Palmetto Proving Grounds

Have better players then they do.

It's just a system. It comes down to players and execution. Auburn is not particularly difficult to stop this year and they weren't the year before Cam.

well if some blogger could figure out how to stop it then it wouldn't be a very good offense, IMHO.

A big part of it is the tempo, which prevents the defense from substituting positions/groups on typical down-and-distance scenario. If you are stuck with your 1st down run defense, they will throw on your mismatched LBs, etc. If you have your nickel package in, they will run at you, especially on the edges with the read option because you are still spread out. They also send a receiver deep on almost every play to pull that corner and a safety over and then throw underneath into the open space (Clemson does this with Watkins a lot). If you don't respect the deep route, the QB can/will throw it to keep you honest. An athletic QB can also take advantage of the running lanes the spread opens up.

One of the things that causes that offense problems is if you can match up well in your base package, or if you get penetration to stop the run plays/disrupt the short passing game. You also have to jam the receivers at the line to throw off their timing, because there are typically not multiple reads in play by the QB. This is basically what VT was able to do to slow down Clemson, a lot.

Auburn ran a ridiculous number of plays on us (92) and only averaged 3.9 yards per play. No other team they've played this year has held them to below 5 yards per play. I have to believe if our offense could have stayed on the field longer, the 3.9 average would have been even lower.

So, watching our game film vs. Auburn would be a good place to start RE: defending that style of offense.

Virginia Tech stopped Clemson's offense. Tajh went 13-32 for 1 TD and 1 INT. Clemson's leading rusher had less than 50 yards. The problem was that VT couldn't move the ball and in a similar vein to our game against Auburn, they wore down and gave up a busted coverage on Dwayne Allen and Bellamy broke one late.

The reason VT slowed them down was because they had a lot of defensive team speed. They put pressure on Tajh early and made him make quick decisions. VT did a great job of running sideline to sideline and stuffed the up the middle run. Honestly, I think we matchup fairly well with Clemson considering we have the best front 4 they will see all year and our secondary has finally had the light come on when we moved to man coverage. I think Clemson is in for a long night when they come to Columbia this year. Our defensive team speed is going to eat them alive.

Much of what this type offense does is try to create mis-matches along the LOS, and also outnumber you on the perimeter.The running game between the tackles is based on a iso power philosophy.After that, Its all about making a defense defend in space, from sideline to sideline, with an occasional long ball thrown in to keep your safeties from creeping up to support the run and short pass....

The only way to defend it is to have speed across the board and to make sure you miss no tackles in space...The first thing is your front 4 MUST be able to control the run...If you are forced to commit 6 guys in the box to constantly be aware of the power running , then you have little chance to slow down the other areas this offense attacks...You simply cannot defend the speedy guys in space all day with only 5 guys.

People have to play smart and not bust assignments. Probably helps if you can play straight man and bump alot at the line of scrimmage when they pass. But the biggest, most important, must-have is a defensive line that can blow plays up before they have time to develop. If that doesn't happen your secondary are sitting ducks. A dominant defensive line could disrupt that offense, though.

A dominant defensive line, over the span of a single game or an entire season, will disrupt any offensive scheme.

I said, if you can play man. Not that we can play it.