Facing a Steve Spurrier offense is never a calming thing. However, with the players we have on defense and the current state of USC's offense, I think we will do well. As a defense, you can't shut down every facet of the game, without putting 12 or 13 men on the field. So, typically, you have to choose which aspect you don't want to beat you.
If you're facing a running team, then you stack the box with LBs and/or Safeties to take away the run. The downside to this is that it pretty much forces you into man coverage with no deep help, leaving you susceptible to the big play deep, or gives you matchup problems.
If you're facing a team that likes to throw the ball deep and really open up the offense, then you play a mixture of zone and man keeping safeties deep to protect against the deep ball. This, however, leaves you susceptible to the short passing game, allowing the other team to dink and dunk their way down the field.
If you're facing a team that prefers the short passing game, then you play man and jam the receivers at the LOS and try to force them off of their routes, usually with cover-2 safety help to cover missed assignments. This, however, leaves you open to big gains in the running game and on counters and misdirection.
The bad thing is, Spurrier likes to do all those things. The good thing is, so far, South Carolina has shown no ability to run the ball.
This is where the 3-3-5 comes in. If, and this is a decent sized if, three down lineman can fill three of the gaps on running plays and get pressure on the QB on passing plays, then we can run a nickel package all day long. If, however, those three can't do that then we will be forced into our base defense most of the day. In our base defense is where Spurrier will be able to take advantage of mismatches and missed assignments.
For those of you more in the know about our 3-3-5. Is this scheme the one we heard about over the postseason that has the ability to flip-flop, e.g. strong side vs weak, long side of the field vs short, etc?
If so, this provides a very interesting scheme against Spurrier.
Spurrier loves to test you deep at least once a drive. However, he lives off of timing routes and either holes in zone or mismatches in man. And he prefers a running game to keep the defense honest. Unfortunately for him, so far this year he doesn't have one.
If we can run the 3-3-5 the whole game (meaning we can shut down or at least contain the running game with three down lineman), can we shut down Spurrier?
My thinking is this. In the 3-3-5, put your two best corners on the two primary Wide Receivers in man coverage, at the line, to bump the receivers and try to throw off any timing routes there. If USC has two receivers, then the FS has cover deep and the SS and Nickel Back Zone the two sides of the field short. If USC has three receivers, then the Nickel Back covers the third WR in man and the FS is the deep help and the SS has the middle of the field short. Four WRs puts all DBs in man with FS help deep. Five WRs puts all 5 DBs in man.
The LBs all get assigned to a player. TE, RB, and FB all go to the LBs. For example, if all three are in the game, MLB gets the FB, and the two OLBs get the RB and TE. Put your best cover LB on the TE. If there are only two, this leaves one linebacker free to either drop into zone or rush. If none or only one are in the play (4 or 5 WR sets), then two or all three LBs can either drop into zone or rush the play.
This scheme would, I think, effectively shut down Spurrier offense. It is, of course, predicated on the three down lineman being able to perform and stop the run and get pressure on the QB.
If they can do that, then the only way Spurrier's offense works is for his players to out-execute ours. And I'd take our athletes on D over his any day of the week.
What do ya'll think? Is this the way the 3-3-5 will work? Am I way off base?
If you're facing a running team, then you stack the box with LBs and/or Safeties to take away the run. The downside to this is that it pretty much forces you into man coverage with no deep help, leaving you susceptible to the big play deep, or gives you matchup problems.
If you're facing a team that likes to throw the ball deep and really open up the offense, then you play a mixture of zone and man keeping safeties deep to protect against the deep ball. This, however, leaves you susceptible to the short passing game, allowing the other team to dink and dunk their way down the field.
If you're facing a team that prefers the short passing game, then you play man and jam the receivers at the LOS and try to force them off of their routes, usually with cover-2 safety help to cover missed assignments. This, however, leaves you open to big gains in the running game and on counters and misdirection.
The bad thing is, Spurrier likes to do all those things. The good thing is, so far, South Carolina has shown no ability to run the ball.
This is where the 3-3-5 comes in. If, and this is a decent sized if, three down lineman can fill three of the gaps on running plays and get pressure on the QB on passing plays, then we can run a nickel package all day long. If, however, those three can't do that then we will be forced into our base defense most of the day. In our base defense is where Spurrier will be able to take advantage of mismatches and missed assignments.
For those of you more in the know about our 3-3-5. Is this scheme the one we heard about over the postseason that has the ability to flip-flop, e.g. strong side vs weak, long side of the field vs short, etc?
If so, this provides a very interesting scheme against Spurrier.
Spurrier loves to test you deep at least once a drive. However, he lives off of timing routes and either holes in zone or mismatches in man. And he prefers a running game to keep the defense honest. Unfortunately for him, so far this year he doesn't have one.
If we can run the 3-3-5 the whole game (meaning we can shut down or at least contain the running game with three down lineman), can we shut down Spurrier?
My thinking is this. In the 3-3-5, put your two best corners on the two primary Wide Receivers in man coverage, at the line, to bump the receivers and try to throw off any timing routes there. If USC has two receivers, then the FS has cover deep and the SS and Nickel Back Zone the two sides of the field short. If USC has three receivers, then the Nickel Back covers the third WR in man and the FS is the deep help and the SS has the middle of the field short. Four WRs puts all DBs in man with FS help deep. Five WRs puts all 5 DBs in man.
The LBs all get assigned to a player. TE, RB, and FB all go to the LBs. For example, if all three are in the game, MLB gets the FB, and the two OLBs get the RB and TE. Put your best cover LB on the TE. If there are only two, this leaves one linebacker free to either drop into zone or rush. If none or only one are in the play (4 or 5 WR sets), then two or all three LBs can either drop into zone or rush the play.
This scheme would, I think, effectively shut down Spurrier offense. It is, of course, predicated on the three down lineman being able to perform and stop the run and get pressure on the QB.
If they can do that, then the only way Spurrier's offense works is for his players to out-execute ours. And I'd take our athletes on D over his any day of the week.
What do ya'll think? Is this the way the 3-3-5 will work? Am I way off base?
Dang, that sounds like a page outta Joe Lee's play book...maybe we can get Coach Kines to give up wearing a headset and socks?
