There are many posters here who are more knowledgeable than I am about football in general and SIU football in particular; I'm curious to hear what you think:
It seems like a switch got flipped for the Northwestern game (arguably, in retrospect, even the SEMO game): to what do you attribute this turnaround? Was there some major change(s) in personnel? Was it the case of this unit taking some time to learn the system? Was it the introduction of some new scheme more suitable to our personnel?
Whatever it was (and I know there's still a long way to go, and we probably need to win four more games to ensure a playoff berth, or at least one with a decent seed), I am impressed, amazed, even.
Thoughts?
(Inflammatory political snark)
Hill was asked about this today and he was pretty light on specifics but seemed to point mostly to sharper attention to detail and improvement through practice, FWIW. But yeah, they’ve looked like a different team on that side of the ball especially.
Two biggest changes are easy adjustments. Firstly, they started blitzing. The corner blitzes seem to be particularly effective. The first two games it was almost nonexistent. Now it has to be at least on 30% of the plays. Higher on passing downs. Backers get to eat now. The second adjustment is harder to see simply because of the camera angles not showing the secondary. But there appears to be a different cover scheme. More man coverage for one. Not much bump and run, but the corners aren’t 15 yards off the receivers anymore either. A couple of guys appear to have had their responsibilities changed. Not in playing time but in assignments. I’ve stated before one guy, in particular, is an absolute disaster in coverage. It appears he has been changed to the nickel. Finally the linebackers appear to be playing faster. Maybe it’s nothing more than the increased blitzing, or maybe some of their keys were taken away. Not as much to think about. Now it’s simply go eat the ball. Playing free has many advantages.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
Thanks! Yeah, I'm not seeing a whole lot of personnel changes.
Very curious. Thanks!
Yeah @beadmedaddio kind of mentioned it already, but the only personnel change was Jules moved to slot corner in the nickel package. They also list him as a safety on the 2-Deep so he might get some time there as well. I honestly think the biggest thing has been everyone just getting comfortable playing with each other. Unfortunately for us, we had a difficult schedule at the beginning, so we paid the price. That's one of the risks you run with a heavy transfer class.
@siu_2011 I really think it’s related to something else. However, I am not associated with the team and have no first hand knowledge. I’m going off experiences I’ve had being associated with teams. Both playing and coaching.
A couple hundred years ago I played on a team that was very good and we expected to easily make the playoffs. We started the season by barely losing our first two games. Sound familiar? We, as a group, weren’t giving the proverbial 110%. Well, we finally woke up in game 3 and ran the table. Unfortunately, those two losses cost us a chance to be in the playoffs. Hard lesson.
is this what happened here? I don’t know.
But what I do know is that they moved PJ Jules. The guy who couldn’t cover my grandmother who has been dead for 25 years. It’s too bad. The kid could tackle a fully loaded freight train, for a loss, but has no clue what pass coverage is.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
@siu_2011 I really think it’s related to something else. However, I am not associated with the team and have no first hand knowledge. I’m going off experiences I’ve had being associated with teams. Both playing and coaching.
A couple hundred years ago I played on a team that was very good and we expected to easily make the playoffs. We started the season by barely losing our first two games. Sound familiar? We, as a group, weren’t giving the proverbial 110%. Well, we finally woke up in game 3 and ran the table. Unfortunately, those two losses cost us a chance to be in the playoffs. Hard lesson.
is this what happened here? I don’t know.But what I do know is that they moved PJ Jules. The guy who couldn’t cover my grandmother who has been dead for 25 years. It’s too bad. The kid could tackle a fully loaded freight train, for a loss, but has no clue what pass coverage is.
Not going back to suffer through the Incarnate Word or SEMO game tapes, but I'm pretty sure Jules was NOT principally involved in the majority of the (many) big plays the defense gave up, so to single him out as being "the problem" seems grossly unfair. In fact, Jules has flashed in a good way as much as just about anyone on the defense from the Northwestern game on. I have not noticed him being repeatedly lost in pass coverage but I have noticed a bunch of tackles for loss/timely sacks/excellent pursuit, etc. He certainly looks the part of one of the best athletes on the team, if not the conference.
Maybe we can get the defensive coaches to come on here to mediate this dispute. 😆
@siudawgs I agree with you. I said the kid can tackle. He simply doesn't have a clue what pass coverages are. Aren't we saying the same thing?
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
@siudawgs I agree with you. I said the kid can tackle. He simply doesn't have a clue what pass coverages are. Aren't we saying the same thing?
No because I have not noticed all these egregious pass coverage deficiencies in Jules' game like you apparently have. Maybe I need to watch more closely, but I'm pretty sure the early-season coverage woes in the secondary were not a one-person problem.
@siu_2011 I really think it’s related to something else. However, I am not associated with the team and have no first hand knowledge. I’m going off experiences I’ve had being associated with teams. Both playing and coaching.
A couple hundred years ago I played on a team that was very good and we expected to easily make the playoffs. We started the season by barely losing our first two games. Sound familiar? We, as a group, weren’t giving the proverbial 110%. Well, we finally woke up in game 3 and ran the table. Unfortunately, those two losses cost us a chance to be in the playoffs. Hard lesson.
is this what happened here? I don’t know.But what I do know is that they moved PJ Jules. The guy who couldn’t cover my grandmother who has been dead for 25 years. It’s too bad. The kid could tackle a fully loaded freight train, for a loss, but has no clue what pass coverage is.
Not going back to suffer through the Incarnate Word or SEMO game tapes, but I'm pretty sure Jules was NOT principally involved in the majority of the (many) big plays the defense gave up, so to single him out as being "the problem" seems grossly unfair. In fact, Jules has flashed in a good way as much as just about anyone on the defense from the Northwestern game on. I have not noticed him being repeatedly lost in pass coverage but I have noticed a bunch of tackles for loss/timely sacks/excellent pursuit, etc. He certainly looks the part of one of the best athletes on the team, if not the conference.
Maybe we can get the defensive coaches to come on here to mediate this dispute. 😆
In response to @beadmedaddio I don't entirely disagree that part of it could have been a bit of overconfidence on their end. Took getting kicked in the teeth for them to wake-up. But there were so many blown assignments those first two games that I don't think it was that alone (That happened on 3 or 4 TDs in the UIW game and a couple times during the SEMO game). I'm talking wide open obviously blown assignments, not just getting beat on a particular play or getting out schemed. I've not noticed any plays like that since the SEMO game, which tells me the new guys are starting to understand things a lot better and trusting their teammates. I'm not affiliated with the team either, just my observations...right or wrong :).
@siudawgs Giving up 64 and 34 points is very much not on just one guy. The defense as a whole played so poorly in those first two games. Not to call anyone out, but I noticed SEMO picking on David Miller more than anyone else. Felt like they went at him all night and had a lot of success. I also don't think Petrino helped him out much and SEMO has a really good WR group to boot. As far as Jules is concerned, one play that sticks out in my mind with him was watching a 3rd and forever play towards the end of the second quarter (11:20 in the video below if you care to watch), pretty much gave up on a play while UIW's QB was scrambling and his guy kept running his route and caught a 50-60 yd TD pass as a result. There is just no excuse for something like that. You could actually see the coaches yelling at him to get up. In any case, he's played much better as has the rest of the team since those first two game.
@siudawgs never said it was a one person problem — ever.
I'm not sayin' -- I'm just sayin'!
Great answer--thank you!
I hadn't realized we were blitzing that much; it partly explains, I guess, why we seem to be getting a lot more pressure on the QB than we have been getting in years.
(Inflammatory political snark)
Thanks! Yeah, I'm not seeing a whole lot of personnel changes.
Very curious. Thanks!
Yeah @beadmedaddio kind of mentioned it already, but the only personnel change was Jules moved to slot corner in the nickel package. They also list him as a safety on the 2-Deep so he might get some time there as well. I honestly think the biggest thing has been everyone just getting comfortable playing with each other. Unfortunately for us, we had a difficult schedule at the beginning, so we paid the price. That's one of the risks you run with a heavy transfer class.
Yes, ton of new faces to start the season. I kind of wish we could have had an easier opponent for the first game especially to work out the kinks. Then again, if you lose to that weaker opponent, then you're hung with a bad loss. And a cupcake opponent might not expose the weaknesses that need to be addressed.
Tough job, scheduling!
(Inflammatory political snark)
Oof! No way am I watching that video! 😆
(Inflammatory political snark)
Simplifying assignments and more pressure makes defensive backs look better you can be Deion Sanders and without pressure and a qb having all day to throw you will get beat can't cover forever
