[NU Sports] The curse of the spread offense

[Jonathan Hodges]

In 2001 (after the 2000 premier of the spread offense), Walker went to
a slightly more conventional spread that eliminated most of the no
huddle in order to control the ball more.  That year also featured the
team collapse following the Wheeler death and a season riddled with
injuries (by the end of the year 14 starters/major contributors were
out with injuries).  He did change up the defensive coaching staff,
moving Brown to assistant coach and bringing in some new blood.  He
also moved some offensive players over to help things out (Backes to
DB from RB).

This year we saw many defensive players who were going to be big
contributors go down or leave before the season began (Backes, Howard,
Heinz, Roach was out for a time) which punched a hole in the defensive
unit's plans.  While losing one player should not be an excuse, losing
basically a third of your defensive starters hurts any team.

Next year we must expect that the defense will improve; many players
gained big experience this year and the team has had the extra bowl
practices to develop some younger players.  Walker has promised
consistently in the W column which hopefully means improvement on
defense.  He has shown that he can develop offensive players and has
had some good individual D-linemen and linebackers, but he needs to
get a solid defensive unit put together that can be respectable.  So
far he has relied on a stellar offense and a bend but don't break
defense that can make a stand when absolutely necessary.  I think we
are all looking for improvement on the defensive front.

Jonathan

On 1/3/06, Jeff Beamsley <jeffb at hilgraeve.com> wrote:
> If this were a question of degree, I would agree with you.  But being worse
> than virtually every other defense in the country tends to wash away these
> issues of degree and nuance.
>
> There are a lot of teams that run some version of the spread.  They all had
> better defenses.
>
> There are a number of schools with high academic standards for their
> football players.  They all had better defenses.
>
> There were teams that went through coaching changes.  They all had better
> defenses.
>
> There are a lot of teams with no winning tradition.  They all had better
> defenses.
>
> There are a lot of teams that didn't go to a bowl game.  They all had better
> defenses.
>
> There are a lot of teams who lost more games than NU.  They all had better
> defenses.
>
> There were other teams with young players starting.  They all had better
> defenses.
>
> There were other teams who struggled with injuries on defense.  They all had
> better defenses.
>
> Seeing UCLA gash the worst defense in the country during the second quarter
> sort of brought the whole thing home.
>
> Consistency is something RW promised next year.  Consistently having the
> worst defense in the country tends to simplify the whole discussion of what
> the problem is.
>
> Jeff
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
> Behalf Of Jim Leonard
> Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 11:48 AM
> To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
> Subject: [NU Sports] The curse of the spread offense
>
> All,
>
> Looking back to the 95/96 teams, I remember having a very solid defense.
> However, it is probably fair to say that the guys on those defenses were
> about the same caliber of recruits that have played for the 04/05 defenses.
>
> So, assuming the athletic talent is about the same, why has the defense
> gotten worse? My theory is that the amazing gains on offense have been at
> the expense of the defense. Consider:
>
> 1) The 95/96 teams had a much more tradition 'ball control' offense. Schnur
> would often lead 6+ minute drives that kept the defense off the field and
> well rested. The spread offense does not rest the current defense nearly as
> much.
>
> 2) In practice, the defense 95/96 defense would face the 95/96 offense. Our
> current defense faces the spread most of the time in practice and therefore
> struggles against other offenses. Especially in situations where the is 1-2
> Tight Ends on the line and the team runs between the tackles.
>
> I'm not saying NU should abandon the spread offense, but I do think that its
> success can (in part) explain why the defense has gotten worse.
>
> Regards,
> Jim
>
>
>
>
>
>
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--
Jonathan W. Hodges
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