Kind of the bend but don't break philosophy. I think we probably did not implement new schemes as much as we could have due to a. we should be able to stop them with our regular defense b. it's just one game (time) c. don't confuse the players.
It looked to me like the LB's and safeties had the biggest roles in this game. We probably could have played Barron up closer or mixed up the linebackers responsibilities more to confuse them, and given less towards the pass, but you have to ask why? With our defense, we should be able to play them somewhat balanced to prevent the big play while containing the rush. What got us was their speed. Especially horizontally against our linebackers.
This was just one of those games. If this was a championship game or an offense that we would see more of, the coaches would have implemented more to confuse them instead of reacting. I understand their position with this one game, and it is just one game.
Roll Tide! March on.
If you talked to all the defensive coaches on this staff, THIS is the game that scared them the most. Not LSU, NOT Arky, NOT Auburn, NOT the SECCG---THIS game. If you don't play against this sort of offense every single week and deal with it all the time, you just don't have the personnel for it, and you'd better be fast, quick, and disciplined. Their offense is a GREAT equalizer for a "smaller" sized skill player set, and they run it to PERFECTION. They are going to win their NC again this year---there is no other team in their division that is playing as well as they are.
Also, if you asked EVERY coach in the SEC and the ACC (since they have to play G.Tech) which time of offense do you HATE to prepare for the most it would be this one. It's a one trick pony, for sure, and IF they have a bit of an off day and commit turnovers (which of course GSU didn't) then it kind of falls apart,but it's a pony they can ride all the way to their national championship.
I could tell there were a majority of our fans who did not understand how hard this offense was going to be on our team before this game,whether it was because they thought we were playing Georgia State again or whether they just didn't know anything about football, but everyone who knew this team and who knew anything about football KNEW this was going to be a bit more of a struggle than the standard "less informed" (not going to say "ignorant", but that's essentially what we're talking about) fan was thinking. Their cut blocking can be dangerous and we are VERY fortunate to not have any more injuries than we did, and we are also VERY fortunate to win the way we did with such a patchwork DL. Our fast linebackers saved this game for us. DH, CJ, JH, NJ---those guys deserve the game balls on defense for keeping outside contain for the most part. And our conditioning is to be commended once again, as of course our starters had to play the whole game until maybe the very last drive by GSU, but they never seemed to tire or slow down.
All in all, very glad to get that one over. VERY glad.