(For my take on the state of the offense, check here: http://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=13489121)

I went on the record a couple of days ago with my take on the mentality and underlying assumption of our defensive scheme here: http://www.cougarboard.com/board/message.html?id=13479150, so I'm not going to make that argument again. However, this take will be based on my belief that the most important thing for a defense to do in this age of 7-on-7 football is to make a QB feel like he is going to be under pressure every time he throws the ball.

It's pretty tough to disentangle the intent of a defensive philosophy from its execution, and the quality of players in key positions can make a huge difference from one year to the next. The coaching staff claims that execution by key players (or lack thereof) was the difference between the excellent defenses of the past two seasons (16/14 in S&P/FEI last year, 13/18 in 2012) and this year's defense (51/58). They have a valid point. We have not had anyone step up close to adequately to replace KVN, Unga, Manumaleuna, Hadley, or Danny. The players with the best combination of experience and talent on this year's team - Fua, Kaufusi, Bills, and Daniel - had different strengths than those guys, but the coaches still tried to use them in the same ways as that stellar former group, and the results were less than stellar. Add to that key injuries at various times to Fua, Kaufusi, Bills, Leavitt, Warner, and Jordan Johnson, and the suspension debacle that cost valuable fall camp time to guys that we were counting on to contribute, and the defense was playing behind the eight ball all season.

However, when we look at the personnel and scheme, we see a group of players that are not well suited to get to the QB and had much more trouble than we are used to seeing in stopping the run. Our DL had trouble keeping blockers off of our linebackers, who also had trouble shedding blocks. Very often, those times that the DL did their jobs, the LBs either shot the wrong gap or whiffed on the tackle. We had some pass rushers with speed and athleticism (Fua, Warner, Takitaki), but they usually didn't get more than a yard into the backfield before the ball was flying past them into the flat to a wide-open receiver given an eight-yard cushion by the defensive back. They also showed a lack of variety in their moves to get past blockers, though at least Warner and Takitaki have the excuse of being true freshmen. This is not conducive to defensive success against high-level teams in this era of college football. It's not limited to this season, either; the great defenses of the past two seasons struggled when they couldn't get pressure, even when the QB was a mediocre player like John O'Korn, Cody Vaz, or Joel Stave.

So what needs to change? Obviously, we need to see more from the DL. They don't have to be sack machines, but they have to be ferocious and strong enough that a single blocker is going to struggle against them. That will keep the outside OL thinking in, which will give our edge rushers an edge. Our edge rushers need to learn some extra moves - swim, spin, outside-inside, elbow rip, etc. Our inside linebackers absolutely HAVE to be more assignment-sound, and our pass coverage has to be more aggressive on the line in spots and has to avoid disastrous mistakes like those we saw against USU, BSU, and Memphis. We have the talent at every position to play better, although it would be nice to upgrade the DL a notch or three. We need Jordan Preator and Michael Davis to learn to play as tough as Ben Criddle and Brian Logan. With their athleticism, they will both be drafted if they can achieve the sound play of those other two.

What most needs to happen is that our coaching staff has to adjust its mentality. Their #1 priority has to be to make the QB feel like he has no time to throw, and its corollary is that they have to cut off the easy quick throws that every team we play knows will be there. It's not about being more aggressive on the whole. We blitz quite a bit right now, but it is largely ineffective, because every QB we play knows that there will be an easy throw to a spot we vacate, as the guys in coverage are going to give receivers plenty of space. When we blitz hard off the edge, we have to be in press coverage enough that the QB isn't going to automatically know that he can just sling it out to the side, because every half-decent QB we will play is going to make that throw on us most of the time. We don't have to be in press coverage all of the time, just enough to make the QB hesitate. Similarly, once we establish the mentality in the QB's mind that he isn't going to have much time to throw, we can drop eight from time to time to mix it up and hopefully force turnovers. Basically, once we get QBs thinking they aren't going to be comfortable, our entire defense will be more successful, even if we do everything else the same way we do it now.