Jump to content

To__ Orlan_o - _efensive Coor_inator


Machinator

Recommended Posts

2 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

How many times does the three man front fail before Orlando realizes it sucks 

Clearly as many times as the opposing team has the ball. 

Our guys are failing at every level.  They look lost.  And worst of all, they just look completely demoralized.  Our DBs have this "man, someone just killed my puppy" look on their face every time "Insert no-name receiver here" torches them for a long TD. 

They've have zero confidence.  When it has gotten that bad, the coordinator has to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, satyanash said:

Apparently Cal of all teams has a dedicated tackling coach on their staff. I wonder if we would benefit from one as well.

From just watching them in their breakdown and attack of the ball carrier, I’d say if definitely can’t hurt anything

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tackling isn’t our worst issue. Alignment and “believing what you see” is. Our guy are consistent in their missteps lack of confidence in reading their keys.

The amount of times of linebackers are out of position due to false steps is mind blowing. We literally beat West Virginia it McColloch understands situational football. It’s is constant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jucos aren't some magical fountain of Gary Johnson-type players. Prospects of his calibre are rare and heavily fought over.

 

That’s understood but it seems that we should still push harder for D players for the potential not being forced the play our young guys too early. It needs to be priority for Grad Transfers, reg transfers, and JUCOs.

 

Case in point, Watson and Anderson definitely helped us on O.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chip Brown: Welcome back Todd Orlando and the Texas defense

AUSTIN, Texas — Welcome back Todd Orlando and the Texas defense! Texas sacking the quarterback six times and holding Iowa State to 210 total yards — just 2.1 yards per carry — in a 24-10 victory that puts the Longhorns back in control of their Big 12 title game destiny had nothing to do with practicing in full pads on Tuesday. It had nothing to do with Tom Herman’s rant about critics questioning if Texas had forgotten how to play defense or if Texas coaches had forgotten how to coach defense against some of the country’s most explosive offenses in recent weeks.

It had absolutely EVERYTHING to do with committing to bringing pressure — all game long. Pressure on first down, second down, third-and-short, third-and-long. There were zone blitzes, corner blitzes, linebacker blitzes, safety blitzes. Sometimes linebacker AND safety blitzes. Orlando got away from relying so heavily on a three-man front and used a lot of four-man and even five-man lines to confuse and frustrate red-hot Iowa State freshman, dual-threat quarterback Brock Purdy. “We definitely blitzed a lot more,” senior safety P.J. Locke said. “We wanted to fluster (Purdy) and make him make quick reads.”

It worked. Just like it worked when Iowa State ramped up its blitz pressure in victories against Oklahoma State and West Virginia, sacking the quarterback seven times in each game. Purdy came into the Texas game completing 67 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions while going undefeated (5-0) since taking over as the starter. Against Texas, Purdy was just 10 of 23 passing (43.5 percent) for 130 yards with one interception.

“They certainly did that a year ago,” said Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell of the Longhorns’ attacking pressure. “We definitely had it in the game plan, that (pressure) was a possibility. In really pressuring Brock and putting some pressure on him and giving him a lot of different looks, they were able to do that. I think it was hard for Brock to get into a rhythm for sure throughout the football game.”

Gary Johnson, who led Texas with seven tackles, including a sack and two quarterback pressures, was spying Purdy for most of the night. But instead of sitting back and waiting to see if Purdy would run — like he did against OU, allowing offensive linemen to reach the second level and block Johnson en route to 222 yards rushing — Johnson was often on the attack, shooting gaps and putting pressure on Iowa State’s blocking scheme.

Purdy came into the Texas game as ISU’s second-leading rusher, averaging 4.8 yards per carry (minus his 68 yards in sacks this season). But he was no threat on the ground against the Longhorns. He had three carries for 13 yards in the first quarter and didn’t have another carry until the fourth quarter, when ISU was down 24-3. Iowa State finished with 62 yards rushing on 30 attempts.

If Texas wants to beat Kansas Friday in Lawrence and go to the Big 12 title game against the winner of Oklahoma at West Virginia — and possibly play in a New Year’s Six bowl — that attacking mindset on defense needs to continue. Why? No. 1, that’s who defensive coordinator Todd Orlando is at his core - not the rush-three, drop-eight defense we’d been seeing in critical situations in losses to Oklahoma State and West Virginia and in a near-loss to Baylor.

No. 2, Orlando’s players have been begging to go on the attack again. That’s when they play their best. And that’s what happened Saturday night in front of an electric crowd at DKR. By attacking, you get players going forward and make it easier for them to chase the ball and swarm to stop the run. And the Longhorns will need to swarm KU’s Pooka Williams, who ran for 252 yards at OU in the Sooners’ 55-40 win over the Jayhawks in Norman.

Did Texas give up some plays in the passing game to Iowa State’s star, 6-foot-6 receiver Hakeem Butler (six catches for 99 yards) in single coverage against Kris Boyd and Davante Davis? Absolutely. But no touchdowns. And UT’s pressure helped lead to an overthrow intercepted by Chris Brown as well as a couple other near-interceptions dropped by UT. The Cyclones had a couple long runs - a 14-yarder by Johnnie Lang in the first quarter and a 24-yarder by Kene Nwangwu in the second quarter.

But ISU didn’t get into the end zone until the Cyclones returned a punt 47 yards (with a facemask personal foul tacked onto it), giving them the ball at the Texas 6 with 2:16 left in the game. Orlando’s defense last year was the epitome of stopping the run on the way to the passer. That’s the approach that has given this defense and its players their confidence and identity.

Against Oklahoma State and West Virginia — and even at times against Oklahoma and Baylor — the Texas defense has looked like it only had seven or eight defenders on the field, because there were so many gaps for the offense to run through. When Orlando’s defense is attacking the line of scrimmage with pressure, it looks like the Longhorns have 12 or 13 defenders on the field. Players swarm to the ball and don’t miss tackles.

When this defense is rushing three and dropping eight, defenders are on their heels, and that’s led to bad angles, more one-on-one situations and ultimately more missed tackles. “We blitzed a lot, and we haven’t been lately,” said senior captain nose tackle Chris Nelson. “We’ve been staying back, because we got some younger guys in the back end of the defense. But he (Orlando) let it loose tonight, and it was good to see guys flying around to the football. It felt great. It felt just like last year.”

Against Iowa State, Orlando often put four men on the line - three down linemen with a stand-up linebacker and sometimes five men (with a second stand-up linebacker or safety). Having more men on the line for Iowa State’s O-line to account for allowed pass-rushers Charles Omenihu and Breckyn Hager to get single-blocked and, thus, be more disruptive. Orlando has moved 280-pound Malcolm Roach from linebacker to the line, including at nose, and Roach got pressure.

“I love when we get after the quarterback and make him uneasy and feeling like, ‘What can I really do?’” said Omenihu, who is third in the Big 12 with 7.5 sacks. Omenihu, who nearly had a scoop and score on a Joseph Ossai strip sack, was clearly frustrated after the Oklahoma State and West Virginia losses, when the defense was rushing three and dropping eight in key situations.

When players were asked if the game plan Saturday night against Iowa State would’ve resulted in victories against Oklahoma State and West Virginia (especially considering how much Iowa State blitzed those teams and won), they didn’t want to speculate. But Nelson said being on the attack is the mindset that best fits this defense. “All the guys are going to be like, ‘Let’s keep going with that,’” Nelson said, “because it worked out good for us.”

Texas’ hopes for a Big 12 title this season could depend on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...