It probably appeared they were tackling better because they played lesser competition. The two best teams LSU played we did not look nearly as good on D. You play how you're coached. There is no excuse for those angles. There is no excuse for LB's looking lost. There is no excuse for all the arm tackles. No excuse for the missed assignments. The lack of focus through most of the game. I'm sorry but that is on coaching and it starts at the top and trickles on down.
That long Prescott TD run, Welter lined the D up wrong, and on the 3rd and long from the endzone Prescott ran for a first and it was on Welter to make and he bit harder on the read than a hungry largemouth on a spinner bait. It was pitiful. I'm not going to name call, but Welter is a huge liability. Oh and so is Elliot Porter.
We are way too small, particularly up the middle. We rarely stop a good RB with just one guy, it almost always takes two or three to make the tackle, even when guys are in the right place. This forces us to commit more guys to stopping the run which means are DB's are all alone on coverage most of the time. With our size we are a D that is built to compete in the PAC-12 or the BIG-12, not the SEC. This might have been appropriate for Chavis back when the Vols had to worry about Florida's Fun-n-Gun offense, but that era of the SEC is over for now. What we have now are teams with big physical backs that are also fast, and a pro-style passing attack, and maybe a QB who can run to boot. If we do have QB's who can run, they aren't little guys like Mariota from Oregon, they are big guys who need someone with size to bring them down. We need to go back to the type of personnel we had when Pelini was our D.C.
I'm not huge Welter Fan .... but our DTs are pathetic, and that makes Welter look even worse than he may be. I mean, dude, when you are being run over by your own DTs because the offensive line is pushing them backwards on their asses, that makes for a long game for a mike. Think about how many times Welter is having to rush the line just to give an appearance of pressure!! He shouldn't be having to do that. I think it is our DTs that are making our DEs look so bad as well. Chavis strategy requires two dominant inside powerhouses to clog up the middle, and allow the lighter faster DEs to make saks and contain. Our two DTs should be taking up 4 of the OL blockers ... ... at least three. But is seems it take one OL to block both DTs, leaving extra blockers to attack the LBs and DEs. The difference in the D of the last two years vs the years before ... we had some dominant DTs that made the work of the other players more efficient. Nobody is going to look good with this soft of an interior D line.
How about we just find a Brockers and a Bennie Logan and put them at Defensive Tackle? That would solve a lot of problems
Good question, but I would expect Welter is being given a lot of guidance from the sideline. I would put it more on our coaches, either on the sidelines or upstairs. It was ridiculous when MSU went to that spread formation on 3rd and 4, that we didn't have anyone behind the front 4. I just knew he was running the keeper, before they even snapped it... and sure enough, it went for about a 50-60 yard TD
MSU broke a ton of big runs on those dumbass 1 arm tackles that don't do shit but fling the defender in to the next closest defender. I'm tired of seeing this kind of tackling.
I have never been a fan of Chavis style of defense. I think you recruit beast and turn them loose in an aggressive manor. Defenses that dictate pace to offenses have success. I think you have to smother the offense for 60 minutes and keep them guessing where the pressure is coming from. While his defenses in the past have got it done I'm just not a fan of that style. There are plenty big D lineman and LB that can move pretty good and they got enough size to do some good.
