First of all. I'm not Tom Landry. I'm not Chuck Noll. Heck, I'm not even Brian Knorr. But I know enough about coaching to know that you play to your strengths and try to compensate for your weaknesses in relation to who you are playing. (It's a Sun Tzu thing)
Secondly, after two games I have no idea what IU's strengths are defensively. Pure stats suggest not many.
But the game is played in real time by real people and stats only tell part of the thing. Football truly IS a game of inches and bounces. The pass that's 1 inch too long or low that doesn't get caught or intercepted.
The bounce that goes into the end zone vs out of bounds. The fumble that's not recovered because it goes left instead of right. The linesman who misses a key spot.
But IF I had to guess and bet someone else's money, I'd say the strength of IU's defense is potentially the size, strength, and length of it's defensive line. Specifically Green, Latham, and Mangieri are all 6-5, long armed, and BIG in the body. Their length has shown up in passes tipped or batted. They are just hard to see over. Their size suggests they aren't blown off the LOS and into the linebackers. They can get up field.
The linebackers aren't physically imposing. But seem to be able to flow sideline to sideline and have been pretty decent against the handoff. They've been susceptible to the QB run on keepers.
Coach Knorr's defense wants athletic guys who can slant, penetrate and attack. That doesn't really fit Green, Latham, and Mangieri. Latham has quick feet if not speed. Mangieri is a pretty decent athlete for a guy his size. Green's a bruiser with really.... long... arms...
But they aren't likely to get knocked into Lake Monroe on the snap. Unlike decades of their predecessors.
So stopping the run, powering into the gaps, and putting up a picket fence for QB's to have to throw over seems to be big for this defense.
Secondly, after two games I have no idea what IU's strengths are defensively. Pure stats suggest not many.
But the game is played in real time by real people and stats only tell part of the thing. Football truly IS a game of inches and bounces. The pass that's 1 inch too long or low that doesn't get caught or intercepted.
The bounce that goes into the end zone vs out of bounds. The fumble that's not recovered because it goes left instead of right. The linesman who misses a key spot.
But IF I had to guess and bet someone else's money, I'd say the strength of IU's defense is potentially the size, strength, and length of it's defensive line. Specifically Green, Latham, and Mangieri are all 6-5, long armed, and BIG in the body. Their length has shown up in passes tipped or batted. They are just hard to see over. Their size suggests they aren't blown off the LOS and into the linebackers. They can get up field.
The linebackers aren't physically imposing. But seem to be able to flow sideline to sideline and have been pretty decent against the handoff. They've been susceptible to the QB run on keepers.
Coach Knorr's defense wants athletic guys who can slant, penetrate and attack. That doesn't really fit Green, Latham, and Mangieri. Latham has quick feet if not speed. Mangieri is a pretty decent athlete for a guy his size. Green's a bruiser with really.... long... arms...
But they aren't likely to get knocked into Lake Monroe on the snap. Unlike decades of their predecessors.
So stopping the run, powering into the gaps, and putting up a picket fence for QB's to have to throw over seems to be big for this defense.
