Kansas Game Thoughts (Defense specifically)

[Cyclonsin]

KU scored on 6 straight possessions and 5 of those were touchdowns. Thats unbelievable, even with the injuries on defense. I do think there is something to the 3 man front and not getting any sort of pressure on the QB and having difficulty against the run. At this point it just isn't working the way it did a few years ago. I think at least for the rest of the season moving primarily to a 4 man front would put the best guys on the field and limit the LBs on the field and allow the best or healthiest 2 out there.

At this point in time there HAS to be a change, continuing the same thing after what happened against KU would be insanity. They do run 4 man fronts occasionally as a change up but I think they need to go the other way and run a 4 man front primarily and then switch a 3 man a few times as a change up. Gotta do something. Here's hoping they are willing to do it.

Between it being discussed as a change in the offseason, the entire LB corps being hospitalized, and the general lack of pass rush with the 3-3-5 since WMD left, I'm convinced we simply don't have the players to run with 4 DL more than a few snaps per game.

 

[CyGuy5]

Can we stop propping up Jaylon Daniels as a good QB? Despite what our defense made him look like, the guy is not that good. He’s thrown 9 picks this season to 13 TDs.

Not to mention that was a Jeff Grimes offense we just let absolutely torch us. That makes two weeks in a row a bad offensive coordinator was able to out scheme our staff.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

KU scored on 6 straight possessions and 5 of those were touchdowns. Thats unbelievable, even with the injuries on defense. I do think there is something to the 3 man front and not getting any sort of pressure on the QB and having difficulty against the run. At this point it just isn't working the way it did a few years ago. I think at least for the rest of the season moving primarily to a 4 man front would put the best guys on the field and limit the LBs on the field and allow the best or healthiest 2 out there.

At this point in time there HAS to be a change, continuing the same thing after what happened against KU would be insanity. They do run 4 man fronts occasionally as a change up but I think they need to go the other way and run a 4 man front primarily and then switch a 3 man a few times as a change up. Gotta do something. Here's hoping they are willing to do it.

I hate to say it but I don't think a 4 man front fixes anything.

 

[ScottyP]

I listened to the radio broadcast for a portion of the game. Eric Heft mentioned that we were really struggling to contain. It might have been due to Kansas putting pressure on the edge.

 

[CyNews]

Defensive line just isn't that good. Which is having impact on the secondary and linebackers.

If you are getting burnt with just rushing 3, you should have sold out and blitzed the **** out of them.

Orange was out,correct?

 

[madguy30]

Can we stop propping up Jaylon Daniels as a good QB? Despite what our defense made him look like, the guy is not that good. He’s thrown 9 picks this season to 13 TDs.

Not to mention that was a Jeff Grimes offense we just let absolutely torch us. That makes two weeks in a row a bad offensive coordinator was able to out scheme our staff.

He's got lots of weapons around him and since ISU doesn't really defend the option his feet became a big issue and then he was able to let it fly to incredibly open receivers.

It was a QB's dream.

 

[harimad]

I hate to say it but I don't think a 4 man front fixes anything.

I agree. For me, it's about getting your best players on the field and letting them perform. Trotting out third stringers just doesn't make sense, but here we are doing it anyway.

We run a nickel defense as our base. I don't care if it's a 3-3 or a 4-2 front; what matters is that the six starters are our best six. Does anyone believe that's what's happening right now?

 

[cycloneevan]

I am a large proponent of the 4-2-5 instead of the 3-3-5, but I think that a lot of our struggles go back to the guys on the field. The 3-3-5 was great when we had a Will McDonald IV, a Jaquan Bailey, or an Eiyoma Uwazurike who can go get you 10 sacks by themself. However, we just don't have a guy like that on the team right now. I like some of the guys we have on the D-Line, but they're being asked to do too much. These aren't the kind of guys that are going to beat double teams, which they are often facing in the 3 man front.

Not only this, but the 2 and 3 deep linebackers we have to play due to injuries are just not up to P4 standard right now. I noted several times in the KU game where they missed tackles and were not in the correct gap, especially while KU was running that speed option play that they kept burning us with. I don't blame them for it; they're young and need time, but IMO, it's a talent issue, not a development issue. You can't teach the kind of thing that Georgia, Alabama, OSU, and Texas are getting out of their kids. There is a clear lack of on our defense, save for a few guys like Porter. Obviously, we aren't going to be on the highest level in terms of recruiting. Still, we can't keep stringing together below-average recruiting and portal classes in the B12 and expect our guys to be competitive athletically. We aren't playing Texas and OU anymore, so we should be on a somewhat level playing field in the conference, aside from the Texas schools. I am well aware that stars aren't everything, but there has been a clear talent gap in the last few weeks. It also seems to me that we haven't been hitting with the highly-rated guys we do get in the past few years.

In terms of right now, I think we should be adding another down lineman and taking out a linebacker. Schemes are built around the strengths of the team, and we are clearly weak at linebacker right now. 3-3-5 made perfect sense when it was implemented, but with the way the team sits today, it doesn't make sense anymore. It's built to stop Baker Mayfield, not RJ Harvey. Teams have figured us out, and we need to adjust if we want a chance to compete for the B12 title. This also applies to the offense, IMO. It is a disservice to keep putting multiple TEs out there when you are stronger at WR, especially with Brahmer out.
TLDR: stop banging your head against the wall

 

[QBEagles]

Football is definitely an adapt-or-die sport, and while we have a good coaching staff, they are adverse to change. There's more Ferentz in Campbell than a lot of us are comfortable with.

That said, switching the base defense in a few days isn't a realistic solution. I know we did a mid-season switch in 2017, but we basically had three weeks between competitive games there, and that was still seen as pretty radical. There was a ManningCast game a few weeks ago where Peyton complained how hard it was to prep for Belichick's Patriots when they switched up fronts between weeks, but the implication was no one else was doing that because it was hard to pull off in the NFL. It'd be even harder to do in college. There isn't unlimited prep time, and we wouldn't be comfortable at all with our assignments or playcalling.

And long-term, the 3-3-5 is probably right for this program if we have healthy linebackers. DL is always going to be hard to recruit and retain for ISU because of the premium at that position. We're more likely to get more Greg Eisworths and Mike Roses than Will McDonalds. The evolution of defense also tends to favor more mobile, flexible formations, which the 3-3-5 is. I think we need to keep inovating within the scheme. Heacock has done that over the years, he just needs to find the next countermove (and get healthy players).

 

[cyclone1209]

Zero pressure on the QB. Some of the route tree's KU was able to run was insane.

And that is the danger with this defense.

If you have 3 down lineman instead of 4, that allows guys to get open 20 yards down the field. (because the QB with our defense can have 6 seconds to throw)

 

[stewart092284]

I dunno about that. Barrett didn't look all that good in the games I watched. I think Buhr has played better, but that is just my opinion.

Rewatch. Early in the season, yes. But when we got rolling in league play? No.

Its not a coincidence that Barrett's injury (Vs. West Virgina)

has coincided with the offensive line struggling somewhat more versus blitz and being a little more hit and miss in the run game. Whereas we were really starting to click, Barrett included, right before his injury. Couple that with Brahmer being out and the second level of defenses are more free than they were before + never really establishing any kind of 3rd receiving threat, and here we are with opposing LB's basically free to mirror our OL and LB with very little to worry about behind him that's not assigned to their secondaries which makes it far easier to pressure and stop the run - at least, in theory. Of course they have to execute but the first part becomes easier.

 

[MJ271]

Can we stop propping up Jaylon Daniels as a good QB? Despite what our defense made him look like, the guy is not that good. He’s thrown 9 picks this season to 13 TDs.

Not to mention that was a Jeff Grimes offense we just let absolutely torch us. That makes two weeks in a row a bad offensive coordinator was able to out scheme our staff.

He's been a lot better lately than he was early in the season. I'm not sure if he was still affected by injury early in the year or what, but he's at least closer to what he was pre-injury.

Totals for his first 5 games this season: 805 yards, 5 TDs, 8 INTs, 53% completion percentage, 109 rushing yards

Totals for his last 4 games this season: 1011 yards, 8 TDs, 1 INT, 60% completion percentage, 206 rushing yards

 

[Carnegie]

On a side note, Barnes and Ebel are just not built for Big 12 football. Both are noticeably slow and consistently take themselves out of plays. So many times today were they nowhere to be found, while a TE was wide open or Neal was running free through a hole. If Brezina has lost his job to one of those guys, woof.

The entire defensive line really has no ability to get pressure. Kennard Snyder in particular has been disappointing IMO.

And the secondary, absolutely no idea what that garbage was today. Feels like a lot of guys have taken a big step back there. Letting mediocre (at best) WRs just run freely. That 2nd or 3rd TD when we just let their WR run right on by was the sorriest display of football I’ve seen in years. Not to mention Purchase just giving up and letting a guy right by him on a fly route. It’s not like our secondary is inexperienced, either.

But I keep going back to coaching. Put your guys in a position to succeed. Neither the offensive nor the defensive coaching staff has done a great job of that for the last month now. I just don’t see that getting better any time soon

Agreed, it is about coaching. I'm a fan of Campbell and his coaching staff, but still feel they have a lot of work to do on defense AND offense. How is it that Leipold has run over ISU three years in a row? Do we learn from it? Do we make adjustments? If you watch the NFL, you see pressure on the QB ALL THE TIME!