without a touchdown. The Ducks have an interception in 13 of the last 15 games, including eight straight games with an interception. Nine different players this season has been credited with an interception."

 

youth isn't a valid excuse.

Oregon has played Nevada, Montana, a bad Stanford, and a Cal team with a bad offense. This week will be more telling in just how good their defense is.

[NowThis 931]

5 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

  Literally None of this is true. 75% of their defensive 2 deep is upperclassmen. They were missing 1 starter going into the game and lost 2 more during the game, and the young guys that do play were highly rated, like Thibadeux, who was the #1 recruit in the nation last year.

I believe that you believe this.

i believe you go to great lengths to prove a false positive on all your takes.  It's fool's gold, buyer beware.

[Neonmoon 38127]

1 hour ago, JimmyHoffa said:

Can we start recruiting DB's that want to tackle? I don't care if they are a 5 star that run a 4.2 if they don't want to and can't tackle I don't want them on my team. Give me a 3 star that runs a 4.7 that isn't scared shitless to tackle someone. Please and Thank you. 

It looks like we have #2 on the excuse tree

1. We played good teams

2. Maybe our highly recruited players suck

3. We are everyone's Superbowl

4. If [insert arbitrary thing that happens at every school] didn't happen, our defense wouldn't suck. 

 

Jimmie and Joes are not the problem. We have the fucking Jimmy and Joes. They are not playing well because they are poorly coached. 

[Funk Doctor Spock 11944]

2 hours ago, 6th Street said:

Caden Sterns has gotten worse with every game - constant blows coverage and misses tackles at key moments. Foster's coverage skills are still atrocious. Kobe Boyce is trash. Cook and Jamison look like JAGs

I'd disagree about Cook/Jamison. Both have shown flashes and they're just sophomores. If they don't take the next step by next mid-season, I'd say there's an issue. They weren't highly ranked for no reason. 

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

1 hour ago, jinx said:

Some good stuff in here and @Burt Macklin seems to confirm my theory that we are just very young and that isn't translating well on the field.

our upperclassmen look completely lost.

[Burt Macklin 18999]

Just now, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

our upperclassmen look completely lost.

Yeah, I certainly wouldn’t classify my remarks as saying “we’re just young.” We don’t have the upperclassmen talent of a team like LSU, but we shouldn’t be nearly this bad, regardless. 

[gmr548 16528]

Cornerback development has definitely been an issue. The guys are young so I cut Washington some slack, but we’re still not seeing as much development as you’d like.

 

I think Naivar has coached the safeties fairly well, but moving them all over is hurting their development. Last year, BJ Foster repped primarily at Joker and excelled there, then Orlando moved him to Nickel all offseason-a position that clearly wouldn’t highlight his strengths-now, he’s being asked to play boundary safety and hold up in coverage (while likely being pretty significantly injured).

Foster was a fairly raw athlete who played more RB than Safety in HS. Moving him around this much and asking him to learn the ins and outs of this many positions is pretty much an impossible task. 

 

Yeah, I think this is a good point. The system and the schedule already ask a lot of DBs. Add a suboptimal climate for development and you have a recipe for rough outings vs even simply competent offenses.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[Fondren & Main 6674]

It will be interesting to see how Grinch’s defense fairs in year two.

[bschoolprof 6232]

Cross posting this from the 9.95 thread.  Scipio's thoughts on the defense:

Quote

The Texas defense forced two first half turnovers (forced fumble by Cook, interception by Brandon Jones) in the deep red zone and held Oklahoma and Jalen Hurts to 3 of 12 on 3rd down conversions. In combination with those turnovers, Jalen's third down struggles highlighted his weaknesses as a QB and were largely responsible for OU's 10 point halftime total. Those were the defensive unit level highlights of the game.

When Lincoln Riley was able to get the joystick hooked back up to Jalen Hurts' brain and operate him on single reads - with the aid of some poor Longhorn defensive fundamentals - OU rolled the Texas defense to the tune of 511 yards at 7.7 yards per play and made their second half yardage pay off in points. Mostly by schematically woodshedding Texas in the running game and exposing poor Longhorn tackling and recognition in the passing game. Hurts is secretly a very average QB when he has to do real QB stuff, but when he's sprinting through inviting fields of green on scrambles, or tossing it to a wide open CeeDee Lamb, who adds another 10-25 yards to the play on missed tackles, the old stat line comes out pretty nice. OU had only 11 legitimate offensive possessions (I'm not counting kneel-downs) and only ran 66 plays. They drove for 49+ yards or more on 7 of those possessions.

Most disheartening was the fact that Oklahoma ran at will, totaling 276 yards from scrimmage. In the first half, it was Jalen Hurts exploiting poor Longhorn containment for long scrambles. In the second half, it was OU mercilessly exploiting the Longhorn inability to set the edge. Both emanating from the same wellspring: the Texas defense hasn't set or contained the edge in the running or passing game since 2017. Given that OU's offensive tackles looked vulnerable all game, this is particularly surprising. Their starters played, but they gave up pressures when we chose to align men on them and presumably that would have also helped in in setting the edge. No dice.

OU broke off several long runs by simple alignment. They won before the ball was even snapped. Maybe Orlando intended the short side edge to be held by two DBs (one at depth) and a playside LB in our tite front (3 man DL inside the OU tackles) vs. two pulling OU OL, a lead back and a WR, because that seems reasonable.

The Texas defense:

1. Did not set the edge. This was a failure by scheme and personnel. OU repeatedly outflanked us by alignment and instructed their RBs to bounce the counter trey outside. Find me a more fundamentally poor defense at setting the edge in FBS. This has been going on for 1.5 years unabated. Kennedy Brooks averaged more than 10 yards per carry. Rhamondre Stevenson more than 7.

2. Did not contain. Hurts had 107 yards rushing at halftime. Mostly on scramble gimmes. Texas got pressures from Longhorn defenders lined up over the Sooner tackles, but reverted to the true tite front or a 3 + Ossai look on most downs. Longhorn edge defenders repeatedly gave up their outside shoulders or ran past Hurts on pass rushes. A big no-no. "The most useless place on a football field is two yards past the QB" - Bill Parcells. That goes double for a mobile QB whose second read is run. Hurts averaged 8.9 yards per carry in the first half. 7.7 for the game. And not a single negative run.

3. Did not tackle. I counted nine missed tackles in the second half by just the Texas DBs. I tally that number very conservatively. They have to make contact and be in a reasonable position to make the play for me to count it. Chris Brown missed five tackles for the game. Brandon Jones challenged my missed tackle tally by being so out of place multiple times in the second half that I'm struggling with understanding if he was instructed to do so or was just overwhelmed. Can you miss a tackle if you don't attempt it? In the woods with no one to hear. With one hand clapping.

4. Did not establish any defensive identity. Six opponents, six defenses. We remain a defense of "looks." Want to tell me our base defense? I mean in actual practice - not in theory. An alignment is not a defense. A defense encompasses some shared understanding of roles and responsibilities. Cohesion. How about you just give me your best guess as to how Joe Ossai will line up on 3rd and 7? On the edge? Off the ball hovering around? At nickel? Fifteen yards out of the box on CeeDee Lamb?

5. Continues to get injured making (and missing) tackles, draw personal fouls, and target. Are we teaching tackling? Eyes up, don't lead with your crown is instruction that happens in junior high. What do we teach? Why does a team captain get kicked out of the game for a target after the clear learning points from last week and the bowl game? We bitch about our tough breaks like it's bad luck, but look around college football. This isn't happening anywhere else. Not like this. Why do we appear to lead college football in stingers and shoulder injuries?

6. Lost by formation. If you're outnumbered at the point of attack when the ball snaps, your players don't matter. Football is a numbers game. Concentration of force. If you're screwed repeatedly on the same soft edge run alignment or a casual CeeDee Lamb flip pass for 21 yards that I could complete because he <gasp> went in motion and no defender followed while Texas had eight in the box, that isn't kosher in Game Six of the season.

Special Teams

Dicker the kicker drilled a 49 yard field goal after Riley tried to ice him with three consecutive timeouts and his onside kick was money. Buj had a nice punt that downed the Sooners at the 5, but his others lacked leg. That's the extent of Longhorn highlights. OU won special teams. Mostly because our guys made poor decisions. Oklahoma State was lost as a teaching point.

- Duvernay returned a kick off with no time outs when Texas was trying to score before half. That ran clock and was net -4 in yardage vs letting it roll through the end zone. This after Texas took their final timeout before the OU field goal. Bad situational football.

- Duvernay repeatedly returned deep kickoffs with poor results. On all returned Longhorn kick offs, the Horns started on average at the Texas 17 yard line. Simply starting those possessions at the Texas 25 with fair catches would have yielded Texas +40 yards in field position over the course of the game.

- Duvernay misplayed the fair catch rule and caught the ball at the 5.

- Duvernay fielded a perfect OU kick off that pinned him right on the sideline. If he fair catches, it's ball on the 25. More creatively (assuming the college and NFL are the same) you can field the ball while standing out of bounds and take the ball on the 35. Not sure on that one though - couldn't find a clear resource.

- Jamison let a straightforward punt drop in front of him and roll inside the 10.

DL

The contrast in how OU attacked us when we tried to play downhill defense vs. our own offensive approach was a stark contrast. OU effectively negated their impact in the second half by running around the pure 3 man front and we too frequently let their OL off the pressure hook. Coburn, Roach and Graham all had multiple good plays, but the OU coaches realized they didn't love this match-up and crafted a game plan to limit their impact. Let me illustrate one example of how we schemed ourselves out of a play:

In one sequence in the first half on OU's field goal drive at the 3:24 mark, Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 14 yards on 1st and 10 through a gaping hole behind a wall of crimson down to the Texas 17 yard line. On review, I watched Ta'Quon Graham sprint laterally down the Texas DL at the snap because he was...following CeeDee Lamb on a fake fly sweep. A down interior DL anchoring the point of attack just vacates. Obviously instructed to do so. OU ran a simple inside zone handoff right into that vacated hole. I guess it was just "a look." 4D chess. Fun stuff. That probably wasn't a game-changing play. But I see multiple instances of stuff like this every week. It's Laminated Playsheet Battleship.

LB

Joseph Ossai or as I call him "Oh **** Maybe Joe Can Fix That Bad Call Ossai" had a tipped ball, 6 pressures, 3 QB hits, 8 tackles and a tackle for loss. Terrific effort and play for a guy we ask to play edge, off ball LB, nickel, sell popcorn. He missed one tackle about 25 yards from the LOS, so I guess he's human.

Adeoye had 8 tackles, but was poor as a blitzer (he repeatedly ran past Hurts) and was consistently slow in his reads and flow. Juwan Mitchell was also slow in seeing the play develop and was way too slow flowing outside when OU was bouncing every run wide. So much for spill and kill. #6 had a nice tipped ball that saved an easy 4th and 1 conversion to a wide open Sooner receiver covered by Boyce. McCulloch had some ineffective run before injury.

DB

Anthony Cook had his second straight good game. Physical. Good TFL. Good form tackle. Good fumble force on Hurts. Hurt himself making a tackle. Give him a safety cover in a sane coverage, he can be a very effective football player. As for the rest of the DBs, just watch this:

Here's the participation portion of the postmortem:

1. How many total missed tackles on Lamb? What was the result of those missed tackles in terms of points and yardage?
2. In your opinion, how open is Lamb in general?
3. Rate the difficulty of each throw Hurts made to Lamb. 1-10. Average them. 1= backyard toss with junior. 10 = very difficult. It's not a high number, is it?

That's how OU's best receiver goes 10-171-3 tds (on 12 or 13 targets) while the rest of OU's team totals 5-65 yards (on 15 targets). There's an imbalance there, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Texas defense wins this game - our awful display of offense included - if it sets the edge, contain Hurts on scrambles, and game plans CeeDee Lamb more effectively. But there is one nagging problem...

Final

You need positional and philosophical fundamentals to run a defensive game plan. Any game plan or defense. 3 or 4 man front. Nickel, dime, zone, man. Tampa 2. Buddy Ryan 46. Double Eagle Flex. Setting the edge, tackling, lining up correctly, and basic containment principles aren't approaches to defense. Or theory. Or negotiable. They are fundamental to any and every defense we want to run.

If they are not taught, the rest doesn't matter. Does it?

 

[hornhorn 100]

10 minutes ago, Fondren & Main said:

It will be interesting to see how Grinch’s defense fairs in year two.

At the rate they're losing defensive recruits....I'm not so sure. 

[jinx 2635]

38 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Yeah, I certainly wouldn’t classify my remarks as saying “we’re just young.” We don’t have the upperclassmen talent of a team like LSU, but we shouldn’t be nearly this bad, regardless. 

Fair enough.  Maybe I am reading what I hope as a ploy to keep my sanity.  The fact that we have an inferior set of coaches to OU (yet again) is something I am trying to avoid believing.

[Michael Knight 12901]

On 10/13/2019 at 12:55 PM, NowThis said:

if OU doesn't make dumb TOs in the redzone , the game in Arlington will be 52-24.

Cool,  if Texas didn't make dumb plays it's 67-52

[NowThis 931]

14 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

Cool,  if Texas didn't make dumb plays it's 67-52

aside from the ko returns and a handful of drops, UT was completely manhandled.

[LTtxfan 49003]

2 hours ago, horngasm2020 said:

oregon defense has a bunch of freshman 3stars (some from texas) replacing injured guys and they are dominating the country. 

"At the midway point of the season, the Duck defense is putting up ridiculous stat after stat. After Colorado, the Ducks have held five straight opponents to single-digit points for the first time since 1958. They've allowed just one touchdown in 63 drives played. An opponent has gone 33 consecutive drives in the second half without a touchdown. The Ducks have an interception in 13 of the last 15 games, including eight straight games with an interception. Nine different players this season has been credited with an interception."

 

youth isn't a valid excuse.

Interesting stuff on Oregon DC (formerly w/Boise State)

"The Andy Avalos effect: Why Oregon's defense is wreaking havoc"

https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/oregon-ducks/andy-avalos-effect-why-oregons-defense-wreaking-havoc

[LTtxfan 49003]

51 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

Cross posting this from the 9.95 thread.  Scipio's thoughts on the defense:

 

After reading Scipio's comments, my question to Orlando is

[Vertigo 20268]

4 hours ago, 6th Street said:

Caden Sterns has gotten worse with every game - constant blows coverage and misses tackles at key moments. Foster's coverage skills are still atrocious. Kobe Boyce is trash. Cook and Jamison look like JAGs

Ya, Sterns was pretty much non existent in that OU game. He is definitely regressing. 

Edited October 14, 2019 by Vertigo

[DixonHur 11236]

4 hours ago, LTtxfan said:

Cornerback development has definitely been an issue.

I still blame Charlie for firing Akina...how the fuck do you think firing one of the best DB coaches in the country is a good idea?

[Vertigo 20268]

8 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

I still blame Charlie for firing Akina...how the fuck do you think firing one of the best DB coaches in the country is a good idea?

And that was only third or fourth on his list of terrible staff decisions. 

[Scooter Monzingo 820]

One could argue that Orlando did accomplish one thing. He showed a huge television audience that Hurts ain’t even close to what the gnome and Baker were when it comes to making tough throws. He is very average, with some talented receivers.

Though I concede he does give them an additional RB at 6-2” 200 or whatever he is that is able to run through the tackles. But I now see for myself why Tua got the job.

[Not a Sock 2309]

43 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

After reading Scipio's comments, my question to Orlando is

Orlando sits in his office drawing up really clever and complicated battle plans like a German field marshal in 1905 with little regard to the ability of his troops to actually execute it.

[bschoolprof 6232]

Burt Macklin claims there's very little to nothing wrong with our scheme.  Scipio claims we are often so misaligned that we are giving yards to the offense. I think an internet death match is in order.  

[DixonHur 11236]

8 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

And that was only third or fourth on his list of terrible staff decisions. 

I put it as number 1 because he was already here...Strong didn't have to guess if he was a good hire...he was producing Thorpe award winners/finalists at Texas...you know, the school Charlie was coming to...seemingly every year.

[TheFlyingBoat 906]

52 minutes ago, Vertigo said:

Ya, Sterns was pretty much non existent in that OU game. He is definitely regressing. 

He's not regressing. He's just injured and less free to make plays due to weaker corners.

[Dbeasy 14980]

Burt Macklin claims there's very little to nothing wrong with our scheme.  Scipio claims we are often so misaligned that we are giving yards to the offense. I think an internet death match is in order.  

I think both of those comments are congruent. With Orlando’s scheme, if he puts players in the right place most of the time, and each player understands what they are supposed to do, success will occur. Right now neither of those two things is happening. He’s picking defensive coverages from his scheme that are sub-optimal. The players are not able to execute his coverages properly.

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12301]

12 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

 

I think both of those comments are congruent. With Orlando’s scheme, if he puts players in the right place most of the time, and each player understands what they are supposed to do, success will occur. Right now neither of those two things is happening. He’s picking defensive coverages from his scheme that are sub-optimal. The players are not able to execute his coverages properly.

 

Other than that I’m feeling pretty good about where things stand on D tho

[Burt Macklin 18999]

50 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

Burt Macklin claims there's very little to nothing wrong with our scheme.  Scipio claims we are often so misaligned that we are giving yards to the offense. I think an internet death match is in order.  

 

11 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

 

I think both of those comments are congruent. With Orlando’s scheme, if he puts players in the right place most of the time, and each player understands what they are supposed to do, success will occur. Right now neither of those two things is happening. He’s picking defensive coverages from his scheme that are sub-optimal. The players are not able to execute his coverages properly.

 

Yeah, when I talk about scheme, I mean the 3 tite front, as opposed to 4 man fronts people have been clamoring for. I think Scipio was using that term more as a general term for Orlando’s game plan. And I agree it was bad. I said earlier in the week he needed to have Ossai be a true b-backer and get a lot of attempts at beating the injured/backup OTs. Orlando never did that and it was one of many flaws in his game plan. 
 

When Scipio listed the problems with the defense, he talked about setting the edge, containment, tackling, etc., all of which I agree with. We definitely had some plays where our alignment meant we were in trouble from the get go, but that happens to just about every defense, especially against Riley, and I don’t think it’s nearly as fundamental an issue as the ones mentioned above.