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DT Luke Fickell (HC Wisconsin Badgers)

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mleone21 said:
Let's hope the guy Urban brings in doesn't believe in soft coverage with the corners like Withers did. I think continuity would be better for Fickell and the defense. Why not go out and get a guy like Taver Johnson?
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Now.. Remember, Withers said that he had two players that could provide Man on Man bump and run coverage. Since I take him at his word, then why didn't they see the field? Just wondering..
 
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Watching the game last night I thought it was weird seeing Saban on the half time show giving some insight in to what he felt Auburn was doing to stifle FSU (who wound up winning the game, so not sure how much this means in the end).

The first thing out of Saban's mouth was that the corners were challenging the receivers forcing Winston to make tough throws.
 
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ysubuck said:
Watching the game last night I thought it was weird seeing Saban on the half time show giving some insight in to what he felt Auburn was doing to stifle FSU (who wound up winning the game, so not sure how much this means in the end).

The first thing out of Saban's mouth was that the corners were challenging the receivers forcing Winston to make tough throws.
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And they had the corners to do it... Every time OSU challenged Clemson's receivers, they ran right by our corners.
 
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C-busBuck said:
Yes.. They were 5 yards off the line instead of 10. Here is the deal. They ran right by our corners because they were not face to face and no jam occurred. They didn't get jammed and so wideout just ran right by them.
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agreed... to me 5 yards isn't press coverage... thats a medium coverage as opposed to the 10 yard charmin coverage... no jamming = torched DBs
 
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When you only have 2 guys that the coaches trust in press coverage do you install a press coverage system? What happens when one of those two get dinged up a bit and you have to bring in another guy that can't press? These guys have limited time each week to develop and implement their plan for the next opponent. They have to plan for their personnel depth in that same time frame.

Now, whether the plans are effective is another conversation entirely, but I wouldn't be surprised if what we see on the field is a series of compromises based on what they feel they can best accomplish with the 2-deep as a whole.
 
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ochre said:
When you only have 2 guys that the coaches trust in press coverage do you install a press coverage system? What happens when one of those two get dinged up a bit and you have to bring in another guy that can't press? These guys have limited time each week to develop and implement their plan for the next opponent. They have to plan for their personnel depth in that same time frame.

Now, whether the plans are effective is another conversation entirely, but I wouldn't be surprised if what we see on the field is a series of compromises based on what they feel they can best accomplish with the 2-deep as a whole.
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You use the press coverage when you can. Here is how teams play tOSU. They know tOSU sit back in coverage so they have quick hitters that become big hitters. Why? Because the DBs do nothing to impede their progress early in the route and break the timing of their routes. Most teams only have a few players capable of playing press coverage. You play it if you got them. If you don't then you go with option B. If you go with option B, be prepared to get nickle and dimed to death cause that is what happened to the tOSU pass defense all season. Also playing more zone would prevent long pass plays from happening, but even that wasn't the case. The Bucks got burned long as well. Don't even get me started on the screens which the Bucks failed to defend all year. These teams know Buckeye D line is good so the pass plays are designed to get the ball out of the QB's hands quickly. This happens often since routes aren't jammed and receivers run free. QB throws to a spot and receivers are there to make the grab. Happened all year long against the Buckeyes. We all saw it game after game.
I believe the Bucks have talented DBs in the fold. I question how well they have been coached and I have questioned it the whole second half of the season.

Another thing, if you are going to play zone, you have to be very solid at reading offensive alignments. The DBs were not good at making reads nor was any of the linebackers this season. While Shazier could make some phenomenal plays, he wasn't reading plays very well. Nor was he helping the lower classmen get into the correct defense. I'm not trying to call him out singularly but he was the most seasoned player out there in the backfield. Well him and CJ Barnett. They basically had no leaders on the defense after Bryant went out. The read issue is a coaching issue, but the leadership issue will require some of the new players to step in and take the helm. Show the tough love when needed as well as point out the keys and get players aligned correctly. All of these things have to happen if the defense is going to get back to the Ohio State defense we love to watch.
 
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C-busBuck said:
You use the press coverage when you can. Here is how teams play tOSU. They know tOSU sit back in coverage so they have quick hitters that become big hitters. Why? Because the DBs do nothing to impede their progress early in the route and break the timing of their routes. Most teams only have a few players capable of playing press coverage. You play it if you got them. If you don't then you go with option B. If you go with option B, be prepared to get nickle and dimed to death cause that is what happened to the tOSU pass defense all season. Also playing more zone would prevent long pass plays from happening, but even that wasn't the case. The Bucks got burned long as well. Don't even get me started on the screens which the Bucks failed to defend all year. These teams know Buckeye D line is good so the pass plays are designed to get the ball out of the QB's hands quickly. This happens often since routes aren't jammed and receivers run free. QB throws to a spot and receivers are there to make the grab. Happened all year long against the Buckeyes. We all saw it game after game.
I believe the Bucks have talented DBs in the fold. I question how well they have been coached and I have questioned it the whole second half of the season.

Another thing, if you are going to play zone, you have to be very solid at reading offensive alignments. The DBs were not good at making reads nor was any of the linebackers this season. While Shazier could make some phenomenal plays, he wasn't reading plays very well. Nor was he helping the lower classmen get into the correct defense. I'm not trying to call him out singularly but he was the most seasoned player out there in the backfield. Well him and CJ Barnett. They basically had no leaders on the defense after Bryant went out. The read issue is a coaching issue, but the leadership issue will require some of the new players to step in and take the helm. Show the tough love when needed as well as point out the keys and get players aligned correctly. All of these things have to happen if the defense is going to get back to the Ohio State defense we love to watch.
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And then there's the poor tackling as well. I think there was a broken tackle on every single play in the first half at Ann Arbor.
Leadership can also be a coaching issue. We've seen how none of the coaches on the defensive side take responsibility. To this day, I don't know who had what responsibilities between Fickell and Withers... and it doesn't seem like anyone else does either. That lack of responsibility will carry down to the players. I've seen it before in organizations where there is a lack of ownership by those being paid to lead; and it results in nobody beneath them wanting to step up either.
 
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I think C-busBuck brings up an interesting point that was only an observation I had. When watching MSU and even Wisconsin you saw the LB's barking out adjustments almost every play, communicating to their front and signaling to the back half and corners. This communication could have been happening, but it is just something I noticed. Jumping to conclusions, maybe MSU had better players who could read a defense and get people in the right spot. Thinking back to several of Ohio State's really good D's I think every poster on this board could identify the 1 or 2 guys who was the QB out there for the D. I am not sure this D or the last couple of D's have had that guy.
 
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craigblitz said:
I think C-busBuck brings up an interesting point that was only an observation I had. When watching MSU and even Wisconsin you saw the LB's barking out adjustments almost every play, communicating to their front and signaling to the back half and corners. This communication could have been happening, but it is just something I noticed. Jumping to conclusions, maybe MSU had better players who could read a defense and get people in the right spot. Thinking back to several of Ohio State's really good D's I think every poster on this board could identify the 1 or 2 guys who was the QB out there for the D. I am not sure this D or the last couple of D's have had that guy.
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I've aid it all year.who's the leader. Who's the coaches voice on the field? No communication and too much thinking..
 
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Onebuckfan said:
I've aid it all year.who's the leader. Who's the coaches voice on the field? No communication and too much thinking..
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I think Bryant was the leader on the defense and it really hurt when he went down.

But as far as leadership goes we should not have two defensive coordinators because it can cause confusion. Yes, we did it successfully for years but with such a young group maybe it would be better to have one guy that you know has final say on things.
 
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