3-3-5

First, WVU landed 4 defensive players on the 1st team All-Big East defensive team.

Second, I found this comment by WVU junior defensive end Bruce Irwin about sacks (he got 12 this last season) rather interesting:

"That's what I needed to do," Irvin said.

"We feed off of hitting the quarterback and getting sacks. We run the 3-3-5 and it's a pressure defense. Every play someone's coming. I just did what I had to do."

12 sacks as a DE running out of the 3-3-5.

Casteel must have ordered a crap load of blitzes this last year.

Disclaimer: This is my opinion. And for the record, because the decision to keep or fire Rich Rodriguez is completely out of my hands, I no longer have an opinion on the subject. I trust the people in charge and will go with whatever decision they make. Unlike most of these other diaries, this has no statistics. They just aren't my thing. I warn you, this is long. It is basically my rationale for being rational. Take it for what it is worth... Thanks.

After the Ohio State beatdown, I was angry and wanted RR fired. Sunday I was too angry about the Wiki Leaks guy so I cooled down a little bit. On Monday, after seeing Denard Robinson win the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year award, I've cooled down significantly and am looking at things more rationally, but not delusionally by any means.

Rich Rodriguez has done a terrible job coaching this team his first three years. When his WVU DC wasn't coming, he should have kept Ron English because he doesn't know shit about defense and/or the Big Ten. Ron English wasn't the greatest DC, but he was young, had energy and the respect of the kids that we had. RR should have adjusted his offense to Threet's talents, but he either didn't know how or was too stubborn. Then comes Tate, played well but he was a Freshman - what did you expect? Then Denard played flat out amazing but still he was a first year starter (Who won Big Ten OPOY). The defense? Can't honestly say Greg or Shafer are terrible coordinators or RR is a moron for forcing a system and staff upon them (or both). Either way, the entire coaching has failed when it comes to tackling. Every football player needs to know how to tackle with proper form. Offense on turnovers, special teams, and obviously defense. That is a fundamental. RR needs to give up on his defense philosophy and fire his friend Tony Gibson. On special teams, the kicking game is partly RR's fault, but Gibbons was a bust. Hagerup is great. Poor tackling on returns - that is mostly on Tony Gibson and partly on the other coaches for not teaching this fundamental football move. I don't know if they break down special teams film to look at teams blocking schemes on special teams, but uh, it didn't look like it. The injuries in 2010 really hurt, especially on defense and in our run game. Red zone turnovers by a first year starter at QB really killed us in some of those games, too.

It's a real conundrum we are in. Fire him and somewhat start over with a new guy, although I think the transition wouldn't be as bad as 2008 with a coach that isn't as stubborn as RR. Or say that for the first time, we have a returning QB that has proved he is electric. A stable of great WRs and RBs, many who are upperclassmen. Solid OL. Solid incoming recruits. Defense returning from an injury plagued year with many young players that had on the job training and game experience that will have an entire new staff running their own that is actually effective in defending Big Ten offenses (that is a MUST if RR stays). If RR can't handle an autonomous defense, then he is not all in for Michigan and should be fired. You want to build the best program in America right? Then bring in the best Defensive Coordinator and Staff you can find and let them do it their way, the same way you do it with your offense.

I pity David Brandon for having to make this decision. It basically makes or breaks his legacy as an AD. (And could have an impact on his political future, who knows.) Fans, media and former players all calling for the coach's head. Does he succumb to their demands? Does he see what I stated above and say "One More Year?" If he gives him another year and we have great season in 2011, he is a genius. T shirts will be made, "Patience is a virtue? No - David Brandon is patience." If we flop, he is a chump with no credibility.

In 2008 when Rich Rodriguez was hired, there were people who didn't like him. 3-9? More people didn't like him. First NCAA violations in program history? More. 5-7? More. 7-5 with poundings by Big Ten's elite? Even more. And it's hard to argue against those people, it has not been pretty or fun by any means. And then there are the people who stood by the coach no matter what, because he was the Michigan coach. As long as they always pulled for Michigan to win, these groups are the same - just passionate Michigan fans with strong opinions. And today, there is a supposed divide amongst the Michigan faithful. FIRE HIM NOW and WAIT AND SEE. These groups are also one in the same - one views the glass half full, the other half empty. The WAIT AND SEE group is no doubt angry with the way this coach has mismanaged and poorly coached his way into a hole in the job of a lifetime and straight up dragged Michigan through the mud. With all the drama and losing the past couple years, they still ask for patience because they want to see where this thing goes when some stability is involved (minus the defensive coaches =)..) The FIRE HIM NOW group wants to...well..FIRE HIM NOW. And you can't really blame them for feeling this way after the past few seasons. At the same time, as much as they were saddened, angered and frustrated by watching the games we lost, they can't tell me that they weren't thrilled watching Denard Robinson go apeshit on Notre Dame or the defense coming through in 3OT against Illinois. I know you can argue that all the wins, yards and points came against lesser opponents, a back-up QB at ND and vs. UCONN, Bowling Green. You can argue that we played close games against bad teams. (We did, FCS UMASS 42-37 are you kidding me?) You can argue that we were not even close in any of our losses, and that most yards and points came in on clean-up duty defenses. Once again, you are probably right. You don't even have to argue about the defense. However, you can't argue against the fact that our offense has shown flashes of being unstoppable and that the defense was plagued by freak injuries that forced inexperienced players, young and old, to play in games they had no business seeing the field in. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you want the coach to stay for one more year, you should be able to support him and still agree that he has done a horrendous job thus far and excuses about the cupboard being bare aren't applicable anymore. You should demand he stays away from the defense. If you want him fired now, ask yourself this question. If you could turn the page and take a peek as to what 2011 holds for Michigan Football with Rich Rodriguez, would you be curious enough to take a look? If you would, then maybe your mind isn't as made up as you thought it was.

Someone who taped the game, look around the 12/13 min mark of the 4th Q..  Michigan is lined up in a pretty standard looking 3-3-5 stack with Patterson at the nose.  He drops into a short zone and Frazer, looking for the quick slant, hits him in the chest with the ball.  Sounds a lot like this, from the MSP Preview Issue at p.79:

When defenses began zone-blitzing in earnest, however, the quarterback's hot reads were suddenly all wrong:  instead of throwing a slant away from the man defender for a big play, the ball could land in the chest of a zone defender who had dropped from the interior or flowed from the opposite side.

However, the same article in MSP notes:

But, as previously indicated, one of the most attractive features of the 3-3-5 is the ability to use zone blitzes without having to drop a defensive lineman into coverage, unlike a traditional 4-3.

The thing is, as I sat there watching from sec. 44 with a perfect view of it, I don't remember thinking "blitz" on this play.  So someone with the tape, go back and look and answer me these questions three, 'ere the other side ye see:

1.  Was there a blitz on?

2.  Was Patterson actually dropping into an underneath zone or did he just see a big lineman in front of him and think, "yeah, this isn't happening, maybe I'll just hang out"?

3.  If no on (1) and yes on the first part of two (2), then what in Sam Hill is GERG up to?  Because it's creative, and me likey.

Football Fundamentals 201 - Intro to the 3-3-5 Defense

Day 2

A long, long time ago, when I lived in a Cleveland not so far away, I created a 3-3-5 Fundamentals diary because, well, I lived in Cleveland. Now I don’t, but I have come back from the dead and loving it, but don’t worry, because I’m much better than the Mel Brooks movie “Dracula: Dead and Loving It”. Anyway, a long time ago when I wrote that diary I was asked by Brian something along the lines of what I planned to do next. I told him, being keen on thinking more so than actually doing, that I planned on creating another diary about how to defend particular plays out of the 3-3-5.

Well, sorry, that kind of got put on the back burner. And I forgot to turn on the heat. And then forgot that I even put anything there. Then remembered, but then was too lazy so I decided to watch the first 4 seasons of Lost in about a one month time span. But now, NOW, I’m back, and I have a diary for you. And I plan on having a lot more diaries for you. And because six zero made a series with a cool game show theme I’m going to make a cool series with a less cool theme because damnit it’s about football and this is more than just a game or something like that. Anyway, this diary will go under my 3-3-5 Fundamentals mini-course. About three or four more diaries are planned to be added to this 3-3-5 mini-course. Soon you will be introduced to Football Fundamentals 101. I’ll explain at the end. As for now, this diary will discuss, as many requested, how to defend particular plays (more along the lines of formations) with the 3-3-5. The terminology is a little different, but most is the same. If you need a refresher on some of the basics make sure to check out the 3-3-5 Fundamentals diary. Ok, here we go.

E – End
N – Nose
T – Tackle
S – Strong Side Linebacker (Sam)
M – Middle Linebacker (Mike)
W – Weak Side Linebacker (Will)
$ – Spur
B – Bandit
C – Corner
F – Free Safety

Now what we are going to cover, in my opinion, will essentially be Michigan’s base coverages against these formations. Basically, this is when Gerg will do a lot of cool things with his hands, and the players, mesmerized by his hair, will just say “Ok, let’s just run base.” At least it works something like that I would only assume.

Today we will be covering what I call the heavy sets, in order: I-Formation; I-Formation Twins; I-Formation Twins Open; I-Formation Twins Over; I-Formation Flanker; Bone; Far Wing; Ace; and Ace Left.
For each formation we will look at: Run to Strength; Run to Weak; and Pass.

A Note on Diagrams:
Solid Arrows: Play goes there (Note: These are not necessarily blitzes, just the gap responsibility)
Dashed Line: Slow play in that direction (contain)
Red Circle: Deep Zone
Yellow Circle: Short Zone
Green Circle: Flats

I-Formation

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I-Formation Twins

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I-Formation Twins Open

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Now let's look how the 3-3-5 adapts to an unbalanced line:

I-Formation Twins Over

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And now let's see how it changes as formations get tighter:

I-Formation Flanker

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And tighter...

Wish Bone

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By now I think you’re starting to get the hang of it. Besides where the defense is aligned at the start of the snap, the responsibilities essentially always stay the same. Which is (Playside/Opposite Side):

E / T – C Gap / C Gap Crash
N – Opposite A Gap
W / S – B Gap / Contain
M – Playside A Gap
$ / B – D Gap / Contain

In fact, the nice part is that the defensive keys are extremely simplified as well:

E / T – Offensive Tackles
N – Ball
W / S – Near Back
M – Near Back
$ / B – Triangle (Tight End, near back, and ball. This means they must look through the tight end to the near back, while keeping an eye on the ball. In some defenses the linebackers have a triangle key through the guards to the ball.)
C / F – Quarterback

So, to look at the alignment for 3 more formations:
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This is the simplifying of the defense that T-Wolf and Gerg have been hinting at. The responsibilities are easier and the keys should be easier. The tricky part is recognizing the offensive formation and getting correctly aligned.

Even if Michigan goes to more of a 3-3-5 Strong look expect the same type of keys and responsibilities.

For my next part we will look at some spread type formations and how the 3-3-5 aligns to those. In the future we will also look a little at what is called a 3-3-5 Bear and some more of the “rules” that are to be followed, such as zone drops, boot rules, etc.

As for what else I hope to bring you soon is what I am calling Football Fundamentals 101. This will start off very fundamental and hopefully progress into being able to break down opponents film and or own film during the season. Before we can do that though we must start with the basics, and that’s what this “course” will be covering. That will be explained more to you when I post the first of FF 101 series.

PS. I'll work on formating a bit more when I get some time. Sorry, it's just really early right now. Other than formatting I would really like to help answer questions. If you have some, leave them. I'm really busy today so may not get to them right away, but there seem to be some other people that can help you around these here parts.

The weekly release for the Ohio State game last year shows that Michigan ran a 3-4 defense (page 21). Roh’s position was specifically labeled OLB (same as this year) and Brown was playing SAM. Thing is, Brown was a LB in responsibility only; he still had the characteristics of a safety. So, if you count him as a “box” safety and not a LB, you end up with a 3-3-5 anyway.

The only difference I can really think of is the difference between a 3-4 alignment versus a 30 stack alignment. Actually, starting off with 8 guys in the box every time with two of those guys being fast enough to cover people if necessary seems like a good thing.

For whatever reason, I had it in my head that Roh was a DE so I thought we were going from having 4 down linemen to 3. Now it just seems like a change in nomenclature more than anything else. Am I missing something?

I've been poking around the internet trying to stich together some information for an upcoming diary and I came across an really interesting interview with Brian Kelly in American Football Monthly that doesn't quite fit into the main thrust of the diary, but I think it'd be of interest to the board. It's behind a paywall, but I wanted to post a few of interesting snippets here. Hopefully I stay within the mgoblog guidelines for ethical free advertising:

RE: Offensive Tempo and play signaling. Kelly said they operate with various tempos much like RR does. He also said they do not change personnel packages; TE is on the field all the time.

RE: Run Scheme. Outside zone or Stretch. Specifically avoids the zone read for fear of injury; guess he doesn't read MGoBlog (the FOOL!).

RE: most productive pass concept. "...push the ball vertically by sending four. Regardless of the formation, send four at them right away and see how they adjust."

Seems to me like our installation of the 3-3-5 is specifically targetted at Notre Dame as it incorporates specific strategies for handling these concepts. Looking at the schedule though, I can pick off 6-8 teams that run a spread: Connecticut (OC has specifically referred to it as a spread offense), Indiana, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Penn St., Purdue, UMass (?; doesn't matter), Bowling Green (?; doesn't matter).

Sure, something more typical will need to be schemed for MSU, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ohio State but, those teams are backloaded on the schedule. For Power offenses go with Van Bergen - Campbell - Martin - Roh as your D-Line then go to work.

The idea of installing a scheme specifically designed to the defend against the spread makes a lot of sense.