Where's the Defense

[goodthts]

From Tuesd PD: And no D: "The Akron Zips continue to struggle on defense (215.4 rushing yards allowed , 400.6 in total offense). While coach J.D. Brookhart says the Wisconsin game to open the season skews the Zips' numbers, certainly playing Syracuse, Army and Can't State balance that out. Akron, last in rushing defense, 12th in total defense, is coming off a home loss to Bowling Green in which it allowed the Falcons, one of the three worst rushing teams in the MAC, 175 yards on the ground. That not only opened the passing lanes for BG to get a comeback victory, it lifted the Falcons' rushing average to 110.8 yards per game. Yet Brookhart contends the Zips are close, defensively. 'Our kids, defensively, have played pretty dang hard and almost well enough,' he said. "We want to stop the run first, that's what we've got to do.' "Almost well enough JD?! Wow, you would of thought he was hanging with Romeo Crennel. Being LAST in any defensive category does not fall into the almost anything category. It stinks. As does the "vaunted" 3-3-5 travesty that has been our D-fense the last several years.Question again for this forum:Is JD, like other area coaches (Tressel, Crennel), too stubborn or too close to the situation to see this setup (3-3-5) just doesnt work? Or is it just that JD and the coaching staff have not recruited or not been able to recruit quality defense players and we are stuck with a coverage defense?I am looking for intelligent criticism here. Please do not respond with "FIRE J.D" or any other silly rhetoric.Thanks all.

[Dr Z]

IMO the 3-3-5 has run it's course. Experiment over. I have heard all the excuses why we play this scheme. I don't buy them.I think the cons far outweigh the pros. On top of that, I don't even agree with the pros of this defense.If our DC can't change our defensive scheme in the off season, I would hope that JD would consider a change in DC.We have 17 days off between games coming up, if you were ever going to change a scheme mid season. NOW is the time.But I know that will not happen.I don't hold out hope for a change, IMO it seems like JD is very stubborn about trying to make this defensive scheme work.This is a quote from his press conference this week: Are you concerned with the play of the defense over the past few weeks?Answer: No.I don't think we need a head coaching change, but if we did and the new coach said he was going to play the 3-3-5, I think I would end my Saturday with the tailgating and head off to do something more productive on a fall afternoon.There is a saying for a reason: DEFENSE wins championships! Make this a priority JD. I'm not happy until our opponents score is 0 with 0:00 left in the fourth.

[goodthts]

I agree completely. IF a new DC or even head coach comes in and continues the 3-3-5, then I am done also. Unless our offense consistenly puts up 35+ points per game.

[tbozeglav]

I have and never will like the 3-3-5 defense. All it is good for is late-game drives when you're up and the opponent is trying to bomb it to make a comeback. Outside of that, it's a horrible defense. How do you honestly believe you will stop the run with only 3 linemen and MAYBE 3 more LBs?Think about it... the offense has a total of at least 6 men on the line, most of the time more than that. That means that for every lineman we have on the line, they have 2 guys to cover him. Of course there are at least 2 or 3 LBs that will come in and rush the line, but that really doesn't do a whole lot when one lineman can come off their block to take out the LB. I am a firm believer in the 4-3 defensive scheme. It provides perfect balance of running defense and pass defense. Now, thats assuming that you actually have the players to fulfill those roles, but recruiting some 250 6-4 DTs shouldn't be hard. I am just sick of every saturday watching us get torn apart on the ground, and then getting lit up in the air, when this touted 3-3-5 is suppost to make it harder to pass on us. In any case... i think out defense is too DB-focused and has no size or strength to battle the run. If you can blitz the QB and make him rush, it makes it harder to pass. If you blitz, it forces the offense to run, where if you have a decent defensive scheme, you can fairly easily stop. I know we have the talent to at least win 6 games a year, but this horrid defense needs to go.'nuf said.

[Dr Z]

Another article on the lack of defense, plus Bain info (that should get everybody's attention).Defense's flaws are costing Zips chances to win

[skip-zip]

uzipsman....good defensive lineman ARE hard to recruit. I don't know if that is the main reason why we run a 3-man front, but any major college coach would tell you that good high school DLs are not abundant, and the good ones rarely "slip down" to lower D-1 schools. Even Jason Taylor, who became probably the best DL that ever played here, came to Akron as a tall, thin outside linebacker, and we were fortunate enough to turn him into a DE later in his career when he put on some size.As I have said all along about this topic, the alignment doesn't mean much to me. It's the personnel on the field. This unit simply doesn't tackle well. Bowling Green rushed for 6.5 yards a carry, and it sickens me. Losing 7 defensive starters from a year ago probably isn't helping the situation. Would substituting a LB for another DL help the situation? Would substituting a DB for another LB help? Our depth of talent at those positions should determine that. But I am sure the coaches aren't stupid. I'm sure they spend a lot of time examining if they have the best players on the field. If the 3-3-5 defense was designed to help you in the last 2 minutes of the game, as someone suggested, obviously that is not the case based on our recent 4th quarter performances. The 3-3-5 defense is designed to give you the personnel to adapt to different offensive sets throughout the course of the ENTIRE game. Once again...I don't care what they call our defensive alignment....we simply aren't tackling well. Maybe it can be attributed to our lack of depth and guys getting tired because we lost so many seniors last year. I knew we'd eventually see the impact that a healthy John Mackey had on our defense. Did anyone ever see that guy miss a tackle? And he played that Rover postion that so many people gripe about with the "why don't we replace a DB with another big defensive lineman" comments. Yet, Mackey was the best tackler on that team. Again, the major factor is finding and developing players who can make plays. If I can hold out any hope here, take our current offense as an example. Last year was the first time JD had to make a major overhaul of the offense, and a year into the project, I see some major improvement. This year was the first year he had to replace large chunks of the defense. Will the 2nd year (next year) show the fruits of their labor? I sure hope so.

[HELLOZIPS]

Another article on the lack of defense, plus Bain info (that should get everybody's attention).Defense's flaws are costing Zips chances to win

Someone should ask Flem..g/Cham...s where's the defense. They are the coaches? They are the ones to blame at this point. JD needs to make some serious adjustments if he wants to end up with a 500 record this season. If he is brought back next year (which I think he will), I would think that he would consider making adjustments with his Defense coaches. Where is Coach T when you need him. Defense has gone down the drain since he left.

[ZachTheZip]

In an 3-man front, you need BETTER players than in a 4-man front. If the reason we play the 3-3-5 is because we can't get good DL players, then somebody's really got things backwards.

[Dr Z]

While I see your point uakronkid, make no mistake, JD has said many times flat out,one of the reasons we play the 3-3-5 is because it is hard to recruit DL.

[tbozeglav]

skip-zip...the reason I mention it being a good defense late in the game is because of the number of DBs. HOWEVER, the reason this hasnt worked for us in the 4th quarter is because we run it the entire game. That means the opposition has 3+ quarters to figure out our defensive scheme, PLUS the defense is already getting tired. If you or anyone else pay attention to some close games on both the collegiate and NFL level, you will notice that if the offense is trying for to bomb it down field to gain a bunch of yards to get a FG or a TD, the defense will run the 3-3-5 because, if i remember correctly, the rules state you must have at least 3 defensive lineman on the line of scrimmage, but provides the defense with as many DBs as possible to knock the ball down or prevent the offense from getting down field. I just don't like it because of those reasons. Yes, our tackling is... how do you put it... less than stellar. However, the defensive scheme and, like you mentioned, losing 7 starters hasn't proven to be very successful. With 4 lineman, you close up the inside running lanes much more effectively, while the 3 LBs provide the medium inside and outside protection along with being able to blitz. I know its a very common defense, but its proven to be effective given the right coaching and the right talent. the 3-3-5.... it just hasnt worked... at all.

[skip-zip]

UAzipsMan...I know what you are saying. Having 5 DBs is more like a defense that you would typically run to prevent big plays at the end of a game. Listen..I am not defending this defense at all. It's true that it has failed us many times. All that I am trying to point out to people in our discussions is to understand a couple of things:1) Just because it is "called" a 3-3-5 does not mean that there are 3 guys at the line of scrimmage, and 3 guys at linebacker positions on every play. In fact, one could argue that on many occassions this is a 3-4 because that Rover plays a linebacker role pretty often. And plenty of people run a successful 3-4 defense. 2) We're just flat-out not making tackles.I do understand that a weakness appears to be when we are "aligned" for a passing play, and then have to stop a running play. In those situations, you could end up with not enough guys in the box to fill the lanes, and then a tackle has to be made too far beyond the line of scrimmage. However, in many passing situations, the rush linebacker is often moving towards the line of scrimmage at the snap of the ball anyway. Heck..this is the nature of football..come to think of it. You're always trying to guess what the offense is going to do on the next play, and then have guys in position to stop it. I guess JD has chosen to utilize the talent he has, and have more athletic guys running around the field, instead of another huge guy who sits at the line of scrimmage. If you guys recall, we did make some defensive changes to stop the Army option offense. So, I'm sure our people are always examining the opponent. I don't have an answer. But I do want us to find some way to play better defense.

[pdt1420]

Most of the time the offense has more than 6 guys blocking on the line? 7 lineman/TE's? We facing alot of double tight and power formations that I don't know about?

[tbozeglav]

skip-zip... you are right. I can see this defense working if the personnel is right. Maybe JD did use the 3-3-5 because of what he had. Maybe he did it because it offered him flexibility... we don't know. And yes, you are right that we arent rushing just 3 guys on the scrimmage; we are sending LBs to block up the running lanes. However the downfall to having a DB or LB running at the line is that the offense will see that, namely the RB in the case of a running play, and will make the necessary adjustments to take a different lane.However, you are right. Tackling needs to be better. If we could just knock a yard or two off our opponent's YPC, it'd open up many more opportunities for us defensively.The bright side of our defense: they have been very good at creating turnovers.... however, I wonder what the stat is of how many points we have scored off of turnovers and how many turnovers have resulted in scoring...

[goodthts]

Lucky lucky lucky win!!!however....bumping this back to the top....any way to fix the D this year?

[zippy42]

Lucky lucky lucky win!!!however....bumping this back to the top....any way to fix the D this year?

If you want to fix the run defense how about putting two inside LB's on running downs. If you go back and watch any or all of the first 8 games even an untrained eye will see the problem. Most times teams ran right up the middle on the Zips and found it very easy. This is because the 3 man front leaves gaps between the center and both guards. Now with only one inside LB running thru one of the gaps this leaves the other wide open. I don't know how many times I have seen #30 run blitz into one of the gaps and the RB run free into the other gap. This is not #30's fault it is the fault of the defense. I would put #30 and #47 in the middle on first and second down and use the rover to be an outside LB opposite of #54.

[HELLOZIPS]

Lucky lucky lucky win!!!however....bumping this back to the top....any way to fix the D this year?

Bring in new Defensive Coordinator and new D-Linemen coaches. That's the only way we will be able to fix the D this year. So, in saying that, it won't get fix. They haven't made any changes the first 8 games and I can't see them making any changes the last 4 games. What we see is what we get.

[ZachTheZip]

The scary part is that our future opponents have all figured out the defense already. If this defense was supposed to surprise other teams, then there should have been a whole bunch of different looks that we could run to cause confusion. I don't see them. We pick a look going into a game, and stick with it. Sure, it changes in between games, but unless we change it up constantly, we're using a scheme that we don't know how to run.