SB Nation - Neefy Moffett

Progression, Continuation, or Regression? Noles Defensive Secondary

FrankDNole — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:06:46 -0000

Every day while catching up on my daily Nole must reads, I very often wonder to myself, "Are my 2009 Noles going to be better than last year’s team?"

So far we have analyzed, discussed, and you have voted on whether the Defensive Line, and the Receivers and Tight End will be better, the same, or worse than last years equivalent unit. Today we will take a look at the Defensive Secondary to determine if this unit has progressed, remains stagnant, or has regressed, in comparison to last years secondary unit.

Mickey Andrews’ secondary lost two solid players with the departures of cornerback Tony Carter and rover Myron Rolle who combined to start 85 games during their careers at FSU. In 2008, this secondary was the 6th best passing defense in the nation.

The two senior starters that return in this position group are cornerback Patrick Robinson and safety Jamie Robinson, who are expected to be the veteran leaders in the secondary.

Patrick Robinson will be looking to add to his seven career interceptions, six of which came in 2007. Outside of Patrick Robinson, the current Seminole secondary has combined for ONLY one career interception, that coming from Jamie Robinson. All last year the entire FSU defense combined for only 9 interceptions, and only one was returned for a touchdown which was Neefy Moffett’s exhausting rumble and tumble of 18 yards. Of those 9 interceptions, only 6 picks were made by secondary players.

Tony Carter-2

Kenny Ingram-1

Darius McClure-1

Jaime Robinson-1

Patrick Robinson-1

This season, there will be some familiar faces, but in different places, as former cornerback Korey Mangum will move to rover to get the first crack at replacing Myron Rolle, and former cornerback Terrance Parks has been working at both rover and safety.

To his credit, Mickey Andrews realized that we had a problem in the secondary, and that problem would have continued to exist with the players remaining on the roster. The coaching staff did some very good recruiting and brought in some talented youngsters to beef up the secondary. The new players expected to compete, or at least push the veterans on the practice field, include Greg Reid and Xavier Rhodes at corners, and Gerald Demps, Jajuan Harley, and Justin Bright at safeties. However, do not be too surprised if there are some changes made as to what position these players actually line up at.

The two cornerback positions are known as the FCB and BCB. For those who may not be familiar with the difference between these two, here is a easy way to remember courtesy of FSUn. The BCB is boundary corner, who typically plays the short side of the field all alone, while the FCB is the field side (wide side), and who typically gets help from the safety.

The competition at the field corner position between Ochuko Jenije and Dionte Allen should intensify with the arrival of Greg Reid. FSUncensored projects Reid surpassing Allen as Jenije’s backup almost immediately, and many feel he could possibly be in the starting lineup very quickly.

Now let’s take a look last years starters and this years projected secondary.

2008 FCB=Tony Carter started all 13 games and he is gone. Carter=25 Tot Tck, 2 Tck for loss, 2 int, 4 passes broken up, and 1 FR.

2009 PROJECTED FCB=Ochuko Jenije, Greg Reid, and Dionte Allen

2008 BCB=Korey Mangum started 5 of the first 6 games, then Patrick Robinson started the last 7 games for 8 total starts.

2009 PROJECTED BCB=Patrick Robinson and A J Alexander

2008 ROVER=Myron Rolle started 12 games and Kenny Ingram started the one against MD when Rolle was interviewing for the Rhodes. As previously stated, Rolleis gone and so is Ingram (Tot Tck=22, 3.5 Tck for loss, Sck=1, Int=1, PBU=5)

2009 PROJECTED ROVER=Korey Mangum, Nick Moody, and Terrance Parks

2008 SAFETY=Darius McClure started 7 and Jamie Robinson started 6. McClure (Tot tck=25, 1.5 Tck for loss, 1 Int, and 1 PBU) is gone.

2009 PROJECTED SAFETY=Jamie Robinson and Terrance Park

OTHERS WHO CONTRIBUTED IN 2008 AND ARE NOW GONE=Michael Ray Garvin, Rod Roberts, Roosevelt Lawson.

OTHERS WHO MAY CONTRIBUTE IN 2009=Many expect Greg Reid to make a immediated impact. Also, Xavier Rhodes, Gerald Demps, Jajuan Harley, and Justin Bright. These players have all been discussed in depth here at TN, so I will not discuss their upsides or weaknesses in this story.

So there you have it. The biggest question I have is not if Carter and Rolle can be replaced as defensive backs, but rather who will fill Rolle's shoes in run support. Rolle, while in my opinion was just average in his pass coverage ability, he was very good in run support and a tackling machine. Rolle was second on the team in unassisted tackles with 40, and only Derek Nicholson's 44 solo's were better, and Rolle was third on the team in total tackles with 62. Even though I said I considered him just average in his ability to cover, he was second on the team with 5 passes broken up behind Korey Mangum's 7.

If I were to compare and rate each of the positions individually, I would rate them something like this.

FCB=STAGNATION only because Reid is expected to be taking over soon. Otherwise, I would have said REGRESSION because the experience and leadership Carter provided will be missed, and while he was not Mr. Interception, he was a dependable and a very serviceable corner.

BCB=PROGRESSION. I expect Patrick Robinson to be avoided by the opposing teams QB and I believe he will regain his 2007 form and numbers.

ROVER=REGRESSION. Even though I should rate this position on coverage ability only, I can not help but feel that Rolle's run support will be missed terribly. Our rover has traditionally been our last line of defense on break away runs. Hopefully the LB corp be better equipped to stop the run, and that will depend on if the defensive line does a better job of freeing them up. However the LB play will be discussed in the near future and the D-Line has already been covered. This is the secondary position that concerns me the most, especially when you factor in the loss of Ingram.

SAFETY=STAGNANT.

Therefore as of today, based on my averages of the 4 positions for this unit,

MY BOTTOM LINE FOR THE SECONDARY=STAGNATION.

What is your bottom line? Please vote now.

Poll

2009 FSU DEFENSIVE SECONDARY-PROGRESSION, CONTINUATION, OR REGRESSION? Please read the story before voting. Poll closes Wednesday August 5 at 2:53 AM

PROGRESSION

112 votes

CONTINUATION

98 votes

REGRESSION

55 votes

265 votes | Poll has closed

Back to Basics: A Detailed Look at Defensive Line Play

TrueCubbie — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:07:58 -0000

Like offensive lineman, defensive lineman typically don't attract much attention from the casual fan, seen as the brutes up front that simply run into each other over and over. As FSUn demonstrated so nicely in his recent piece, offensive line play is a coordinated series of movements based on real time interpretation of the defensive front. Without an understanding or appreciation the subtleties required to play on the offensive and defensive line, it's understandable why many overlook these players during the game, except when they make a significant error.

In this piece, we take a closer look at the subtleties of defensive line play, providing an understanding of what really goes on down in the trenches and some important things to look for when evaluating recruits.

Image from here.

Continue reading this thread to learn more about what is some of the most exciting play on the football field.

If you can't control the line of scrimmage your chances of winning a football game significantly decrease. A dominating defensive line, or even lineman, will impact the outcome of a game. If a quarterback has no time to throw the ball, if the running back can't turn the corner, if the offensive line can't control the line of scrimmage, it's over. In this article, we will take a look at some of the basics about defensive line play followed by a discussion about effective line play.

In general, most teams will use 3 or 4 defensive linemen in their base defensive fronts. When announcers and coaches talk about a 3-4 front or 4-3 front, the first number refers to the number of true defensive lineman. The second number refers to the number of linebackers. Occasionally, teams will go to a five man defensive lineman front, but I would say this is exceedingly rare as most teams will walk line backers up to the line of scrimmage to load the line. A four man front typically includes two defensive tackles and two defensive ends. The three man front is a little more flexible, but will generally include a pure nose tackle, a defensive end and a defensive tackle. In a 3-4 scheme, a line backer typically walks up as the fourth defensive lineman. Again, this is a very basic discussion about basic alignment and the schemes and personnel will vary from team to team.

The Basics: Techniques and Gaps

Before getting into the details of defensive line play one must have an understanding of alignment. The image below illustrates the typical numbering system that is used to identify the position of the defensive lineman:

It's not the clearest image but it is probably the most comprehensive one that I could find. The circles represent offensive linemen, with the center being the filled in circle. The letters define the "gaps" between the offensive linemen. The numbers, also referred to as the "technique," identify the locations at which the defensive players line up. For example, a "0" technique is lined up directly on the center, the "1" technique is on the inside shoulder, meaning the side closest to the center, of the guard. You will frequently hear commentators say that a player lined up in the 3 technique or 1 technique; the above image illustrates to what they are referring. Many teams will use the numbering schems in play calling. For example, when I played, the initial part of the play call referred to the base front. If the coach called "431," it meant we were using a 4 man front with the strong side tackle in the 3 technique and the weak side tackle in the 1 technique. Strength refers to the balance of the offense and generally identifies which side of the offense has more players or the tight end or the best player or however the defense identifies strength for their particular scheme.

You will also hear that specific players are responsible for a specific "gap." The gaps are identified by the letters between the offensive players: A gap is between the guard and center, the B gap is between the guard and tackle and so on. Depending on the scheme, a player may be responsible for collapsing a specific gap, blitzing through a gap or occupying a gap. Most defensive line schemes will have the defensive tackles lined up in the 3 and 1 technique. Again, this varies depending on the type of personnel a team has. For example, with a BJ Raj like player, you may have that individual line up in the 0-technique, shaded to the strong side of the play with the intention of occupying the A-gap requiring a block from both the center and guard. I can't tell you how hard it is to play center with a guy right on top of the ball.

Stunts

Stunts refer to predefined movements of the defensive line. Defensive linemen do not simply go straight ahead on every play. Sometimes they will play straight up and try to maintain their responsibility. On many occasions, a defensive coordinator will call for a specific stunt, making it more difficult for the offensive line to block. These stunts can be done as an entire defensive line with every player crashing to he weak or strong side, or it could be limited to the tackles or individual players. Stunts will change the specific gap responsibilities of the lineman as well as the backers behind them. Often a stunt will be used in combination with a blitz, using the stunt to pull a lineman away or distract the lineman from the linebacker that is now blitzing.

For example, here is a play in which all of the lineman pinch towards the center. This may be used in short yardage situations.

Here is another one in which only the tackles pinch:

And here is an example of a "loop" or "twist" play:

Here is an example of a play that demonstrates a stunt with the linemen combined with a linebacker blitz:

This play demonstrates some sophisticated line play. Look how far the Right defensive end (the one on the left side of the page) is expected to crash down the line. The purpose of this is to pull the offensive tackle toward the center, with the hopes of him turning his shoulders toward the crashing lineman, making it almost impossible for him to pick up either linebacker blitzing from the outside. The whole purpose of this play, if you look at the lineman alone, is to pull the offensive line to their right with the hope of leaving the left tackle alone to block two blitzing linebackers. Defensive lineman do a lot of dirty work to allow the linebackers to play free behind them. A good defensive lineman should be very difficult to block one on one. If a defensive lineman is able to occupy more than one offensive lineman, you are decreasing the number of players available to block the linebackers.

Stance

A lineman's stance is exceedingly important in football. Offensive lineman need to be well balanced and not tip off which direction they are likely to step first; they have to be able to move in all directions from a set position. Defensive lineman take a more aggressive stance as they are trying to accelerate off the ball. Here is an example of a typical defensive end stance. This is also referred to as a three point stance. Notice how the player has his head up, has most of his weight on his down hand and has his free hand up.

Photo from here.

Having the free hand is important for getting the hand forward on the initial movement. The player above, Mark Anderson of the Chicago Bears, is in a bit of an exaggerated stance. He is primarily a pass rush specialist and his weight is a little more forward than you would want, but he demonstrates a lot of the principles of a good three point stance. Here is an excellent picture of Jason Taylor demonstrating a more balanced stance.

Photo from here.

A good lineman will not tip off the direction of his initial movement from his stance. Clearly, in a pass rush situation a player will take a more aggressive sprinting stance to get up the field. As I mentioned previously, it is important for a defensive lineman to keep his hands forward or in a good position to fire forward. By getting the hands firing forward on the initial move it prevents the offensive lineman from engaging. You will see a lot of offensive and defensive lineman working on what is called "hand play". Here is a video of Julius Pepper's training session. Notice how much of the work out includes hand strength and that explosion out of the stance, getting the hands forward and the body extended. Here is a video that highlights our own Everette Brown. Take a minute to not only watch Everette's athletic ability, but look at the different stances of our entire defensive line, watch the way they move, watch their hands, watch how the explode out of their stances. Look at the different stances that Everette takes, it changes depending on the situation. This may be getting into the minutia, but I think this is where some of the most exciting plays in football happen.

For comparison sake, here is an example of a good offensive lineman's stance:

Photo from here.

Balanced and head up. Notice how his weight isn't placed on his front hand. If you were to swipe that down hand out from underneath the player, his stance shouldn't budge. It may seem that too much time is being spent on a lineman's stance, but it is key to their success. If you give anything away or are out of control because you don't have a good stance, you will not be successful.

Reading Blocks

Typically, you can tell what kind of play the offense is going to run based on the initial step/movement of the offensive line. Part of being a successful defensive lineman is having the ability to react to that initial step, reading the play before it fully develops. Here is a video of USC's defensive line drills. Watch the explosion the players have with the hands, engaging the pads. At the end of the video they show some basic rip/swim moves that players use to shed blocks. Listen carefully to the coach as he gets on his players about keeping the offensive players away from them.

As the offensive and defensive player engage, the defensive player should get some sense of how the offensive lineman is trying to block him, meaning is he trying to hook him, is he trying to drive straight up field, is he settling into pass protection, is he pulling? The defensive lineman has to counter those moves. Imagine yourself as the defensive lineman. Now imagine that the offensive player is trying to pin/hook your left shoulder and drive you to your right. As a defensive lineman, your objective is to extend your left arm and drive the offensive player back into the hole he is trying to create. As a defensive end, if the offense is trying to seal the outside and get around you, you have to fight the offensive lineman and cause the play to move lateral, forcing it further outside while maintaining good leverage to get back inside if needed. I have tried to find good videos on this but I haven't as of yet. But I hope this demonstrates the importance of extending the arms and taking control of the offensive lineman. You will also note that a lot of defensive lineman are wearing smaller and smaller jerseys, having a large part of their arms exposed. This is to give the offensive lineman the least amount of jersey to hold; it's not to show off their biceps. Yes, offensive linemen hold on every single play.

A key block to read is that of the pulling offensive lineman. Defensive lineman are taught to get in the "hip pocket" of the pulling offensive lineman. If you are lined up in the three technique and the guard pulls, follow him as he will take you to the play. Easier said than done as the tackle or center is crashing down on your legs to cut you and prevent you from doing so. Keeping your legs is also a key part of reading blocks. Getting cut makes you useless. Recognizing that a player is trying to cut block you before he gets into your legs is a difficult skill as it happens so fast.

Pass Rush Moves

Watching the battle that develops between defensive ends and offensive tackles through a game is one of the most exciting parts of a football game. One could equate it to a pitcher trying to set up a batter to chase a pitch out of the zone. There are a variety of moves that are utilized by defensive linemen to get past their offensive opponent: swim move, rip move and bull rush. Here is a nice video from Mac Brown illustrating a couple of these moves. There are multiple variations on all of these moves.

There is the pure speed rush in which a defensive end basically tries to run past the tackle. You will see an end use this a few times in a row, getting the tackle to be extremely nervous about being beat to the outside. The tackle will try to set deeper and deeper and start to turn his shoulders outside. As soon as that happens and if the end recognizes that anxiety, he will use a spin move or rip move to come underneath the tackle. Defensive tackles will typically use more of bull rush technique as they have limited space with which to work. A really important part of a pass rush is recognizing if you're not going to get to the quarterback. If you're not, then you have to get your hands up, particularly on quick drops.

Here is a nice video of Simeon Rice demonstrating the spin move back to the inside. Here is a series of clips of Julius Peppers. Another outstanding video of our own Everette Brown. Here is one of BJ Raji's highlight tapes. The first two highlights demonstrate the classic bull rush move. One of the greatest pass rushers ever: Reggie White.

This is a video from Elite Football Academy showing multiple players using a variety of pass rush moves. It's a nice demonstration of the various moves players will use. Here is Jared Allen explaining a good pass rush stance and initial movement and here he is explaining the speed rush.

And last but not least this is an excellent video of the NFL's elite pass rushers explaining how they get it done. It illustrates the hand play and importance of the initial move off the ball. (By the way, I typed my baseball analogy before watching this video)

Positions

Classically, there are two defensive line positions: tackle and end. Unfortunately, the readers at TNation are way to sophisticated and well read to recognize that is an over simplification. One could argue that the following positions are represented on the defensive line: strong side end, weak side end, defensive tackle and nose guard. Within those positions, one could break it down even further into run and pass specialists. It is no longer surprising to watch groups of linemen run on and off the field depending on the down and distance. Some teams will flip flop there defensive line from play to play depending on the strength of the play or line up their best defensive end on the weakest tackle or line up their best defensive end on the right side of the defense. The last option typically results in the end rushing from the blindside of the quarterback as most quarterbacks are right handed. This is the reason that left tackles in the NFL get paid so much. A bad left tackle will get a quarterback seriously injured.

In general, a strong side defensive end is the leverage point of the defense. He cannot allow his outside shoulder to get pinned and allow an offense to turn the corner. In general, defensive ends are responsible for containing an offense and stretching plays laterally. Typically, again depending on the scheme, the strong side end is your larger/stronger end as he is playing at the point of attack. The strong side end will typically line up on the inside shoulder of the tight end, again this depends on scheme. He must be able to handle double teams and disrupt the outside of the line, allowing the strong side and middle linebackers to run free behind him. On passing plays, he must disrupt the tight end's release of the line.

Your weak side end is typically where you see your speed and where you will see your one on one match ups. Again, the weak side end must maintain leverage at the point of attack and contain the quarterback. It takes a lot of discipline to play on the weakside of the ball as it is easy to start chasing plays down to early or getting caught inside (see the Boston College game) and allowing teams to reverse the field to the outside. It is imperative that the weak side end stay at home until he is absolutely sure that the play is not a reverse.

Your nose tackle or nose guard is a special breed of player. They need to clog up space, occupy blockers and be disruptive: think BJ Raji. The nose guard will be your largest player on the line. A successful nose guard will allow the middle line backer to roam free behind the line of scrimmage. If you get to the point that your interior lineman are successfully blocked one on one, a team will run all over you and your line backers will be miserable. This position is about power, aggressive behavior and being down right nasty.

Defensive tackles are becoming more and more specialized, meaning they are pass or run specialists. Again, the key to being a successful defensive tackle is being disruptive.

For a more detailed discussion, I would like to share our own CaStauch's take on our defense from a few months ago:

The 43 under- one gap scheme denotes particular responsibilities to each player. Concurrently, each of these responsibilities are themselves the foundation their teammates responsibilities: each position reflexively impacts and allows each other position to function. Starting from strongside and going to weakside, with respect to the defense's point of view of the offense (in that the strongside of the defense lines up opposite the strongside of the offense, usually the one with a Tight End), the first position to analyze is the Strongside Defensive end. The SDE lines up on the outside shoulder of offensive tackle to his side. His position is important because it cuts off the angle from which the offensive tackle can move without resistance. This is the form of protection that he bestows upon the LB behind him: because of the angle of his lineup, the OT cannot easily block down on the second level LB without either going through the SDE or amidst the congested middle of the line. In order to make the former as difficult as possible, the SDE must possess some method of holding his ground. Most naturally, this would imply weight. Usually SDE's range from 270-285 pounds. E.J. Wilson, of UNC (Coached by John Blake, one of the foremost DL minds in the collegiate game) weighs in at 280 lbs. Tyson Jackson at LSU clocks in at 285. Southern Cal's SDE, on the other hand, weighed in this past season at 6'6" 275 lbs.

In addition to weight, the SDE needs some form of body composition that utilizes this girth. There are two options. The first, is two evenly distribute the weight in a lankier frame, like USC's Moore. A longer body implies longer limbs. This, in combination with the greater amount of space that a longer body eats up, allows the SDE to control the line of scrimmage by dictating the movement of the OL with his longer arms. Another model for this method is Carlos Dunlap from UF. If you were with us earlier in the season, you may remember my piece on spatial and temporal playmakers (http://www.tomahawknation.com/2008/11/23/668913/strategy-session-did-the-d). A lankier SDE is an example of such a spatial constriction: his control of his opponent and longer frame shortens the negative space between him, his opposite OL, and the next D-Lineman, thus constricting the space in which the offense has to exploit.

The second option for an SDE to utilize his size is a stockier frame to produce leverage. This requires a slightly heavier player, like UNC's to exasperate the adequate leverage over what is no doubt a much taller OL.

The moral of the story for the SDE is that his job is to be a clogger. He prevents the Linebackers behind him from being blocked by the OL and TE opposite him. His angle of deployment, that on the outside shoulder of the OT and inside shoulder of the TE, along with his girth and size, allow him to do this. FSU has suffered the lack of an SDE for much of this decade. Our SDE this past season? Neefy Moffett. As admirable he performed at times, his size (256 lbs) preventing him from consistently manning the clogger role needed. Behind him, we have Kevin McNeil and Everette Dawkins, both of whom may be able to weigh in at the necessary weight (at least 275). We're also recruiting a bevy of diversity at this position, including David Perry (6"6 240) and Darious Cummings (6'2 260) both in their junior years.

Next in line is maybe the most integral man in the 43 under front, the Nose Tackle. He lines up in the gap between the center and guard on the SDE's side. More than any other, his role is singularly that as a clogger. It is imperative that his physical presence prevents either the Center and Guard to a) defend him 1 on 1, freeing up one of the blockers, and b) bypassing the NT to the Mike or Will LBs behind him. To meet this responsibility, the NT, like the SDE, has choices. Either actually clog the middle of the line with his immense girth (this is the popular approach within the NFL and was clearly illustrated by B.J. Raji and Boston College), or prove to be strong enough and have enough of a competent knowledge of technique and leverage that the same goal is accomplished. The latter is more likely for FSU: not only is it easier to teach technique and develop strength on top of necessary bulk, but we've one of the better technical NT coaches in the country. Coming in at a mere 262 lbs, Coach Haggins turned Brod Bunkley into a chiseled 290 lb NT worthy of first round draft pick and pro bowl consideration. Southern Cal's analog was Averall Spicer, 6'2" and 295. Last year, we played with Budd Thacker, who weighed in at 275, and Paul Griffin, at 280 (doubtful). This was the most direct reason for our porous run defense.

The future, however, looks bright if not tenuous. Moses McCray is expected to play at ~305, and will add that impressive bulk with the mechanical muscle memory imbued from wrestling in high school that will make learning the technical skills much easier. Behind him, Jaccobi McDaniel should start at 280 but gain weight steadily from there, and every coach that has witnessed his domination at the last two All Star games has come away incredibly impressed with his technical ability already.

The Strongside Defensive End and Nose Tackle serve as the foundation upon which the 43 under front is built. They are the necessary brick and mortar that enables the next two pieces, the Defensive Tackle and
Weakside Defensive End, to perform as disrupters that cut the spatial and temporal advantages inherent in the Offense.

The Defensive Tackle lines up on the outside shoulder of the Guard on the weak side. His position, labeled a Three Technique affords him the luxury of a one on one matchup with the Guard. Shielded both by the
body of the Guard with whom he’s matched up, and his Nose Tackle’s clogging responsibility tying up the center, it is the Coach’s responsibility to recruit and develop a player that accentuates this disruptive potential. Here, Florida State has traditionally excelled. Darnell Dockett, arguably the MVP of the Cardinals late season surge,
exemplifies this most clearly, as does Travis Johnson. Southern Cal’s Fili Moala weighs in at 6’2" 290, and possesses the necessary fast-twitch acceleration and understanding of technique and leverage to consistently beat the OG he’s opposite and disrupt the play

Florida State’s answer to this need is Justin Mincey. So as long as he develops mentally (stays eligible) and physically (fills out), Justin is potentially the next in a long line of first round picks produced by Coach Haggins. His width and length, at 6’5", allows him to control and dictate the contact with the likely shorter and slower OG. His speed isn’t gone to waste; shielded by his angle and the NT, he is provided an ample two gaps worth of protection with which to work.

Alongside him, the Weakside Defensive End also serves as a disruptor. He deploys on the outside shoulder of the left tackle, and the inherent disruptive qualities and unrivaled spatial isolation are the reasons Left Tackles
are paid more than any position in Football. While the DT is also matched up against a single blocker, he is not awarded the space with which to work like the WDE. As such, he is the principle source of pass rush in this scheme. His size and physique must illustrate this principle goal: normally between 250 and 260 lbs, allowing him not to sacrifice speed and agility with which he can attack an environment (one blocker and nearly ~30 yards of space) that is unrivaled by any other frontal configuration. While Souther Cal has Everson Griffin, FSU counters with Everette Brown and now Markus White. For all of our struggles these past seasons in fielding satisfactory SDEs and NTs, the WDE position has not been a source of angst, at least personnel wise (schematically however, has caused some frustration, but that is the seed of another article for another day).

Final Thoughts

If you have made it this far, congratulations and thanks for reading. Defensive line play is one of the most exciting parts of football. Hopefully this article provides you with a basic frame work with which to watch the line play and to think about the recruiting process. It takes time to develop into an outstanding defensive lineman, but there are basic skills required. Acceleration, explosiveness and body type are key. When watching recruiting videos, watch for the way a kid comes off the ball, what does he do with his hands, how does he shed blocks, does he stay low, what is his first movement off the ball, does his head pop up or does he move across the line. I would argue that shuttle times and agility are more important for defensive lineman than 40 yard times. Strength is key and a kid has to have the right frame to develop his body to endure the punishment of playing on the line. There has been an evolution in the style of play at each position on the line. As CaStauch nicely stated, "Each position has a specific responsibility and players must be recruited that can fill these roles as best as they can. There cannot be any square peg in round hole recruiting here."

I look forward to hearing your thoughts about our defensive line and defensive line play in general. Clearly, a lot of this article is a gross simplification of defensive line technique, but a summary of some points that I find important.

And don't forget that Florida State has a history of developing some of the best defensive linemen in the country, many of whom go on to play in the NFL:

Photo from here.

Go NOLES!

Inside the Seminole Film Room: FSU 41, Clemson 27 Part 2 & Daily update

FSUncensored — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:50:35 -0000

My post was so long that this space couldn't handle it (that's what she said). Seriously though, I guess there are formatting limits.

The first part is here.

Get your questions in for the BC Expert.

Clemson's 8th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					Gano, G kickoff 69 yards to the CU1, Ford, J return 21 yards to the CU22 (Owens, R).
Gano mis-hit this, I think.
1-10	at Cu22				CLEMSON drive start at 01:19.
1-10	at Cu22				Harper, C sacked for loss of 7 yards to the CU15 (White, M.,), fumble by Harper, C recovered by CU Harper, C at CU15.	NO
Great to see Markus White coming on strong. If he comes on like a mad man, that'll soften the blow of Losing Everette. He literally outquicked the RB who was assigned to him. Note to CU: singleblocking our DE's with RB's is a poor idea.
2-17	at Cu15				Timeout Florida State, clock 01:01.
I love this coaching staff. We had all 3 timeouts left. Would that happen in 2006? No way.						NO
2-17	at Cu15	PD			Harper, C sacked for loss of 3 yards to the CU12 (Brown, E).
This was Brown's best sack of the day. Doubleteam? No problem! Spin it big man. Can I mancrush on EB? Yes I can.
3-20	at Cu12				Timeout Florida State, clock 00:55.
I love this coaching staff. We had all 3 timeouts left. Would that happen in 2006? No way.
3-20	at Cu12	PD			Spiller, C rush over right guard for 3 yards to the CU15 (Watson, D).	NO
This was a straight run and Watson (who played great) is just too quick. Well done guys.
4-17	at Cu15				Timeout Florida State, clock 00:48.
I love this coaching staff. We had all 3 timeouts left. Would that happen in 2006? No way.
4-17	at Cu15				Maners, J punt 45 yards to the FS40, Parker, P return 3 yards to the FS43 (Maxwell, B), PENALTY CU illegal formation declined, PENALTY FS illegal block (Lawson, R) 10 yards to the FS33, 1st and 10, FS ball on FS33.
					Drive: 3 plays, minus 7 yards, TOP 00:41
Look at CU's last 2 drives. This was disgustingly good defense. 6 successes, no fails. 3 sacks and 2 incompletes are you kidding me? Wow.

FSU's 6th Drive

Dwn	Yard	Situation	Label	Formation	Play Description	Success?
					FLORIDA STATE drive start at 00:38.
Unfair here. The refs screwed FSU several times in this game but that was ridiculous. No way Jimbo wanted this.
1-10	at Fs33			4WR GUN	Thomas, J. rush left for 12 yards to the FS45, 1ST DOWN FS (Chambers, S).	YES
Zone left, Great blocking by Datko and Carr.
1-10	at Fs45			4WR GUN	Ponder, C deep pass incomplete to Easterling, T (Clemons, C).	NO
Quickly to the line, we look well coached. I like how we didn't spike the ball. Remind me to link an article here on the fallacy of the spike. Someone ran the wrong route, however, as Parker and Easterling were in the same spot.
2-10	at Fs45			4WR GUN	Ponder, C deep pass incomplete to Surrency, C. (Chancellor, C), PENALTY CU offside defense (Sapp, R) 5 yards to the 50 yardline, NO PLAY.
The DB played this well, maybe Ponder could have thrown it a bit shorter. Surrency got high but maybe mistimed his jump a tad.
2-5	at Fs50	NPD		4WR GUN	Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Parker, P for 6 yards to the CU44, 1ST DOWN FS, out-of-bounds (Butler, C;Conner, K).	YES
I CAN'T GET OVER HOW SMOOTH AND WELL COACHED WE LOOK. Quick pace w/o desperation. Quick out past the marker. Play took only 4 seconds.
1-10	at Cu44				Ponder, C sideline pass complete to Parker, P for 3 yards to the CU41 (Maxwell, B).	NO
I'm not sure what he was doing here. Carr doesn't sell his route at all and his defender comes off him. Maybe Ponder expected Carr to run his route hard and for Parker to turn this upfield? In either case, if the refs don't screw us, we're at the 31 and Gano is kicking a FG after a jumpball attempt. The throw on this play was an out.
2-7	at Cu41	NPD			End of half, clock 00:00.
Dumb refs.
					Drive: 4 plays, 26 yards, TOP 00:38
					Florida State 20, Clemson 17
Not a horrible half, all-told.

The 2nd half will be up later.

Injury Note: I heard that everyone was AT practice today. No word on whether they actually did participated. I'd say a lack of major injuries and favorable attrition rates are the number one reason the Noles have improved this season. Many don't think about this, but it is relevant.

Brent Musgamlerberger and Kirk "No Erin I'm married" Herbstriet have the call for the Noles game. No coverage map yet, but unless you're in Oklahoma or Colorado, you should get our contest.

Rodney Hudson (3rd time), Graham Gano (2nd time), and Neefy Moffett were named ACC players of the week.

We really need to make a push for some All American status and post season Awards. I watch a lot of football and Gano, Hudson, and Everette Brown all merit All American consideration. Rick Trickett needs to win the assistant coach of the year award (or the position coach of the year).

If Antwane Greenlee (Left Tackle) is back and ready to resume his pursuit of playing to the potential he had coming in... we could have a dominant offensive line next year. This is no slap on Zebrie, but everyone agreed that Greenlee was an amazing talent before his neck injury.

Practice Report from FSU Sports Information: Most of practice was spent with both the offense and defense working versus scout teams.

· 1-on-1 began at midfield and the only break-up was turned in by Michael Ray Garvin. E.J. Manuel connected on passes to Cameron Wade, Bert Reed, Taiwan Easterling and Preston Parker. D'Vontrey Richardson also hooked up with Parker and Rod Owens.

· When 1-on-1 moved inside the 20 Garvin and Dionte Allen broke up potential TD passes. Drew Weatherford found Reed, Jarmon Fortson, Corey Surrency and Louis Givens. The biggest play of the drill was turned in by Parker who pulled in a one-handed grab from Manuel in the back corner of the endzone where he managed to get one foot in bounds.

· In pass rush Moses McCray was the big winner with four sacks. Everette Brown, Markus White, Kendrick Stewart and Neefy Moffett got to the QB twice and Justin Mincey got into the backfield as well. Rodney Hudson and Ryan McMahon were the only multiple winners for the offense. Antwane Greenlee, Joe Tonga, A.J. Ganguzza and Brandon Davis also had wins.

· In skeleton, Christian Ponder found Surrency once and then had two completions to Greg Carr, Easterling and Parker. One of the completions to Parker was on a deep ball. Weatherford hit Surrency, Ja'Baris Little, Wade and Givens once each. He also hit Rod Owens twice and one completion featured a great run after the catch. Tony Carter and Patrick Robinson broke up passes.

· Pass break-ups were the bi story in 11-on-11. Patrick Robinson had two, Jamie Robinson and Korey Mangum each had one as well. Neefy Moffett had a sack and a QB pressure. There were only two highlights for the offense and one was a completion from Ponder to Surrency and the other was Weatherford going to Owens.

The Seminole Report Card: FSU 41, Clemson 27 (UPDATED)

FSUncensored — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:50:48 -0000

Full Screen Version

In this piece, I examine our predictions and pre-game thoughts. What did we nail, what did we miss,... and what can we learn from this?

Now updated with the Offensive side of the ball.

I'll have the "Inside the Seminole Film Room" up sometime today.

For now, make sure to Post your questions for our BC expert.

These reviews are taken from The Preview and The Conversation.

DEFENSE

Strategy Musings

18 Turnovers in 6 games is sloppiness and bad luck. We saw that turnovers are often a product of bad luck when we faced Georgia Tech, who has similarly been plagued by turnovers. We cannot rely on Clemson turning the ball over. We each had 2 turnovers. Turnovers did not win or lose this game.

Excuse me if this is simplistic, but Clemson's offensive line sucks. Check.

I'm not going to talk about C.J. Spiller very much in this space. I know that we are scheming to stop him, and as you'll see, his line doesn't block for him. He is an NFL back, and we have to control him. We won't shut him down completely. Spiller finished with 121 yards on 16 touches, 44 coming on the screen play in the first quarter. I think we did a good job of executing the "let Spiller get his within reason, and take everything else away." strategy.

How should we exploit this weakness [Clemson's offensive line]? BY NOT BLITZING CRAZILY. The offensive line doesn't move people off the ball at all. They have been handled by some good defensive lines; notably GTech, Alabama, and Wake Forest). Florida State's defensive line hasn't drawn much praise around here as of late, but they are still a good defensive line capable of winning this battle without help from the blitzers. Hmm... 6 sacks and numerous pressures, hurries, and knockdowns... all from the defensive line. Chhhecck.

Clemson cannot sustain drives because they are sloppy, poorly coached, undisciplined, not in sync, and imprecise. Oh, they also don't run the ball and win the battle of first down. Clemson had drives of (play-Yards): 5-80, 9-52, 10-52, and 11-97. As for the 1st down stuff... Clemson faced unfavorable situations in 75% of 2nd and 3rd downs.

Let's hope that Mickey doesn't dare Cullen to beat single coverage deep. Good job Mickey and the Defense Staff!

Aaron Kelley is 6'5 and really good. That said, I'm okay with Patrick Robinson playing him man-up, as long as we occasionally flash deep help his way. Robinson is a very good cover corner, and Kelly is a lazy route runner with a lot of physical talent. Kelley finished with 5 catches for 49 yards. Considering that CU doesn't spread the ball that much, that isn't horrible. He also blatantly interfered on one catch.

Their TE is a complete non-factor. Damn! He had a nice catch for a TD, and another catch. 2 for 16 yards. Not a gashing.

If we allow big plays on screens to Spiller or big plays to Ford this Saturday, you should be angry. 1 big screen, but other than that... nice job.

BC was incapable of generating pressure without a blitz, specifically off the edge. Florida State doesn't have this same problem, since we have that Everette Brown guy. There should be NO REASON TO BLITZ 6. IF YOU WANT TO SEND WATSON OFF THE EDGE AND HAVE THE FS IN DEEP MIDDLE THAT IS FINE. Please though, none of the crazy stuff. Everette Brown is a beast. EB has another bad offensive tackle to feast on! I'm not sure if Clemson will help on EB, but considering their TE sucks, they probably should. 3 sacks, at least 3 pressures, a monster of a game. Clemson... you can't throw to a 4th option if you only have time to view 2. He must be doubleteamed on every play.

My hopes are that we see a lot of Watson and Verdell in this game. I love Nicholson, but I'm not sure his skillset works here. Watson and Verdell's speed should be a huge benefit. We need to make Harper throw accurately in the short and intermediate levels. This may be the one I am most proud of. Watson led the team in tackles, and Verdell was 4th.

Defensive Goals

Keep Clempzun in 2nd and long: 33% of First Down Rushes for 2 or fewer yards. (The STUFFED %). 50% is a win here (9/18).
Use penetration to get stops: 40% Win Rate on 3rd+ 4th n short rushing. Clemson did not have a 3rd and short attempt.
Don't have your good work go for naught: 1 or fewer draws of 3rd and 8 or Longer for first downs. This is big!. Excellent work here, as we stopped all draw plays well short of the first down.
No rushing TD's in the red zone. Make Harper throw the ball accurately in tight spaces. Honestly, this was fine, as a run would take time off the clock (their rush TD occured with little time left).
Take good angles to the football: No more than 4 runs over 15 yards and less than 2 runs over 35 yards. None went for 35, 2 went over 20, but they had 6 over 10.
Harper under a QB Rating of 115 overall. (120 is about 18 completions in 30 attempts for 200 yards; 1 touchdowns and 1 interceptions.) Harper had a good day throwing... when he did throw, but his performance is slightly overrated due to the screen pass.
Limit Big Plays: no more than 5 passes of 15+ yards, and nothing over 40. See next goal. Ugh. Bad. A 44 yard TD, and 8 throws of 15+ yards.
Hit Harper: Play to the echo of the whistle. Have a sack rate (sacks / (pass plays + sacks)) of 10% or more. (27 pass attempts and 3 sacks, so 3/30). As Mickey said... "you never want to hurt anybody, but our kids understand that if a guy wants to take himself out of a ballgame that is his business. You have got to hit him, you have got to inflict some pressure on him with contact for that to happen...." 6 sacks, 35 throws. (6/41)= 15%.
Be studs on 3rd and long: make the tackle when they throw underneath and don't allow them to get the 3rd down. Limit Harper to a double digit QB rating on 3rd down and 7+. This was excellent. 100% success. 11 for 11. Domination. Bring pressure, force quick throw, tackle.
Do not fall for play action on short yardage downs: DB's rarely make these plays but are usually the ones burned for trying to help out too much. No short yardage downs.
Create 2 turnovers. Check.
LESS THAN 4.75 YPP. 316 on 71 plays is 4.5 per play. That's not terrible.
No Plays of 50+ Yards. I doubt CU can repeatedly drive on this team. Let's make them try. Pass, but barely.
10 "Stops" Mickey defines a stop as a turnover, punt, or a surrender on downs. That's fine by me. We got 9 of 13.
Less than 50% Red Zone TD Scoring. They scored 66% redzone tds, however, a field goal would be useless in the endgame.
No scores off sudden change (make CU get a first down off a turnover. Do not allow the home run immediately after a turnover). FAIL. Muffed punt, 2 plays later... TD.
Hold CU under 300 yards. Mickey's goal is 300, but CU is a bit better than their record. 316. You be the judge.

Defense Prediction

FSU will not get killed by big plays, but will give up some. Clemson will foolishly abandon the run as they've done all year. As you'll see when I write it later, Clemson won't have many plays to work with. CU will rush 27 times (including sacks) for 100 yards, and will throw 30 times for 200 yards. They'll hit one play of 45+ yards, and score at TD. They'll get a fg off of their lone decent DRIVE of the game. They snag a field goal on a short field, and somehow get two more as well, for a total of 19 points. Expect big days from Watson solid play from the corners.

Clemson had 1 play over 40 yards (44), 5 of 20+, and 16 plays of 10+ yards. That's not good. They did abandon the run as the game wore on: 24 first half runs, 12 second half runs. Clemson had 73 plays to work with, largely because of FSU's 2 huge special teams miscues, which immediately gave CU 12 more plays.

If you look at the game [Georgia Tech] as a defensive aberration, then there is reason for great optimism Saturday. Fsued

via grfx.cstv.com

OFFENSE

Strategy

On offense, look for FSU to go on LONG drives. I see a lot of really, really long drives, holding the ball, dominating the clock, and frustrating Clemson. Running short on time here. Not a ton of big plays. FSU had the ball 11 times. They had 5 drives of at least 7 plays and 50+ yards. As for dominating the clock?... not so much.

The running game will be all about balance. Expect us to exploit Clemson's considerable speed by using a lot of the zone read, but more importantly, by having Jermaine and Antone gashing Clemson on cutbacks. I predict an awesome cutback run of 45+ yards by one of those guys. Clemson will overpursue, so end-arounds, reverses, and trick plays are all in play. Ding. Ding. Ding. Cutbacks? Check. End Arounds, reverses? Check.

Clemson's pass defense is 75th in the nation in OPAED, which isn't great, but isn't as bad as some we've faced.

They will take away the easy stuff, but I do think we can throw the screens (and we should even if they aren't effective-- to slow CU down.)

Their corners are also short, so I expect to see us take some shots to Carr and Surrency.

Parker seems to be coming into his own as well, and could have a decent day. He might be our best offensive player-- still.

CU will struggle with the Carr quarmire-- whether to guard the jump ball or play aggressively against the bubble. I still expect them to give us the difficult throws if we can hit them (deep outs and in's, skinny posts on a rope, etc).

So, the goals for the FSU running game?

45% of carries by FSU RB's on First down go for 3 or more yards (win first down). This seems like a strange goal, but it is all about staying out of 3rd and long. I know this number seems low, but I'm trying to set realistic goals here.. 63%... very good.
60% conversions running on 3rd/ 4th & 2 or less. 1-1 is 100%
1 or fewer fumbles (Not fumbles lost, but Fumbles). Pass. TC doesn't count here.
40 yards rushing from Christian. This does not count sacks. I will parse our the sacks. 46 yards works.

The goals for the Passing Game?

QB Rating of 120+ Clearly, we're not a high completion % pass game, but Jimbo has stated that he doesn't care about that. Low completion % but big plays are fine by me. A rating of 125 is roughly 15 completions in 27 attempts for 205 yards; 1 touchdowns and 1 interceptions. Didn't happen. Now, I did guess exactly how many passes we would throw, but we didn't hit deep balls. Not going to get th QB rating up without yardage. Still though, he was 16-27, and I predicted 15-27. Pretty close there.
Special Sack Rate (sacks + Holdings on dropbacks / sacks + pass attempts + holding on dropbacks) of less than 14%. Yes, 14%. That isn't a typo. If we have 30 pass plays, we must not allow more than 4 combined holding penalties and sacks. Obviously, I would prefer 4 holdings and zero sacks, as we don't risk injury or fumbles with the holding, and as we all know, the team that commits more penalties usually wins the game. it's true. 2 Sacks and 27 passes. No Holds. That's 7%. Credit the line for tightening up after a brutal opening series nad credit Jimbo for limiting the exposure via rollout, short route, and screen.
7 Yards per Attempt. NO, didn't happen.

General Offensive Goals

5.3 YPP(Yards Per Play). 66 Plays at 5.5 YPP = 365 yards. 6.7 is great.
No Personal Fouls (except clipping, I'm fine with that here). I know that the team committing more penalties usually wins the game, but these are non-aggression penalties. Smart.
Less than 2 turnovers. Hooray! Only 1 turnover.
60%+ Red Zone Touchdowns (Kicking is losing). We've done a decent job of this this year. 3 for 5 is 60% on the nose.

So, what will happen?

With CU putting up 19 points, FSU will need 20+, and they will get it.

FSU runs 39 times (including sacks) for 160 yards (not a great average, but it includes sacks) ,36 times for 266 is sick.

and throws 27 times for 200 yards.

We will probably commit 2 turnovers, but hopefully they are not costly. I think we hold the ball for more than 33 Minutes, while getting 2 td's and 4 field goals, as CU gives up some yardage but not huge points. Despite the low sack totals, CU's DLine is very talented, as is their secondary. None of their LB's would make our ROSTER, however, and we will eventually exploit that advantage.

Gano will make us forget about the kick coverage woes.

Did this game go how you envisioned?

Sunday Running PostGame Reactions and Observations: Clemson 27, FSU 41

FSUncensored — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:29:53 -0000

Post your thoughts here.

Here are your 5 Questions:

1. What was the most encouraging thing you saw tonight?

2. Who was the best player on the field?

3. What was the most discouraging aspect of this win?

4. What is your most lingering concern after this victory?

5. What player or aspect of this team do you most want to see re-emerge?

Bonus: what do you want me to look for in "Inside the Seminole Film Room"?

Quotes:

"It was exciting. We talked about it all week about how other teams weren’t able to run on them. We just stuck with our blocking schemes and we just felt like they hadn’t played a team like us."_ Jermaine Thomas

Early Observations:

Continued 3rd down dominance: Clemson ran 15 3rd down plays and converted only 2. It's safe to say that the Noles will continue to lead the nation in this category. Clemson ran 12 3rd down pass plays. The results? 3 Sacks, 1 Interception, 5 incompletions, 2 completions that were tackled 5 and 2 yards short of the first down, and only ONE conversion. 1-12 on 3rd downs passing. Think about that. That is sheer dominance.
Running for points; not maintenance. FSU had 10 runs of 10+ yards. 7 runs of 20+ yards. No player with over 100 yards. Few teams actually use the running game as a weapon instead of a "stay out of 3rd and long" method. This is good from an explosion standpoint, but I'll need to review some more stuff before I make up my mind RE: are we too boom or bust in the run game. Another positive of this is that teams must really respect the run on 2nd and 3rd Passing Downs

The importance of winning 1st down.

... it is not necessarily how many big defensive plays you make that determines how well you do; it is more about leveraging the offense into uncomfortable situations -- in other words, Passing Downs. The reverse is true for offensive success

I've preached this all year, but we are finally beginning to understand why. No matter how good you are throwing the ball, you won't have sustained success in 3rd and 5+. In fact, we discussed our propensity to convert 3rd and long last week. Several commentators (including myself) commented that we probably cannot keep that up. As you will see, it was finally time for the Noles to pay the proverbial piper, as they converted on only 2 of 7 3rd and 5+ situations. A detailed breakdown follows. See what you can do with this while I crunch other stuff.

Leverage: FSU faced 51% passing downs (16/31) Of those, 16 were passing downs (passing downs defined as 2-8+, or 3rd/4th- 5+). Some new school thinking indicates that staying out of passing downs is hugely correlated to winning.
Leverage: FSU forced Clemson into 75% passing downs (30/40)
Read the explanation of Success Rate. This is similar to the leverage idea, but instead of measuring the ability to stay out of / put your opponent in a bad position; Success Rate measures the chance of success. Let's go to the Chart!

Situation	Success Rate	Successes	Failures
Overall Offense	50%	31	31
Rushing Offense	58%	19	14
Passing Offense	41%	12	17
Non-Passing Downs	69%	11	5
Passing Downs	33%	5	10
Running in Non-Passing Downs	80%	8	2
Passing in Non-Passing Downs	60%	3	2
Running in Passing Downs	50%	3	3
Passing in Passing Downs	22%	2	7
1st Down Offense	48%	15	16
1st Down Rushing Offense	50%	8	8
1st Down Passing Offense	47%	7	8
2nd Down Offense	52%	11	10
2nd Down Offense in Non- Passing Downs	62%	8	5
2nd Down Offense in Passing Downs	38%	3	5
2nd Down Rushing Offense	67%	10	5
2nd Down Running in Non-Passing Downs	78%	7	2
2nd Down Running in Passing Downs	50%	3	3
2nd Down Passing Offense	20%	1	4
2nd Down Passing in Non-Passing Downs	33%	1	2
2nd Down Passing in Passing Downs	0%	0	2
3rd Down Offense	50%	5	5
3rd Down Offense in Non- Passing Downs	100%	3	0
3rd Down Offense in Passing Downs	29%	2	5
3rd Down Rushing Offense	100%	1	0
3rd Down Running in Non-Passing Downs	100%	1	0
3rd Down Running in Passing Downs	NO Draws?
3rd Down Passing Offense	44%	4	5
3rd Down Passing in Non-Passing Downs	100%	2	0
3rd Down Passing in Passing Downs	29%	2	5

As We've discussed at length, our offensive line is not good enough to execute a bunch of straight dropback pass plays. Our numbers reflect that. Also, because of the more hit or miss explosive nature of the passing game, Success rate will almost always be higher for rushing than passing. More explanations on this tomorrow.

We did an excellent job of staying committed to the run on 2nd and 8+, running 6 times and getting into 3rd and 4 or better 3 of the 6 times.

I'll enter the Defensive Data into Table form soon.

Defensive Success Rate: 63% (45/71). 50% on non-passing downs (5/10). 73% on passing downs (22/30).
1st Down Offensive Success Rate 64% (18/31).
2nd Down Defensive Success Rate 59% (13/22). 50% on non-passing downs (3/6). 63% on passing downs (10/16).
3rd Down Defensive Success Rate 87% (13/15). 50% on non-passing downs (2/4, including a turnover). ONE HUNDRED % on passing downs (11/11). That's incredible. Believe in the concept of leverage now?
4th Down Defensive Success Rate 33% (1/3, all passing downs)

What were certain non-scoring plays really worth?

How costly was roughing the passer?

How would we even go about figuring this out? Let's use a field position point expectancy chart.

via www.rockmnation.com

This chart shows how many points they can expect to score then they have the ball at a specific part of the field. The punt was fair caught at the FS 28 by Preston Parker. Having the ball at your own 28 on 1st down is worth exactly 2.00 points. The penalty not only wiped out our expectancy of 2.00 points, but it also gave Clemson a 1st down at their own 46. Having the ball at your own 46 is worth about 2.9 points.

So, 2.00 + 2.90= 4.90. The roughing the passer penalty cost the Noles 4.90 points. Intuitively, you know that penalty really hurt us. Now you know mathematically.

How costly was Tony Carter's muffed punt?

via www.rockmnation.com

The punt went from the Florida State 43 to the Florida State 11, where Tony Carter tried to fair catch it.

Having a 1st down at your own 11 is worth roughly 1.8 points. That's not all that special. The real killer in this play came from the turnaround. Clemson recovered the fumble at the Florida State 9. A first down at your opponent's 9 yard line is worth about 5.3 points. All in all, Carter's muffed punt was a 7.1 point swing. What a huge play. Again I ask: why is a starting cornerback returning punts? Let's hope this is the last we see of Tony Carter returning punts.

Other key non-scoring plays:

Harper's pass to Ford on 3rd down from the FSU 45 (1.5 expected pts) to the FSU 23 (4.25) was worth an expected 2.75 points. Credit the defense here for holding CU to a field goal.
Ponde'rs toss to Parker on 3-3 from the CU 44 to the CU 32 was deceptively important. It was worth 2.5 expectancy points (4.00-1.50).
Spiller's 8 yard rush on 4th-6 from the FSU 38 to the FSU 30 was worth 2.5 points (4.00-2.50)
Surrency's 38 yard grab on 2-7 from the 50 to the CU 12 was worth 2.50 expectancy points as well. (Jumping from 1.50 for the 2-7 @ the 50 (1.50 pts), to a first down @ the CU 12 (4.00pts) )

Truer Drive Charts

I don't think that Clemson should be credit for one drive because FSU roughed their punter. I also don't think that Neefy's interception or Tony's muff were offensive drives. It's a pet peeve, but I think this gives a better sense of how each offense (and defense) really played.

Clemson (split the roughing the punter drive in two)

	Drive Start				Drive End				Consumed
Team	Qtr	Spot	Time	Obtained	Spot	Time		How Lost	Pl-Yds	TOP	RZ
CU	1st	C20	15:00	Kickoff	F00	12:52	*	TOUCHDOWN	5-80	2:08
CU	1st	C25	11:19	Punt	F23	7:43	*	FIELD GOAL	9-52	3:36
CU	1st	C20	5:56	Kickoff	C26	4:16		Interception	3-6	1:40
CU	1st	C20	4:16	Kickoff	C22	2:28		Punt	3-2	1:48
CU	2nd	C19	12:58	Kickoff	F43	8:55		Punt	7-38	4:03
CU	2nd	F09	8:55	Fumble	F00	8:17	*	TOUCHDOWN	2-9	0:38	#
CU	2nd	C37	6:53	Punt	C42	5:15		Punt	3-5	1:38
CU	2nd	C22	1:19	Kickoff	C15	0:38		Punt	3--7	0:41
CU	3rd	C09	10:52	Kickoff	C31	7:15		Punt	5-22	3:37
CU	3rd	C46	7:15	Penalty	F02	3:43	*	FIELD GOAL	10-52	3:32	#
CU	3rd	C20	0:38	Interception	C11	13:44		Punt	3--9	1:54
CU	4th	C09	10:24	Kickoff	C14	8:30		Punt	3-5	1:54
CU	4th	C03	5:04	Punt	F00	2:00	*	TOUCHDOWN	11-97	3:04	#
CU	4th	C36	1:42	Kickoff	C41	0:44		Fumble	6-5	0:58

We really need to start better. Clemson's first 2 drives went 5-80 and 9-52. Mickey said that he didn't make a scheme adjustment, but rather, an attitude adjustment.

After Mickey laid into his crew, Clemson ran 42 plays for 141 yards (3.4 per play-- absurdly good defense). CU was completely shut down.

Then, we went into a prevent and allowed a 11 play, 97yd drive. However, that drive did last 3:04 and cost Clemson all of their timeouts.

Florida State (removed the Neefy Score and the Punt Muff)

	Drive Start				Drive End				Consumed
Team	Qtr	Spot	Time	Obtained	Spot	Time		How Lost	Pl-Yds	TOP	RZ
FS	1st	F34	12:52	Kickoff	F34	11:19		Punt	3-0	1:33
FS	1st	F28	7:38	Kickoff	C34	5:56	*	FIELD GOAL	5-38	1:42
FS	1st	F25	2:28	Punt	C19	13:03	*	FIELD GOAL	10-56	4:25	#
FS	2nd	F30	8:12	Kickoff	F30	6:53		Punt	3-0	1:19
FS	2nd	F30	5:15	Punt	C00	1:25	*	TOUCHDOWN	10-70	3:50	#
FS	2nd	F33	0:38	Punt	C41	0:00		End of half	4-26	0:38
FS	3rd	F37	14:52	Kickoff	C00	11:01	*	TOUCHDOWN	9-63	3:51	#
FS	3rd	F38	3:35	Kickoff	C11	0:38		Interception	7-51	2:57	#
FS	4th	F32	13:44	Punt	C00	10:31	*	TOUCHDOWN	7-68	3:13	#
FS	4th	F49	8:30	Punt	C43	5:04		Punt	5-8	3:26
FS	4th	C41	1:58	Kickoff	C00	1:49	*	TOUCHDOWN	1-41	0:09
FS	4th	C41	0:44	Fumble	C43	0:00		End of half	1--2	0:44

I don't like how most of the sites are reporting Clemson's drives. To me, the drive when we roughed their punter was really 2 separate offensive drives.

I really like the 5 drives of 7+ plays and 50+ yards. That's very good.

Thanks to Seminoles.com and Woody Hayes, Tommy Sabourin, Pat Campbell, Andrew Brady, Steve Heil, and Brian Taylor for compiling this.

More to come...

Wow Notes

Wow!, on the 2nd drive, we faked bubble screen action and ran a middle screen off of it. Unfortunately, Clemson didn't respect givens on the bubble and batted the middle screen pass down. Still though... Wow! That's creative. I think we will see this again.
Wow! We were trying to go deep. 3 or more times we ran a design short pass fake to try to get deep, but alas, the pressure was too much. Maybe someday?
Wow! Moses McCray is an absolute beast! I wonder what the battles between him and Freshman Guard David Spurlock are like? Watch the 1st down run @ 2:28 of the first quarter. Moses drives Clemson's Senior Center 3 yards into the backfield, hits the CJ spiller with his arm, and slows him up enough to have our defender converge. Moses IS the next Brodrick Bunkley. Mark that down. He plays with such great leverage.
Wow! I forgot just how much faster a healthy Dekoda Watson makes out defense. His constant intensity level doesn't hurt either.

Have something that needs to be in the Wow! notes? Lemme know.

Photos (Courtesy of Tallahassee.com)

Last week, I told you that we played much worse than the score indicated.

This week, we played much better than the score indicated.

The Media's Take

Chantrant has their 'Nole Nuggets
Scalpem has a great photo gallery and a recap.
Andrew Carter has a really good grading piece. We agree on pretty much everything. I also posted twice over there.
Dinnich gives the 'Noles Defensive Ends a Helmet Sticker.
Doc Saturday takes Notice of our run game!
Nolesports.com has a bunch of articles.
Lemme know if I missed any.
ESPN has highlights

Check back throughout the day as I add more thoughts. I'd really like to hear yours, however, so don't be shy!

Poll

Who was the MVP of the Clemson Beatdown?

Louis Givens

31 votes

31 votes | Poll has closed

The Kool-Aid Debate: Do you drink?

FSUncensored — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:39:59 -0000

INSIDE: I argue with myself. Hopefully, you'll join the conversation.

Garnet & Golded: 5-1! We are way ahead of expectations at this point. This team is coming together, we're the best in the ACC! We're tied for the ACC lead and should at least make the Orange Bowl! I'll go with Purple Koolaid!

Donald Downer: 2 of our wins are against 1-AA teams. The other 3 are against below average teams. Have we beaten a probable bowl team? Maybe Miami. Colorado and NC State are horrid. FSU's real season starts now. I'll have water.

Garnet & Golded: FSU is 3rd in the Nation in total defense! We're first in 3rd down conversion defense! We are 17th in pass defense! Give me the red stuff!

Donald Downer: I can't argue with that. This is a pretty talented defense. There are a few cracks, however. We aren't even top 50 in Opponent Adjusted Pass Efficiency Defense. That's a concern, as it further underscores our weak schedule to date. Miami's offense is nothing special, Colorado can't score on anyone, and NC State is pathetically bad. We held Wake to 12, true, but they've only scored one TD so far in ACC play.

My concern isn't playing 3rd down pass defense, but rather, forcing opponents to get to 3rd down. Colorado and NC State had success running the football on this team in spurts (as did Miami on their 2nd drive).

Our DT's haven't played especially well against the run, and they are even worse in pass rush. Everette Brown is doubled and sometimes tripled. The DT's are getting single blocked every time, and are not pushing the pocket. Markus White, Neefy Moffett, and Kevin McNiel can best be described as inconsistent.

We're not getting to the QB, registering only a 6.04% Sack Rate, the worst in our last 5 years. Obviously, Jody Allen needed to be fired yesterday, as he's been massively underqualified throughout his entire employment. Please bring back Jim Gladden!

The effort from the DLine is concerning. We have 4 DT's who rotate, as well as 3 DE's not named Brown, and yet they don't consistently appear to give maximum effot. With this kind of veteran depth, we need to have these guys play 100% every play, and then come out when they tire.

Even more concerning from the DLine is the lack of discipline. We play out of control, consistently lose contain, and are often caught out of position. I'm pretty sick of seeing Moffett crash down only to see the back bounce outside for 15.

The LB's have played amazing all season, but they had by far their worst game against NC State. Nicholson was especially poor, as he failed to get off blocks and just appeared to be out of sorts. I have confidence that they will turn that around, however, because they've done it before and are not coached by Jody Allen. These guys need to learn to use their speed to their advantage and take better angles to the football.

This might be the ACC's best defense, but until they fix those issues, they won't be special. Getting Patrick and Jamie Robinson back and fully healthy, in addition to Dekoda Watson and an improving Nigel Bradham could go a long way towards making this a "Nationally Elite Unit." Coffee would be fine. Black.

Garnet & Golded: We're averaging 413 yards and over 35 points in our last 3 games, all away from Doak Campbell. We're #1 in Total offense and scoring offense in the ACC! As a unit, the offensive line has far exceeded expectations. Hudson has played out of his mind, while most other members of the line have faired well in run blocking. The Noles run game has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few seasons. I believe this is a combination of better offensive line coaching, a mobile quarterback, improved blocking by the wide receivers, and having Antone in good health.

Gimme the red stuff!

Donald Downer: Schedule, schedule, schedule. Oh, and film. I really like what Jimbo is doing with our offense. As a member of the "he's a good but not great playcaller" club, I've been very happy with his effort so far. After an iffy game against Wake, he has stepped up and I have to give him an A.

What do I like about his playcalling? So far, he's been able to scheme around our weaknesses. With numbers like that, one might think we have no offensive weaknesses. They would be wrong.

Opposing coaches have to salivate when they think about our offensive line play. Rodney Hudson is a bona fide stud, and everyone knows that. The other interior line positions, however are huge question marks.

Ryan McMahon was a freshman All American last year. He is the worst starter on this team and I do not think it is all that close. McMahon gets destroyed on over half his snaps, consistently put on his back or pushed into the backfield, his poor play destroys our running lanes and kills our angles. I can't fault him for his effort, but he just isn't any good. I really hope we look to the JUCO ranks to find a replacement center, or hope that McMahon gains some strength. I'm not calling Mcmahon a slacker here, but he is consistently getting dominated and his performance is handcuffing our offense.

At the other guard spot is Will Furlong David Spurlock. Furlong injured his foot and was seen on crutches after the game. He is now in a boot. That doesn't sound good for the Va Tech game. Luckily for us, I actually think Spurlock is the better player. While he is 18, and thus makes the youngest offensive line in the Nation even younger, he is bigger. Spurlock also plays with a mean streak. He is closer to the Hudson mold than the McMahon model: meaning that plays really hard and is aggressive. Spurlock has the look of someone who will eventually be a very good player for us. Right now though, it looks as if he doesn't know all of his assignments. That's expected from a guy in his first game. Hudson didn't know all of his last season, and we all know how he has turned out. While I wish Furlong well, I have serious concerns about his ability to ever be a decent player. He has had two offseasons in the program and has not been able to put on the size he needs to be an effective player. Furlong's loss is a blow to the depth chart, but I don't expect a major dropoff in production.

Datko and Sanders, however, at the tackle spots (left and right respectively) are 18 yearolds who are experiencing their ups and downs. I think these guys have decent, but not great technique, considering their age. To compound matters, they are each 20LBS too small, even for a Rick Trickett offensive line. There isn't much we can do about this right now. I have to assume that, unlike RS FR Will Furlong, they will put on weight in the offseason program and keep it on. These two players clearly have potential to eventually be all conference type performers, and we don't really have other options here.

Bowden yelled at the ref's for the holding penalties against the Wolfpack on Thursday night, but they were doing their jobs. FSU was holding on the holding calls, and there several obvious holds that the refs did not call. This isn't something we can immediately correct. Sure, better technique and focus can help, and CRT is certainly capable of schooling these guys, but the majority of these holds occur because we're not very good right now. The alternative to holding may very well be a broken Christian Ponder. I hope we continue to hold, because we will get away with it a good bit of the time.

There is further trouble on the Horizon, however. The fact is that we haven't played very many good defensive fronts yet. Take a look at the best and worst fronts we will face/ have faced (italics).

Georgia Tech

NC State

Clemson

Miami

Wake Forest

Maryland

Colorado

So, we're about to face 4 defensive fronts that are certainly better than anything we've seen so far. That doesn't bode well for this offense. I think we will continue to use the fast break run offense, utilizing the speed and cut blocking of our linemen, but the dropback passing might take a turn downhill.

These fronts will brutalize McMahon and probably the 3 18-yearolds as well. We won't have much of a pocket to step up in. Expect to see some fumbles as Ponder is hit from the blind side. This could get ugly. We're going to have to win some ugly ballgames, with a lot of clock grinding, running, and punting.

Until next time...