Texas Tech was another team like Notre Dame, a program changing coaching staffs, and bringing in a new defensive scheme along with a new staff. While the Irish were bringing in Bob Diaco to install their scheme from Cincinnati, the Red Raiders hired James Willis, the LB coach for Alabama during the Crimson Tide's 2009 national championship season. Defense had always been an afterthought for Mike Leach while he was at Tech, so the change in Lubbock wasn't just going to be about moving from a 4-3 to a 3-4 scheme, but also changing attitudes; under Tommy Tuberville and new coordinator Willis, the importance of playing defense was going to be emphasized.

In 2009, Tech gave up an average of 22.5 points per game, 126.8 yards per game rushing and 225.6 yards per game passing,  for a total defense average of 352.4 yards per game. Tp put that in perspective, that is one yard less per game given up per game than Notre Dame did this season, when the Irish finished in the top 50 in what has been considered an improved performance for their defense. Heading into their final game of the 2010 season Friday, Texas Tech has taken a step back with their defense this year. Tech has given up an average of 30.3 points per game, 157 yards per game rushing and 306.1 yards per game passing, for a total defense average of 463.1 yards per game. The perofmrance this season leaves them ranked 116th out of 120 teams in the nation in total defense; Tech ranks 67th in the nation in run defense and 120th, dead last, in pass defense. The 3,673 yards passing Tech has given up this year so far is more than any other team in the nation. Simply put, Tech got gashed on the ground, and torched through the air. Some of Tech's problems were based on not having the personnel to run the 3-4, an issue compounded by injuries throughout the season, but defensive coordinator James Willis never seemed to be able to make the adjustments needed to form a competitive squad in Big 12 play. Looking beyond my common assertion that SEC defensive coaches struggle in their first season in Big 12 play as they adjust to competing against diverse offenses with real passing games instead of the steady diet of 21 personnel they see in the Southeast, Willis never really adjusted to what he was seeing on the field in every game. Willis has since left the Tech program, with rumors of him looking at a job at Florida swirling around, but looking at these numbers, maybe Tech isn't so bad off without him.

In 2011, Tech will be trotting out their third defensive coordinator in three years, but it will be interesting to see if Tuberville remains committed to sticking with the 3-4 scheme, given the problems Tech had this season, and the personnel holes they still have on the defensive side of the ball, holes they need to fill in recruiting if they want to successfully run this scheme.

Continuing with my review of teams that ran odd-front defenses during the 2010 season, we now move on to look at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame is a significant team to look at, not because of their tradition, but because they were similar to A&M coming into last season, a team that had struggled recently on defense, and was looking to a change to the 3-4 to improve their performance on that side of the ball. The difference between A&M and Notre Dame, though, is that they were bringing in a whole new coaching staff, while we were just bringing in a new coordinator and new assistants on one side of the ball.

In 2009, Notre Dame gave up an average of 25.9 points per game, 170.2 yds per game rushing, 227.5 yds per game passing, and 397.7 yds per game in total defense as they finished with a 6-6 record. Out went Charlie Weiss, in came Brian Kelly, and Kelly's defensive coordinator, Bob Diaco, who brought the 3-4 defense with him from Cincinnati. In 2010, the Irish started slow, losing three of their first four games, but finished fast, winning six of their final eight games, including their last three in a row. A big part of the Irish's strong finish to the season was the improvement of their defense. The Irish gave up an average of 146.75 yds per game rushing, and improvement of 23 yards per game over the 2009 team. The Irish gave up 206.42 yds per game passing, an improvement of 21 yds per game over the 2009 team. Overall, the Irish gave up an average of 353.17 yds per game in total defense, a solid improvement from the 2009 season, good enough to rank them in the top 50 in the nation (46) in total defense.

Moving forward, Notre Dame has to feel good about where they are now as a team on defense, and where they are going. With a solid coordinator like Diaco in place, Notre Dame should be able to bring in some more speed and really begin to rev up their defense as they recruit more players for their scheme. Notre Dame has one game left in the 2010 season, the Sun Bowl against rival Miami in El Paso. We'll see how Notre Dame matches up their defense with Miami's offensive speed in their final game of 2010. Regardless of whether they win or lose their bowl game, the switch to the 3-4 has to be considered a success for Notre Dame.

I neglected to keep following the results of all of the Odd-Front Defenses being utilized in college football, stopping my weekly column following week three. Now that the regular season is over, I wanted to take a look at the full season results of some of these teams, and see how they compared to previous years. It seems too obvious to start with Texas A&M, so I'll start with someone else: Michigan.

Michigan was one of our 33 Stack teams, one of five teams nationally running this scheme. Of those five, they easily field the worst defense, ranking 108th our of 120 D-IA programs in the nation. The Wolverines were equal opportunists at being horrific, giving up 187.7 yards per game rushing (94th in the nation) and 260.2 yards per game passing (111th nationally). Michigan is lucky they had Shoelaces at QB to keep their ground game going on offense, and churn up some time on the clock, or they would have been dead last in every defensive category. Michigan's offense had the unenviable task of trying to outscore their own defense in every game, just to try to win the game.

During the 2009 season, the Wolverines gave up an average of 171.9 yards per game rushing and 221.4 yards per game passing, for a total defense average of 393.3 yards per game. I think Michigan fans would kill for those types of numbers after the season they've had this year. What these numbers mean is that in the second year of Greg Robinson's tenure as defensive coordinator, Michigan became worse in every single defensive category. as a team, they're not getting better, they're getting worse, which is a sign that the coaching staff isn't doing their job. As an outside observer of their program, it is fairly obvious that Robinson needs to be removed, and they need to bring someone who can get these kids excited about playing defense to lead their team. Although some Michigan fans may not be in favor of the Stack, it is a scheme that has been proven to work. West Virginia finished 3rd in the nation in total defense running the 33 Stack, so the problem isn't the scheme. I think some of Michigan's issues are personnel-related, but the bigger problem is the coaching. After their New Year's Day Gator Bowl game with Mississippi State, Michigan needs to relieve Robinson of his duties, and bring in a new defensive coordinator.

We are now into our third weekend of tracking odd-front defenses, and after watching Michigan-UMass and Tulsa-Oklahoma State, I am just resigned to the fact that those two defenses are going to be skewing the stats every week. Let's take a look at the results from week 3:

3-4 Defenses

Continue reading this post »

With Louisiana-Monroe opening their season with a 31-7 loss to Arkansas, all of the odd-front teams we are tracking this season have now played a game; the vast majority of them played their second game this past weekend. It is now time to look at our results:

3-4 Defenses

Continue reading this post »

After yesterday's Navy-Maryland game, most of the odd-front teams we are tracking this season have completed their opening week games (Louisiana-Monroe's opener is next weekend), and it is time to take a look at the results. I have separated the results into two sections, 3-4 teams and 33 Stack teams, then we'll look at the combined results for all odd-front defenses.

3-4 Defenses

Continue reading this post »

As we begin our season-long project of tracking odd-front defenses in Division I-A college football, we take a look at the schedule these 19 teams will be playing in their opening game. Of the 19 teams we will be tracking, 16 of them open their season next Saturday, while two open it during the course of the holiday weekend, and one (Louisiana-Monroe) opens its season on September 11.

Here is the opening schedule for the teams running a 3-4 defense:

• Alabama vs San Jose State
• Air Force vs Northwestern State
• Army @ Eastern Michigan
• Brigham Young vs Washington
• California vs UC-Davis
• Georgia vs Louisiana-Lafayette
• Georgia Tech vs South Carolina State
• Houston vs (Southwest) Texas State
• Navy vs Maryland
• Notre Dame vs Purdue
• SMU @ Texas Tech
• Stanford vs Sacramento State
• Texas A&M vs Stephen F. Austin

The most high-profile and intriguing match-ups among these teams are BYU vs. Washington, Navy vs Maryland, Notre Dame vs Purdue, and SMU at Texas Tech. (Texas A&M vs SFA will be a game I will be watching closely, but there is an obvious personal bias there.)  The BYU, Navy, Notre Dame, and SMU games will all be televised, so we'll be able to observe their defenses in action. The Navy game will be on ESPN on Monday, September 6.

SMU at Texas Tech should be especially interesting, because it will feature Tech's Air Raid offense against SMU's 3-4 defense, and SMU's Run-N-Shoot offense against Tech's 3-4 defense. After practicing against a 3-4 scheme all Fall Camp, these two teams are now squaring off against that very scheme in their season opener.

Continue reading this post »

Of the 120 D-I football programs taking the field this Fall, only 19 of them will be using an odd-front as their base defense. Alabama, Army, Brigham Young, California, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Houston, Navy, Notre Dame, SMU, Stanford, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M will be running a 3-4 defense, while Louisiana-Monroe, Michigan, San Diego State, Tulsa, and West Virginia will running a base 3-3-5 defense. Georgia, Georgia Tech, Houston, Notre Dame, Stanford, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech are all moving to the 3-4 this season, while Alabama, Army, Navy, et al, have already been running it. Michigan is returning to the 33 Stack after running an even-front last season in Greg Robinson's first year as their defensive coordinator. Going back to his time at West Virginia, Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez has been a proponent of the 33 Stack. San Diego State will be going into its second season running the Stack, with co-creator (and former New Mexico head coach) Rocky Long entering his second season as the Aztec's defensive coordinator. West Virginia continues to run the Stack, and Tulsa, under former West Virginia defensive coordinator and current head coach Todd Graham, is also running the Stack. With less than 1/6 of the college football programs in the nation running odd-front defenses in the 2010 season, I thought it would be interesting to track their results as the year goes on.

The teams who ran the 3-4 met with various results in 2009: Alabama finished the season #2 in total defense, Air Force #11, Army #16, BYU #28, California #72, Navy #34, and SMU finished at #84. It should be noted that Alabama, Air Force, Army, and Navy all ran ground-based offenses in 2009, which helped keep time of possession down, and keep their defense off the field. However, time of possession isn't the only factor, because SMU finished #28 in the nation in time of possession while running June Jones' version of the run-n-shoot offense, so simple fundamentals like getting to the point of attack and making tackles still matter. Of the 33 Stack teams, Louisiana-Monroe finished #33 in total defense, San Diego State #74, Tulsa #85 , and West Virginia finished #36. As with any defensive scheme, the more experience and talent you have, the better.

A&M and Tech will be the only two teams in the same BCS conference running an odd-front defense in 2010, so it will be interesting tracking their progress. The advantage of an odd-front defense, as seen by looking at the number of teams running these schemes, is the scarcity of it in the college game. With so few teams running odd-front defenses, it makes it more difficult to to scheme for games against those opponents, because it is different from what you see the rest of the season. When you have teams like A&M or Tech or West Virginia who run offenses you don't see every week, the issue is compounded, because now you are asking scout teams to emulate an offense and a defense they don't see at any other time that season. Running an odd-front defense is also an advantage in recruiting, because it allows you to pursue players other schools in an even-front can't play. A 'tweener who is too slow to play safety but too light to play linebacker has a place in a 33 Stack. A player too small for DE but too big for ILB can play at OLB in the 3-4. A&M and Tech moving to the 3-4 should actually help recruiting at both schools, because they won't be pursuing some of the same players that OU and texas will.

The results of the various odd-front defenses should be an interesting trend to track during he 2010 season.