Red Raider Gridiron: Kingsbury Talks Defense and Webb; Defensive Adjustments

Big 12 Teleconference. Thanks to the DMN's Tommy Magelssen we have head coach Kliff Kingsbury's weekly Big 12 teleconference.  We've talked extensively about QB Davis Webb, but let's get to the defense first.  Kingsbury is asked about if the rush defense is fixable:

On if rush defense is fixable, or if team might not have bulk or physicality to withstand running attack like that:

Kingsbury: "I would have to say it remains to be seen. I think there were time that plays were there to be made and there were times that guys just stood up in our front and got wiped out. So we have a bunch of new guys playing that are new to college football and they have to grow up fast and play better. With that being said, schematically we have to try to put them in a situation to be successful, and so it's a combination of things, but we'll find out. You know what teams are going to try and do know, so we'll have to man up and try to stop the run."

"Stood up in our front and got wiped out." Anytime a coach says that about the defensive line, that's not a good thing.  I guess if I had to put money on it, as a fan, I'm not real confident that the defense is going to be able to do much of anything the rest of the way out.  On one hand, I always tend to think that it's never as bad as you think but I'm trying to consider the top-end of where this defense will be and it's still a defense that gives up 350 to 400 yards a game, which still seems like way too much.

On to Webb, who continues to make poor throws, throws into coverage and the mistakes are starting to outweigh the positives.

On if Webb is making many mistakes, or if it's just the big ones that are standing out:

Kingsbury: "You know there's not many but unfortunately Saturday there was some big moments. So if you want to play at an elite level in our offense at quarterback, you have to avoid those. And we're working towards that, and I think we'll get there. We just have to continue to work hard during practice and what we're doing in practice will have to carry over onto games."

I don't have time to go back and look at this, but Kingsbury's insistence that Webb has to avoid mistakes.  Kingsbury seems to be consistent in that he thinks that Webb will get there.  I would still maintain not to look at a change at quarterback any time soon unless things get significantly worse.  I don't know what significantly worse is, but most coaches are very reluctant to make a change at quarterback, especially when you have so much invested in one quarterback, like Kingsbury does with Webb.

Defensive Adjustments. LAJ's Don Williams writes about how defensive coordinator tried everything in terms of stopping the run on Saturday and nothing worked:

Wallerstedt's crew presented plenty of looks. The Red Raiders ran a four-man front, a 50 front, even put six defenders on the line of scrimmage with four true down linemen and two outside linebackers walked up.

One of the four-man fronts featured Branden Jackson and Demetrius Alston - two 275-pounders - at end and some pairing of Rika Levi, Keland McElrath, Marcus Smith and Anthony Smith inside. Short of playing four defensive tackles at once, that's about as heavy a defensive line as Tech can assemble, using its available personnel.

They tried four-man fronts with Pete Robertson at linebacker and four-man fronts with Kris Williams at linebacker, as they've talked about since spring. Wallerstedt has said for a couple of weeks now that he wants to use Alston, an undersized defensive tackle, more at end, and he did.

Williams ends the article by writing that in-game adjustments are overrated and I tend to agree.  If what you generally do isn't working, there's really not going to be an in-game adjustment that will change the outcome. You've got to do a better job of doing what you do than what they do or impose your will.

Williams also had a short notebook, and the biggest thing for me is that S Jalen Barnes will be back this week as he was dealing with a groin injury.

Miscellaneous. The SAEN has their weekly Big 12 rankings . . . this week's The Acrostical from Spencer Hall . . . Grantland's Matt Hinton has his weekly recap . . . FoxSports' Bruce Feldman has his week 3 recap . . .