Matt Wallerstedt's Defense: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Part II

I don't think I was as clear as I wanted to be about my intentions with these posts. I am not looking to demoralize you as a fan, merely show you what happened and why so that we can more fully understand what's going on. Looking back at a game and only knowing the defense "sucked," may not be as helpful to better understand the team as know how and why something did or didn't work. Liken this process to an inquisitive child that takes apart a new toy to find out how it works. Trust me, I've been there.

The Good

As promised from last week, here is a highlight from the Oklahoma State game (after I included the gut punch of a QB from Chelf).

This is a Cover 3 zone blitz. You've got the two corners covering WRs and a saftey steps up in an underneath zone. Raider blitzes into the B gap and Bandit drops back in a hook zone. Bandit drops right back into the throwing lane where he was probably never seen by Chelf and made the pick 6 easy. At this point in the game, after dropping to 21-0 in the first quarter, the comeback from Tech was on. Bustin kicked a FG to make it 21-3. The very next drive, Tech forces an OSU punt which is blocked. The very first play of that drive is the Eric Ward screen to make it 21-10.

The Bad

I was so emotionally invested in this game. I admit, I didn't go into this game expecting much, but the quick and furious start of both the Tech  offense and defense lured me in.

You've got a mixed look on coverage. It looks like a cover 3 with Porter and the corners dropping deep, with a zone blitz in front of it. Keenan Ward stepped up in man coverage on Norwood but was caught looking in the backfield (I think you see this be a common theme in these posts). Baylor had found success the previous two plays running with Shock Linwood, so you can see the hesitation with a playaction call here on the TD. Ward was beat the second he took his eyes off of Norwood. Porter had a shot to save the TD but, again, falls victim to poor tackling technique and dives at Norwood's feet. He did slow him down enough for Ward to catch up, but it looked like he had given up on the play once he realized he was beat off the line. You can't have that kind of loafing going on against such a potent offensive attack such as Baylor's.

The Ugly

Maybe I'm taking it easy on you guys, but this week's Ugly wasn't detrimental to the outcome of this particular contest. It should never have happened, thus it being this week's Ugly, but nonetheless it was essentially harmless.

This appears to be a cover 3 or 4. I'm not sure because of how quickly Tre Porter reacts to the initial handoff. J.J. Gaines was caught flat-footed, looking into the backfield and got his hips turned around. Porter flowed well to attempt to stop any gain on the ground, and honestly, may not have even had a chance on the receiver from the backside. There may have been a shot to make a play, but two Tech DBs collide and take each out down field. This was fairly early in the contest and ended up being inconsequential to the outcome, but you never like to see your defense (first team at that) breakdown like this against an FCS opponent.