InsideLB
Helluva Engineer
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When Roof was first hired as DC my initial reaction was shock and worry. Like many fans I just remembered Woody Dantzler scoring again and the year we were #1 in O and #100 in D.
Then I set that aside did some more objective examination of Roof's record and scheme.
I found at GT (ranked 88th before Roof's first stint), Duke, & Minnesota Roof had taken over terrible defenses and improved them markedly. At GT his last two years he had D's ranked in the 20's and 30's and he was up for the assistant of the year award one of those years. And when he got canned at Auburn I noticed that two coaches he'd coached with before--and who are known to be good coaches--GOL and Bill O'Brien both hired Roof (though Roof never coached a down for UCF). That got my attention
I thought hmmmm that's interesting. What is Roof's defensive philosophy and how might it fit in at GT? And how will it stand up in today's college game with the fast-paced offenses?
Examining the stats for Roof's defenses it is obvious that regardless how they line up their absolute top priority is stopping the run. The second priority is stopping the run. The third priority is stopping the run. Thou shall not run seems to be the creedo...even at the expense of giving up massive amounts of passing yardage. Great I thought....folks are going to throw all over us.
Then CPJ's statement that outrushing the opponent ususally results in a victory came back to me. Commentators always say the way to beat Johnson is to beat him at his own game: run on him and possess the football. Either that or try and deliver a quick knock out and make GT play from behind (but you still must run the ball to eat the clock!). Roof's style appeared tailor-made to compliment the spread option.
Still I felt uneasy with being willing to let teams pass their way down the field. But then I realized what Roof is trying to do is get stops not keep yardage totals low. When teams are forced to pass it is a lower percentage proposition than running. Penalties (holding, false starts), bad throws, drops, and big negative plays via sacks make it hard to consistently maintain drives despite racking up yards. Then there are INTs and fumbles if you can get to the QB.
If you still can't get a stop you can toughen in the red zone where there is less room to pass, and it's hard to get 7 if you can't run it in. With a consistent offense like ours the other team often needs to get 7 to keep up. And when they don't keep up and we go on death marches anxiety goes up, the other offense gets cold, and it's even more difficult for opponents to come on the field and rhythmically move the ball down the field passing without pressing/making mistakes/etc.
I also think perhaps that in today's college game which features HUNH offenses and rules that seem to favor offenses moving the football that giving up yardage but making the offense take greater risk to do it could make sense. Play for the turnovers & mistakes, don't let the other team run up TOP, and seek to stiffen in the red zone.
This year Roof's philosophy was on display. We got turnover after turnover. In the Orange Bowl MSU threw for all kinds of yards. But we did get stops via turnovers, penalties, incompletions, etc. And when we did we stuck it in the endzone for a convincing win.
Is this wishful thinking on my part or do we have a good sytlistic match? I guess it's less clear as this is Roof's first season and we had some serious pass rush/DL issues. Also seemed PJ had to lean on Roof to bring more heat during the season, and that it helped. What say you?
Then I set that aside did some more objective examination of Roof's record and scheme.
I found at GT (ranked 88th before Roof's first stint), Duke, & Minnesota Roof had taken over terrible defenses and improved them markedly. At GT his last two years he had D's ranked in the 20's and 30's and he was up for the assistant of the year award one of those years. And when he got canned at Auburn I noticed that two coaches he'd coached with before--and who are known to be good coaches--GOL and Bill O'Brien both hired Roof (though Roof never coached a down for UCF). That got my attention
I thought hmmmm that's interesting. What is Roof's defensive philosophy and how might it fit in at GT? And how will it stand up in today's college game with the fast-paced offenses?
Examining the stats for Roof's defenses it is obvious that regardless how they line up their absolute top priority is stopping the run. The second priority is stopping the run. The third priority is stopping the run. Thou shall not run seems to be the creedo...even at the expense of giving up massive amounts of passing yardage. Great I thought....folks are going to throw all over us.
Then CPJ's statement that outrushing the opponent ususally results in a victory came back to me. Commentators always say the way to beat Johnson is to beat him at his own game: run on him and possess the football. Either that or try and deliver a quick knock out and make GT play from behind (but you still must run the ball to eat the clock!). Roof's style appeared tailor-made to compliment the spread option.
Still I felt uneasy with being willing to let teams pass their way down the field. But then I realized what Roof is trying to do is get stops not keep yardage totals low. When teams are forced to pass it is a lower percentage proposition than running. Penalties (holding, false starts), bad throws, drops, and big negative plays via sacks make it hard to consistently maintain drives despite racking up yards. Then there are INTs and fumbles if you can get to the QB.
If you still can't get a stop you can toughen in the red zone where there is less room to pass, and it's hard to get 7 if you can't run it in. With a consistent offense like ours the other team often needs to get 7 to keep up. And when they don't keep up and we go on death marches anxiety goes up, the other offense gets cold, and it's even more difficult for opponents to come on the field and rhythmically move the ball down the field passing without pressing/making mistakes/etc.
I also think perhaps that in today's college game which features HUNH offenses and rules that seem to favor offenses moving the football that giving up yardage but making the offense take greater risk to do it could make sense. Play for the turnovers & mistakes, don't let the other team run up TOP, and seek to stiffen in the red zone.
This year Roof's philosophy was on display. We got turnover after turnover. In the Orange Bowl MSU threw for all kinds of yards. But we did get stops via turnovers, penalties, incompletions, etc. And when we did we stuck it in the endzone for a convincing win.
Is this wishful thinking on my part or do we have a good sytlistic match? I guess it's less clear as this is Roof's first season and we had some serious pass rush/DL issues. Also seemed PJ had to lean on Roof to bring more heat during the season, and that it helped. What say you?