SJSU's Defensive Coordinator

[uhwarriors]

Statistically SJSU has the worst pass defense in the country giving up 391 yard per game passing. But they have something other schools don't.

Derrick Odum is SJSU's DC. He was June Jones' DB coach at SMU from 2008 to 2014. Odum practiced every day against the RNS for 7 years. He has more experience against the RNS than any DC in the country. He also has had a bye week to prepare. Conceptually, he will have the best schemes and ways to disguise and confuse that we face all season. But does he have the secondary and pass rush to pull it off?

On the flip side, Rolovich has added RPO and read option to the RNS making the RNS harder to prepare for and defend. It's going to be an interesting match up.

[TheDuke]

We need receivers in motion to negate press coverage and force the d to show their coverage

[uhwarriors]

Motion does make a defense show their hand pre-snap when they are running simple zone or man schemes. But many schemes are more complicated than just straight zone or man. They can be disguised with post snap shifts. Even a standard cover 3 zone can be disguised with several different kinds of post snap shifts.

Then there's combination coverages. A common one against a 3x1 formation is cover 2 or 3 zone concept on the trips side and man on the single, basically overloading the trips side with defenders. A scheme against a 2x2 formation is the triangle 3 on 2, with a match up man concept under with a safety on top. This scheme mitigates the switch route concept advantages that the RNS tries to achieve. One of the harder coverages to go deep against is man under with a two high safety zone on top. Against this the offense needs to take what it can and move the chains until the defense makes a mistake.

All coverages, sophisticated or not have holes. The QB and WRs need to be able to read the coverages post snap and make the right adjustments. If the pass rush is decent, things can break down quickly if the QB and WRs are hesitant and making mistakes. That's where Odum's extensive experience defending the RNS may make a difference.

[UnBiasFan]

Their corners did what they needed to do. We got lucky.

[shrek2]

It wasn't the coach necessarily. The defensive secondary is just good. They arrived at the ball the same time the receiver did. They played UC Davis (if you remember they nearly beat Hawaii based on their pass offense to move the ball), Washington State (not a good team in the Pac-12 but still has 3-5 star recruits), and Oregon (who should have beaten Stanford). SJSU hit Byrd at the same time he had the ball caught and he dropped it, they also flipped Ursua right after he caught the ball and they had 6 interceptions prior to Hawaii against the first 3 teams they played. I don't know if they have stats on pass breakups but they had a lot today.

[HawaiianHogster]

Wrong post

[TheDuke]

Motion does make a defense show their hand pre-snap when they are running simple zone or man schemes. But many schemes are more complicated than just straight zone or man. They can be disguised with post snap shifts. Even a standard cover 3 zone can be disguised with several different kinds of post snap shifts.

Then there's combination coverages. A common one against a 3x1 formation is cover 2 or 3 zone concept on the trips side and man on the single, basically overloading the trips side with defenders. A scheme against a 2x2 formation is the triangle 3 on 2, with a match up man concept under with a safety on top. This scheme mitigates the switch route concept advantages that the RNS tries to achieve. One of the harder coverages to go deep against is man under with a two high safety zone on top. Against this the offense needs to take what it can and move the chains until the defense makes a mistake.

All coverages, sophisticated or not have holes. The QB and WRs need to be able to read the coverages post snap and make the right adjustments. If the pass rush is decent, things can break down quickly if the QB and WRs are hesitant and making mistakes. That's where Odum's extensive experience defending the RNS may make a difference.

[TheDuke]

Motion does make a defense show their hand pre-snap when they are running simple zone or man schemes. But many schemes are more complicated than just straight zone or man. They can be disguised with post snap shifts. Even a standard cover 3 zone can be disguised with several different kinds of post snap shifts.

Then there's combination coverages. A common one against a 3x1 formation is cover 2 or 3 zone concept on the trips side and man on the single, basically overloading the trips side with defenders. A scheme against a 2x2 formation is the triangle 3 on 2, with a match up man concept under with a safety on top. This scheme mitigates the switch route concept advantages that the RNS tries to achieve. One of the harder coverages to go deep against is man under with a two high safety zone on top. Against this the offense needs to take what it can and move the chains until the defense makes a mistake.

All coverages, sophisticated or not have holes. The QB and WRs need to be able to read the coverages post snap and make the right adjustments. If the pass rush is decent, things can break down quickly if the QB and WRs are hesitant and making mistakes. That's where Odum's extensive experience defending the RNS may make a difference.

Agree but moving the d around gives you a better look and it gives the receiver more space to beat press coverage.

[TheDuke]

It wasn't the coach necessarily. The defensive secondary is just good. They arrived at the ball the same time the receiver did. They played UC Davis (if you remember they nearly beat Hawaii based on their pass offense to move the ball), Washington State (not a good team in the Pac-12 but still has 3-5 star recruits), and Oregon (who should have beaten Stanford). SJSU hit Byrd at the same time he had the ball caught and he dropped it, they also flipped Ursua right after he caught the ball and they had 6 interceptions prior to Hawaii against the first 3 teams they played. I don't know if they have stats on pass breakups but they had a lot today.

Well w 8 in the passing lanes you expect someone to be in position to pop the receivers. Until coaches call plays that force the d to play us honest you can expect or receivers to get popped.

[RedZone]

Motion does make a defense show their hand pre-snap when they are running simple zone or man schemes. But many schemes are more complicated than just straight zone or man. They can be disguised with post snap shifts. Even a standard cover 3 zone can be disguised with several different kinds of post snap shifts.

Then there's combination coverages. A common one against a 3x1 formation is cover 2 or 3 zone concept on the trips side and man on the single, basically overloading the trips side with defenders. A scheme against a 2x2 formation is the triangle 3 on 2, with a match up man concept under with a safety on top. This scheme mitigates the switch route concept advantages that the RNS tries to achieve. One of the harder coverages to go deep against is man under with a two high safety zone on top. Against this the offense needs to take what it can and move the chains until the defense makes a mistake.

All coverages, sophisticated or not have holes. The QB and WRs need to be able to read the coverages post snap and make the right adjustments. If the pass rush is decent, things can break down quickly if the QB and WRs are hesitant and making mistakes. That's where Odum's extensive experience defending the RNS may make a difference.

JJ did that motion stuff in his offense when he first got here then dropped it. He said it didn’t matter because of what uhwarriors posted. The key is adjusting and finding the hole the defense is giving you and hope that the receiver and the quarterback are on the same page. Not unusual to see teams dropping lbs or other players into our passing lanes. This is why we see tipped balls or ints by players who not covering our receiver but playing the lanes between our qb and receiver. I am surprised how successful our offense was early on because even at this point in the season Rolo is saying that they need more reps to get better. The relationship between our qb and receivers need to be better.

Agree but moving the d around gives you a better look and it gives the receiver more space to beat press coverage.