Fwd: [Husker] Defensive Scheme and Speed

[Andy Knipp]

>  From what I've heard on an Omaha sports radio program:  Some coaches [not NU] 
> say that NU's safeties are required to cover man-to-man, especially the slot 
> receiver, and they aren't able to do the job.  There may be many reasons for 
> this but these coaches[the hated unnamed sources] blame man coverage for NU's 
> dramatic fall in pass efficiency defense.
> Maybe another example of putting personnel in a position to fail rather than 
> succeed.

Since the secondary was playing mostly man to man,  the safties would have to as well :-)

The transition from zone to man to man is a very difficult task, as is the other direction. When your secondary has better atheletes than the WRs,  M-M is the D to run, when you are have physical matchups you cannot win,  zone is what you play.  In addition zone helps with run support since DBs face the QB more often and are in a position to help with run support. 

At the end of 2001, it was apparent that, while NU had some very good CBs (Groce, Craver, etc) they still could not match up to some of the great WRs in the B12 (Williams/Johnson at TX, Woods at OSU) or, like Miami, the CBs could but the #3 & $ WRs were able to beat the safeties. 

So Bohl & Darlington made the switch to a zone.  Zone takes time to learn to play together properly. Anyone who remembers the PSU game, WRs ran across the zones and pulled guys out of position.  Underneath guys were open and they marched down the field. 

After a year of bad D,  (whether it was Pelini or just experience I do not know) the secondary settled into the zone coverage an played it very well last year. 

This year the secondary played the M-M poorly.  There were a number of times when a WR was uncovered when the O came to the line.  That is an automatic 10 yards.  Sometimes DBs lined up 10 yards off the WR (not wanting to give up the long ball),  that is an audible for a quick pass (usually a 1 step drop), 5 yard gain and longer when a tackle is broken.


I tried above to set the facts down as unbiasedly as I could.  Now will come my biases opinion. This is also why I have been very down on the coaches (D).  They made the switch from zone to man quickly and that takes time. Even with the ability we have in the secondary it was a mistake. The coaches were likely thinking that they were going to change regardless and best to make that change with experienced players. While that is a reasonable approach,  when a team is depending on the D to cover from an O in flux,  changes like that cause a 5-6 season. 

FWIW,  yes I did play in HS and one year of college (Division III) so I do speak from experience.


Andy


Andy Knipp
andy at knipp.com
(480) 818-1026 (M)