Defensive Game Plan

[ryoder1]

I know the offense stunk to high heaven last night and not excusing them at all but I want to focus on the defense here.

What was the game plan? We had to know they were going to throw quick short passes. My God, everyone on this board predicted that. It looked like we were completely incapable of stopping their short passing game. I am not saying shut it down completely but wow not let them drive up and down the field using short pass after short pass. You might know it with Knowles, the guy is the best DC in the country at OSU and he comes here and turns into Tom Allen.

Why in the world could we not even touch Moore and why in the world could we not jump one of those short passes? 3rd and 8 in OT and they go over the middle for what? A short pass of 7 yards leading to their tying TD. I was at the game, the crowd support in that first OT was deafening. Seriously LOUD. and our defense folds like a cheap tent. Complete inability to come up with a game changing play. No excuses, none. Weak a$$ effort in OT.

 

[Frank Lee]

I know the offense stunk to high heaven last night and not excusing them at all but I want to focus on the defense here.

What was the game plan? We had to know they were going to throw quick short passes. My God, everyone on this board predicted that. It looked like we were completely incapable of stopping their short passing game. I am not saying shut it down completely but wow not let them drive up and down the field using short pass after short pass. You might know it with Knowles, the guy is the best DC in the country at OSU and he comes here and turns into Tom Allen.

Why in the world could we not even touch Moore and why in the world could we not jump one of those short passes? 3rd and 8 in OT and they go over the middle for what? A short pass of 7 yards leading to their tying TD. I was at the game, the crowd support in that first OT was deafening. Seriously LOUD. and our defense folds like a cheap tent. Complete inability to come up with a game changing play. No excuses, none. Weak a$$ effort in OT.

UO brain trust had a plan for the DL, and the LBs are still a weakness. The DBs were making a lot of tackles. Like what happened with the offense, the defense's collective skills were over-estimated. Knowles can only play who's on the roster. LBs still aren't of Linebacker U caliber. The Arrington, Parsons, and Carter types who chase down QBs, blow things up and strike fear. Develop young Arrington and others, but make a portal offer to whoever's the alpha LB in CFB.

 

[Gitzit]

It reminded me of Paterno's defenses that bend but don't break. I think Knowles did a good job, but should have blitzed more at the end of the game because they were tired and needed to get off the field.

 

[Lazy Dave]

This was BBDB defense. Allen's aggressive play gave up 45. Knowles gave up 17. Overtime not counted.

I think the goal was that Moore might make a mistake more often than he did. The Dani INT, and the fumble inside the 5 were basically it.

 

[GregInPitt]

UO brain trust had a plan for the DL, and the LBs are still a weakness. The DBs were making a lot of tackles. Like what happened with the offense, the defense's collective skills were over-estimated. Knowles can only play who's on the roster. LBs still aren't of Linebacker U caliber. The Arrington, Parsons, and Carter types who chase down QBs, blow things up and strike fear. Develop young Arrington and others, but make a portal offer to whoever's the alpha LB in CFB.

When Knowles doesn't blitz LB's there aren't going to be many plays where the LB's aren't going to be chasing down QB's much. The Oregon QB did escape the rush a number of plays and as I remember the LB's in coverage did come up and make the tackles, with Rojas showing his exceptional closing speed. What do you expect them to do?

 

[27Pellis]

I know the offense stunk to high heaven last night and not excusing them at all but I want to focus on the defense here.

What was the game plan? We had to know they were going to throw quick short passes. My God, everyone on this board predicted that. It looked like we were completely incapable of stopping their short passing game. I am not saying shut it down completely but wow not let them drive up and down the field using short pass after short pass. You might know it with Knowles, the guy is the best DC in the country at OSU and he comes here and turns into Tom Allen.

Why in the world could we not even touch Moore and why in the world could we not jump one of those short passes? 3rd and 8 in OT and they go over the middle for what? A short pass of 7 yards leading to their tying TD. I was at the game, the crowd support in that first OT was deafening. Seriously LOUD. and our defense folds like a cheap tent. Complete inability to come up with a game changing play. No excuses, none. Weak a$$ effort in OT.

In my view, the defense played extremely well, excepting the last 15 minutes + OT when they were clearly “gassed”. They held possibly the best offense in college football to 3 points for 40 minutes . If you would have told me that before the game, I would have said we would crush them. The offense ( starting with coach K on down) screwed the pooch and hung the “D” out to dry . They also had to overcome a massive overturned play, and several very key ( big gainers) no call “ muggings” on DDS .
—The “D” appears playoffs/championship caliber…..the “O” is barely top 40. JMO

 

[Frank Lee]

When Knowles doesn't blitz LB's there aren't going to be many plays where the LB's aren't going to be chasing down QB's much. The Oregon QB did escape the rush a number of plays and as I remember the LB's in coverage did come up and make the tackles, with Rojas showing his exceptional closing speed. What do you expect them to do?

"Knowles can only play who's on the roster. LBs still aren't of Linebacker U caliber. The Arrington, Parsons, and Carter types who chase down QBs, blow things up and strike fear."

To answer your question, they made plays from time to time and did what I expected them to do.

 

[GregInPitt]

"Knowles can only play who's on the roster. LBs still aren't of Linebacker U caliber. The Arrington, Parsons, and Carter types who chase down QBs, blow things up and strike fear."

To answer your question, they made plays from time to time and did what I expected them to do.

Not sure i get your answer. What I was saying was that if "Arrington, Parsons and Carter types" had been playing for PSU vs Oregon and the DC didn't send them on the pass rush we wouldn't have seen them having "chased down QBs" either.

Rojas has shown he's pretty talented as a pass rusher in the past but hasn't gotten the call much within Knowles' defense, and the same goes for Campbell, although Campbell did have 14 tackles vs Oregon more so playing as a traditional LB.

Another point to consider is that the Oregon QB, Moore, was an exceptional athlete with elite speed and seemed more adept at chasing someone down than a good many of the PSU defenders as Moore did an unbelievable job of chasing down Wheatley on the fumble that was reversed when Wheatly seemed to have nothing but green grass in front of him and Moore easily caught him from behind.

 

[Frank Lee]

Not sure i get your answer. What I was saying was that if "Arrington, Parsons and Carter types" had been playing for PSU vs Oregon and the DC didn't send them on the pass rush we wouldn't have seen them having "chased down QBs" either.

Or, maybe they get sent if they can disrupt and don't get sent if they can't. Parsons would not have been held back, IMO. But Knowles can only play who's on the roster.

 

[GregInPitt]

Or, maybe they get sent if they can disrupt and don't get sent if they can't. Parsons would not have been held back, IMO. But Knowles can only play who's on the roster.

Maybe, and maybe not. First round draft choice LB/DE athletes are pretty rare and will likely be even rarer at PSU than they've been given the ability of other teams to pay up for them more so than PSU. We've been pretty spoiled in that regard for a good many years.

 

[Lazy Dave]

The game plan on defense was to contain the big play. We held them to 3, 2 of which came on breakdown scrambles. A 4th was their TD in the second OT, but I believe exhaustion caught up there (or a terrible coverage as Bryant Jr was wide open and nobody was within 7 yards of him).

The fatal flaws of our defensive performance were:

1. No sacks. DDS got the most pressure, but he never got home. Held a lot, sure. Still, nobody else got any pressure. This led to...

2. Manageable 3rd and 4th downs. They stunk on 3rd down, but was 5/7 on 4th downs. You gotta get off the field. Very tough when you get...

3. No turnovers. Harris needed to come up with the pick on the pass that bounced off his face mask. We probably should have had a fumble, but we got the whole blades of grass thing to overturn that. DDS did pick off the 2 pt play, but box score doesn't credit that as a turnover.

 

[ryoder1]

The game plan on defense was to contain the big play. We held them to 3, 2 of which came on breakdown scrambles. A 4th was their TD in the second OT, but I believe exhaustion caught up there (or a terrible coverage as Bryant Jr was wide open and nobody was within 7 yards of him).

The fatal flaws of our defensive performance were:

1. No sacks. DDS got the most pressure, but he never got home. Held a lot, sure. Still, nobody else got any pressure. This led to...

2. Manageable 3rd and 4th downs. They stunk on 3rd down, but was 5/7 on 4th downs. You gotta get off the field. Very tough when you get...

3. No turnovers. Harris needed to come up with the pick on the pass that bounced off his face mask. We probably should have had a fumble, but we got the whole blades of grass thing to overturn that. DDS did pick off the 2 pt play, but box score doesn't credit that as a turnover.

Our interior DLine seemed to do nothing and besides DDS there was nothing close to pressure. Add to this no turnovers and they moved the ball well on just about every possession. In fact with a better FG kicker then Oregon ices the game away by the 4th quarter. We never really stopped them cold except their 2nd to last drive where we were helped by their hands to the face penalty.

This lack of pressure by the DLine and simply not being able to consistently plug up the line of scrimmage is concerning. We rarely got a negative play to put them behind schedule.

 

[sr108]

When Knowles doesn't blitz LB's there aren't going to be many plays where the LB's aren't going to be chasing down QB's much. The Oregon QB did escape the rush a number of plays and as I remember the LB's in coverage did come up and make the tackles, with Rojas showing his exceptional closing speed. What do you expect them to do?

Yea, the defense played well enough to win, their biggest problem was being on the field most of the time.