[NU Sports] The curse of the spread offense

Tue Jan 3 15:55:16 CST 2006

You wrote:

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.

There's no question that the defense suffered some big setbacks. But take a 
look at the offense.

They lost a 1,000+ yard rusher (Noah Herron), three offensive linemen and a 
starting wide receiver (Ashton Aikens) from the year before due to 
graduation.

Then, in July, they found out that starting center Trevor Rees won't return 
due to academics, meaning they would have to start four new O linemen. On 
top of that, the replacement starting center (Joel Belding) went down wiht a 
knee injury the week before the opener and had to be replaced by Austin 
Matthews, a backup guard who would have been third on the depth chart at 
center.

The assumed starter at tailback - Terrell Jordan, the only RB with more than 
two career carries - went down with an injury over the summer and ended up 
missing the entire season. Brandon Roberson, who would have been the No. 2 
guy, started game one and got hurt in the first quarter, so they brought in 
Tyrell Sutton, a true freshman that would have started the year as the No. 3 
RB if everyone was healthy.

Wideouts T.J. Jones, Kim Thompson and Mark Philmore missed time throughout 
the year, necessitating the play of true freshmen Rasheed Ward and Eric 
Peterman, a guy that played QB in high school.

How did the offense react? By finishing fifth in the country in total 
offense.

Ever wonder why Walker's offensive system can withstand injuries and 
inexperience but the defense can't? Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to 
that question.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jonathan Hodges" <jonathanwhodges at gmail.com>
To: <jeffb at hilgraeve.com>
Cc: <nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] The curse of the spread offense

> 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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>>
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>
>
> --
> Jonathan W. Hodges
> 829 Foster St. Apt. 401
> Evanston, IL  60201-3259
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