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Likely. I'm not sold on Arkansas's defense as much as I am on coaching staff's not preparing for Arkansas.

Defense USED to win championships.
FIFY

Back in my younger days (heck even back in 2014-15) you could sit back on offense, let the defense kill the other team, probably score a few on their own, and the defense did win it. Today, I'm not sure that there is a defense that can stop some of these offenses (ours included).

@TerryP that leads me to a question, who do YOU think has a defense that can stop these high powered O's like ours and Clemson's? Not just on an off day, like with Ole Miss this week, but if everyone is having their typical, everything is working like it should day, who has a defense that can stop these HUNH spread offenses and other modern offenses? Is there one? I think we've seen Alabama modify a few things, but it still isn't stopping everything, and I think its scheme more than talent. How do you defend a Clemson? The NFL is starting to have trouble with it, too...
 
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FIFY

Back in my younger days (heck even back in 2014-15) you could sit back on offense, let the defense kill the other team, probably score a few on their own, and the defense did win it. Today, I'm not sure that there is a defense that can stop some of these offenses (ours included).

@TerryP that leads me to a question, who do YOU think has a defense that can stop these high powered O's like ours and Clemson's? Not just on an off day, like with Ole Miss this week, but if everyone is having their typical, everything is working like it should day, who has a defense that can stop these HUNH spread offenses and other modern offenses? Is there one? I think we've seen Alabama modify a few things, but it still isn't stopping everything, and I think its scheme more than talent. How do you defend a Clemson? The NFL is starting to have trouble with it, too...


You need a defense that can give the most different looks to defenses to slow them down. It's guys like Dave Aranda and Brent Venables, who run more different fronts, coverages, blitzes, and presnap movement. They won't dominate anyone, but they can slow stuff down.

I also think Jeff Hafley at Ohio St last year did as good as you can do at turning loose talented players and keeping the scheme simple so they could attack and not think too much. The difference between 2019 and 2018 was astonishing.
 
Defensively now, for the most part, you need to get 4-5 stops a game that force punts, add in a turnover or two and call it a good day. Used to, we called them a "bend but don't break" defense. With the offenses running tempo, limiting substitutions or personnel groupings, defenses get fatigued quicker and lead to more mistakes in alignment and technique/fundamentals. A DC needs to be willing to mix in more zone and break some of their tried and true ways to break tendencies. Pelini and LSwho were prime examples of someone too bullheaded to get out of man and Miss State and the Air Raid destroyed them. I think we did a lot of the same against Ole Piss as well. It also doesn't hurt to have an Alpha dog at each level that you can cut loose and disrupt things too.
 
i get that you have to change things up, no doubt. But even you guys are saying no one is going to shut them down. Remember in the 2011 (I think) NC game against LSWho, when we didn't let them get past the 50? Not that their offense was great, but we SHUT THEM DOWN. Will we ever see a defense do that to a Clemson or Alabama of today without someone just having a bad day? Like last night with Zeke Elliot fumbling the ball multiple times and he never does that. That's my question. I know we can get the stops and force a field goal or a punt every now and again, but forcing the other team to score 1-2 times less than you do isn't the kind of defense that most Alabama fans are used to. I don't love it, but if that's what it is today, and we have the offense to take advantage, I can live with it.

I know the rules have changed, which also helps the O over the D in many ways, especially all of the player safety rules. What I'm getting to is this. Who today has a defensive scheme that can shut down a really good modern offense? It may come in a few years, and force the O to change just like throughout history, no one runs the wishbone now, but it dominated in its day. But what kind of scheme can negate the advantages today's offenses are exploiting?
 
i get that you have to change things up, no doubt. But even you guys are saying no one is going to shut them down. Remember in the 2011 (I think) NC game against LSWho, when we didn't let them get past the 50? Not that their offense was great, but we SHUT THEM DOWN. Will we ever see a defense do that to a Clemson or Alabama of today without someone just having a bad day? Like last night with Zeke Elliot fumbling the ball multiple times and he never does that. That's my question. I know we can get the stops and force a field goal or a punt every now and again, but forcing the other team to score 1-2 times less than you do isn't the kind of defense that most Alabama fans are used to. I don't love it, but if that's what it is today, and we have the offense to take advantage, I can live with it.

I know the rules have changed, which also helps the O over the D in many ways, especially all of the player safety rules. What I'm getting to is this. Who today has a defensive scheme that can shut down a really good modern offense? It may come in a few years, and force the O to change just like throughout history, no one runs the wishbone now, but it dominated in its day. But what kind of scheme can negate the advantages today's offenses are exploiting?


Nobody has this scheme. The rules make it impossible.

Each play is a run and pass play. LBs are wrong no matter what they do. OCs are better than ever because of this. And then you get QBs like Lawrence, Fields, Burrow, etc and there's no chance to stop them.
 
I agree. Defense would have won us a Championship against Clemson the second time we played, and beat them in the Sugar Bowl. I get what he's referring too statistically as we have discussed before, but no matter how good the offense is (look at our 2017-2018 team), you got to have stops on defense.

TO's!!! They are generally too much to overcome, because most big games now are a race to 40. Plus it's demorilizing... After INT #2 UGA was done. I def agree that a FG is a win though, hell when we stopped UGA to those attempts I was celebrating
 
Call me old school or hard headed but still not buying that D's just need to accept their place. I get it will not be like 2011 but we absolutely need to be better than giving up an average of 400+ yards and 30+ points per game. We were ranked like 66th in the nation before the UGA game. That means 65 other teams have done better at defending these "new offenses". I know it is hard to compare conferences and competition but we have to get better than we have been showing. My issues is still about mainly stopping the run game and not busting assignments. We have had issues with both of these.
 
Call me old school or hard headed but still not buying that D's just need to accept their place. I get it will not be like 2011 but we absolutely need to be better than giving up an average of 400+ yards and 30+ points per game. We were ranked like 66th in the nation before the UGA game. That means 65 other teams have done better at defending these "new offenses". I know it is hard to compare conferences and competition but we have to get better than we have been showing. My issues is still about mainly stopping the run game and not busting assignments. We have had issues with both of these.
Arm tackling has been an issue too. Guys just arent hitting the numbers and wrapping up. Instead they are grasping for arms and trying to pull them down instead of hitting hard and driving them down.
 
To me, tackling is somewhat like rebounding in basketball. It first starts with a strong want to. Putting yourself in the correct position. Go up strong with both hands. Every player has their space on the field to defend or certain players to defend. Was it Battle who was tossed against ole miss for targeting? He did not try to tackle that dude. He ran straight into that player practically head first trying to knock him down instead of trying to tackle him. Where the heck do these bad habits come from? You know they are drilled over and over every day to keep their head up, to avoid penalty and injury. I just came to the realization, that most if not all, college players never played much , if any backyard ball. No pads, no helmets.
You learned how to tackle without using your head. A few bloody noses, busted brows and goose eggs on your forehead will make you learn pretty quick how to tackle properly without using your head.
 
Call me old school or hard headed but still not buying that D's just need to accept their place. I get it will not be like 2011 but we absolutely need to be better than giving up an average of 400+ yards and 30+ points per game. We were ranked like 66th in the nation before the UGA game. That means 65 other teams have done better at defending these "new offenses". I know it is hard to compare conferences and competition but we have to get better than we have been showing. My issues is still about mainly stopping the run game and not busting assignments. We have had issues with both of these.
In case you've missed it right now the SEC is on track to have its highest scoring season in history. This year, which is a bit of an outlier due to the climate, currently has five teams that are allowing over 300 yards passing per game. No team, since the expansion in 2012, has allowed 300 yards passing per game in the conference. No one.

Another example of how much things have changed since 2014's introduction of the hurry up concepts at Bama. There are five teams that are allowing 200 yards rushing per game. That's the lowest this conference has seen since it's 2012 expansion. Just a year ago we're looking at nine.

@c5vetman there's only one team that can stop these offenses: the team itself. You hope you're catching a Lawrence led Clemson squad on a bad day, ya know?
 
Guys, I think you've answered my question, basically confirming what I expected and feared. Thanks. I'm sure Saban, if anyone, can come up with some kind of scheme that will slow it down. But at this point, we just need to create turnovers and get a key stop every few plays.

I do also think one of our bigger problems has just been tackling technique. OM looked like greased pigs slipping through all night.
 
In case you've missed it right now the SEC is on track to have its highest scoring season in history.
I have not missed it but I do not measure Bama by the SEC. Never have never will. With that said I still think that if the fundamentals are fixed including busted assignments you will see a ton of improvement in the results on the score board and stats sheet. Bama held UGA to 146 yards in the 2nd half with certainly more of a ball control offense. I would take this which would put us at giving up slightly less than 300 yards/game.
 
Guys, I think you've answered my question, basically confirming what I expected and feared. Thanks. I'm sure Saban, if anyone, can come up with some kind of scheme that will slow it down. But at this point, we just need to create turnovers and get a key stop every few plays.

I do also think one of our bigger problems has just been tackling technique. OM looked like greased pigs slipping through all night.

I feel you still need a pass rush. Clemson is still recruiting and signing high motor ends that can collapse a pocket and make quarterbacks make mistakes. They may not be making a sack every series, but the pressure from the front takes away pressure from their secondary as it causes accuracy issues as well as rhythm problems. Their backers don't run NEAR as much as our scheme makes ours, and that's how they get away with mediocre down hill type guys like Boulware and Skalski. Outside of Isaiah Simmons, Clemson hasn't had world beaters in their secondary, but I bet you can name two handfuls of their front that have made it to the NFL.

This being said, look at Trevor Lawrence and how erratic he plays when he gets flustered and pressured. Higgins and Ross bailed him out with their go-go gadget arms and catches as he was all over the place, especially in the Natty against us. A guy like that cannot be allowed to survey the field and get into a rhythm or he will chew you up and spit you out (as most D-1 quarterbacks can). That being said, his biggest flaw in my eyes that I have watched is if he is pressured he is very very inaccurate.

I feel that is how you can beat this new aged offense.
 
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