CORNER BACK ISSUES

[edcollopy]

Buyers is a really nice tackler, but the 12 yard cushions are getting ridiculous. He is strong...how about some bump and run. I know he is not the fastest, but this i torture watching these cushions. Mac said at half time that we need to tighten up the cushion and play more aggressively. What do we see the first time Tech has the ball? 12-14 yard cushions. Does our coaching staff communicate with each other?

James Jones...for God's sake stop grabbing the receivers jersey. That's pop warner crap. 2 times in the first half you just reach out and grab a jersey like you're playing 2 on 2 nerf football in the street??? Just bushleage defense last night.

[oldguystudent]

how about some bump and run.

That would surely result in multiple penalties for illegally trying to play defense.

[MeanGreenTexan]

Buyers is a really nice tackler, but the 12 yard cushions are getting ridiculous. He is strong...how about some bump and run. I know he is not the fastest, but this i torture watching these cushions. Mac said at half time that we need to tighten up the cushion and play more aggressively. What do we see the first time Tech has the ball? 12-14 yard cushions. Does our coaching staff communicate with each other?

James Jones...for God's sake stop grabbing the receivers jersey. That's pop warner crap. 2 times in the first half you just reach out and grab a jersey like you're playing 2 on 2 nerf football in the street??? Just bushleage defense last night.

You must have missed the TD Buyers got burned on in press man-to-man. He plays best with the cushion, and coming up to make sure open-field tackles. Don't fix what ain't broken.

[GOMG2013]

We were very successful against Texas and SMU with our nickel on 3rd downs. We did not run nickel much this game. I can only guess it was due to Dixon and being scared of the draw play.

The nickel package this season has been Chad Davis coming in at the field corner and buyers playing safety/nickel back.

In the second qtr, latech converted a 3rd and 11 & 2nd and 20. The nickel should have been in there.

Buyers can hold his own at corner, but probably projects as a safety if he wants a shot at the next level. Billiesee has hinted at it, but it would be a smart move for buyers to move to free safety next year.

[aztecskin]

This.

Our defense is strongest when built around great tackling. The cushion was a bit soft in that the CBs weren't aggressively attacking the ball when it was thrown.

The corners behind Kenny are generally not as good tackling. I'd rather the opposition move the ball up and down the field and then stifle get stopped in the red zone. Obviously this didn't happen here. They punched it in quite easily. That power sweep thing they did from Pistol to attack the edge really put a lot of pressure on our LBs to fly over and make a play. Often Akunne and others were a step too slow, or shed their blocks too slowly to make the play on the edge.

It certainly is a vulnerability. I still like our defensive chances over the entire game if their team isn't starting at the 2 or the 12 or getting the ball back after only 90 seconds.

You must have missed the TD Buyers got burned on in press man-to-man. He plays best with the cushion, and coming up to make sure open-field tackles. Don't fix what ain't broken.

Edited September 12, 2014 by aztecskin

[Ben Gooding]

The cushion was stupid soft. If you're going to play man with this amount of cushion you better be sending who you can to get to the QB. Again, I attribute the D play directly to the offense. It breaks down the psyche of a D when they KNOW they will be back on the field in 3 plays.

[Green Crazy]

Buyers has to give the cushion or he gets beat on the long ball.

[SouthBendGreen]

You guys act like the cushion is something new. Last year they had just as much cushion. It drove me up the wall. But they got away with it because the front 7 was so damn good. I think Skladany is a fantastic coach. But he knows that if they bump and run or press, more often than not our slow corners will get beat. Buyers is a fantastic tackler I mean I am not sure I have ever seen him not make the tackle when he gets contact. But the problem is he doesn't have the wheels.

There were so many times that LA Tech had all 11 guys within like 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. I would love to get our defense fast enough to play like that. I fear they would just be too exposed if they did.

Edited September 12, 2014 by SouthBendGreen

[Ben Gooding]

Lol, they did that bc our O is GARBAGE and they knew it.

[UNT90]

So the defense was tired after one qtr?

Cause we didn't stop La. Tech at all in the second qtr.

A lot of blame to go around in this one.

[GMG24]

I do think after running back onto field to cover punts just 1:30 of game time from when you got off the field would wear one down. Particularly our secondary trying to chase their wrs who had more speed than we could imagine. The long drives came in the second quarter after we put so much into stopping them. Yes, we bent and didn't break for quite awhile. I'm not worried one bit about D, if the offense can string a drive or two in there we will be fine.

[SSP]

Did I miss the thread where we actually credit LaTech and Skip Holtz for being pretty damn good this year?

[Ben Gooding]

F them. They will get rolled up by someone that is even half ass balanced. Their D sucks. Their DL is tiny with the exception of one DT, and their LB's all look like SS's. A decent QB at best with any kind of running game will mulch them up.

[UNTLifer]

Funny, I seem to remember reading where Buyers was one of our fastest players last year. You all go from loving to hating faster than my wife.

[oldguystudent]

You all go from loving to hating faster than my wife.

You might consider a little afterglow snuggling and pillow talk.

[UNT90]

Did I miss the thread where we actually credit LaTech and Skip Holtz for being pretty damn good this year?

We had open receivers deep all night against La. Tech.

I mean 5 to 10 yards behind the defense open.

We didn't have a QB who could get them the ball. Plain and simple.

La. Tech ran the perfect scheme against us on defense. The same scheme UT ran. The sane scheme every team will run going forward until we make them pay. We CAN'T make them pay with Greer or McNulty at QB. If they have any talent at all on defense, we don't score. Defensively, I think La. Tech is pretty average, and will get exposed by better offensive teams.

Offensively, people on here are not giving La. Tech NEAR ENOUGH CREDIT. They have one of the better, maybe even the 2nd best, QB in the conference. Kid can flat out play. He stood and delivered DOWNFIELD strike after strike while taking some vicious hits (some after the ball was long gone). Very impressed by him.

Notice how La. Tech's passing game opened up their running game? Anyone? TFLF?

Did you take freaking note of that?

Because that's how football go.

[MeanGreenHoops]

Actually Tech made an adjustment in the 2nd quarter. Our defense was winning the battle and playing very well into the 2nd quarter. The Tech started throwing 5-10 yard passes on our soft corners after very quick 3 step drops. They basically saw our defensive line was causing havoc, and they couldn't run the ball, so they took what we were giving them. he 2nd TD was basically a pump fake and Marshall (i think) collapsed on the swing pass and let Hunter Lee get by him for the wide open TD. I think after that the defense started to wear down a little and probably get demoralized some because the offense was so pitiful.

Also Sokol got in a rhythm with all of those quick passes and then just started to get on fire. Their coaches made a great adjustment. Our defense wasn't able to adjust to that quickly enough. It isn't so good that it can play multiple ways. It justs needs the offense and special teams to provide anything to make it a game, and neither unit did.

[GOMG2013]

Actually Tech made an adjustment in the 2nd quarter. Our defense was winning the battle and playing very well into the 2nd quarter. The Tech started throwing 5-10 yard passes on our soft corners after very quick 3 step drops. They basically saw our defensive line was causing havoc, and they couldn't run the ball, so they took what we were giving them. he 2nd TD was basically a pump fake and Marshall (i think) collapsed on the swing pass and let Hunter Lee get by him for the wide open TD. I think after that the defense started to wear down a little and probably get demoralized some because the offense was so pitiful.

Also Sokol got in a rhythm with all of those quick passes and then just started to get on fire. Their coaches made a great adjustment. Our defense wasn't able to adjust to that quickly enough. It isn't so good that it can play multiple ways. It justs needs the offense and special teams to provide anything to make it a game, and neither unit did.

This right here. All of this. They made adjustments. We were outcoached. Lbs looking for the run. Never brought in nickel and they picked it apart.

We had a chance to strike first too. Wide open td was horribly thrown. We punt. They get the ball on the 40. That is when it starting unravelling. In about 7 minutes of the 2nd quarter, a lot of damage was done.