Thanks red, I wish I would have seen this before posting that question on another thread just a minute ago......my bad! :thumb:
Our loss to UT last season had nothing to do with players not knowing Pelini's defense. They knew it well in the 1st half and stuffed everything they threw at them. If you remember in the 2nd half the defense and the offense were being overly conservative in the play calling. The defense began playing prevent and giving 10 yd cushions to the WR's and letting them catch the ball underneath. There was no blitzing at all. The players knew the defense but Pelini or Miles screwed the pooch in having them play prevent or something just less than prevent.
hard to say which is better without having the same personnel. For me, I think the difference maker is your linebackers, namely the nosetackle. As Beckwith goes, so does the defense. The MLB sets the tempo, imo for a great defense. He has to be extremely physical, a snot knocker so to speak but also has to be in position to make plays sideline to sideline which comes from great instincts. Even when Beckwith overpursues or misreads, he always ends up around the ball and rarely ever has a mistackle. i think that is key. In the past, Laron and another db would lead the defense in tackles. Usually a bad sign. Now beckwith is the leader with Ali somewhere in the top 3 I would guess. Much like we are deficient with offensive linemen, I think saban never had a quality group of linebackers which has been a staple for a team like Auburn during their recent success in the SEC. Having a karlos dansby, takeo spikes, dontarrious thomas, reggie torbor etc is an invaluable commodity. With all the guys LSU has in the NFL I dont think we have any LB's except bradie james and i think he was a dinardo recruit. Luke Sanders is a good example of what we have had in the past. guys who were highly recruited and the physical talent yet not the football instincts needed to be a leading tackler in the SEC. As far as schemes go, I'd like for pelini to be more aggressive at times but his guys most always seem to be in the proper position which means they appear to be better fundamentally. Are they coached better than with saban? Probably not because saban was a stickler for fundamentals so its probably just better/smarter football players across the board. I think the secondary is better than even when saban was here. Although we had webster and daniels, in nickel and dime we now have a zenon, daniel francis and sammy joseph as the 3rd and 4th guys. No demetrius hookfins being forced to guard a team's #2 wr anymore and thats a good thing. And as good as our front personnel is I suppose we dont need to bring extra pressure as I mentioned but I would like to show different looks and disguise it more than we currently do. Saban did this very effectively and was what john chavis did with UT this past weekend when their defensive front looked like they were running in circles presnap. that was some crazy stuff. fake like you're blitzing so when you actually do it becomes even more effective. all in all, nothing any sane person could really dislike about our defense unless you're the opposition. tyson jackson is great, pittman is excellent. dorsey is superb. jessie daniels and laron were both in meachem's hip pocket but daniels never looked for the ball since meachem seemed to pull a fast one. He sorta bluffed him like the ball wasnt coming and was giving up on the route then reached up at the last second leaving daniels dumbfounded while laron simply mis-timed the ball. all the coach can do is put em in position then they have to make the play. however, those throws mentioned above were pretty close to perfect. If Ainge had stayed in the game they likely don't score more than once.
Pelini is 17-4 at LSU "with Saban's players" yet you never read any criticisms of Pelini around here. Why is that?
That's not a fair assessment. Saban inherited a team that had numerous off the field troubles, and the D didn't have the speed to work his scheme. Once he got the recruits and talent he was looking for, then it worked out for him. Pelini started with Saban's quick defense. Once Miles/Pelini/Jimbo have worked together for 5 years, then you can compare. So far, I like that Pelini has taken what was offered, and kept much of the framework intact, so not to confuse the kids. That's why it "took our guys 2-3 games to learn Pelini's schemes."
eric alexander appears to still be on the roster of the patriots (special teams), and vaughn and kuale are on practice squads. it all comes down to losing rufus alexander to OU due to grades.
