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DT Luke Fickell (HC Wisconsin Badgers)

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Hstead said:
I just think our scheme sucks as does our blitz packages. Any third grader can watch the game, see how we line up on defense, and say "ok just stand up and throw it to the guy over there that is all by himself.". C'mon. Really? We are that scared to get burnt deep once or twice that we have to play off every split end 7 yards or more? Seriously? Our DBs are that slow and inept at covering a receiver that we have to give every receiver in the country 7 yards of cushion? Not to mention we never make any adjustments. We are completely reactionary on defense. We do not dictate anything. We do not take anything away with the exception of the deep ball, which we still managed to give up quite a few times this year. We make every QB we face look like an All American and they throw for 300+ with 75% completions. I am tired of watching DB's not turn to find the ball, they play the man not the ball which goes against everything I have ever been taught and is completely ignorant to me. How do you defend when you have no idea where the ball is? It is obviously being taught that way in practice because I have seen all of the DBs do it at some point during the year, and it is consistently displayed by our DBs. They look like the have no clue how to cover a man. All because that is how it is being taught and practiced. That is not how the NFL DBs cover a receiver for a reason.
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We need to let one of the best coaches in college football sit down, review the year, and make some decisions. The talent was NOT always there and ready this year, two players started for the first time last night on defense, for goodness sakes, and how many starters out? And they still had a chance to win it with 1:46 left?

Whiskey tango foxtrot! The turnaround after the departure of Coach Tressel has been nothing short of breathtaking.

The Buckeyes will be just fine.
 
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It was obvious.. our defensive scheme last night was a clear indication of lack of coach confidence is his players
They don't feel they have the players to play the highly aggressive defense we would love to see
We have to play zone because coach isn't confident he has the horses to play man
 
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Coach Fickell is a great buckeye. I loved watching him play tough defense with a tough bunch at the time. He seems like a nice person. As a coach, I think he simply is in over his head. He might be a great position coach and a good recruiter, but other than that, he has not done anything that proves his skills as a lead man. His promotions seemed either by default or because of false projections from the previous head coach. Meyer again made the wrong call by keeping him as a DC instead of bringing in a new lead man for his defense. I remember Meyer's comments explaing the decision saying that instead of bringing in a guy that says i want to do it his way, we thought...which at the time, made me shake my head in disbelief because that is exactly what you do if you dont want to end up with patch work. Meyer and more importantly the buckeye nation are paying for that decision, and it is time to make the right call. Tough love is sometimes the best thing you do for someone you love, and Ohio Sate is bigger than any one person.
 
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I don't understand the thought that "coach didn't have confidence in his players to play more aggressive man coverage". If you are giving a receiver 222 yards on the evening and the QB goes for nearly 500 yards, I do not see how you can not make an adjustment and at least gamble that you might make a play versus just giving up then? To me that means you can't coach. So you are saying, well our guys aren't that good, let's just sit back and watch #2 go for a record 222 yards on us?
 
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Hstead said:
I don't understand the thought that "coach didn't have confidence in his players to play more aggressive man coverage". If you are giving a receiver 222 yards on the evening and the QB goes for nearly 500 yards, I do not see how you can not make an adjustment and at least gamble that you might make a play versus just giving up then? To me that means you can't coach. So you are saying, well our guys aren't that good, let's just sit back and watch #2 go for a record 222 yards on us?
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The coaching staff will be in touch with you shortly. After reading you opinions, they have told me that they clearly feel as though you know more than they do and will seek your help in preparation for the upcoming season.
 
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sparcboxbuck said:
The coaching staff will be in touch with you shortly. After reading you opinions, they have told me that they clearly feel as though you know more than they do and will seek your help in preparation for the upcoming season.
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Be sarcastic all you want, I played college football and at one time was recruited by Cooper who came to watch our team win a state championship years ago. I also coach high school football at one of the winningest programs in the state.

Do I know what Meyer does? No. Do I know some football, yes. I am not the only guy in the country saying our defensive scheme sucks. You are in the minority if you think our defensive scheme is good.

So now that you have questioned my football, knowledge, let's here your resume? Maybe the coaches will want you on the staff?
 
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Hstead said:
I just think our scheme sucks as does our blitz packages. Any third grader can watch the game, see how we line up on defense, and say "ok just stand up and throw it to the guy over there that is all by himself.". C'mon. Really? We are that scared to get burnt deep once or twice that we have to play off every split end 7 yards or more? Seriously? Our DBs are that slow and inept at covering a receiver that we have to give every receiver in the country 7 yards of cushion? Not to mention we never make any adjustments. We are completely reactionary on defense. We do not dictate anything. We do not take anything away with the exception of the deep ball, which we still managed to give up quite a few times this year. We make every QB we face look like an All American and they throw for 300+ with 75% completions. I am tired of watching DB's not turn to find the ball, they play the man not the ball which goes against everything I have ever been taught and is completely ignorant to me. How do you defend when you have no idea where the ball is? It is obviously being taught that way in practice because I have seen all of the DBs do it at some point during the year, and it is consistently displayed by our DBs. They look like the have no clue how to cover a man. All because that is how it is being taught and practiced. That is not how the NFL DBs cover a receiver for a reason.
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I would like to expand on the CB blitzes. In theory, the CB blitz is a risky call because you rely on a safety or other player to pick up the open WR/TE whatever.

They are typically only successful if the QB isn't expecting the blitz, there's more blitzers than blockers, there's pressure from another position, or you have a track star like Roby.

So we blitz the CB right in front of the QB and we're too worried about giving away the defensive alignment that the safety doesn't motion into position. To compound this the CB was 8 yards off the receiver. Usain Bolt couldn't reach home on this blitz. You do this on a 4 year starter to one of their better receivers. It's pitch and catch. Earlier in the year, we blitzes Roby from 10-12 yards off the line of scrimmage. This basically means he has to run 25 yards or more between the snap and pass. Both passes were completed to the hot receiver. It's the definition of hot read.

This either screams we thought it was a run and sent another body for run support, or the defensive coordinator is trying too hard to mask coverages presnap. Maybe it's the safety's fault, maybe he was supposed to slide into coverage, but I can't imagine it can happen 3+ times because the safety isn't sliding over. It's because the safety either isn't fast enough or he has another responsibility and we're leaving open WRs streaking down the field.

Now that we've addressed CB blitzes, there's 100 other things wrong with this defense that I'd like to discuss.
 
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Hstead said:
Be sarcastic all you want, I played college football and at one time was recruited by Cooper who came to watch our team win a state championship years ago. I also coach high school football at one of the winningest programs in the state.

Do I know what Meyer does? No. Do I know some football, yes. I am not the only guy in the country saying our defensive scheme sucks. You are in the minority if you think our defensive scheme is good.

So now that you have questioned my football, knowledge, let's here your resume? Maybe the coaches will want you on the staff?
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The sarcasm comes as a result of the tone as opposed to the opinion. Many of us acknowledge that there are issues with that side of the ball. Hell, there's an entire thread devoted to it. So, clearly, we all agree that something is amiss.

At the end of the day, neither you, me or frankly anyone else who is here, is in a position to change things. That is for a reason. We are spectators. They are the coaches. Feel free to submit your resume if you think you can do better.
 
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sparcboxbuck said:
The sarcasm comes as a result of the tone as opposed to the opinion. Many of us acknowledge that there are issues with that side of the ball. Hell, there's an entire thread devoted to it. So, clearly, we all agree that something is amiss.

At the end of the day, neither you, me or frankly anyone else who is here, is in a position to change things. That is for a reason. We are spectators. They are the coaches. Feel free to submit your resume if you think you can do better.
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We can agree then that there are issues on defense. We are going to have to disagree that it is talent vs coaching. We will see in a couple three years when we count how many off of this defense play on Sunday. Roby and Shazier will play on Sundays and are part of the back 7.

I never stated I was going to change anything did I? I haven't made plans to submit my resume, but at the moment I would take a third grader as a DC over what we have displayed so far.

Fickell was on the hot seat last year before the ichigan game if anyone cares to remember, especially when Indiana hung 49 on us.

The last time I checked this is a forum to discuss buckeye football. If you feel the need to trust the coaches and not give your opinion feel free to do so. For those of us that see problems and would like to see the problems addressed, we will post our opinions.
 
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let's go with the thought that most of the problems are from the players and the coaches did all they could...
The question for Meyer and the team and the Buckeye fans is:
Are we willing to accept the risk of keeping Fickle as a co DC. What if we are wrong?
 
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