Robb Smith

[WorfHog]

This guy needs to get another hotel room with Bielema, because his defense this season has been anemic. Blame it on talent, but it's his job to get the talent and he just hasn't done it. This loss is 95% on him and this soft give away defense he's crafted. Trey flowers made it work. Maybe McTelvin Agim can be that guy for us next year, idk something needs to change.

[pigture perfect]

We dont have the front four to get penetration to the backfield.

[Hogarusa]

Something something Jimmies and Joes

[razorhog52]

Agim could be huge. We need one stud LB too. Amazing what a difference Martrell Spaight, Flowers and Philon made.

[ChattanoogaHog]

Robb Smith is a good D Coordinator, just don't have the talent developed up front for his defense to work. Whenever you don't blitz often, you better be able to get to the quarterback quickly or you're going to leave your linebackers (where we have absolutely no depth to begin with) and DB's isolated as the QB has all the time in the world to pick the defense apart. See the Tech, A&M, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State games. Hopefully Agim, Bell, Ledbetter, etc can continue to develop and become the solid D line our defensive scheme needs

[upperdeck_hawg]

Agim could be huge. We need one stud LB too. Amazing what a difference Martrell Spaight, Flowers and Philon made.

this

[Quickdraw]

You can't run zone against a spread offense. We have yet to win against a spread offense. Loses toledo, tt, a&m, miss srate. Still gotta play mizzu.

[swineology]

So Robb Smith forgot how to coach in 12 months?

LOL

Lack of talent might be the cause.

Does Martrell have any elgibilty left


LOL

You sir are dumb

[ShadowTheHedgehog]

I think that Dak and Miss State was one of the worse match-ups for our D. We looked good against LSU because LSU is very one-dimensional. Against LSU our D players could help each other out and it worked great. Miss State has a great passing game, great RB(s), and a very mobile QB. That means that every position in our D has to be able to cover their counterpart. When your D's talent pool is inferior to the opponent (and I am not bashing out D, but I think it is safe to say their O is more talented) you need to rely on experience and player development. Our D does not have the experience, and many of them are still "a work in progress". That is why we looked so bad defensively today.

[hawginbigd1]

RS IMO does need to take some heat for playing so softly even with his talent challenges! You can watch any number of games today with the same base defense we are running, and none of them align with cushions on WRs and running lanes available at the snap of the ball like ours. My favorite is in short and medium yardage we have nobody in the middle of the field at all.

The biggest overall problem with the defense is the LB and safety play is horrible, and unfortunately it is a talent issue and some size and experience!

[Airforcehawg]

We dont have the front four to get penetration to the backfield.

This...His Defense relies on the front 4 to get pressure on the QB. Vary rarely does he blitz, and it doesn't seem that he adjusts his scheme to the team that is being played.

[pignatious]

I don't know where he came up with this game plan. No blitzes? No pressure on Prescott the whole game. Just picked us to pieces because he stood untouched all night in the pocket. This loss is mostly on Smith. But, Beilema deciding to put the game on the line with our poor kicker, when they could not stop us at all was the clincher. Bad coaching cost us this game pure and simple.

[GVTD]

It's not his fault.  Big talent deficiency in the back 7

[Boarcephus]

Bet Smith is really looking forward the Q&A at his next PC.  He was more than a bit testy when asked about the 500+ yards his D gave up to UTM but we still won.  Here, we have almost 500 yards total offense, score 50 points and still get beat at home because his defense gives up over 600 yards and 51 points. 

[gopigs]

Ask any hog fan 24 hours ago if 50 points will win this game, 99.9% of them would say yes. Yes, we are missing some key guys on D and we can blame it on that until we're blue in the face, but the fact is we have had a very poor defensive scheme against mobile quarterbacks.

[007 License To Squeal]

We dont have the front four to get penetration to the backfield.

Maybe someone could teach the players we have HOW TO TACKLE!!!

[Kevin]

D line takes a lot of heat on here. Hard to get pressure when the qb can pass within 3 seconds.

This defense is looking like ash's defense the first year

Plus I would like our coach to quit talking about lack of depth at lb. you have had 3 recruiting classes to fix it

[jkstock04]

You can't run zone against a spread offense. We have yet to win against a spread offense. Loses toledo, tt, a&m, miss srate. Still gotta play mizzu.

It's ridiculous. I hope someone asks him what he expects of these game plans. Playing prevent bend don't break defense against an offense like that is stupid.

[ricepig]

It's ridiculous. I hope someone asks him what he expects of these game plans. Playing prevent bend don't break defense against an offense like that is stupid.

I didn't understand the zone defense when they had the ball on our 10yd line. WR, let's a guy clear out and runs a crossing route and is in the end zone with our DB behind him. Man up and force them to make a perfect throw with pressure on the QB, that's better than letting them pitch and catch it.

[italian9005]

they pretty much threw screen passes whole game and we didnt adjust once. plus every 3rd and short it was a QB run and we couldnt do anything about it. our defense is terrible at the moment

[jkstock04]

I didn't understand the zone defense when they had the ball on our 10yd line. WR, let's a guy clear out and runs a crossing route and is in the end zone with our DB behind him. Man up and force them to make a perfect throw with pressure on the QB, that's better than letting them pitch and catch it.

Pitch and catch is the best way to describe what they were doing. I zeroed in on the db/wr play in the 2nd half. There is was absolutely nothing fancy about the routes they were running. We happily gave them 10-20 yards all night. I just don't get it.

Its like we were so scared of getting beat deep we were perfectly content with letting them do whatever they wanted as long as it was always in front of us. Even if we make that field goal I had zero confidence we could stop miss state from kicking a game winning field goal. They still had 46 seconds. With our game plan we needed to be kicking that field goal with ten seconds left.

[Pancetta]

CBB in his postgame took responsibility for LB play. Said we are way too thin even before Josh went down and now there is no one to sub in and the LBs are wearing out. Said it was His fault for under recruiting LB last 2 classes.
Unfortunately that is something RS and CBB can't fix at this point.

[ricepig]

CBB in his postgame took responsibility for LB play. Said we are way too thin even before Josh went down and now there is no one to sub in and the LBs are wearing out. Said it was His fault for under recruiting LB last 2 classes.
Unfortunately that is something RS and CBB can't fix at this point.

But...but...I read on here he's had three years to fix that problem.........

[jkstock04]

CBB in his postgame took responsibility for LB play. Said we are way too thin even before Josh went down and now there is no one to sub in and the LBs are wearing out. Said it was His fault for under recruiting LB last 2 classes.
Unfortunately that is something RS and CBB can't fix at this point.

We have had 1, maybe 2 "SEC" linebackers in the past 10 years. This is nothing new. Still does not explain this zone defensive game plan we try and employ against these spread teams.

If we aren't scared of your qb/passing game..we are going to come after you. If we are scared of your qb/passing game...we are going to sit back and let you do whatever you want. 

[Kevin]

But...but...I read on here he's had three years to fix that problem.........

he has, and he just said he made a mistake in recruiting.

[buldozer]

I still say Rob will load up and move on after the season.... he looks pissed every time he is on camera and acts like its not his fault and never takes responsibility.... this tells me he blames CBB or doesn't think there is a problem. Either way he moves on in my mind.... one way or the other

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

You can't run zone against a spread offense. We have yet to win against a spread offense. Loses toledo, tt, a&m, miss srate. Still gotta play mizzu.

Ole Piss and Auburn both run a spread offense

[ricepig]

he has, and he just said he made a mistake in recruiting.

Thus, he owned up to it, but it doesn't stop some from to continually complain over it. Truthfully, outside of Bama, I don't see a lot of LB's stopping our guys. MSU blitzed/run blitzed a lot last night and stopped the running game, it didn't help them in the passing game.

[DoctorSusscrofa]

Just for fun, I'd like to see what could happen if we had ran the defense last night that we ran against T Tech in 2014. Two man rush and 9 in coverage.

[12247]

Last week our lines camped out on the LOS and owned it.  Last night we didn't.  When we did, the result was same as last week, we kicked butt.  Give a QB like Dak time to throw and he'll win 90 percent of the time.  When we couldn't pressure Dak, we were beat on nearly every play.  Robb Smith I believe is a decent DC. 

We were in a match up last night where we had to out score MSU.  MSU has a history of faltering when pressed on O and D.  When the D pressed the QB, we won nearly every battle.  When the our O was pushing it down the field, always in scoring mode on the next play, we won nearly every battle.  Mullen has never had a team that didn't have screw ups when pressured all over the field.  He needs time to think and plan and we blessed him with our run down the clock plan. 

[Boarcephus]

We have changed our defense one time all year long, best as I can tell, and that was last week vs LSU.  As my brother said last night, watching this defense is nothing more than the old saying, death by a thousand cuts.  Good coaches adapt their scheme to fit their talent and Smith evidently can't do this.  There is a reason we rank 124th out of 128 teams in the nation on pass defense and I'm not buying the other 123 teams all have better talent. 

[jkstock04]

Ole Piss and Auburn both run a spread offense

If we are honest with ourselves...if Auburn recievers don't have the drop-sies all night, that outcome is most likely much different. Miss state recievers didn't have a problem catching the ball...to our disadvantage.

[Wright43]

Our DB's aren't good enough to play man on man when the QB has all day to throw. But its not like our secondary is that much worse than last year--what is missing most from this D is a consistent pass rush. We almost never (except for the LSU game) get pressure on the QB without a blitz.

I like Robb Smith, and we saw what is possible last year when he has some better pieces, but without a pass rush his D is so conservative that it hurts us. Giving their WRs a 10 yard cushion, though it does mean they won't beat us deep, just makes them give up 6-7 yards every pass play and the O just marches down the field. We need a pass rush, and if we're not getting it, we need to blitz more. Idk why Robb always seems hesitant to blitz, but with no D-Line play to speak of we need it-or we'll just let them catch those quick screens to the flats until they have 500 yards passing like last night...

[ricepig]

We have changed our defense one time all year long, best as I can tell, and that was last week vs LSU.  As my brother said last night, watching this defense is nothing more than the old saying, death by a thousand cuts.  Good coaches adapt their scheme to fit their talent and Smith evidently can't do this.  There is a reason we rank 124th out of 128 teams in the nation on pass defense and I'm not buying the other 123 teams all have better talent. 

The big difference is LSU prefers to take down the field shots which takes longer to develop and thus more pressure. Now, MSU did take a few shots and their line gave Dak more time than Harris got at LSU, but a lot were quick routes or screens.

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

If we are honest with ourselves...if Auburn recievers don't have the drop-sies all night, that outcome is most likely much different. Miss state recievers didn't have a problem catching the ball...to our disadvantage.

And if we are honest with our selfs the D played well enough to win A&M. But that's not the point.

[Boarcephus]

The big difference is LSU prefers to take down the field shots which takes longer to develop and thus more pressure. Now, MSU did take a few shots and their line gave Dak more time than Harris got at LSU, but a lot were quick routes or screens.

We also had a 5 man defensive front vs LSU which basically caused a 5 on 5 matchup.  All year long the opponents offensive line has had 5 blocking our 4 DL and unless you've got Alabama talent, you won't get pressure.

[jkstock04]

And if we are honest with our selfs the D played well enough to win A&M. But that's not the point.

This is true. To me the point in this game is this...the soft coverage and lack of blitzing let them drive the ball at will. I'm pretty sure they only had to punt once the entire night.

In the end, I don't pretend to know more than Rob Smith...and 20/20 hindsight. But I can't imagine them getting more yards/scoring any more points then they did had we tried to go a little more aggressive. I would wager the db's were thinking the same thing every time they were lining up 10 yards off the recievers. That's easy pitch and catch.

[LSPRazorbac]

And if we are honest with our selfs the D played well enough to win A&M. But that's not the point.

I seem to remember the defense just letting the Aggies cruise through us at the end of the game with no resistance.....driving it 85 yards in 5 plays to tie the game.

Then turn around and let them score in 2 plays in overtime.

Kyle Allen through for 358 yards and they had 2 receiver with over 100 yards receicing.

[Bacon_Bitz]

Somebody on the staff needs to look at stanford's schemes and how they handle all those pac 12 spread teams.

[hawgfan4life]

RS IMO does need to take some heat for playing so softly even with his talent challenges! You can watch any number of games today with the same base defense we are running, and none of them align with cushions on WRs and running lanes available at the snap of the ball like ours. My favorite is in short and medium yardage we have nobody in the middle of the field at all.

The biggest overall problem with the defense is the LB and safety play is horrible, and unfortunately it is a talent issue and some size and experience!

And most are not facing SEC receivers.  Ever see scores from our neighbors to the west?  Every other game is in the 30s and up with most being up.

[ricepig]

We also had a 5 man defensive front vs LSU which basically caused a 5 on 5 matchup.  All year long the opponents offensive line has had 5 blocking our 4 DL and unless you've got Alabama talent, you won't get pressure.

We played a DL at SLB to stop Fournette, you want Roesler trying to cover a back or TE?

[ricepig]

Somebody on the staff needs to look at stanford's schemes and how they handle all those pac 12 spread teams.

Like Oregon?

[buldozer]

Somebody on the staff needs to look at stanford's schemes and how they handle all those pac 12 spread teams.

Maybe next year someone will be on staff willing to do this...

[LSPRazorbac]

I just want to see us try something different against spread teams. 

Miss St, and Ole Miss games should show that we have to do something different defensively.

And even Auburn.  Auburn stopped themselves with all the drops. 

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

I seem to remember the defense just letting the Aggies cruise through us at the end of the game with no resistance.....driving it 85 yards in 5 plays to tie the game.

Then turn around and let them score in 2 plays in overtime.

Kyle Allen through for 358 yards and they had 2 receiver with over 100 yards receicing.

They scored 21pts in regulation. Majority of the game they had 13pts. But again not the point. Point is the poster I originally responded to is wrong we have beaten spread teams this year.

[Boarcephus]

We played a DL at SLB to stop Fournette, you want Roesler trying to cover a back or TE?

We're rushing 4 and defending with 7 and how's that working for us now?  I'll take my chances with putting pressure on the qb.

[LSPRazorbac]

They scored 21pts in regulation. Majority of the game they had 13pts. But again not the point. Point is the poster I originally responded to is wrong we have beaten spread teams this year.

But the pass defense was still bad in that game.

Other than a couple sacks that ended drives it was Aggies trying to run the ball that stopped them most times.

Kyle Allen picked us apart.

[Ironhawg]

I just want to see us try something different against spread teams. 

Miss St, and Ole Miss games should show that we have to do something different defensively.

And even Auburn.  Auburn stopped themselves with all the drops. 

This doesn't seem unreasonable to me.  What we are doing isn't working.

[HOGINTENNESSEE]

But the pass defense was still bad in that game.

Other than a couple sacks that ended drives it was Aggies trying to run the ball that stopped them most times.

Kyle Allen picked us apart.

13pts with 3 mins to go. And again not my point. We did beat Auburn and Ole Piss who are spread team. QuickDraw is a moron

[OldCoot]

We dont have the front four to get penetration to the backfield.

THIS, he proved  his worth last year. Period.