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What's Wrong With the 2013 Defense?

What's Wrong With the 2013 Defense?

  • Talent / Players

    Votes: 29 11.8%
  • Scheme / Coaching

    Votes: 127 51.8%
  • Both are substandard

    Votes: 71 29.0%
  • Neither - B1G offenses are unstoppable

    Votes: 10 4.1%
  • I don't care - just fire Fickell!

    Votes: 8 3.3%

  • Total voters
    245
Doran had his toughest day yet IMO - not his best showing.

I also really struggle to imagine that Burrows couldn't do any better than Reeves. Maybe Christian Bryant would have been the difference in the secondary this year, maybe not, but the one thing everyone can agree we were missing on the defense this year was leadership. No one to take command of the huddle, no one to follow their lead - the D has it's talent, no doubt about it, but there was just no QB out there. Tough pill to swallow to see the Silver Bullets perform like this.
 
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Here's the problem, it's a simple one. The linebackers have been anywhere from average at best, to just bad the last two years. There's a lack of depth at the position. Also, the safety play has been mostly abysmal for a couple of years now, and losing Bryant was an enormous blow. I have no idea how guys continually get wide open against these guys, but they do, with alarming regularity. For the cherry on top, there's no real on field leadership. No fiery, vocal guys to urge people on. I think some of that might be some talent. I think a little more of that is coaching. We're not throwing a bunch of 2*/3* guys out there. Most of these kids were pretty highly rated recruits. The talent level did not magically fall off of a cliff after 2010.

No, this game was not 100% on the defense, but the offense has banked some goodwill. The defense has been an issue for two years now, and the last two weeks it has been really bad.

I've never been a "FIRE EVERYBODY!!!1!!" kind of guy. However, after this season, I hope there is a significant shake-up with the defensive staff.
 
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I just had a horrible thought.

If we had the defense from last year we would have won this game.

That defense shut down a better Sparty offense than this one.

I still can't get over the fact that Connor Cook just threw for over 300 fucking yards today.
 
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As soon as someone can explain to me how we can achieve pressure on the QB or stuff the run damn near every time with X amount of D lineman and then we decide to remove Y amount of lineman on the next four plays, I'll tell you what's wrong with the defense.

I understand that the big guys get tired and all...but watching Joey taking on triple teams was a crime against humanity. I hate the 3 man rush when an offense has 5 guys blocking, but watching a 3 man rush against 6 and 7 guys is just brutal. Maybe it's just me but I fail to see where taking guys out from the best unit on the defense, only to replace them with guys from what seems to be the weakest unit on defense, is a good idea.

I mean if we are just going to let a QB have a career day passing week after week we might as well line up in the 7 diamond and punish his ass 4 out of 5 plays.
 
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This loss was a blessing for our program long term. If we would have played FSU, Jameis Winston would've lit us up. It would've made us look really bad.

I'm not sure what's to blame for this defense struggling. If you say Fickell, you better not forget Withers and Coombs. Urban needs to sit down and evaluate each of them this offseason, and evaluate the scheme we run here.

Another thing is we're just not that talented on defense. Just look at our past defenses, or SEC defenses (LSU, Bama, Florida) they're loaded with NFL talent. I say we have two maybe three NFL caliber players on our defense that are draft eligible. We need to continue to recruit great players, especially in the back 7.
 
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Ok - running back through the DVR:

1. The d-line was Jekyll and Hyde all game long. A lot of that had to do with MSU's offensive line, but there were times when the d-line was getting no push whatsoever.

2. Shazier is a beast, but other than one or two, that was the quietest 12 tackle game I can remember from him.

3. 3 man rush was employed again, and the holes in the zone showed up again.

4. Not one blitz got home. Bosa was the pass rush most of the time.

5. The defensive staff has some serious issues on the back 7 - namely, I think they are giving the players too many keys to read instead of just letting them play. I think a lot of the issues are 'brain cramp' type things instead of instinctual. Looking at the TD they gave up in the 4th quarter to the TE - it's clear Barnett is seeing something that wasn't there and it burned them.

I think a simplified scheme would do this defensive backfield wonders. If that means new coaches, then that's what it has to be.

Also, there were too many times when the defense would blitz where the MSU offense knew exactly where it was coming from and where to go with the ball. This isn't the first time - scUM did it as well and to a certain extent, so did Iowa. Those tendencies and how they are not being broken is putting the players in a bad spot.
 
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