DoubleNickel1
Active member
As somewhat of a defensive minded fan I was very disappointed with the play calling and schemes that our defense had this whole season. Most people familiar with football know that a defense has a main defense that they play coupled with some other looks to counter formations and personnel from other teams. Our defense is a 4-3 scheme, 4 down-linemen(Nose Tackle, Defensive tackle(3-technique), Open end(weak side DE), Strong end(strong side DE)), 3 linebackers (Strong side linebacker, Middle linebacker, Rover(Weak Side LB)), 2 corners and 2 safeties. There are a lot of other formations that are used but this is Weber's base defense. During a game week the coordinators put together a package that they think will best match up to the opposing teams strengths and exploit their weaknesses. While watching a number of different games this season I noticed that the packages that were put in for game week were below average. In the Montana game for example the main defensive package that was put in was a bear defense, 3 down linemen(NT and 2 DE's) and then 2 linebackers who lined up on the ball over the guards. This was the main package that was put in to stop Montana's offense. It was used at most 5 times and every time it was used they picked us apart. The whole week of preparation the defense spends all the practices perfecting this package and it's pretty pathetic when the package that was specifically put in was only used 5 times because it was ineffective. The one thing Coach Clune brought to the program was an incredible sense for dissecting game film and developing specific week to week packages to prepare for the upcoming opponent. He was an amazing play caller and always put his players in the best spots to give the team a chance to succeed. Not having his knowledge and skills around was a glaring weakness on the defensive side of the ball. The new D-Coordinators did and average job, at best, of developing a game plan. So many times during the season they threw out their game week packages and went back to the basic defense. Their packages just weren't good enough to shut down the opposition and they had to revert back to the basic defense. This speaks volumes of their preparation and knowledge. It scares me as a fan to know that our packages just weren't good enough to stop the opposing team and the preparation just wasn't there. As a former player these things stick out and it's easy to see that the players weren't always put in the best position to win. I know everyone says the game is won on the field but if the coaches aren't able to put the players in the best spots for them to succeed it makes it that much harder. I hope the coordinators can learn from this past season and develop a better sense for what needs to be done and how the team needs to prepare to win. I just hope that the packages that are put in for the game week this upcoming season are used more than a handful of times. Even though the players weren't always positioned correctly they still did an okay job of stopping the opposition. But if the team expects to be a contender year in and year out we have to have it all. And it starts at the top.
