Stoops says this is his best UK defense
- Thread starter BlueRaider22
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I like what AJ Stamps said. I like that they are staying over and busting their butts. Hopefully it pays off.
The bar hasn't been set to high the last two seasons.
I'm sure there will be even better D's in the coming years.
I'm sure there will be even better D's in the coming years.
I think we will see significant improvement in just about every area of the game. One of the keys for our corners is getting a good pass rush and making opposing QBs hurry their reads and throws. Pressuring them into mistakes. Hopefully if we have more muscle on the D-line and aggressiveness with the LBs we will be able to get more pressure.
What has killed me is that we have played a lot of soft coverage. When I did the review of the UK/UT game from last year I noticed the UT players were often within 2-3 yards of the UK player at the line, and were rarely ever more than 5 yards off of them. However, UK seemed to give much bigger cushions last year. That opens up the shorter passes like the slants, and those can often lead to pretty solid gains. That is something that has got to change. The offense takes what the defense gives them, but if the defense is going to give an 8+ yard cushion then the defense can make underneath throws all day and pick up 5-10 yards almost every time.
"Stoops also thinks he might have his most complete group at linebacker, headlined by inside man Josh Forrest, who led the team with 110 tackles and had eight more for loss in 2014. Forrest comes from a long line of exceptional inside linebackers to head Kentucky's defense, and Stoops thinks he's the perfect anchor for Elliot's defense after adding even more muscle during the offseason.
"He was always a great pass defender and could run extremely well," Stoops said of Forrest. "I think he’s made himself more psychical during the offseason.""
Do psychical linebackers have great anticipation?
"He was always a great pass defender and could run extremely well," Stoops said of Forrest. "I think he’s made himself more psychical during the offseason.""
Do psychical linebackers have great anticipation?
Much of this is due to lack of a pass rush and quality DB's. However, you have to understand Stoops' defense. He runs a "Bend not break" defense. If you watch how he coached at FSU, he backed off the DB's slightly and allowed more underneath than to allow longer throws. Granted it looks much better when you have FSU level talent......and it will look better for UK in the future.......but don't expect us to face up the WR's much in the future.
Yep. Stoops is a cover 3 guy through and through. Those cushions are going to be there most of the time.
I am expecting a substantial improvement in the UK offense this season. If the cats can also have a substantial improvement in the defense this UK football team is going to surprise with what they accomplish this season.
All that was true until last season. Last season there was more man coverage (mostly man-free) and pattern-matching zone that is, in effect, a form of man coverage. There was also more blitzing from the nickel back aligned over the slots, and the strong safety position (more so with Lowery than with McWilson). In his first season, Avery Williamson was the only linebacker blitzing 95% of the time. Last season it was mostly Forrest, but Flannigan and Henderson got their share too.
Stoops also made a comment in the spring that one of the things he likes about the 3-4 is you can bring more creative pressure. When he was at FSU, and his first year at UK, he was still running a base 4-3. That is when his philosophy was more of the bend-don't-break variety. Elliot was talking about running some 3-3 stack this year which only exists to bring more blitzing. I think Stoops' philosophies from his days at FSU and Arizona have evolved.
I think this is the result of two things: One, the natural pass-rushers have graduated (Dupree and Smith), and more needs to be done schematically to bring the heat with current personnel. Two, improvement in the secondary - and I know a lot of people on here think the cornerbacks are the problem, and I don't feel like debating that - allows for more blitzing.
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^My comment was about the amount of cushion the DB's gave the WR's.....not their coverage responsibilities.
But, yes, your post is spot on and has lots of good info.
But, yes, your post is spot on and has lots of good info.
That is very true, but it was very poorly done last year and was very bad. We had instances where we were 8 yards off the receiver and backpedaling at the snap when it was third down and 5. That can't happen going forward. Then we're just giving away first downs. That's not what I would call bending. It's just giving. I feel like Petrino destroyed us with the underneath passes two years ago when he was at WKU.
That is the link to the WKU game. Check out the first drive (approximately the 7:30 mark). WKU gets a 4 yard pass underneath and then runs for 40. Then they get a 5 yard underneath pass. Then on 2nd and 5 they get a ton of room in the zone and pick up 19 yards due to miss tackles (would have been a first down anyway). Then they run once before throwing twice. Then they ran it twice and scored. Still, every pass on the drive was underneath and entirely uncontested by the DBs. Giving up a 3-4 yard pass isn't terrible, especially if you are able to get to the ball carrier quickly and make a stop where he catches, but on that drive many of the throws were underneath and were still for 8-10 yards. That is unacceptable.
The defense cannot get a pass rush if the defensive backs play so far off the ball that the quarterback is able to take a three step drop and immediately get the ball out to a wide open receiver. I know that the DBs are not great quality. That is what we need to change and I know it isn't easy. Still, we have to be able to cut out some of that space and step up to make the first tackle rather than miss and allow them to pick up 20 yards on a 5 yard pass.
please don't post about a game from 2013 on here. Might as well be watching Joker on the sidelines.
I know there is a big difference between 2013, 2014, and this upcoming year. Still, that game sticks out in my mind as being one of the biggest examples of playing with a ton of cushion. If you watch that first drive, WKU is on the 17 with first and 10 and Tiller gives a 10 yard cushion. WKU throws about a 7-8 yard curl and picks up 9 yards to put them inside the 10. It is just way way too easy.
It won't be that bad going forward. We didn't have the talent nor player understanding the defense back then. As I said earlier, the last few yrs we didn't have the talent to run Stoops' system to his liking........this yr will be better, but it still won't be "there" yet.
But the way that Stoops runs his defense, you won't see DB's going face-to-face with WR's much. They will almost always give a good initial cushion so that they don't give up longer patterns.......nor turn their head away from the ball as much. It's an opportunistic defense that doesn't allow big plays and yields many more turnovers. And as the field shrinks and further helps reduce long plays, passing gets easier to defend.
You don't have to like it. Just understand that it works. Stoops has yielded 2 top 25 defenses at 2 different, major conference schools with DB's playing like this.
UK has ran a lot of cover 3 during the time Stoops has been at UK. Cover three is designed to keep all of the receivers in front of you and not get beat deep. The weakness of the cover 3 is the short zones. Poor tackling has been a problem because you must have sure tackling for a cover 3 to be effective. UK just has give up way too much YAC. If the tackling improves the defense will improve.
Have to feel like the tackling will improve, especially with the large bodies that we're bringing in for CB and S positions. Probably why we're hearing so much talk of moving some safeties to CB, and letting them play both positions. Probably why Westry will get some playing time as well. He's big, he's lengthy, he's fast, and he's a solid CB. I like the idea of putting hybrid safeties/corners out there and running a cover 3. The leap in interceptions from year 1 and year 2 by having one solid player back there playing the cover 3 was tremendous, despite not seeing much production from our CB's (only 3 interceptions from them). Will be nice to build on that even further.
The point is still that if you're going to give a huge cushion and allow for 3-5 yard passes then you're not going to get much of a pass rush. Especially when you allow those 3-5 yard passes to turn into 10+ yard gains. There is a drive in the UF game where we gave up 22 yards on an out pattern that wasn't more than 2-3 yards past the line of scrimmage. No one even touched the guy until he was 22 yards downfield and Quinn knocked him out of bounds. Can't blame that on the defensive line not getting enough pressure. Those are the types of plays that we cannot have. Then, to make things worse, the next play we give UF 11 yards of cushion and they throw a 5 yard curl, break a tackle, and turn it into an 11 yard gain and a first down. The cushion isn't always the problem, but giving up 5 yards at a time on first down makes it very easy to pick up a first down. It becomes even worse when you take a bad angle, miss a tackle, or don't play your zone correctly and that 5 yard play turns into 10+. On top of that, you still have guys letting players get behind them like Ashley Lowery did in overtime on 4th and 7 from the 9 yard line. 8-9 yard cushion and Lowery just lets the guy go right by him. Frustrating.
^Look. I understand. It's not my cup of tea either, but the cushion is not going to change. Stoops would rather leave the 3-4 yd patterns more open......keep the WR in front of the coverage.....and keep his DB in a position to watch and make a play on the ball......than to allow for the threat to get by the coverage and burn them deep.
So, how they align is not going to change. What is going to change is the talent and how they execute. With better talent and execution, a 3-4 yd out pattern remains only 3-4 yds......or it's a pick-6.........and you don't get beat long.
So, how they align is not going to change. What is going to change is the talent and how they execute. With better talent and execution, a 3-4 yd out pattern remains only 3-4 yds......or it's a pick-6.........and you don't get beat long.
The secondary has not played well for sure but tackling all over was suspect.
Stoops has played a lot of cover 3 in his two years out of necessity, due to his personnel. He has tried to limit the big play, while forcing teams to score by putting together sustained drives. Against UofL, he played much more Cover 2, and even some man under, in an obvious attempt to take away the rushing game and force their young QBs to make plays under duress. It was a solid game plan, but when Bolin came in, and Louisville switched from a "power rushing attack with play action" to "shotgun 4 & 5 wide," Kentucky's lack of cover skills were exposed.
Having Dupree & Darius to bring off the edge last year allowed him to bring some pressure without rushing 5+, which was huge for that back 7, and allowed them to get many stops (except for Ga game which was total mismatch). One big problem the defense had last year when the schedule toughened up was the inability of the offense to sustain drives and score points. They were then very vulnerable to being worn down, by relentless rushing attacks.
This year depth should be better in that regard, but need their safeties and OLBs to play "faster" in space than they did a year ago. It will also be key to replace the edge pressure that Dupree & Smith brought. I have to believe the secondary will be better, but if they can't get to the QB without blitzing, that will put additional pressure on any secondary. A better offense (which I expect) will also aid the defensive production.
DB's aren't great, but run defense was the weakest aspect of our team by a long shot..the reason there's a lot of talk about DB's is because Stoops is an old DB guy and treats the secondary like his baby
Pointing out the flaws in our pass defense when our run defense is one of the worst in the nation (and losing the best DE tandem in the nation) is like pointing out a cut on your hand when you have a bullet hole in your leg
Pointing out the flaws in our pass defense when our run defense is one of the worst in the nation (and losing the best DE tandem in the nation) is like pointing out a cut on your hand when you have a bullet hole in your leg
Those cushions are good when you have a fast physical defensive backfield that hits hard and is going for turnovers. Look how much we improved with forcing fumbles and interceptions. We're only gona get better at it as the defense gains experience playing Coach Stoops game.
breaking on routes is the big thing. the cushion isn't bad if you can read and react and get to the ball in time to deflect it or pick it off. we are getting faster in the secondary and int's will probably go up a bit this year and we should see more of how he wants the db's to play this year since everyone will be in the system for 2 years and we have more size and speed and experience.
Threads like this one remind me how little I understand about football today. Interesting to read however. Maybe I'll learn something but don't ever expect to reach the level of the people on this forum. Thanks folks.
I am expecting a few new wrinkles for the Cats defense this season. One of the defensive coaches Elliot I believe said that they were going to play some 3-3-5 Stack this season. IMO a reasonable augmentation to a 3-4-4 especially on likely passing downs. It is a good way to utilize more of the very good safeties that UK has on their squad. Another consideration is that UK lost some of its best pass rushers and the 3-3-5 is a formation where you can get real creative with blitzes if they are having trouble getting pressure on the QB playing straight up.
