Bob Diaco
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Paraphrasing it down: We are playing poorly at points in all 3 phases of our game and if there is no improvement, there will be no more wins. Need to be able to get off the field on 3rd downs, it is a bad job by us...bad defense bad execution.
All what is written is what was said by Jeff Brohm. Neubert, Exponent and one other sportsbeat writer all pressed defensive questions to Coach Brohm and those were his words.
All what is written is what was said by Jeff Brohm. Neubert, Exponent and one other sportsbeat writer all pressed defensive questions to Coach Brohm and those were his words.
What makes this next game interesting is that Nebraska has running QBs (Martinez and McAffrey). They have to be licking their chops at what they've seen from enough game tape on Purdue. Can we adjust and respond or will Purdue wilt like we've seen 3 games in a row.
One other notable in today's conference call, Brohm will be part of the defensive planning and wants to be more aggressive calling.
I was reading some the same complaints that were on the IU board about their d coordinator he needed to be fired he was horrible etc. Now they are ready to make him the next head coach somewhere. I don’t know if he can coach or not but to be fair. He had no spring or summer to implement his scheme which by the way was switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4. To think you were going to be great overnight was a little unrealistic. He also needs a chance to bring in 3-4 type guys. As far as Saturday there is nothing more disheartening than a team lining up and just running it down your throat it is the hardest thing to try to stop especially if you are not as physical. Again I can’t say if Diaco can coach or not but he really has not received a fair chance.
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I am not sure what adjustments would be made, given that literally none were made last weekend, and, I don't anticipate any response of any sort in that the defense was/is about as soft as any, including any that Hazell or Hope had in their times at the helm.
When you just get pushed around, laughed at and flat run over...and accept it...allow it...I don't see how you respond in any way otherwise...more so in that there just is a significant lack of talent on that side of the ball at most, if not all positions...and, in that you know Karlaftis is out and Barnes is out for the first half.
There is a scheme issue, a talent issue, a personnel issue and a significant attitude issue on the defensive side of the ball, all compounded by a lack of any leadership on the field or on the sideline unfortunately.
Not sure if you saw our 2nd half performance. Making little to no adjustments and having zero impact is enough of a sampling against Rutgers to know that is unacceptable.
That is the 3rd game in a row we've wilted. Say what you will, but that scheme is a killer when you cannot stop the run. Only NW of the 3 games was the better team. The rest is on coaching. Defense and Special Teams are atrocious right now and will cost us more if not all the remaining games.
There is some validity to what you have said, yet, to have no answer at all and make no adjustments at all on Saturday is inexcusable at any level, but certainly at this level...so while he may have some things working against him, his complete ineptitude on Saturday trumps any/all of those.
The defense was complete garbage in the first half of the Minnesota game as well.
There is something to be said for working with what you have...Brohm excelled at/with it his first year and while gradually getting to a point where he had the personnel to do what he ultimately wanted to do...Diaco on the other hand has tried to use his system despite all of those issues that you cited, and, despite the fact that it has been a complete failure...THAT is anything but "coaching", and, it in conjunction with his failure to do anything at all different on Saturday to stop the most basic of an offensive scheme is unacceptable...you offered some reasons to justify the lack of having any sort of immediate or discernible success, but, given what happened on Saturday, I would render all of those moot or irrelevant, as the mere fact that the guy was so inept on Saturday leads me to believe that none of those other things matter...now, nor in the future.
The defense was complete garbage in the first half of the Minnesota game as well.
There is something to be said for working with what you have...Brohm excelled at/with it his first year and while gradually getting to a point where he had the personnel to do what he ultimately wanted to do...Diaco on the other hand has tried to use his system despite all of those issues that you cited, and, despite the fact that it has been a complete failure...THAT is anything but "coaching", and, it in conjunction with his failure to do anything at all different on Saturday to stop the most basic of an offensive scheme is unacceptable...you offered some reasons to justify the lack of having any sort of immediate or discernible success, but, given what happened on Saturday, I would render all of those moot or irrelevant, as the mere fact that the guy was so inept on Saturday leads me to believe that none of those other things matter...now, nor in the future.
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A significant attitude issue can be addressed by personnel change & coaches having a fire put under the butts.
I believe we can do it. I also understand the flip side of the coin, will we do it.
I am skeptical and hard pressed to believe that making a couple of changes (with guys apparently deemed not to be better or more capable already than guys playing ahead/instead of them) will amount to much, if anything, and, the coaches have proven to be inept...fire or no fire. Holt had a ton of fire, and it at times helped I guess, but he also had some talent and a couple of quality leaders on the field as well.
Diaco just proved that he could not even stop the most basic of any offense as there is/could be...and it had nothing at all to do with any lack of fire by him, or proverbially under him.
We're on the same page. In the bigger picture, when someone (in this case, head coach) has to step in to do your job, that is a sign. The season has turned sour. I'm left wondering if any salvaging can be done at this point or not. That might be entertainment factor enough for me to at least check in. I was only going to DVR it and watch later...I'm still mulling that over the next few days.
I did watch the whole game. As stated before the toughest thing to stop is a team running downhill right at you especially you lost your best defensive players your linebacker and then GK did not even play. The next problem you have is that you have a finesse offense not physical offense so it is hard for your scout team to emulate a power run game. Also I have not seen Rutgers since the IU game and I don’t recall them running this power game so not sure if they had reason to expect that attack. Not making excuses just speaking from 35 years of coaching experience.
All I know is we damn well better not see any 3-4 alignments in this game or it will get ugly fast! I guess we will see if we have learned anything and adjustments are made!!
Brohm in his Monday press conference continues to make light of the terrible performance of the defense.He says being aggressive is the answer How dumb.They should be aggressive on every play.
I think he is talking about aggressive play like blitzing/run blitzing, running slants and stunts in the D-Line, press coverage, safeties closer to LOS, etc.... Those are high risk, high reward type plays. If the offense calls the right plays at the right time you can give up huge plays, but if your defense calls them at the right time it causes more negative plays.
Watch #9 get washed out on EVERY play. He and I are both 50 lbs overweight and can’t hold our ground.
Me too!! cant move like we used too but #9 is 23 years old. No excuse, he'll have to get to 290 for pro day at Purdue. No invite to indy for the combine if he keeps playing like this
Not trying to be a wise guy, but what would your experience tell you to do in the 3rd qtr?
I’ll answer ...
they were so soft in the middle defensively I would have gone 20 personnel with doerue lined up boundary side to take the handoff to the field and horvath field side .. bell, Wright and Moore
defensively I would have pulled Sullivan deen and Graham. If I was going 3-4 I would have put Johnson and watts over the OTs, put Barnes on the outside (replaced by khali Saunders after the”targeting“ call phoned in by mantei teo’s girlfriend). 4-3 would have been Mitchell watts Neal and deen. When they went wildcat I might have out sullivan in as the 4-3 ssde
there were things we could have done
Diaco is officially on notice. Just like Holt being sent to the press box.
a lot of these issues point to a lack of depth and experience. people keep talking about the cupboard being left bare. Well, why didn't brohm fill it with his first two recruiting classes? this is the same guy who brought in jucos and 5th year transfers to play his first year. Instead of blaming Hazell, why not ask whatever happened to Brohm's recruits? Where are Daniels, Ellis, Higgins, Lane, Deen, Johnson, Marks, Sullivan and Reviere? They were all recruited in brohm's first two years. they are the ones who should be stepping up and starting now. the reason that our line is so youthful is because brohm's first two recruiting classes didn't really provide much. barnes , horvath and Conners were linebackers Brohm recruited. Our defense is only as good as the talent that was recruited.
I can tell you I do not know your personel on defense. Also have not watched enough of your games but usually guys who play 3-4 will go to either an over or under front which are even fronts but they still will only have 3 true defensive linemen in the game and the fourth is a hybrid linebacker who still might be undersized. You can roll a safety down in the box to add an extra defender but again that guy is a guy that is more adept at covering passes as opposed to making tackles. Although he will be probably your best tackler in the secondary. The other day you did get them into some passing situations but they were able to convert those.
as far as offense I did not understand why you did not get the ball into Bell and Moore’s hands more. Yes Horvath was having a great game and he is a load. The quarterback run was a real head scratcher for sure of course you had an o lineman miss his assignment but anytime you have a third and short or fourth and short running sideways is not a great idea unless it is Moore. A lot of people playing downhill.
I haven't read through the entire thread, but I thought that I would offer some perspective from a ND fan on Diaco.
He was considered a success at ND because the defensive staff that preceded him was so atrocious that the bar for success was practically nonexistent. Additionally, he was the architect of the defense that got ND to the national championship game in 2012.
His defense was straight vanilla, so much so that ND always kept its base personnel on the field, rarely if ever using nickel, and not even having a dime package available to use. He had incredible talent on that defense, including guys like Manti Teo and Louis Nix, and designed a bend-but-don't-break defense that kept everything in front of them, would allow yards between the 20 yard lines, and then firm up in the red zone. Basically, they out-talented opponents, which was all well and good until they ran into a team in Alabama that they couldn't out-talent.
You can probably still dig up interviews from Alabama's players after the game where they say that they knew everything that ND's defense was going to do on every play. Thats right...40 days to prepare for the game, and Diaco added no wrinkles or anything. He let the best team in the nation have 40 days to dissect video of his defense and they got trampled during the game.
One more thing to add. After the 2012 season, Diaco stopped recruiting. He was a pretty average recruiter to begin with, but what I have been told by people who had insider knowledge is that he flat-out told Brian Kelly that he wasn't going to recruit, and then he bolted for UCONN.
To this day, there are still plenty of ND fans who look at him fondly for his part in getting ND to a title game, but I guarantee you that not a single one of them would want him back at ND if you asked them.
Bob Diaco is a fraud. He does not deserve more time. The sooner that you get rid of him, the better off that you'll be.
He was considered a success at ND because the defensive staff that preceded him was so atrocious that the bar for success was practically nonexistent. Additionally, he was the architect of the defense that got ND to the national championship game in 2012.
His defense was straight vanilla, so much so that ND always kept its base personnel on the field, rarely if ever using nickel, and not even having a dime package available to use. He had incredible talent on that defense, including guys like Manti Teo and Louis Nix, and designed a bend-but-don't-break defense that kept everything in front of them, would allow yards between the 20 yard lines, and then firm up in the red zone. Basically, they out-talented opponents, which was all well and good until they ran into a team in Alabama that they couldn't out-talent.
You can probably still dig up interviews from Alabama's players after the game where they say that they knew everything that ND's defense was going to do on every play. Thats right...40 days to prepare for the game, and Diaco added no wrinkles or anything. He let the best team in the nation have 40 days to dissect video of his defense and they got trampled during the game.
One more thing to add. After the 2012 season, Diaco stopped recruiting. He was a pretty average recruiter to begin with, but what I have been told by people who had insider knowledge is that he flat-out told Brian Kelly that he wasn't going to recruit, and then he bolted for UCONN.
To this day, there are still plenty of ND fans who look at him fondly for his part in getting ND to a title game, but I guarantee you that not a single one of them would want him back at ND if you asked them.
Bob Diaco is a fraud. He does not deserve more time. The sooner that you get rid of him, the better off that you'll be.
I never thought Diaco was a home run hire, but here's what I don't get. His work at ND aside, he oversaw a really good defense for one year at La Tech that has gone into the toilet after he left. With some of the holes on the defensive side of the ball, I'm not totally dismissing the possibility of improvement next year with a key addition or 2 via transfer and one or two younger guys taking a step forward.
2019:
2020:
2019:
| Team | G | TD | FG | XPT | 2XP | DXP | SAF | PTS | AVG/G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UAB | 14 | 38 | 13 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 302 | 21.6 |
| 2 | Louisiana Tech | 13 | 35 | 13 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 284 | 21.8 |
| 3 | Florida Atlantic | 14 | 41 | 10 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 318 | 22.7 |
| 4 | FIU | 20 | 57 | 27 | 50 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 475 | 23.8 |
| 5 | Marshall | 13 | 41 | 13 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 325 | 25.0 |
| 6 | WKU | 19 | 59 | 25 | 51 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 484 | 25.5 |
| 7 | Rice | 12 | 40 | 11 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 311 | 25.9 |
| 8 | Southern Miss | 13 | 44 | 11 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 341 | 26.2 |
| 9 | Old Dominion | 12 | 45 | 14 | 42 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 358 | 29.8 |
| 10 | Middle Tennessee | 13 | 46 | 24 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 392 | 30.2 |
| 11 | Charlotte | 14 | 59 | 13 | 54 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 451 | 32.2 |
| 12 | North Texas | 12 | 50 | 15 | 39 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 390 | 32.5 |
| 13 | UTSA | 12 | 51 | 18 | 47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 407 | 33.9 |
| 14 | UTEP | 12 | 54 | 18 | 47 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 431 | 35.9 |
2020:
| Team | G | TD | FG | XPT | 2XP | DXP | SAF | PTS | AVG/G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marshall | 7 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 10.1 |
| 2 | Florida Atlantic | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 67 | 11.2 |
| 3 | UAB | 7 | 20 | 8 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 164 | 23.4 |
| 4 | Rice | 3 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 24.3 |
| 5 | WKU | 10 | 31 | 10 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 246 | 24.6 |
| 6 | UTSA | 11 | 36 | 10 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 277 | 25.2 |
| 7 | UTEP | 8 | 28 | 7 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 216 | 27.0 |
| 8 | Charlotte | 5 | 22 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 158 | 31.6 |
| 9 | Louisiana Tech | 7 | 29 | 8 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 226 | 32.3 |
| 10 | Southern Miss | 9 | 38 | 9 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 292 | 32.4 |
| 11 | FIU | 5 | 19 | 10 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 162 | 32.4 |
| 12 | Middle Tennessee | 9 | 41 | 10 | 39 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 319 | 35.4 |
| 13 | North Texas | 7 | 38 | 7 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 287 | 41.0 |
I'm sure I'll get a lot of slack for this after that fourth quarter fiasco, but Purdue is ranked 6th in the B10 in scoring defense and 8th in scoring offense.
If someone had told me at the beginning of the year that the defense would rank 6th in scoring defense at midyear I would have taken it. If someone would have told me the offense was ranked 8th, I would have been extremely disappointed.
If someone had told me at the beginning of the year that the defense would rank 6th in scoring defense at midyear I would have taken it. If someone would have told me the offense was ranked 8th, I would have been extremely disappointed.
Purdue is also 10th in offensive starting field position and 5th in defensive starting field position. That basically means the offense + special teams are putting the defense in better position to prevent scoring than what position the defense + special teams are putting the offense in to score. A lot of the higher scoring teams are getting help from their defense and special teams.
When we scored that defensive TD against Illinois, some were quick to give all the credit for those points to the defense. But it was the offense that put Illinois at the 2 yard line. Similarly, when the offense struggles to go 75 yards over and over again, and has limited possessions due to the opponent dominating the ball, the responsibility is shared with the defense.
I hate the 3-4 and I'm not defending Diaco, but my point is the defense isn't our only issue or even our major issue.
The offensive play calling is not what anyone would call dynamic. Hovarth has been a pleasant surprise but wouldn't we rather have Moore or Bell get a few of his 23 touches. Think about that, we have two of the most dynamic players in the country and our offense features Hovarth. He had 23 touches out of Purdue's 53 runs/completed passes. Moore had 9 touches and Bell 4. Its almost like we're taking what they give us instead of doing what we do best. Rutgers has the worst scoring defense in the B10 and we scored 30 points. Its just not enough for a team whose strength is supposed to be its offense.
If you told me at the beginning of the year Hovarth would be second on the team in receptions and was going to be the focus of our offense, I guess I would have expected us to be where we're currently at, 8th in B10 in scoring offense.
Again, this is nothing against Hovarth or the offensive line, they've been great, but its not the big chunk offense many of us enjoyed the first couple of years under Brohm.
I hear that, but is the lack of big chunk plays due to playcalling or execution? I see a lot of the same plays that Rondale or Knox or Mahoungou or Hopkins took to the house, but I'm not seeing the same execution. Horvath is getting the ball because defenses have umbrella coverage on both Moore and Bell and dare us to dump it to the flat. Horvath is also the guy most capable of picking up yards after contact. I'm afraid some of it is also Plummer's ball placement, not hitting receivers in stride at full speed as well as Sindelar and Blough. A lot of our big gainers are simply 50/50 toss ups into single coverage for Bell.
It's funny because when you're struggling everyone has an answer. A lot of people were saying the problem was that we got away from what was working against Rutgers for 2 1/2 quarters (Horvath) and tried forcing the issue in the passing game.
Yeah, I'm certainly not here pretending I have the answers. I'm still hoping that Brohm is an offensive innovator that can keep defenses off balance. It seems like Purdue's best teams over the last 20+ years are those that have a "what do we have to lose" type mentality. As soon as we try to match up man for man and play a more traditional offense we kind of just become another team (or worse). Running the ball off tackle with fullback/tailback hybrid and swinging/dumping the ball off to the same guy just doesn't seem that creative. The line is much better this year and Hovarth has been excellent but I'm just not sure we're at the point we beat teams without a little more innovation on offense.
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Petras was making his 1st start
Illinois had a 4th string QB
Northwesterns strength is on defense
Minnesota didn’t have Faalele or Dunlap
Rutgers offense isn’t even good
Any of you want to keep Diaco? If they do and people here are okay with it, just remember this post. You think Purdue can afford for their DC to not recruit.
As to you Ken I wanna be clear. In no way am I suggesting we have players who could play in that front seven except for karlaftis and Barnes.. but that doesn’t mean he has to go with an anemic 3-3-5. If you’re gonna run a 3-4, your DEs can’t be 4-3 DE sized. Even if the 3-4 works (big if) it doesn’t work like that
The defense is the biggest problem and it’s not close.
The opponents are focusing a lot of attention on bell and moore.
Also, keep in mind that bell only runs a 4.6. So as much of a technician as he is and as much as he gets the ball when it’s there to be gotten.. he’s not gonna toast any fast QBs in man. If he had Miltons speed he’d destroy entire teams.
Then on the other side you have Milton who has the speed and is missing almost everything David has. But that can be taught. Very hard to get David to 4.45.. lots of plyo training and maybe still no
I want to see more Doerue. He looked like he was just getting comfortable against rutgers. He has two gears that horvath doesnt. So if you hit that pass in the flat instead of it being 13 yards it might easily become 35.. now teams have to pick a poison. I’m not saying horvath hasn’t been good.
If I were Brohm I’d like to see the three receivers out there with the speed of Doerue and Miller at TE. Now when you leave the weakest two options open, they can threaten the house .. teams are actually playing bend don’t break on us .. and it’s working.
But to me the biggest issue is that you have too many young guys on one offense. Last year it looked disastrous at times. We had 3-4 offensive line spots without big ten ready players. That deep sixed everything.
This year there is no disaster scenario, but this isn’t blough in his 5th year having played with everyone forever behind an experienced OL either. These guys are the rest of this season, plus the offseason from coming out and looking crisp .. getting old and staying old. Miller will slide in for Hermanns and yeah the loss of rondale will make Sheffield our weakest player.. but the other ten guys will have the game slow down and Bell will understand how much physicality he has to fight against. Hopefully he will come out with another 10 lbs or just much stronger
Not sure how you can call the offensive line "great." They are horrible. I am sure some of the limited play calling has a lot to do with the offensive line not having a strength. Run blocking....nope. Pass blocking....nope. What else is left??? Nebraska rushes 4, there are 5 offensive linemen, and 2 or 3 defenders get to the QB. A couple of times they rush 3 and we couldn't get more than 4 seconds.
Go back and watch the game. Focus on the offensive line. I watched a 2nd time and couldn't make it past the 1st quarter because the o-line was so bad!!
It was bad, I'm not sure why they thought starting Garvin at C and Hartwig at RG was a good idea. That Craig injury during the Iowa game really hurt this team all season.
He would be well-advised, and, likely well-served, to return...get in better shape...and show what he is capable of, in order to improve his chances of playing at the next level.
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