My only real issue with the defense is lack of a four-man pass rush. Chavis must quickly recruit a dominant interior lineman and a big, strong, pass-rushing defensive end.
LSU's problems on defense this year start and end with the big boys up front. When your D can't win the battle in the trenches, you have a very hard time consistently stopping the run and your options for limiting what opposing QBs do are very few. It affects the success of blitzes and how often you can disrupt plays in the backfield. It's a testament to the strength of Florida's O-line, because dominant D-line play is the key to beating Florida's spread. Everyone loves Saban's aggressive D, but if you play this style all the time you'd better have multiple damn good cover corners, b/c you leave yourself wide open to the big play. "Bend but don't break" is fine for keeping receivers in front of you, but now the pressure is on your LBs to provide good coverage underneath. You need a successful mix of both, but you also need to be able to disguise your defense. That's something we haven't seen this year, nor would I expect to in year 1 of a new system. Personally, I'm not a fan of 3-man rushes on 3rd/4th and long, since even the best coverages will eventually break down, as we saw against Arky. And FWIW, LSU has had serious tackling problems long before Chavis ever got here. These guys have to have the fundamentals hammered into them. Against Ole Miss the D thought that a shoulder block or tackling up top was enough to bring down McCluster. The end result was him using his legs to drag defenders forward another 3-4 yards after contact. That absolutely has to be fixed.
I wasn't around this forum then, but I remembered severe groaning and such when we did get burned on our blitzes, whether we won or not.
That wasn't the only bad call. It was just one chapter in a pretty disgusting and lopsided display of officiating. Not saying there's a conspiracy, sometimes that's how the cards fall.
IMHO, I didn't think we had a mediocre defense...I thought they played pretty good for the most part and Chavis has the defense moving in the right direction. The D kept us in every game this year, even the three we lost, and showed moxie all season (hey, don't laugh...you gotta use the word moxie whenever you get the chance). Regardless of opponents involved, the goal line stands were awesome. The secondary was generally very good and at some points down right amazing (especially Peterson). The LBs played at an overall level that was much higher than most ever gave them credit for. The defense was dominate in the red zone. That is not to say they were perfect. Tackling could be frustrating at times. I felt the front four underachieved pretty much throughout the season. They failed at critical times to stop the run and could not generate a pass rush. If Chavis frustrated me with anything, it was his near refusal to rush four or more on 3rd and long (especially early in the season), although that is partly his defensive style and hey, it worked. I also feel these things are interconnected with the offense to form the team's achilles heel this season: the offense had far too many 3 and outs leading to defense staying on the field too long resulting in the D fading late in which the front four would allow far too many rushing yards in the second half and giving the opponent QBs far too much time to find open receivers on the rare third and long (sorry for the novel length run-on sentence). Basically it caused a season long feeling that the wins were never "put away" and the losses to be very close until the final seconds. An offensive improvement should further upgrade the already improved defense. Just my two cents.
All very good points. The question I have is are we just not developing our D line? Or is it simply that we are thin this year? I knew going in this year we were going to have a relatively inexperienced O-line, but I thought we had some veteran D line guys this year. Also this makes me think we really never had that leader of the defense step up this year, actually we really haven't had one since Dorsey left. Well as far as I can tell any way. For that matter I guess it also shows you how much of an effect a guy on your team that other teams have to double team to defend really has. Another good point. Did we have these tackling issues w/ Pelini? I dont really remember but I dont think we did. If not I guess it goes to show you how much a Co-DC can screw things up. :tigerhead
Ding, Ding, Ding. We have a winner. Chavis' defense gave this team the opportunity to win every game this season. He did one hell of a job. Holding Florida to 13 is a huge accomplishment. Everybody wants a Saban defense, and I don't blame them. However, that is not going to happen unless he we rehire him. No one else out there runs a defense like his. Also something to remember is that Saban's 2003 defense was fun to watch, but that attacking style got us burned more often. Yet, we tend to only remember those moments that we want to remember.
Go back and watch the '07 game against Arkansas where McFadden put on a rushing clinic and nobody could bring him down, and the D was always out of position when they went to their FB. Dorsey had been seriously banged up since the now infamous Ramsey chop block against Auburn. We couldn't stop him in '06 either and somehow won that one. To your question about personnel, that game and the '08 season also showed that Tyson Jackson wasn't anywhere near the big-time gamer off the end we thought he could be, not without Dorsey drawing the double-team on the interior. I really don't think Haley had a lot to work with this year, so for now he gets the benefit of the doubt (especially this being his first year as DL coach :hihi
That's exactly my point. LSU's defense could be viewed as below average (3rd downs, sacks, tackles for loss) or pretty good (run defense, scoring defense) depending on your mindset. Same can be said of Les Miles and Gary Crowton. If folks want to complain, and have a target, they're gonna find an angle. And some of them are going to go WAY overboard. That said - the tackling this year, and the really poor pursuit angles when rushing the QB, have been driving me bonkers all season...
