Would Charlie Strong be an upgrade at DC?

Submitted by evenyoubrutus on December 1st, 2019 at 4:28 PM

I truly have no idea, but I saw this talked about in another forum, so I figured I'd bring it up here. I am done with having opinions, tbh, mostly because people in general are assholes and having an opinion means half the people you talk to will hate you for it. So, I'm asking you, smarter people than me, what you think of Charlie Strong? 

footballguy

December 1st, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^

I love Don Brown. He is a big reason we win games vs most other big ten teams, and blow a lot out.

But we will never beat OSU with him or teams like Bama, Clemson, LSU, Oklahoma, UGA, etc. And it's not even that we won't win those games, it's that we'll get destroyed.

If knowing that is fine with people, then I can't judge that. I do like destroying MSU quite a bit, and that will continue under Don. But embarrassing losses to OSU will also continue, and that's just something I don't like.

BlueMan80

December 1st, 2019 at 6:03 PM ^

In 2016, Don Brown + great DTs (Glasgow/Hurst) + great corners = pretty damn good.  We need to elevate the talent level on defense and not go for 3/4 stars we plan to coach up.  We need another Dax Hill, too, to solidify the safeties.  Do we need a better coach for the CBs and safeties?  Maybe.  Sean Nua is new, so he needs time to work DL recruiting and bring in highly ranked guys.

footballguy

December 1st, 2019 at 7:23 PM ^

Did I say shut out?

There's a pretty big gap between giving up 0 points and 0 yards and giving up 600 yards and 60 points. 

And you're not going to convince me nobody could have done better than that, because it's pretty much as bad as it possibly could be given our talent. 

huffstet

December 1st, 2019 at 7:38 PM ^

Statistically Brown has been the best coordinator in the country over the last 5-ish years. BC had a top tier D with him and their D sucks now. The mich D went from Swiss cheese to formidable this season.

No coordinator has a shot when your Dline can’t stop the fucking rush. We didn’t have the personnel along the DL to win Vs Ohio or Wisconsin this season. 

bluepalooza

December 1st, 2019 at 5:08 PM ^

You had me at "one of the best DC's in the country".  I agree, but I disagree nobody will do better vs OSU.  Go look at OSU scores this year at home.  Over half the teams that played OSU gave up fewer points  than Michigan.  All those teams except PSU had less talent than Michigan.  So what does that tell you?

Wolverine 73

December 1st, 2019 at 5:46 PM ^

OSU was less motivated int those games?  We had a glaring deficiency at DT and they exploited it mercilessly?  Metellus is a good player, but lacks elite speed and they identified that and he was the trailing defender on three TD passes?  Damn Don Brown should have made Kemp and Dumfour 30 or so pounds heavier, and Metellus three tenths of a second faster in the 40.  It’s all his fault.  

ScooterTooter

December 1st, 2019 at 5:57 PM ^

Man, I was with you until yesterday. I thought for sure Michigan was going to come out and at least play a decent game defensively. I knew OSU was going to score , but I thought it would be a low 30s type number. But just like Brown figured out the JT Barrett style OSU offense, they've now figured him out in regards to the style of QB they play. 

They could have put up 70. 

Three straight years Ohio State has scored at will at certain points of the game:

2017: Haskins enters and scores or at least produces a FG attempt every drive. 

2018: OSU scores on 5 straight drives to take the game from 24 points to 62 points (with a blocked punt TD in there as well).

2019: Middle of the game goes from 7 to 42 points by scoring TDs on five straight drives. 

Even before Brown Ohio State rolled off six straight TDs against Michigan in 2015. 

At some point you have to be able to do something to get them off the field. 

ieatglue44

December 1st, 2019 at 4:35 PM ^

Brown has struggled against the best offense in college football. What to do?

I do think Brown needs some help with his chess game. But otherwise, who would do better? Remember, there were a lot of points given up in garbage time or on short fields or on offensive mistakes.

tFerriState

December 1st, 2019 at 4:37 PM ^

Honestly, could be a great hire. Would probably help with recruiting, especially on the defensive line. He seems well liked, just lost as a HC. Brown has been exposed 4 too many times, he’s had his shot. 

Jasper

December 1st, 2019 at 4:37 PM ^

Not sure if I'm smarter than the OP, but, no.

If I look at Charlie Strong's career I see a guy who benefitted from luck and timing on the way up. I don't think he's that great. As well, he might be past his prime at this point.

Eye of the Tiger

December 1st, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^

Brown’s defenses have consistently been top 10 in SP+, including a couple times (2017, 2019) when we had to replace a major cohort of starters So I don’t think it’s an issue of coordinating the defense. It’s horses. We just don’t have the horses to keep up with OSU. The one defense that did was the 2016 defense, which was *deeper* in terms of talent than any other Michigan defense since 2006. 
 

The problem is recruiting. We recruit very well but always seem to have one positional crisis or another. (Next one up is cornerback, just in time for when we’ve finally solved our current DT issues.) 

Thats obviously a coaching issue too, but not an Xs and Os problem. 

Tyler1495

December 1st, 2019 at 4:43 PM ^

So you’re telling me penn state, Purdue, Iowa, Michigan state recruit at the same pace at Ohio st? Yet they’ve even had luck in beating them every once in a while. It’s 100 percent mental errors, and scheme from coaching on defense. We have way better athletes than Purdue but we get 50 put on us.

LDNfan

December 1st, 2019 at 6:02 PM ^

This transitive narrative is tiring....UM is the biggest game on OSUs schedule they bring their best every year to The Game..do you think they are nearly as motivate against those other teams. And those other teams are not beating OSU regularly..they each have what ONE win against OSU in the last decade or so...so they got lucky or caught OSU sleeping but they are not a model for beating the buckeyes.

Bo Harbaugh

December 1st, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^

Say whatever you want about OSU superior talent, etc, etc as an excuse for Brown the past two years...

But having a safety on Hamler in the PSU game to get burned for multiple TDs was when I was done with Brown.

His stubborn "win with aggression" is the defensive version of  "run into a wall" offense.

Everyone was so excited that we were running more bracket and zone coverage this year as if it was some sort of sorcery, when it should have been a simple half time adjustment made in last year's OSU game (but our team was not prepared to run it) He's a fun character and his defense works when you out-talent the other team at every position. But he's not the answer for OSU, and will always have another clunker of a game if we play an offense that isn't Iowa.

KC Wolve

December 1st, 2019 at 5:06 PM ^

Yeah, I know it is part of the coach’s job to get players in place, but I love how the coaches automatically get blamed for a player missing his assignment. Brown totally put the safety on PSU’s fastest player. Jay totally told Haskins to cut back instead of following the guard through a gigantic hole. I’m not sure what to do about the defense, but I’m not sure firing and blaming everything on Brown is a good idea. What do I know though. 

Bo Harbaugh

December 1st, 2019 at 5:06 PM ^

There were 2 long Hamler TDs.  Why was Dax Hill not in that game?  It's not like PSU was running a sophisticated offense that would confuse a freshman. The literally had 2 weapons in the pass game, Hamler and the TE. Put our best athlete on Hamler and worst case, he gets some catches, but doesn't torch the safety by 5 yards.

DrMantisToboggan

December 1st, 2019 at 5:52 PM ^

The one I am talking about is his last TD, the one most people were bitching about postgame. On that one, Hamler didn't torch anyone, because nobody covered him. Metellus' job was to pass him off to the post safety, but the post safety wasn't there, which Metellus obviously didn't know until it was too late. That's not putting a slower guy "on" a fast guy, as everyone yelled into the sky Brown did. That's one player missing an assignment which was designed to prevent the deep ball, and their deep ball threat making us pay. Is what it is.

Also, Dax played some that game. 

Carter the Darter

December 1st, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^

He sucks.  We need people who have actually been to college title games, national or at least conference.