Unfortunately for this Defense

[daveK-RELOADED]

The coaching staff does not have the kind of athletes it needs in the secondary to render this defensive scheme effective. And I'm sure they realized that all through spring ball and pre-season practices. In Walter's scheme, the corners, safeties and even the LB's have to play press coverage. The scheme that was used in this game was the same Brohm used. No tight coverage. And the QB ate them up. Can he teach these guys to change? We'll see. But this was your typical defense under Brohm, Hazell and Hope.

 

[Vassar69]

The coaching staff does not have the kind of athletes it needs in the secondary to render this defensive scheme effective. And I'm sure they realized that all through spring ball and pre-season practices. In Walter's scheme, the corners, safeties and even the LB's have to play press coverage. The scheme that was used in this game was the same Brohm used. No tight coverage. And the QB ate them up. Can he teach these guys to change? We'll see. But this was your typical defense under Brohm, Hazell and Hope.

He will. He’s a great coach. At Illinois, the D looked awful for the first three games. He implemented a new scheme during the bye week to cater to his roster’s strengths and they completely flipped their season around. The bigger challenge will be generating pressure on the QB. If you can’t speed the QB up, then you really can’t play man coverage even if you have athletes in the secondary.

 

[Bippus33]

The coaching staff does not have the kind of athletes it needs in the secondary to render this defensive scheme effective. And I'm sure they realized that all through spring ball and pre-season practices. In Walter's scheme, the corners, safeties and even the LB's have to play press coverage. The scheme that was used in this game was the same Brohm used. No tight coverage. And the QB ate them up. Can he teach these guys to change? We'll see. But this was your typical defense under Brohm, Hazell and Hope.

And Fresno's WR's were twitchy and hard to man up on.

 

[KentuckyBoiler]

I can see why half the upcoming class is secondary now

 

[daveK-RELOADED]

I can see why half the upcoming class is secondary now

I think it will get better but will take time. The kind of coverage Walter's wants is how the Vols played Purdue in the Music City Bowl. They pressed hard but got a lot of penalties. But I also give Fresno's QB a lot of credit. On some of those TDs the coverage was fine but he just threaded the needle.

 

[Bstix]

I think it will get better but will take time. The kind of coverage Walter's wants is how the Vols played Purdue in the Music City Bowl. They pressed hard but got a lot of penalties. But I also give Fresno's QB a lot of credit. On some of those TDs the coverage was fine but he just threaded the needle.

One of the reasons he was able to thread the needle was he had all the time he needed. The lack of a pass rush made him look like an all American.

 

[Bippus33]

The coaching staff does not have the kind of athletes it needs in the secondary to render this defensive scheme effective. And I'm sure they realized that all through spring ball and pre-season practices. In Walter's scheme, the corners, safeties and even the LB's have to play press coverage. The scheme that was used in this game was the same Brohm used. No tight coverage. And the QB ate them up. Can he teach these guys to change? We'll see. But this was your typical defense under Brohm, Hazell and Hope.

If that is the case, why aren't they adjusting the scheme to the players that they have?

 

[daveK-RELOADED]

If that is the case, why aren't they adjusting the scheme to the players that they have?

I think he wants all the players to work the scheme. The issue, I think, is that they don't have enough quality depth to rotate a lot of players. You get damn tired playing press coverage. Not enough bodies caused the defense to gas out.

 

[PaBoiler78]

I think he wants all the players to work the scheme. The issue, I think, is that they don't have enough quality depth to rotate a lot of players. You get damn tired playing press coverage. Not enough bodies caused the defense to gas out.

having 3 and outs, not converting on 3rd downs, and even the one TD was a quick strike so not much for the D

 

[FLAG HUNTER]

If the offense is based on big plays, and not short passes with running game, the defense will be out there a lot each game.

 

[BCfanatic2020]

The coaching staff does not have the kind of athletes it needs in the secondary to render this defensive scheme effective. And I'm sure they realized that all through spring ball and pre-season practices. In Walter's scheme, the corners, safeties and even the LB's have to play press coverage. The scheme that was used in this game was the same Brohm used. No tight coverage. And the QB ate them up. Can he teach these guys to change? We'll see. But this was your typical defense under Brohm, Hazell and Hope.

It was one game. Against the best fluid passer Purdue will face all season

 

[ImRonBurgandy?]

It was one game. Against the best fluid passer Purdue will face all season

Keene made some sick throws, no doubt. However, based on his previous game logs, his play against Purdue was by far and away his best. I think against Purdue was his first 300 yard day. Average stats imo at UCF.

Under Tedford it's reasonable that Keene will do well. However, I think we'll see guys with more talent during B1G season.

 

[pboiler18]

It was one game. Against the best fluid passer Purdue will face all season

Yeah, this is an awful take.

Crazy how you could only criticize Brohm but can only give this guy the benefit of the doubt.

 

[wallyboiler79]

Yeah, this is an awful take.

Crazy how you could only criticize Brohm but can only give this guy the benefit of the doubt.

Awful take? Really?

With 6 years of data on Brohm there are plenty of issues to dissect, several positives and a few negatives. I am not ready to make any conclusions on Walters after one game.

 

[BCfanatic2020]

Yeah, this is an awful take.

Crazy how you could only criticize Brohm but can only give this guy the benefit of the doubt.

95 yards in the second half

 

[pboiler18]

95 yards in the second half

That VT team was awful.

It was a good defensive performance overall IMO. Finally made some meaningful adjustments instead of running the same coverages over and over. On offense, the 4th and 1 decision and play all were the bonehead moves of the game. Took all of our momentum and handed it to VT on a golden platter.

Took us too damn long to figure out that we could run the ball effectively vs VT. Hope it doesn’t take as long this week.

 

[bonefish1]

During the first 2-3 series against FS, our DBs looked like a completely different group. They were quick, all over the WRs, tackled well, etc, Not sure what happened.

I think Walters is going with a bend don't break D philosophy. Guessing that's why Theineman (sp) is lined up 25-30 yds off the ball. Nothing, absolutely nothing, over the top. Make the offensive earn it and have to grind it out against our solid front 7.

 

[BCfanatic2020]

That VT team was awful.

It was a good defensive performance overall IMO. Finally made some meaningful adjustments instead of running the same coverages over and over. On offense, the 4th and 1 decision and play all were the bonehead moves of the game. Took all of our momentum and handed it to VT on a golden platter.

Took us too damn long to figure out that we could run the ball effectively vs VT. Hope it doesn’t take as long this week.

Or “I like Jeff brohm”

 

[pboiler18]

Or “I like Jeff brohm”

Jeff Brohm was and will be far superior than anything this coach puts on the field offensively. That’s the brand of football I like so of course I’m going to feel some way about what I’ve seen on that side of the ball thus far.

What you failed to read was the credit I gave the defense.

I think we were late to adjust, but when we started to mix coverages we started to confuse the QB and really have the success we want to on defense. That said, their QB was very bad. I don’t think Keene was that good either…but he played well against us….was that because we did t challenge him though?

I’m giving the coach time. Anything I’ve said has been and is a valid criticism. I like the guy and want him to succeed. He has a lot of elements that successful coaches have. I’m evaluating what I’ve seen on the field vs the paper expectations. That’s all.

Should I remind you of the hissy fits you threw on this board a few short years ago before the season even started in basically one of the top 5 seasons the program had ever had?

My takes have been vastly more measured than “we have 6 out of 22 kids on this team that can play P5 football”

 

[BCfanatic2020]

Jeff Brohm was and will be far superior than anything this coach puts on the field offensively. That’s the brand of football I like so of course I’m going to feel some way about what I’ve seen on that side of the ball thus far.

What you failed to read was the credit I gave the defense.

I think we were late to adjust, but when we started to mix coverages we started to confuse the QB and really have the success we want to on defense. That said, their QB was very bad. I don’t think Keene was that good either…but he played well against us….was that because we did t challenge him though?

I’m giving the coach time. Anything I’ve said has been and is a valid criticism. I like the guy and want him to succeed. He has a lot of elements that successful coaches have. I’m evaluating what I’ve seen on the field vs the paper expectations. That’s all.

Should I remind you of the hissy fits you threw on this board a few short years ago before the season even started in basically one of the top 5 seasons the program had ever had?

My takes have been vastly more measured than “we have 6 out of 22 kids on this team that can play P5 football”

I stand by my 2021 prediction had Jack plummer started all year. No one was predicting that due to the work of Jeff Christiansen, Aidan Oconnell would become a Kyle Orton like presence. His pff grade ended up being higher than karlaftis for the season lol!

When I spoke of the inadequacies of a very incomplete team led by a very incomplete coaching staff, without being able to look at the pff numbers at the time, what I think I was seeing was stuff like this. Hold on to your seat and keep in mind that I haven’t looked at 2021 this way, but I imagine these things would hold true

1. Jalen grant rebounded this past week in run blocking to get a pff grade of 73.9 second to Marcus Mbow’s 74.4.

This number was equaled or surpassed by 2022 offensive linemen just 7 times in 14 games.

They are listed as follows
Marcus Mbow 3
Cam Craig 2
Gus Hartwig 1
Mahamane Moussa 1

The only time two players got that grade in the same game was vs Indiana state

2. Botros Alisandro rebounded to get a 69.9 coverage grade vs Virginia tech.

Amongst Cory Trice, Jamari Brown and Reese Taylor, this grade was equaled or surpassed 3 times by an individual in a single game in 2022.

That is shockingly bad and EXACTLY what I was getting at pre 2021.

But yeah, when a walk-in QBs takes over for Jack freaking plummer and gets an alarming 90.0 pff grade for the season, can you win 4 more games than my prediction? Of course!

 

[BCfanatic2020]

Jeff Brohm was and will be far superior than anything this coach puts on the field offensively. That’s the brand of football I like so of course I’m going to feel some way about what I’ve seen on that side of the ball thus far.

What you failed to read was the credit I gave the defense.

I think we were late to adjust, but when we started to mix coverages we started to confuse the QB and really have the success we want to on defense. That said, their QB was very bad. I don’t think Keene was that good either…but he played well against us….was that because we did t challenge him though?

I’m giving the coach time. Anything I’ve said has been and is a valid criticism. I like the guy and want him to succeed. He has a lot of elements that successful coaches have. I’m evaluating what I’ve seen on the field vs the paper expectations. That’s all.

Should I remind you of the hissy fits you threw on this board a few short years ago before the season even started in basically one of the top 5 seasons the program had ever had?

My takes have been vastly more measured than “we have 6 out of 22 kids on this team that can play P5 football”

Wanna know why I like Walters:

Here are Virginia Tech’s pff grades on the lines vs old dominion (old dominion is a better team than western Michigan [projected preseason to go just 5-7] and yet these numbers are much higher than Syracuse linemen against WMU)

DE Powell-Ryland 90.0
DE McCray 87.4
DT Fuga 79.4
DT Kendricks 78.9
DT Pollard 72.8
DT Pene 71.9
DE Burgos 69.0

RG Schick 72.1
LG B. Moore 62.8
RG Meadows 61.8
RT Clements 60.0
LT Chaplin 54.7
C K. Moore 52.4

Now vs Purdue

DE McCray 73.4
DE Powell-Ryland 68.9
DT Pollard 63.5
DT Kendricks 57.6
DT Fuga 57.0
DE Burgos 48.9
DT Pene 48.4

LT Chaplin 65.4
RG Schick 60.2
RT Clements 59.7
RG Meadows 59.4
LG B. Moore 53.6
C K. Moore 48.8

Purdue won the line of scrimmage against a p5 team. This was not the case under brohm. As Walters gets more athletes in here and this season as Card gets more comfortable and fluid, Purdue is really gonna do some things.

If my prediction seemed robust, keep in mind, I knew who Jeff sims was and what Illinois was likely to look like. I never thought we were going to be great but I just felt like “hey, our opponents have MORE than their share of issues too”