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What have been UC's areas of weakness the past three games and what changes would you like to see going forward. I'll start. I don't claim to be a football x's and o's expert but here's some thing I see.

Defensively
The recipe for success against UC is out. Run the ball, control clock, and reduce possessions. UC needs to get out of that 3-3-5 base defense cause it is killing the ability to shut down the run. If the strength of this team is the DB's then UC needs to switch to a 4-3 or 3-4 defense and bring that extra guy up on the line.

Offense
I honestly don't know what the fix is but here's a few stats that explain some of the offensive woes.

In the past three games UC is averaging 2.4 less offensive possessions as compared to the first five (FCS game not included). UC is scoring on 47% of its possessions so that 2.4 equates to roughly 7 more points a game.

Yards per rush attempt:
First 5 games - 6.2
Last 3 games - 3.6
That's a dramatic drop. Its hard to keep drives going when you're in 2nd or 3rd and long all the time.

I'd love to hear everyone's opinions. I'm not jumping off the ship yet but I do think UC is in for a loss if continues to play like this against Houston or SMU.

(11-08-2021 02:49 PM)nachoman91 Wrote:  What have been UC's areas of weakness the past three games and what changes would you like to see going forward. I'll start. I don't claim to be a football x's and o's expert but here's some thing I see.

Defensively
The recipe for success against UC is out. Run the ball, control clock, and reduce possessions. UC needs to get out of that 3-3-5 base defense cause it is killing the ability to shut down the run. If the strength of this team is the DB's then UC needs to switch to a 4-3 or 3-4 defense and bring that extra guy up on the line.

Offense
I honestly don't know what the fix is but here's a few stats that explain some of the offensive woes.

In the past three games UC is averaging 2.4 less offensive possessions as compared to the first five (FCS game not included). UC is scoring on 47% of its possessions so that 2.4 equates to roughly 7 more points a game.

Yards per rush attempt:
First 5 games - 6.2
Last 3 games - 3.6
That's a dramatic drop. Its hard to keep drives going when you're in 2nd or 3rd and long all the time.

I'd love to hear everyone's opinions. I'm not jumping off the ship yet but I do think UC is in for a loss if continues to play like this against Houston or SMU.

The funny thing is that UC’s schemes are designed to beat the UCF, Memphis, SMU, and Houston type teams. The struggle has come against teams that are trying to shorten the game to due less talent and athletes. I don’t see SMU slowing the game down at UC, if anything UC’s offense is going to have control the ball.

After much meditation, it seems to me that the adjustment I'd like to see - on both sides of the ball - is simply to have the coordinators continue to be aggressive throughout the game.

It appears that once UC gets up a score or two, the coordinators are expecting the other team to just fold up their tent and go home. On offense, that has resulted in very vanilla play calling... middle run, middle run, pass. Even going back a couple of games when UC had it 4th and 1 near mid-field and instead of going for it, UC chose to try to draw the defense offsides and then called a TO to punt. If UC can't make a 4th a 1 most of the time against the current stretch of opponents, no one can complain that we are ranked #6 or #16 for that matter. Where is the fly sweep to Tucker or the WR screen to Young or the 2nd and 3 post to Pierce? Start aggressive and stay aggressive.

On the defensive side, the biggest change I've seen this year is the lack of aggressiveness that Freeman instilled. Dare these teams to beat us downfield. Don't line up with 7 guys at the line of scrimmage, make the opposing line have to chase our quicker, more elusive guys instead of just having to punch a hole. And for goodness sake, once we get up on a team, please throw the Prevent D away. It allows teams to move the ball and then gain confidence but more importantly to chew up the clock and keep UCs offense off the field. Nothing good comes of any of that. Oh, and edge contain. If UCs ends are going to crash most plays, then a DB has to stay outside to keep RBs from bouncing outside for 7+ yard gains

Just my take. Be aggressive, stay aggressive.

I don't think they need to get out of the 3-3-5. I do think they should have been more aggressive with the run blitzing against Tulsa in particular. The defense was mostly great against Tulane and really Navy's yards per play numbers were still pretty low.

Some of this will take care of itself. I think the defense is designed to really shut down passing attacks and combat the big play. They are still pretty successful in both areas. I think people are overstating the problems on defense. Even adjusting for competition this is still an elite defense.

Offense has been two fold...They aren't running the ball like they did against UCF/Temple and they are making too many mistakes. When they get out of their own way they still have a ton of weapons. The offense is explosive but isn't winning enough play to play. I think you've actually seen Des run a little more the past couple weeks to try to open things up, but the dropped passes, turnovers and injury to Ford still got in the way.

I think the fixes are execution based on offense and aggressiveness on defense. Given how successful this team has been in the 3-3-5 I think it would be nuts to blow the hole thing up. They are still first in the country in pass efficiency defense. That's still the name of the game against most good teams.

Step 1. Find another DC.

(11-08-2021 03:22 PM)UCBearcatlawjd2 Wrote:  

(11-08-2021 02:49 PM)nachoman91 Wrote:  What have been UC's areas of weakness the past three games and what changes would you like to see going forward. I'll start. I don't claim to be a football x's and o's expert but here's some thing I see.

Defensively
The recipe for success against UC is out. Run the ball, control clock, and reduce possessions. UC needs to get out of that 3-3-5 base defense cause it is killing the ability to shut down the run. If the strength of this team is the DB's then UC needs to switch to a 4-3 or 3-4 defense and bring that extra guy up on the line.

Offense
I honestly don't know what the fix is but here's a few stats that explain some of the offensive woes.

In the past three games UC is averaging 2.4 less offensive possessions as compared to the first five (FCS game not included). UC is scoring on 47% of its possessions so that 2.4 equates to roughly 7 more points a game.

Yards per rush attempt:
First 5 games - 6.2
Last 3 games - 3.6
That's a dramatic drop. Its hard to keep drives going when you're in 2nd or 3rd and long all the time.

I'd love to hear everyone's opinions. I'm not jumping off the ship yet but I do think UC is in for a loss if continues to play like this against Houston or SMU.

The funny thing is that UC’s schemes are designed to beat the UCF, Memphis, SMU, and Houston type teams. The struggle has come against teams that are trying to shorten the game to due less talent and athletes. I don’t see SMU slowing the game down at UC, if anything UC’s offense is going to have control the ball.

Yes, our style hopefully frustrates SMU and Houston by making the game less wide open than what they may desire. Friday we will be facing a freshmen QB who seems to have the ability to run and pass. Seem to have one good running back who is a transfer from Colorado; he had a big game against Temple 152 yards which was his only one over 100 yds. Hopefully our defense is more aggressive, takes control quickly and we don't let them nickel and dime us down the field to build confidence.

What I noticed from Tulsa game was the dline couldn’t get off their blocks, LBs were getting blocked, RBs were in the second level all night. IMO Sanders was pretty much a non factor due to weight. Tulsa has a good, large line - 5/6 versus 3 was never going to work. I did see they subbed Sanders out quite a bit for a larger body. Defense speed looked a bit slower then earlier in the year - did they stop attacking and go to reading? I don’t know. Another thing was the lack of understanding who was in the game and whenever they tried to quick snap run - a few times the defense was not set or flag for 12 men on the field. Disappointing since teams on our league like to play super fast.

Offense is just helter skelter, it was obvious to me that UC was not going to run between the tackles on Tulsa’s dline. I did like the toss sweeps and qb runs, but like in every game, it’s once or twice and never to be seen again. The lack of a game plan for the TE’s is disturbing, considering the OC is also the position coach, and both Wylie and Taylor are studs. There is talent all over the place, I don’t think Denbrock is taking advantage of it. Both tackles in this 3 game run have also killed momentum - giving up ugly sacks, almost on cue, when UC could extend leads. Tulsa game, two consecutive sacks, one each side, resulted in the drive they missed the FG. I truly believe the game plans and play calling has caused this three game cluster, it almost mirrors the three game stretch to start last season. Could it be Denbrock is restricting the play book and playing tight? I don’t know, but the complete lack of offense in the 4th quarter left the defense out to dry - if I recall, maybe 2 first downs for the entire quarter.

Side note, for how good Sanders is, he needs to wrap up on his tackling. On Tulsa’s TD drive that cut it to 8, he flat out missed their qb for a huge sack on third down, qb ended up running for first down. He makes that tackle, it’s a different game. Not the first whiff he’s had this year either.

Couldn’t get off of blocks because they were double teamed almost every snap and we kept out LBs 5-6 yards back.

If I were to watch that game again I’d be fearful of having a stroke. Was as terribly coached a defensive scheme as we have trotted out there in a decade.

(11-08-2021 04:25 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Couldn’t get off of blocks because they were double teamed almost every snap and we kept out LBs 5-6 yards back.

If I were to watch that game again I’d be fearful of having a stroke. Was as terribly coached a defensive scheme as we have trotted out there in a decade.

I've always been concerned he got the job because of his last name.

Living in Michigan surrounded by MSU alum, they uniformly smiled and said good luck when we hired him. He got the Bob Diaco fanbase treatment from them on the way out the door.

I think next year when we are replacing most of the D we will really see what kind of a funky hire it was.

The problem for us is that our systems are just fine in what they're supposed to do... just win the game. I mean, we ARE 9-0.

However, we've been placed in a position where that now is not good enough. We have to smash people.

-So the Navy's, Tulanes and Tulsa's of the world are saying no way we're letting them plow us over. They play Mick Cronin football. Walk the ball up the court and use all the shot clock.

-Suddenly the old adage that you run to set up the pass kicks in. Now you have us focusing on the run and Tulane's freshman QB and Tulsa's jibrone look like Dan Marino back there.

-Which causes our offense to freak out and think we have to score on every play. Now we're dropping passes, forcing passes that become INT's and fumbling snaps on the one yard line.

... It's a vicious cycle and our tits are caught in the ringer.

We definitely have scheme issues, but we also have execution issues. Cook was out of position multiple times, which resulted in RBs bouncing to the outside and running right past him.

I think the 3-3-5 works great, when you have safeties like Wiggins and Forest. Those guys were essentially linebackers that are great in coverage too. The current safeties are great too, but they aren't nearly as good in run stopping. Then again, not many are.

(11-08-2021 04:05 PM)FLIP Wrote:  What I noticed from Tulsa game was the dline couldn’t get off their blocks, LBs were getting blocked, RBs were in the second level all night. IMO Sanders was pretty much a non factor due to weight. Tulsa has a good, large line - 5/6 versus 3 was never going to work. I did see they subbed Sanders out quite a bit for a larger body. Defense speed looked a bit slower then earlier in the year - did they stop attacking and go to reading? I don’t know. Another thing was the lack of understanding who was in the game and whenever they tried to quick snap run - a few times the defense was not set or flag for 12 men on the field. Disappointing since teams on our league like to play super fast.

Offense is just helter skelter, it was obvious to me that UC was not going to run between the tackles on Tulsa’s dline. I did like the toss sweeps and qb runs, but like in every game, it’s once or twice and never to be seen again. The lack of a game plan for the TE’s is disturbing, considering the OC is also the position coach, and both Wylie and Taylor are studs. There is talent all over the place, I don’t think Denbrock is taking advantage of it. Both tackles in this 3 game run have also killed momentum - giving up ugly sacks, almost on cue, when UC could extend leads. Tulsa game, two consecutive sacks, one each side, resulted in the drive they missed the FG. I truly believe the game plans and play calling has caused this three game cluster, it almost mirrors the three game stretch to start last season. Could it be Denbrock is restricting the play book and playing tight? I don’t know, but the complete lack of offense in the 4th quarter left the defense out to dry - if I recall, maybe 2 first downs for the entire quarter.

Side note, for how good Sanders is, he needs to wrap up on his tackling. On Tulsa’s TD drive that cut it to 8, he flat out missed their qb for a huge sack on third down, qb ended up running for first down. He makes that tackle, it’s a different game. Not the first whiff he’s had this year either.

Bolded, someone said UC had 17 yards of total offense in the 4th quarter. If correct, wow. Tulsa has some strengths but they're clearly not Georgia defensively.

(11-08-2021 04:25 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote:  Couldn’t get off of blocks because they were double teamed almost every snap and we kept out LBs 5-6 yards back.

If I were to watch that game again I’d be fearful of having a stroke. Was as terribly coached a defensive scheme as we have trotted out there in a decade.

It was one of the few times since 2018 I have not seen the linebackers fill gaps like we expect. Too many times the LB were on their heels and by the time they made a read the ball carrier was already 2 or 3 yards downfield.

It was real pain to watch.

(11-09-2021 08:52 AM)OKIcat Wrote:  

(11-08-2021 04:05 PM)FLIP Wrote:  What I noticed from Tulsa game was the dline couldn’t get off their blocks, LBs were getting blocked, RBs were in the second level all night. IMO Sanders was pretty much a non factor due to weight. Tulsa has a good, large line - 5/6 versus 3 was never going to work. I did see they subbed Sanders out quite a bit for a larger body. Defense speed looked a bit slower then earlier in the year - did they stop attacking and go to reading? I don’t know. Another thing was the lack of understanding who was in the game and whenever they tried to quick snap run - a few times the defense was not set or flag for 12 men on the field. Disappointing since teams on our league like to play super fast.

Offense is just helter skelter, it was obvious to me that UC was not going to run between the tackles on Tulsa’s dline. I did like the toss sweeps and qb runs, but like in every game, it’s once or twice and never to be seen again. The lack of a game plan for the TE’s is disturbing, considering the OC is also the position coach, and both Wylie and Taylor are studs. There is talent all over the place, I don’t think Denbrock is taking advantage of it. Both tackles in this 3 game run have also killed momentum - giving up ugly sacks, almost on cue, when UC could extend leads. Tulsa game, two consecutive sacks, one each side, resulted in the drive they missed the FG. I truly believe the game plans and play calling has caused this three game cluster, it almost mirrors the three game stretch to start last season. Could it be Denbrock is restricting the play book and playing tight? I don’t know, but the complete lack of offense in the 4th quarter left the defense out to dry - if I recall, maybe 2 first downs for the entire quarter.

Side note, for how good Sanders is, he needs to wrap up on his tackling. On Tulsa’s TD drive that cut it to 8, he flat out missed their qb for a huge sack on third down, qb ended up running for first down. He makes that tackle, it’s a different game. Not the first whiff he’s had this year either.

Bolded, someone said UC had 17 yards of total offense in the 4th quarter. If correct, wow. Tulsa has some strengths but they're clearly not Georgia defensively.

Looking at the game log we had a 3 drives in the 4th. One 3 play drive for 5 yards, a 6 play drive for 3 yards (picked up a 1st down and then had 2 penalties) and then the fumbled snap. We also gave up drives of 10 and 11 plays for 82 and 75 yards which basically ate up the 4th qtr. So managed to muster one first down in the 4th quarter.

I'm probably not unlike many Bearcat fans this week. Vacillating between seeing a perfect season go up in flames to a lousy USF team on Friday and a bounce back game where the team is focused on the task and takes care of business (as they have ultimately done all year).

In fairness to this team, they were on an emotional rollercoaster (along with the fans) last week from the anticipation of a CFP top four ranking Monday to the disappointment of sixth place on Tuesday. Then the Gameday/Homecoming energy Friday and Saturday. The coaches and players say they block out all that noise but in today's world of social media that's impossible. I don't think the USF "crowd" will be much of a factor so it really will swing on the physical and emotional strength of our 'Cats.

Bolded, someone said UC had 17 yards of total offense in the 4th quarter. If correct, wow. Tulsa has some strengths but they're clearly not Georgia defensively.
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Looking back, our receivers had many dropped passes that game. And if Ethan Wright is as good as the coaching staff indicates, he should be getting some touches once Ford goes out of the game.

We are 12th in the NCAA in total defense, 3rd in scoring defense, 76th in rushing defense (3.70 per attempt), 3rd in passing yards allowed. The 3-3-5 is by design more focused on stopping the pass and is doing a damn good job of it. Y'all are crazy if you want to get rid of Tressell with those stats, especially because by all accounts he is a good recruiter.

For comparison, our offense is 59th in total offense, 13th in Scoring offense, 61st in passing offense, 58th in rushing offense. If you have issues with this season (which I don't), I think you're looking at the wrong side of the ball. Also our kicking is atrocious.

I hope the Bearcats get better at tackling!