Our intermediate pass defense is HORRIBLE!!!

[catben]

If Ball ST and EKU can pick us apart in the middle 3rd of the field in that 5-12 yd range, what does Brad White and Stoops think the SEC teams will do to us??!!!!

This is the reason why these first 2 opponents are right at 50% efficiency on 3rd down. It's KILLING us!!!

Why does our defense STRUGGLE so bad with covering this area of the field?? Wallace, Jackson and Wade are good LB's against the run, but are borderline BAD at covering RB's and TE's. Even the Safeties aren't that good in this areas either.

What can be done to fix this????

 

[Tf2217]

Since stoops has been here we've had one really good disruptive player on the edge. Josh Allen. It's hard to play any kind of D with no pressure. Our DBs aren't good but the pressure issues magnify it ten fold. I can't believe we haven't found anyone else that can get any pressure at all after all this time. Our front would be really good with like a Allen off the edge hell at this point I'd be ecstatic with a boogie Watson.

 

[catben]

Since stoops has been here we've had one really good disruptive player on the edge. Josh Allen. It's hard to play and kind of D with no pressure. Our DBs aren't good but the pressure issues magnify it ten fold. I can't believe we haven't found anyone else that can get any pressure at all after all this time. Our front would be really good with like a Allen off the edge hell at this point I'd be ecstatic with a boogie Watson.

What's happened to JJ Weaver? All summer we heard how much bigger and stronger he had gotten so he would be better at setting the edge AND rushing the passer. He was INVISIBLE today. Our DT's are great, but without an outside presence, it does VERY LITTLE against a good QB.

 

[Tf2217]

What's happened to JJ Weaver? All summer we heard how much bigger and stronger he had gotten so he would be better at setting the edge AND rushing the passer. He was INVISIBLE today. Our DT's are great, but without an outside presence, it does VERY LITTLE against a good QB.

That's it. Our pass rush doesn't exist against EKU. Bama, UGA, and UT and probably others might be able to read a book on their offensive snaps if it doesn't dramatically improve.

 

[bigbluedon]

Our defense is way too conservative. Not impressed with our d line coach. Stoops and White are just dull.

 

[wildcatglenn]

In the "soft zone" Stoops and White likes to play you need a good pass rush to pressure the QB. This isn't happening unless they blitz. My fear is better SEC Qbs will eat them alive. They either gotta get more pressure with 3 or 4, blitz more or that zone has gotvto get better

 

[seccats04]

In the "soft zone" Stoops and White likes to play you need a good pass rush to pressure the QB. This isn't happening unless they blitz. My fear is better SEC Qbs will eat them alive. They either gotta get more pressure with 3 or 4, blitz more or that zone has gotvto get better

We've never had a good pass rush under Anwar Stewart. Wish we would've replaced him after last year.

 

[Fox2monk]

We need to spend our NIL money on pass rushers. That and other key positions. QB/WR/Line/Pass Rush should always be at the top of the spend list IMO.

 

[EdgeHD]

If Ball ST and EKU can pick us apart in the middle 3rd of the field in that 5-12 yd range, what does Brad White and Stoops think the SEC teams will do to us??!!!!

This is the reason why these first 2 opponents are right at 50% efficiency on 3rd down. It's KILLING us!!!

Why does our defense STRUGGLE so bad with covering this area of the field?? Wallace, Jackson and Wade are good LB's against the run, but are borderline BAD at covering RB's and TE's. Even the Safeties aren't that good in this areas either.

What can be done to fix this????

Most of what you are seeing is inexperience of our corners. Phillips is not as inexperienced but he played nickel for most of 2022 while Carrington Valentine and Keidron Smith started. Hairston and Hardaway are very inexperienced. Another thing we saw yesterday was a smart senior quarterback throwing to a free release running back on hot routes in a vacated area of the field when Trevin Wallace blitzed. On the latter, you just have to give credit to EKU's quarterback for being good. As for our inexperienced corners, they better improve. The good news is these players have talent. They are being asked to step up as young players.

 

[rolaid]

Dline is a joke absolutely no pressure from front 4 - vastly overrated by our fan boys and media
We are extremely weak on both LOS - therefore 7-5 is best record this crew can achieve this season

 

[R.O.T.Muckinfush]

The short passing game of Mississippi St will eat these boys alive

 

[EdgeHD]

The short passing game of Mississippi St will eat these boys alive

I doubt that. It didn't last year, and this defense will eventually be as good or better than last year. White isn't showing much more than base defense until he has to. Where we might get into a little trouble is if we get into injury problems in our secondary. We will find out as it happens.

 

[Soupbean]

If Ball ST and EKU can pick us apart in the middle 3rd of the field in that 5-12 yd range, what does Brad White and Stoops think the SEC teams will do to us??!!!!

This is the reason why these first 2 opponents are right at 50% efficiency on 3rd down. It's KILLING us!!!

Why does our defense STRUGGLE so bad with covering this area of the field?? Wallace, Jackson and Wade are good LB's against the run, but are borderline BAD at covering RB's and TE's. Even the Safeties aren't that good in this areas either.

What can be done to fix this????

Thats because we play a lot of zone and its hard to react in time on shorter throws. Wish we mixed more man defense with zone.

 

[Jeff Sykes]

I believe it is a philosophy change from previous seasons. I truly think they are trying to play those 3rd downs differently than they have in the past and it isn't working and isn't going to work. They need to scrape that and go back to what worked before. I think they are trying to get the best 11 on the field on 3rd down and that isn't really the 11 that plays the best as a cohesive unit.

 

[Fox2monk]

Dline is a joke absolutely no pressure from front 4 - vastly overrated by our fan boys and media
We are extremely weak on both LOS - therefore 7-5 is best record this crew can achieve this season

I agree, the best Stoops teams have competed in the trenches.

 

[Tskware]

Dline is a joke absolutely no pressure from front 4 - vastly overrated by our fan boys and media
We are extremely weak on both LOS - therefore 7-5 is best record this crew can achieve this season

I am beginning to suspect this is the correct answer. IMO, too many 300+ pound linemen who are next to useless in pass rush situations. As an aside, I checked Justin Rogers stats through two games with Auburn and he has 3 asst tackles, no sacks, and last time I checked he was listed at 2nd team, so doesn't look like he was the answer either way.

Appears our recruiting at D line has been overrated, except for Deone Walker, the rest seem meh to me.

 

[StubbornPenny]

D line definitely is lacking. We don’t disrupt anything. We’ve never been great at that except for Allen. God I miss that guy.

 

[Crankdatmustard]

We had an Excellent defense last year. Finished #12 total defense.

Go back and watch them against our inferior opponents. Three man rush 90% of time. Stoops does not play anythign else than a base defense against these teams.

 

[Soupbean]

I've never been a fan of zone defense but understand the need for it and coach White has used is as well as anyone. But it takes a defensive backfield that knows how to react otherwise you are just 5 pylons standing out there for the QB to take target practice with and work around. You cant just stare in the backfield, you have to react to anyone coming into your zone and match up when they do. There just isnt time to react to the ball just by watching the QB, its always too late. And the chance of you just standing in a passing lane to make a play are about 1/100 against a good QB. A good zone has to be dynamic and constantly in motion and if so can give a QB fits trying to figure out where the holes are.

 

[UKAlum84]

The ability for opponents to improvise and make those short passes......Its irritating.

But Im sure we are looking to make adjustments, hopefully in time for the florida game.

Thats our big first game I believe, and vandy is looking ok at times..

 

[UKat1]

I doubt that. It didn't last year, and this defense will eventually be as good or better than last year. White isn't showing much more than base defense until he has to. Where we might get into a little trouble is if we get into injury problems in our secondary. We will find out as it happens.

Last year MSU played air raid under Leach, this season under new HC, they've gone more to the ru and short passing game.

 

[Deeeefense]

Not sure why people think that pressure only comes from the edge. This D-line has been getting excellent pressure up the middle. For the two games they have registered 5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. The D-line's performance has been one of the better position groups this season IMO.

I agree that mid-range passing defense has not been effective. I have to believe that has more to do with communication and assignment errors than a lack of talent. We'll see if they can improve this week.

 

[K_TIME]

I am beginning to suspect this is the correct answer. IMO, too many 300+ pound linemen who are next to useless in pass rush situations. As an aside, I checked Justin Rogers stats through two games with Auburn and he has 3 asst tackles, no sacks, and last time I checked he was listed at 2nd team, so doesn't look like he was the answer either way.

Appears our recruiting at D line has been overrated, except for Deone Walker, the rest seem meh to me.

Well isn't your post the answer.....we recruit the 3 DLine to be oversized dudes who mainly are run stuffers...and the pass rush is the Jack and Sam Lbers job and interior DLine are the collapse the pocket more than get sacks?

Heck...on obvious pass rush downs...we pull off the DT/NG and bring in Wade and JJ off the edge. So why wouldn't Brad White get more focus on lack of pass rush as he's the OLB coach and DC?

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Was there and thought the same. Watched the replay Sunday morning and saw at least two times Wallace tried to jump a route instead of staying in his zone. Both times were nice pickups. Noticed a few other times guys were trying to make big plays instead of just making their zone drops.

Another miss for a TD was Wade on the rb out of the backfield when we blitzed. Not sure why we went so aggressive there. Wade was a step behind. On post game stoops said they weren't ready for the free release so it could've been just a nice counter to our pressure

Haven't watched van hiles yet but curious if he's going to see the same.

 

[Soupbean]

Not sure why people think that pressure only comes from the edge. This D-line has been getting excellent pressure up the middle. For the two games they have registered 5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. The D-line's performance has been one of the better position groups this season IMO.

I agree that mid-range passing defense has not been effective. I have to believe that has more to do with communication and assignment errors than a lack of talent. We'll see if they can improve this week.

A good push up the middle can really disrupt a QBs ability to throw and usually takes his attention off his reads but the uncomfortable lack of space in front of him.

 

[Rembrandt90]

We had an Excellent defense last year. Finished #12 total defense.

Go back and watch them against our inferior opponents. Three man rush 90% of time. Stoops does not play anythign else than a base defense against these teams.

In other words, Coach White has not shown anything other than the base defense in these first two games.

The failure to blow EKU out of the stadium last Saturday has brought the miserables and the anti-Stoops crowd out in force. This is their moment. They could hardly be more delighted. We see this at some point every year. But we are 2-0 with a good chance to win our next 3 games. Many are saying we can't beat Vandy or FL. Some are predicting a losing season, but they are wrong. We have enough talent to win most of our games, and the critics of our coaching staff have been proven wrong over and over.

To get more specific, I still have concerns about our OL, although the return of the Horseman will help. This OL is playing better than last year. They have surrendered two sacks, one important parameter showing definite improvement. To put that in perspective, UK has run 64% pass plays so far, and that will not continue. Eli Cox is SEC lineman of the week. I have been watching these guys closely, and they are better run blockers than pass blockers. One can say yes but it has come against Ball St and EKU, but I can only tell you what I see with my own eyes. I expect our OL to continue improving, although this will not be one of Stoops' top OLs. We aren't looking at a Joe Moore Award this year. But our skill players have high upsides and this offense can get a lot better. Like Coach White, Coach Coen has not shown his playbook yet.

Defensively, we are fine. We have a group of possible all-SEC defenders including Walker and Wallace. We have several players who have improved exponentially including Saunders, Jackson, Afari, and Childress. We need our secondary to play better. Coach White knows that.

 

[fabcat]

We had an Excellent defense last year. Finished #12 total defense.

Go back and watch them against our inferior opponents. Three man rush 90% of time. Stoops does not play anythign else than a base defense against these teams.

Every year our defense doesn’t really get locked in until the 3rd or 4th game. Some of it we just run base against OOC opponents and really don’t do any disguising coverages ect: they don’t want to put much on film. I’m sure Stoops feels we should be able to line up and beat these teams running our base defense.

Offensively we’ve been pretty vanilla too. Coen loves a lot of “eye candy” pre snap and it’s been minimal. Look for things to heat up once conference play begins.

 

[plumdog69]

Dline is a joke absolutely no pressure from front 4 - vastly overrated by our fan boys and media
We are extremely weak on both LOS - therefore 7-5 is best record this crew can achieve this season

Agreed.

 

[CRZ4UK]

What's happened to JJ Weaver? All summer we heard how much bigger and stronger he had gotten so he would be better at setting the edge AND rushing the passer. He was INVISIBLE today. Our DT's are great, but without an outside presence, it does VERY LITTLE against a good QB.

All Summer indeed. The problem is every year a portion of our fan base gobbles up the coachspeak. Inflates performers. I went to fan day and said I thought we looked like crap. I was bombarded with hate. Even today a guy on here was saying how awsome our Dline was and how Big Deone can’t be blocked. WHAT???? We have gotten zero push in two OOC games. ZERO!! Do these people not use their own eyes or what??

 

[bigbluedon]

All Summer indeed. The problem is every year a portion of our fan base gobbles up the coachspeak. Inflates performers. I went to fan day and said I thought we looked like crap. I was bombarded with hate. Even today a guy on here was saying how awsome our Dline was and how Big Deone can’t be blocked. WHAT???? We have gotten zero push in two OOC games. ZERO!! Do these people not use their own eyes or what??

Too much reading of the horse crap on KSR and this site. KSR’s writers are like children assigned to write anything to make the home team look unbeatable. Many of our fans gobble it up and then think we are world beaters. And this is all before the season starts. Just look at how we start every year. Stoops is predictable as hell. And would someone please tell Stoops our colors are blue and white and to quit wearing that shitty black pullover every game.

 

[UKfirst]

In other words, Coach White has not shown anything other than the base defense in these first two games.

The failure to blow EKU out of the stadium last Saturday has brought the miserables and the anti-Stoops crowd out in force. This is their moment. They could hardly be more delighted. We see this at some point every year. But we are 2-0 with a good chance to win our next 3 games. Many are saying we can't beat Vandy or FL. Some are predicting a losing season, but they are wrong. We have enough talent to win most of our games, and the critics of our coaching staff have been proven wrong over and over.

To get more specific, I still have concerns about our OL, although the return of the Horseman will help. This OL is playing better than last year. They have surrendered two sacks, one important parameter showing definite improvement. To put that in perspective, UK has run 64% pass plays so far, and that will not continue. Eli Cox is SEC lineman of the week. I have been watching these guys closely, and they are better run blockers than pass blockers. One can say yes but it has come against Ball St and EKU, but I can only tell you what I see with my own eyes. I expect our OL to continue improving, although this will not be one of Stoops' top OLs. We aren't looking at a Joe Moore Award this year. But our skill players have high upsides and this offense can get a lot better. Like Coach White, Coach Coen has not shown his playbook yet.

Defensively, we are fine. We have a group of possible all-SEC defenders including Walker and Wallace. We have several players who have improved exponentially including Saunders, Jackson, Afari, and Childress. We need our secondary to play better. Coach White knows this.

In other words, Coach White has not shown anything other than the base defense in these first two games.

The failure to blow EKU out of the stadium last Saturday has brought the miserables and the anti-Stoops crowd out in force. This is their moment. They could hardly be more delighted. We see this at some point every year. But we are 2-0 with a good chance to win our next 3 games. Many are saying we can't beat Vandy or FL. Some are predicting a losing season, but they are wrong. We have enough talent to win most of our games, and the critics of our coaching staff have been proven wrong over and over.

To get more specific, I still have concerns about our OL, although the return of the Horseman will help. This OL is playing better than last year. They have surrendered two sacks, one important parameter showing definite improvement. To put that in perspective, UK has run 64% pass plays so far, and that will not continue. Eli Cox is SEC lineman of the week. I have been watching these guys closely, and they are better run blockers than pass blockers. One can say yes but it has come against Ball St and EKU, but I can only tell you what I see with my own eyes. I expect our OL to continue improving, although this will not be one of Stoops' top OLs. We aren't looking at a Joe Moore Award this year. But our skill players have high upsides and this offense can get a lot better. Like Coach White, Coach Coen has not shown his playbook yet.

Defensively, we are fine. We have a group of possible all-SEC defenders including Walker and Wallace. We have several players who have improved exponentially including Saunders, Jackson, Afari, and Childress. We need our secondary to play better. Coach White knows this.

In other words, Coach White has not shown anything other than the base defense in these first two games.

The failure to blow EKU out of the stadium last Saturday has brought the miserables and the anti-Stoops crowd out in force. This is their moment. They could hardly be more delighted. We see this at some point every year. But we are 2-0 with a good chance to win our next 3 games. Many are saying we can't beat Vandy or FL. Some are predicting a losing season, but they are wrong. We have enough talent to win most of our games, and the critics of our coaching staff have been proven wrong over and over.

To get more specific, I still have concerns about our OL, although the return of the Horseman will help. This OL is playing better than last year. They have surrendered two sacks, one important parameter showing definite improvement. To put that in perspective, UK has run 64% pass plays so far, and that will not continue. Eli Cox is SEC lineman of the week. I have been watching these guys closely, and they are better run blockers than pass blockers. One can say yes but it has come against Ball St and EKU, but I can only tell you what I see with my own eyes. I expect our OL to continue improving, although this will not be one of Stoops' top OLs. We aren't looking at a Joe Moore Award this year. But our skill players have high upsides and this offense can get a lot better. Like Coach White, Coach Coen has not shown his playbook yet.

Defensively, we are fine. We have a group of possible all-SEC defenders including Walker and Wallace. We have several players who have improved exponentially including Saunders, Jackson, Afari, and Childress. We need our secondary to play better. Coach White knows that.

Yep

 

[College#19]

Pretty obvious Brad White has kept the defense very vanilla. Not worried at all at this point

 

[CRZ4UK]

Pretty obvious Brad White has kept the defense very vanilla. Not worried at all at this point

I don’t buy that. If you are willing to lose a game so you don’t show others your TRUE defense that would be stupid. We were tied at halftime with EKU. We were not holding back in my opinion. We just are not very good. We can improve. We have some dudes. Right now they are not playing well tho.

 

[K_TIME]

Pretty obvious Brad White has kept the defense very vanilla. Not worried at all at this point

What does it mean that Brad White has kept the defense vanilla? Trevin Wallace as an interior LBer is leading the team in sacks...so I'd assume there are some blitzes being called.

Not that I am concerned at the D side....I think we'll end up top 20 defense in the end.

The same has been said on other threads about Coen keeping it vanilla. We are literally have 69 pass attempts to 43 rushing attempts (3 of which are Leary that were scrambles off of passing attempts). So we have a 60% pass to 40% run ratio.....I'd call that not vanilla at all in my book.

I find it interesting the opinions of things people come up with when there is not substantial data to back that up.

 

[UKSanders]

Pretty obvious Brad White has kept the defense very vanilla. Not worried at all at this point

I don’t buy that. If you are willing to lose a game so you don’t show others your TRUE defense that would be stupid. We were tied at halftime with EKU. We were not holding back in my opinion. We just are not very good. We can improve. We have some dudes. Right now they are not playing well tho.

What does it mean that Brad White has kept the defense vanilla? Trevin Wallace as an interior LBer is leading the team in sacks...so I'd assume there are some blitzes being called.

Not that I am concerned at the D side....I think we'll end up top 20 defense in the end.

The same has been said on other threads about Coen keeping it vanilla. We are literally have 69 pass attempts to 43 rushing attempts (3 of which are Leary that were scrambles off of passing attempts). So we have a 60% pass to 40% run ratio.....I'd call that not vanilla at all in my book.

I find it interesting the opinions of things people come up with when there is not substantial data to back that up.

Coach White's post-practice interview this week did not support the idea that keeping things vanilla was the reason for the poor performances. He straight up acknowledged that it was multiple issues that were creating the problem, but all the issues were attention to detail/execution issues.

As far as Wallace blitzing so much, Coach White has talked about that in some interviews as well. They've given Wallace/Jackson some freedom in the middle to take chances if they see them as long as they don't start getting burned. So, I think a number of Wallace's pressures/sacks have come from his seeing a rush opportunity that wasn't called pre-snap, which is even more awesome b/c it means there isn't one thing the opposing offense is keying on to counter it.

Specifically in the lack of success with 3rd and medium... he talked about guys not communicating and dropping properly into their zones. He also addressed the zone vs man coverage obstacles with that scenario. He said the concern with man coverage is so many teams run "pick/rub" routes, that it makes man coverage particularly difficult. In his response, you could tell he was gauging his words carefully, which I took to mean he knows officials don't call offensive PI nearly enough on the "pick" route combos.

So, the good news is it seems that most of the issues are fixable, but the bad news is some of them will be much more difficult to fix... countering pick routes with zone vs man coverage (concerned specifically about the UT game on that).

 

[catben]

Coach White's post-practice interview this week did not support the idea that keeping things vanilla was the reason for the poor performances. He straight up acknowledged that it was multiple issues that were creating the problem, but all the issues were attention to detail/execution issues.

As far as Wallace blitzing so much, Coach White has talked about that in some interviews as well. They've given Wallace/Jackson some freedom in the middle to take chances if they see them as long as they don't start getting burned. So, I think a number of Wallace's pressures/sacks have come from his seeing a rush opportunity that wasn't called pre-snap, which is even more awesome b/c it means there isn't one thing the opposing offense is keying on to counter it.

Specifically in the lack of success with 3rd and medium... he talked about guys not communicating and dropping properly into their zones. He also addressed the zone vs man coverage obstacles with that scenario. He said the concern with man coverage is so many teams run "pick/rub" routes, that it makes man coverage particularly difficult. In his response, you could tell he was gauging his words carefully, which I took to mean he knows officials don't call offensive PI nearly enough on the "pick" route combos.

So, the good news is it seems that most of the issues are fixable, but the bad news is some of them will be much more difficult to fix... countering pick routes with zone vs man coverage (concerned specifically about the UT game on that).

It all comes down to recognition for 3rd down. Our Safeties and LB’s are allowing the RB and TE to find a crease and just exploit it. Wallace is an unbelievable talent , but he MUST recognize WHO to cover. Then we also MUST get more out of our edge rushers. JJ needs to play up to the hype we heard all summer about how much stronger he had gotten to help him get to the QB.

I trust Coach White to get these areas fixed.

 

[UKSanders]

It all comes down to recognition for 3rd down. Our Safeties and LB’s are allowing the RB and TE to find a crease and just exploit it. Wallace is an unbelievable talent , but he MUST recognize WHO to cover. Then we also MUST get more out of our edge rushers. JJ needs to play up to the hype we heard all summer about how much stronger he had gotten to help him get to the QB.

I trust Coach White to get these areas fixed.

Agree, especially about the edge rush.

Van Hiles pointed out how JJ was likely responsible for the rushing TD by the EKU QB because as Keaton was coming straight up the middle to sack the QB, Weaver made a move inside the OT instead of maintaining contain.

If he kept contain, it was likely a QB sack or at an incompletion.

 

[Trubluepopeye]

If Ball ST and EKU can pick us apart in the middle 3rd of the field in that 5-12 yd range, what does Brad White and Stoops think the SEC teams will do to us??!!!!

This is the reason why these first 2 opponents are right at 50% efficiency on 3rd down. It's KILLING us!!!

Why does our defense STRUGGLE so bad with covering this area of the field?? Wallace, Jackson and Wade are good LB's against the run, but are borderline BAD at covering RB's and TE's. Even the Safeties aren't that good in this areas either.

What can be done to fix this????

We so far have played only zone pass defense. I don’t remember any man to man yet. I believe we’ll be a better in man.

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

Our linebackers are slow.

 

[BARRYBLUE1]

When you have the opponent completing 40 of 42 passes, as Rogers did last year, it’s time to change your scheme. Playing closer to the line of scrimmage against wide outs should help. Kentucky opponents challenge passes by UK. Kentucky says let them complete the passes.