Defensive game plan was poor

[bigpigpimpin]

Playing 3-4 base most of the night, rarely brought pressure against a TRUE FRESHMAN. This staff continues to not make any sense with decision making.

[RaisinHog]

I just get a lil frustrated at how all spring and summer we were told the 3-4 was Taylor made for Ramsey and agim too make plays and how we were Gona have all these exotic blitz packages only too play the whole game rushing 3 .. NEWS FLASH we couldn't get pressure rushing 4 last year .. we damn sure want get it rushing 3!

[Letsroll1200]

Allowed the freshman to gain confidence throughout the game.

[Dr. Starcs]

And our 3 never seemed to get any push on their line. None.

[Razorback_Mack]

If you wanna see a joke go back to the 4th and 4 on their last regulation drive. I'm pretty sure it was twins right. The corner just let the #1 WR run a slant. He had no inside leverage. He just let him go inside. #2 WR just ran his guy off but the S was 10
yards off him.  OLB got lost but obviously should've had hook to curl. It was very very bad. Obviously #1 caught the slant and got the first down easily. You gotta go man in that situation and play inside leverage.

[JaketheSnake]

And our 3 never seemed to get any push on their line. None.

They are in a terrible stance and always seem to be a full yard off the ball.  It doesn't seem they are being coached to rush the passer, but more to react and make sure the OL pays attention to them. 

[Dominicanhog]

Yeah, I was surprised and disappointed in the defense..  really thought they were going to play a good game.. big plays killed us... at times I thought we were good only to have them pop the big one... offense last week, defense and ST's this week..

[nwahogfan1]

Playing 3-4 base most of the night, rarely brought pressure against a TRUE FRESHMAN. This staff continues to not make any sense with decision making.

I think it's BB who wants to play prevent because its every year.

[IronHog]

3-4 is bad move


Hogs need to play 4-2-5

[Hawgzinbowlz]

The number of big plays against our D is unacceptable...Paul Rhodes is touted as a very good DC and we sure didn't have a very good defense today.
This entire team including players, coaches and scheme is owned by CBB.

" GO HOGS "

[31to6]

Playing 3-4 base most of the night, rarely brought pressure against a TRUE FRESHMAN. This staff continues to not make any sense with decision making.

This so much. I was screaming at the TV!

You have a true freshman QB. The goal should have been to make it the worst day of his life.

[scogs]

Our defense is pathetic. Wouldn't matter if it was 3-4 or 4-3. Worst 3rd down defense in the nation. Nobody is afraid of us. 

[alohawg]

If you wanna see a joke go back to the 4th and 4 on their last regulation drive. I'm pretty sure it was twins right. The corner just let the #1 WR run a slant. He had no inside leverage. He just let him go inside. #2 WR just ran his guy off but the S was 10
yards off him.  OLB got lost but obviously should've had hook to curl. It was very very bad. Obviously #1 caught the slant and got the first down easily. You gotta go man in that situation and play inside leverage.

That's right, inexcusably bad.

[31to6]

That's right, inexcusably bad.

It is really hard to stop a 4th down conversion when you give 5 yard cushions to their WRs.

[Danny J]

I think it's BB who wants to play prevent because its every year.

Yep...however many down lineman we play that's how many rush the QB on 95% or more of every play and that's through 3 DC's and 2 different schemes. There is only one constant and that is Bielema. We are playing conservative defense the same way everything else is conservative. I still can't believe going into the half with 2 timeouts we were happy to just go into locker room even being at damn near mid field with a minute and half remaining. I firmly believe a team takes on the mentality of the HC. The coach plays tight and the players then play not to lose. You would think after many examples of this exploding in his face, not just the aTm series, he would allow our coordinators to pretty much call their own game. I have complained about his inconsistency from game to game and half to half but in one regard he is very consistent and that is playing not to lose.

[ChicoHog]

I understand everyone's frustration with the lack of blizting but also I think they wanted to keep Mond in the pocket like they did with Kenny Hill and make him throw it. If he scrambles then he gets the big plays.  A couple times early Brock Huard was saying we were dropping 8 and it was confusing him as he had no where to throw it. Now what can't happen is the busted coverage on that first TD to Kirk and of course the 80 yard run Mond had.  I'd like to see us bring more LB and maybe corner blitzes but I understand what they were doing today also.  We gave up no big plays to TCU and lost and today gave up numerous big plays and lost so maybe we need to try something else.  I don't know.

[Bebop]

3-4 is bad move
Y

Hogs need to play 4-2-5

Going to the 3-4 reeled reeked of desperation, especially this far in his tenure. I get a switch in philosophy from year 1 to year 2, but our biggest problem has been fundamentals. Changing to a different scheme has added a unnecessary wrinkle to an already jumbled mess.

We had success with the 4-2-5 and should have stuck with it.

[Jek Tono Porkins]

I was at the game today and the number of defensive plays that included a 3-man pass rush that yielded no pass rush results whatsoever was astounding. The reason we switched to the 3-4, apparently, is because the past couple of years the team couldn't get a pass rush with four guys on the line, so the idea was to rush three linemen and free up linebackers to blitz.

Here's my question: with the defensive line talent on the roster, why can't we get a pass rush with a 4-man front? Agim was a 5* recruit coming out of high school. Jackson, Capps, and Guidry were 4* recruits. So right there is a starting 4 man front of at least 4* recruits assuming Guidry could conceivably play end. Froholdt was another 4* d-lineman but he got switched to o-line for whatever reason. But apparently the strategy is to never have Jackson and Capps play on the same down and completely neutralize the d-line talent by putting 3 of them against 5 offensive lineman and expecting something to happen. Conceivably, in a 4-man front, Jackson and Capps are massive dudes that if nothing else would occupy space freeing up Agim to be a lights-out defensive end. So why the hell are we playing 3-4 in the first place? What the hell is going on? Are these guys just not as good as their recruiting rankings said they were, which would be an indicator of a systemic talent evaluation problem? Do the coaches have a problem with developing these guys?

The thing is, we have the same problem on the offensive line! The o-line is just abysmal for a team that advertises itself as o-line U. We've got 4* talent sitting behind walk-ons. Something is going on here. Either the recruiting website people completely whiffed on like 8 offensive and defensive lineman or the coaches have a serious development problem.

[lakecityhog]

Just like the O'Line, stars really mean nothing! Do we have any walk-on D'Linemen?

I remember 2 years ago in a PC Smith talked about a particular play and how he leaned in to BB and said " Coach, I'd really like to blitz here." BB is the problem with our kick-offs, BB is the problem with our offense and BB is the problem with our defense.

[razorbackred1]

Playing 3-4 base most of the night, rarely brought pressure against a TRUE FRESHMAN. This staff continues to not make any sense with decision making.

We gave up 285 yards rushing and 501 total yards .... Agim, Capps, & Jackson collectively had 6 tackles & 1 sack, they were getting manhandled A&M .... 3-4 was always a bad idea IMO .... let that sink in 285 yards rushing!!!!!

[TNRazorbacker]

I dunno, if you can play base D to limit big plays its a sound strategy. Freshmen tend to make mistakes, which is in the D's favor where long drives are concerned. The problem was our inability to stop big plays- despite schemes designed specifically to do eliminate them. We just don't have much on D.

[GunnerHawg70]

Yup. Halftime, individual quarter, series adjustments were not made. Hogs DC CPR should take a page from VT DC Bud Foster. That dude will live and die by complex stunts and blitzes...Could've easily confused the young QB and forced him into mistakes

[GoHogs1091]

We gave up 285 yards rushing and 501 total yards .... Agim, Capps, & Jackson collectively had 6 tackles & 1 sack, they were getting manhandled A&M .... 3-4 was always a bad idea IMO .... let that sink in 285 yards rushing!!!!!

A 3-4 is not a good idea at the collegiate level.  A 3-4 requires 2 necessary elements, an elite Nose Guard and an elite Middle Linebacker.  Most collegiate teams don't have either one of those necessary elements.

When TCU and Texas A&M can gash the defense, then that means Alabama, LSU, and Auburn will probably be able to gash the defense. 

[havok]

A true freshman QB should have been Open call for "Pressure, Pressure, Pressure".    Forcing him to make quick decisions and making mistakes..by sending a wave of players at him from different angles he has never seen.

But we decided to sit back, give him all day to to look & choose till OUR defense made the mistake and had a break down. 

[Jzilla]

Bielema tells the coordinators what he wants to run yesterday on the offensive side he let Enos call whatever he wanted and we had a lot of success!!

[hobhog]

What I don't get is how bad A$Ms defense is also. They hire Chavis and have great recruiting classes and yet they can't stop anyone either.

I just don't get it.

[IronHog]

What I don't get is how bad A$Ms defense is also. They hire Chavis and have great recruiting classes and yet they can't stop anyone either.

I just don't get it.

Chavis is an overstated hack.

[pigroots]

gotta mix it up...have to give differing looks to a young guy to keep him from getting comfortable. I thought we played way too much just rushing 3 guys

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Playing 3-4 base most of the night, rarely brought pressure against a TRUE FRESHMAN. This staff continues to not make any sense with decision making.

A&M had 501 total yards. 287 of those yards came on 5 plays. The rest of the plays we limited them to an average of 3.3 yards/play. Add in two other critical mistakes, pooch kicking a KO giving them the ball at our own 49 when we were protecting a 3 point lead late in the game and a major ST's break down that allowed a 100 yard KO Return for 7 points. We didn't get a lot of pressure on their QB because they were spreading receivers out all over the field which forced us to defend the pass. I would like to have seen more stunts/blitzes involving the LB's but I'm not sure how much that might have changed the game.

5 big plays, a ST failure and a bad decision to kick short late in the game is what cost us the game, without even getting into a discussion of the offense.

[BoynamedWooPigSooie]

What is absolutely ridiculous is how we rarely blitz. What I wouldn't do to have an aggressive, fearsome defense that brings it off the edge and blitzes a LB into the gap to crush the pocket.

The hallmark of past Razorback teams were the aggressive defense, swarming to the ball and flustering QBs into mistakes.

Under Bielema we've constantly made decent QB's look like Heisman candidates and poor QB's look like all-conference players.


Pair that with how often our opponents crush us w/ pressure and force our QB into rushed bad decisions and Bielema never tries to do the same against the other team.


What a bumbling miss of a hire.

[BoynamedWooPigSooie]

A 3-4 is not a good idea at the collegiate level.  A 3-4 requires 2 necessary elements, an elite Nose Guard and an elite Middle Linebacker.  Most collegiate teams don't have either one of those necessary elements.

When TCU and Texas A&M can gash the defense, then that means Alabama, LSU, and Auburn will probably be able to gash the defense.

Guice is going to run for miles, not just yards but miles.

[soso]

Got to have better players. Bigger, faster, stronger. Until then just mental calisthenics.

[RLWOLFEMAN]

3-4 is bad move
Agree

Hogs need to play 4-2-5

[IronHog]

well, since the 3-4 does not even HAVE a middle linebacker, your premise is dead in the water.

3-4 has two inside backers, one strong, one weak. Or right and left. Whatever they decide.

but no middle backer

It needs two LARGE fast inside backers



Hogs have none of those



Play a 4-2-5 with huge DTs, fast everywhere else, and attack hoping for TOs



Yards and points are almost irrelevant.  All about TOs now

[Boarcephus]

I think it's BB who wants to play prevent because its every year.

Has to be because regardless who the DC is, the results are the same.

[IronHog]

98% of the programs in America would not be able to run the 3-4 in your scenario there.

We can't attack and force turnovers as football players because "we're 3-4"? That's nuts

Every team in America, including the 3 that have your version of the prototype ILB, is in constant flux about the recurring challenge: 6 man front or 7 man front?

Throw all your football cards on the carpet and play all the numbers games you want, and in reality, every program in America is trying to create a defacto (proverbial) "6.5 man front" (thus 4 "and a half" defensive backs)

Go back and look at the game and look at the linebackers missing reads all day. There's your issue. Execution.

Linebackers have been varying degrees of bad since '87


Play the 4-2-5 based on speed.  Hogs usually full of tweeters anyway

[IronHog]

Vernon Hargreaves does not care one iota about the Arkansas Razorbacks, and I know that because it showed yesterday. He does not care.

Fire Hargreaves today. Clean out his office today. Promote Kiero Small, our former fullback, to ILB coach, today. Teach him six basic reads to drill into our LB's heads each day, and be done with it. We will be better off the rest of the season. Get rid of Walker too. Bret can coach the OLB's. Our promote or former walkon from Batesville (can't think of his name) to coach them. 

What happened?

[IronHog]

huh?

I though he did something on the sideline


He doesn't have any backers to coach. 


I though the D would be record breaking bad with a good offense this year.  So much for that

[IronHog]

smh..

have a good day

Their "best" LBer is a lightly recruited converted safety from the pat a cake 7A west

[Danny J]

Just like the O'Line, stars really mean nothing! Do we have any walk-on D'Linemen?

I remember 2 years ago in a PC Smith talked about a particular play and how he leaned in to BB and said " Coach, I'd really like to blitz here." BB is the problem with our kick-offs, BB is the problem with our offense and BB is the problem with our defense.

Yes...actually it was CBB that told us about Smith telling him over the headset  during the BB show after our win against Ole Miss at home last year that maybe we should blitz here. I even made a thread about it. It was a slip on CBB's part.

As I mentioned above...the conservative nature of our defense is all on CBB because it is through 3 different DC's and 2 new schemes.

[Danny J]

Bielema tells the coordinators what he wants to run yesterday on the offensive side he let Enos call whatever he wanted and we had a lot of success!!

This

[niels_boar]

A&M had 501 total yards. 287 of those yards came on 5 plays. The rest of the plays we limited them to an average of 3.3 yards/play. Add in two other critical mistakes, pooch kicking a KO giving them the ball at our own 49 when we were protecting a 3 point lead late in the game and a major ST's break down that allowed a 100 yard KO Return for 7 points. We didn't get a lot of pressure on their QB because they were spreading receivers out all over the field which forced us to defend the pass. I would like to have seen more stunts/blitzes involving the LB's but I'm not sure how much that might have changed the game.

5 big plays, a ST failure and a bad decision to kick short late in the game is what cost us the game, without even getting into a discussion of the offense.

Their scoring plays in regulation were an 82-yard TD pass, an 18-yard run (set up by a 50-yard pass), a 23-yard run, and a 44-yard run.  They got a FG out of what was actually an 82-yard TD run.  If your strategy is to sacrifice pressure in favor of keeping the offense in front of you, you just can't give up that many explosive scores and call it a success regardless of what happened the rest of the day.  We got stops in three of their first four possessions but only one in their last nine.  At some point you have to try something different.

Now we fans can give alternative strategies all week long with confidence that they will never be proven to have performed worse than what was tried.  However, if the downside of bringing more at the frosh QB was giving up big plays, it's difficult to imagine that it could have worked much worse after the first quarter.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Their scoring plays in regulation were an 82-yard TD pass, an 18-yard run (set up by a 50-yard pass), a 23-yard run, and a 44-yard run.  They got a FG out of what was actually an 82-yard TD run.  If your strategy is to sacrifice pressure in favor of keeping the offense in front of you, you just can't give up that many explosive scores and call it a success regardless of what happened the rest of the day.  We got stops in three of their first four possessions but only one in their last nine.  At some point you have to try something different.

Now we fans can give alternative strategies all week long with confidence that they will never be proven to have performed worse than what was tried.  However, if the downside of bringing more at the frosh QB was giving up big plays, it's difficult to imagine that it could have worked much worse after the first quarter.

I'm not suggesting a strategy nor am I endorsing any strategy, just quoting facts. The big plays killed us and we need to find a way to prevent those and I am sure Rhoads will address that very thing. Their goal was to allow no more than two big plays yesterday, they allowed 3 in the first half and a total of 5 for the game. But it is encouraging to see that they allowed just 3.3 yards per play on average aside from those 5 plays. That to me is improvement and a move in the right direction. And even with those 5 big plays allowed, had we not pooched a KO to them setting them up at our own 49 while protecting a 3 point lead late in the game and had we just covered that KO that went for 100 yards and a TD, we would likely have won in regulation anyway.

[hawgmasta]

3-4 is bad move


Hogs need to play 4-2-5

I think the way college football is going the 4-2-5 will eventually be the main scheme used.

[GoHogs1091]

well, since the 3-4 does not even HAVE a middle linebacker, your premise is dead in the water.

3-4 has two inside backers, one strong, one weak. Or right and left. Whatever they decide.

but no middle backer

It is a matter of semantics.

While the 2 middle Linebackers in a 3-4 are referred to as "inside" Linebackers, the role they have to do is the same as a middle Linebacker in a 4-3, which is to be an enforcer and stop the run.  Also, they are responsible for defending the middle area of the field behind the defensive line.

The 2 inside Linebackers in a 3-4 are essentially middle Linebackers.

[Josh Goforth]

If you wanna see a joke go back to the 4th and 4 on their last regulation drive. I'm pretty sure it was twins right. The corner just let the #1 WR run a slant. He had no inside leverage. He just let him go inside. #2 WR just ran his guy off but the S was 10
yards off him.  OLB got lost but obviously should've had hook to curl. It was very very bad. Obviously #1 caught the slant and got the first down easily. You gotta go man in that situation and play inside leverage.

They were playing games with that OLB spot starting out deep, line up on the line, or dropping at the snap. Played a lot more nickel than you think with Liddell in the slot instead.