What Happened to Our Defense this Year ........

[Sir Oinksalot]

Epic defeats......

[Sir Oinksalot]

Trying to defend the Spread, the HUNH, the power run game and the halftime adjustments...it just blew their mind ?

WTH happened ..l

[Bubba's Bruisers]

It's steadily gotten worse.  I guess like BP, BB doesn't care about defense.

[GTOWNHOG]

Lots of issues to address.  In year FOUR of Bielema, we still have no depth on the defensive line.  First string players are good, but backups leave a lot to be SEC desired...  Corners are not very good.   Defensive backs are non-exsistent.....  as indicated by the number of interceptions down the field that we have....   In a nutshell, we need to have several years of recruiting SEC caliber players and Coaches who know how to coach them... over and out...

[jgphillips3]

I've seen teams with far less talent and far less depth play defense a hell of a lot better than we do.  I accept that we don't have enough talent to beat Bama straight up.  That's fine.  Being humiliated as we were is all on the coaches.  They put players in the wrong position, wrong scheme, whatever.  A good defensive staff could take the talent we have, teach them to play hard, put them in the right position and at least compete.  I'm sick of hearing the players blamed.  Sure they aren't four and five star at every position but their coaches aren't even putting them in position to be as good as they can be.

[Calling All Hogs]

It kind of concerns me that CBB took credit for stepping in and taking charge of the defense and then they continued to play crappy.

[Bubba's Bruisers]

There's no doubt we have little SEC caliber talent on defense.  BB gets to own most of that.  But there appears to be no doubt that the product goes beyond lack of talent.  That's on BB too.

[TeufelHog]

Honestly, I think it's a deficiency in the "fundamentals."  Simply not being able to set the edge/turn the offensive play to the middle, not being able to shed a block, lack of D-line penetration, basic form-tackling, basic open field 1-on-1 tackling, and overall unit speed . . . JUST FLAT-OUT SLOWER THAN OUR COMPETITION.

Being "Brilliant in the Basics" should be a given.  It wasn't all year IMHO.  Would love to know how many first contact "missed tackles" we had the last 4 years (a statistic that's recorded?).

[davehog]

Scheme did match not talent nor did it match the offensive style.

Injuries exasperated the situation.  Losing Kevin Richardson and Dre Greenlaw really hurt and D. Wise played hurt most of the season.

They moved Ledbetter inside and that experiment did not work as he clearly was the best strong side DE.  The overall run D got better when they moved him back outside to DE and subbed Wise in on passing downs only.

In order to make a cohesive winning team, the styles of the offense and defense must counterbalance each other.  So, on offense it's a time of possession, ball control strategy. I don't see that changing. With Enos at OC, the offense has been one of the top offenses in the SEC 2 seasons in a row.  We scored 30 on Bama's legendary D this season with AA passing for 400 yards. 

What type of defense works best opposite that offensive strategy?  Given the fact the defense generally plays less snaps / less time of possession than the offense, theoretically they are going to be fresher.  My preference would be a high risk/blitz heavy scheme. 

Can Robb Smith implement a different strategy and if so, would Bret allow it?  Do we have the players to change our defensive scheme next season?

[bythelake]

We trimmed down on the definsive line to get a better pass rush.  Ledbetter and agim should be defensive ends.

The result was we were to small to rush or stop the run. 

Pretty dam simple.  Secondary much improved, but with zero pass rush we have a poor defense.

Last year when they moved Ledbetter and agim inside it was obvious we had problems.

[Pig In The City]

Zero pass rush and base defense too predictable.

[Rzbakfromwaybak]

What defense ? 

[texasdvm]

Having played a lot of football myself,  I do not think that RS relates well to the players.  He just does not come across as a coach that can relate well.  I watch him in press conferences and he seems  uncomfortable and not very relational.  This can be a real problem on defense if the coach does not inspire his players to give total effort.

[farmhawg]

I've seen teams with far less talent and far less depth play defense a hell of a lot better than we do.  I accept that we don't have enough talent to beat Bama straight up.  That's fine.  Being humiliated as we were is all on the coaches.  They put players in the wrong position, wrong scheme, whatever.  A good defensive staff could take the talent we have, teach them to play hard, put them in the right position and at least compete.  I'm sick of hearing the players blamed.  Sure they aren't four and five star at every position but their coaches aren't even putting them in position to be as good as they can be.

This. That's the biggest problem I have with thus coach and it's all about leadership.

[Soooie21]

Losing Greenlaw was big...

[ballz2thewall]

Scheme did match not talent nor did it match the offensive style.

Injuries exasperated the situation.  Losing Kevin Richardson and Dre Greenlaw really hurt and D. Wise played hurt most of the season.

They moved Ledbetter inside and that experiment did not work as he clearly was the best strong side DE.  The overall run D got better when they moved him back outside to DE and subbed Wise in on passing downs only.

In order to make a cohesive winning team, the styles of the offense and defense must counterbalance each other.  So, on offense it's a time of possession, ball control strategy. I don't see that changing. With Enos at OC, the offense has been one of the top offenses in the SEC 2 seasons in a row.  We scored 30 on Bama's legendary D this season with AA passing for 400 yards. 

What type of defense works best opposite that offensive strategy?  Given the fact the defense generally plays less snaps / less time of possession than the offense, theoretically they are going to be fresher.  My preference would be a high risk/blitz heavy scheme. 

Can Robb Smith implement a different strategy and if so, would Bret allow it?  Do we have the players to change our defensive scheme next season?

well stated. particularly the discussion regarding our defense as a component of our offense. this is how you do it. being more rested should allow for more aggression on defense.

no defense should be as porous as ours given the time on the bench.

[Little Lady Back]

Losing Greenlaw was big...

Losing him hurt a lot.

[Vantage 8 dude]

Losing him hurt a lot.

No doubt, however, it's obvious that our lack of overall talent (and speed) on defense AND the fact that the absence in coaching of fundamentals also played into the equation. One other thing: even with all these issue/problems IMO another glaring problem seemed to be a real lack of team leadership. Sorry, you can lack skills but one thing that can make a MASSIVE difference is the attitude of (primarily) upper class leadership. If nothing else your pride and attitude go a ways in determining how well you play (or not). Nothing showed of pride in the debacles against Auburn, LSU and the "what the hell was that" second half against a totally pathetic and miserable Missouri team.

[HardCore]

....he went to Florida

[sowmonella]

We are very lacking at linebacker and safety. The gap between our guys and the upper 1/2 of the SEC at these positions is the problem.

[DeltaBoy]

We lost a Stud O line man Kirkland and Budda so we did not keep them off the field as much as last year either

[Potosihog]

Strong leaders on a team are created with a combination of someone who has experience (typically junior or senior), is vocal and backs up their words with action.  See Drew Morgan on offense.

Name one person on defense that fits that description.

The effort was there early in the year (Ellis) but as the year went on the continual torching of each player made it difficult for them to say anything to each other.

No leadership on the field or sideline by the players left all the motivation up to a coaching staff that is not big on the rah rah stuff.

Also if you believe the scheme doesn't allow you to play your best it is difficult to be motivated to play hard by the coach that insist on you playing that scheme.

[pigroots]

Speed at LB is important against todays space them out offenses. We don't have it. Then when you can't hurry the QB it goes South quickly. Gotta recruit and develop better talent IMO.

[farmhawg]

We lost a Stud O line man Kirkland and Budda so we did not keep them off the field as much as last year either

Probably explains the poor tackling....

[DeltaBoy]

Probably explains the poor tackling....

I believe they were more tired cause we did not dominate the TOP as much as before.

[code red]

Losing him hurt a lot.

I don't know if he would have made that much difference.  We have traditionally been able to bull rush without LB being involved.  Seems we can't even do that this year.  I saw a lot of poor LB technique by all our LB's.

[farmhawg]

I believe they were more tired cause we did not dominate the TOP as much as before.

Must be it.

[Hoggiedawg]

I believe they were more tired cause we did not dominate the TOP as much as before.

SMH

[swineology]

Epic defeats......

They dumbed down the Hoganese  to fit the players that they recriuted and we still failed.

Either fire Robb Smith or get legit SEC talent.

[farmhawg]

SMH

They got less rest, explains the tackling and not being able to finish plays....

[texas tush hog]

What defense ? 

Beat me to it.

[HogBreath]

We are very lacking at linebacker and safety. The gap between our guys and the upper 1/2 of the SEC at these positions is the problem.

Exactly...I've heard many wail & cry over the defense....the rest of the defene, d line & corners, while not great, would be so much better if we were not so horribly weak at the safety & l/b positions

[lakecityhog]

How do any of you know that we don't have any quality depth??? All we heard all summer is 2 and 3 deep on the DL.
I have heard for 2 years that Josh Harris tears it up in practice and he seems to play well in scrimmages. But, he never sees the field. How many of you think that we would have ever seen Dewayne Eugene on the field this season if Greenlaw doesn't get hurt?
Eugene has played VERY well, well enough to tell me that he should have been seeing the field as a back-up all year long.

[reddogjcss]

Deep Elum Mud Bugs has more defense than Razorbacks

[farmhawg]

A little twisted root burger sounds good....