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Dis the Ducks

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Kimber45 said:
Now that we've entered Phase II (analytics) of the pregame banter cycle I decided to watch what ISU clips are available on YT, drove by a Holiday Inn, and came away with these impressions:

1. Purdy. The game will go as Purdy goes and I don't mean just on offense. When Purdy is on he's very good. Spins a great ball, makes good decisions, and frequently extends a play with his arm or legs. If the ISU offense can grind out long drives and score in the red zone Oregon could be in for a long day. Yeah, I know, file this under "no shite sherlock". What I don't see though is an offense that is good enough across the board to win with a QB who is just managing the game by relying on the talent around him. I really like your backs, #11 (Allen) is a stud and runs like a wide out, but Purdy having a good game is key. Who is your back up QB and how much faith do you have in him?

2. Pressure. I see the offense break down pretty quickly when there's pressure and that's where Purdy often excels; it's also where plays go horribly wrong. If Oregon plays mostly a three man front and zone coverage I can see Purdy absolutely slicing and dicing through the Oregon defense. Purdy also needs to be spied because he's such a good runner. Which leads to the rub - If Oregon puts four hands down at the line and spies Purdy with a LB or nickle then your TEs run wild down the seams or on shallow crosses. Personally, I prefer the latter and take our chances.

3. Defense. I see a lot of three man fronts with very athletic "max effort" (as another poster put it) guys who can get to the QB. The base looks like a 3-3-5, perhaps an ISU fan could chime in with some additional insight. The safeties are fast and hit hard, one guy in particular. Saw a lot of soft zone coverage and not overwhelmed by the corner play. On the whole, though, there's speed on defense, they play smart, and tackle well.

4. Run Defense. Saw a lot of six guys in the box and a high safety. I know ISU has pride in their run defense but I think even Oregon's relatively inexperienced OL can make hay with that.

Anyhoo, just the ramblings of a mostly sober interet rando with a keyboard.

Ps. I have all sorts of critiques about Oregon as well so don't take the foregoing as chest thumping.
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Like we said before, Since Heacock put in this defense in the last two years against Iowa and it’s OL with lots of NFL guys on at averaged less than 3 ypc. It’s a different approach to the run, as it is “fill and spill” rather than contain and funnel to the LBs like most. So it’s a 3 man front that is not trying to contain on the outside, but rather give a guy a long path to pop it outside and let the OLBs safeties and even CBs clean it up. If you block really well and have an elite yards after contact or elusive RB, there can be some big plays.
#26 Johnson is a very good CB. He was the only All conference gripe I had. In my opinion he was the second best player on the defense but was only HM all big 12.
Surprisingly ISU has had some lapses deep sown the middle of the field.

Lastly you will see, much like the OU game that Heacock will stay vanilla in the first half, give up yards and FGs in the first half, keep it close, get a team locked into a game plan and counter the second half. ISU has been one of the best second half and 4th quarter teams in the country.

I think this is going to be tons of fun. Good opponent that is a great brand on a NY6 bowl.
 
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Busch__Latte said:
I wonder if they’ll have players opt-out for the game, North Carolina is losing most of its key players for their game. I believe their top5 pick lineman isn’t playing.
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They had some really good players opt out before the season. I think 3 of them are NFL caliber d-backs. Plus the best o-lineman in the country. If they had a couple guys opt out of the bowl game, that would be great. They have good d-linemen, but they haven't been impressive stat-wise this year.
 
cyrocksmypants said:
Yeah, we’re 10th in the nation against the rush allowing just over 100 yards per game in 11 games. It seems deceiving because we play with three down linemen and three backers, but generally those three down linemen can eat up all 5 offensive linemen, allowing Mike Rose (the Big 12 defensive player of the year) to freely flow for tackles, and our defense is pretty phenomenal at going sideline to sideline. I’m not worried about our rush defense. Our weakness is any kind of go route or hitch route, particularly up the middle. While our linebackers and safeties are fantastic run defenders, there seems to often be 4-5 plays per game where they just look completely confused in pass defense. One of our cornerbacks, Johnson, is pretty lockdown and rarely thrown to, but the other side is probably average, at best.
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Travis Dye is someone you will have to look out for. He's an RB that's caught a few go routes up the middle out of the backfield.
 
demoncore1031 said:
They had some really good players opt out before the season. I think 3 of them are NFL caliber d-backs. Plus the best o-lineman in the country. If they had a couple guys opt out of the bowl game, that would be great. They have good d-linemen, but they haven't been impressive stat-wise this year.
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Our NFL talent is in the last two classes and not eligible. Lenoir would be the only one and I doubt he opts out but couldn't say for sure.
 
AuH2O said:
Like we said before, Since Heacock put in this defense in the last two years against Iowa and it’s OL with lots of NFL guys on at averaged less than 3 ypc. It’s a different approach to the run, as it is “fill and spill” rather than contain and funnel to the LBs like most. So it’s a 3 man front that is not trying to contain on the outside, but rather give a guy a long path to pop it outside and let the OLBs safeties and even CBs clean it up. If you block really well and have an elite yards after contact or elusive RB, there can be some big plays.
#26 Johnson is a very good CB. He was the only All conference gripe I had. In my opinion he was the second best player on the defense but was only HM all big 12.
Surprisingly ISU has had some lapses deep sown the middle of the field.

Lastly you will see, much like the OU game that Heacock will stay vanilla in the first half, give up yards and FGs in the first half, keep it close, get a team locked into a game plan and counter the second half. ISU has been one of the best second half and 4th quarter teams in the country.

I think this is going to be tons of fun. Good opponent that is a great brand on a NY6 bowl.
Click to expand...
Appreciate the insight. How well does the run D react to designed or ad lib backside counters?
 
Kimber45 said:
Appreciate the insight. How well does the run D react to designed or ad lib backside counters?
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Not too sure. I only watched a little bit of them this year, but I was on their website a couple days ago looking at their stats and was not impressed. They are pretty average in most categories. But stats don't really matter. They have several future NFL guys on their defense.
 
Kimber45 said:
Appreciate the insight. How well does the run D react to designed or ad lib backside counters?
Click to expand...
It can vary. We will have one CB play man press and rotate a safety to over the top support. The other side will play a full cloud. The best possibility is if you catch the press side since he will be in man. Our OLBs do flow well so you will need mobile lineman to help.
 
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Kimber45 said:
........
3. Defense. I see a lot of three man fronts with very athletic "max effort" (as another poster put it) guys who can get to the QB. The base looks like a 3-3-5, perhaps an ISU fan could chime in with some additional insight. The safeties are fast and hit hard, one guy in particular. Saw a lot of soft zone coverage and not overwhelmed by the corner play. On the whole, though, there's speed on defense, they play smart, and tackle well......
Click to expand...

Solid analysis and I think you have synthesized ISU quite well. The best writing I have seen seen on ISU’s unique defense has come from Ian Boyd which he describes as an inverted Tampa 2 where the nose guard, Mike LB and, middle safety are the leverage points of the defense. ISU “inverted Tampa 2” is all about disguising coverages pre-snap and creating confusion and chaos with amoebic personnel because QB pressure and fitting gaps can come from defensive backs and LBs when and where the play callers are not expecting it.

To beat the inverted Tampa it helps to have a mobile, smart, and precise QB. But probably an offense’s best bet is to create run/pass conflicts and attack space through either the QB run game or deep passing zones. Having good to great block FBs, TEs, and/or WRs all obviously help as well. ISU offense can give up some yards but it is quite stingy in the red zone when the field is compressed- paradoxically with that deceptive 3 man front. It is a classic bend but don’t break defense. You are having a great day if the opposing offense is “breaking” it with long plays into touchdowns or if said offense is patient and disciplined enough to get chunk plays all day (a la “death by a thousand papercuts”). Should be an interesting battle.
 
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EarthIsMan said:
To beat the inverted Tampa it helps to have a mobile, smart, and precise QB. But probably an offense’s best bet is to create run/pass conflicts and attack space through either the QB run game or deep passing zones. Having good block FBs, TEs, and/or WRs all obviously help as well. ISU offense can give up some yards but it is quite stingy in the red zone when the field is compressed- paradoxically with that deceptive 3 man front. It is a classic bend but don’t break defense. You are having a great day if the opposing offense is “breaking” it with long plays into touchdowns or if said offense is patient and disciplined enough to get chunk plays all day (a la “death by a thousand papercuts”). Should be an interesting battle.
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Moorehead is a good x's and o's coach at creating run/pass conflicts and attacking space. The problem is our qb has turned into a head case. If I were a betting man, I think we start Anthony Brown and try the disciplined approach.
 
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Sewell is Pac 12 Frehsman DPOY.

He will be a good one down the road but still prone to Freshman mistakes.
 
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