Defensive Game Plan for Southern Cal

[TexasDomer]

I'm not a big x's and o's guy, but I've been thinking about SC, and wanted to get your views on the best way to gameplan the D.

It seems to me that our biggest defensive weakness is our being vulnerable to the big passing play, either because safeties cheat up (Michigan) or poor tackling by corners (NC, Purdue).

Southern Cal has two stud receivers in Smith and Jarret, but their running backs are nicked up.

Doesn't it make sense to pull out a defense like Holtz ran in the Sugar Bowl, using nickel and dime all game and daring them to beat us with the run, while using our LBs and DL to plug up the running lanes? Do we go cover 2 and take away the outside? Do we play 2-deep all game?

It just seems to me that we need to make SC one-dimensional, and the lack of a Bush or White in the backfield is our opportunity to do this.

 

[Indydomer]

I think we should just put up 60 against them and let the defense do what they want.

Charlie and Minter will have something extra special cooked up for them I hope. We slowed them down last year with pretty much the same team, less the linebackers, and they were the greatest team of all time. (According to ESPN) Funny how they lost to Texas though huh?

 

[luckofirish8]

USC has three stud WR (Patrick Turner) and I think that using a nickel or dime would be a fairly good idea, but this would put a ton of pressure on the DL and LB to stop the run. They could not miss tackles, or we would just be trading off big play passes for big play runs. Though USC's runnings backs are young, they are talented. Not to mention the fact that there appears to be a stable of them.

I think CW needs to get the defensive to buy into a revenge factor. If so they will play hard and make some much needed plays (I hope).

So Indy may be right. Our best defense could be a great offense.

 

[marv81s]

whatever game plan they put together, they better play it perfectly for 4 quarters to beat petey the poodle and that f'n USC team out in their place.

 

[jiggafini19]

It should be interesting to see what Slick Rick Minter comes up with.

I've love to see them bring some heat on John David Booty Call. Problem is, you might leave those corners on an island against two very good receivers.

I would do all that I could to contain that Jarrett kid. Make them throw somewhere else.

Special teams is going to be a key factor is this game.

 

[irishX25]

It seems to me that it would be best to blitz as often as possible. Booty has not impressed me this season. If we pressure him he will make mistakes in what will be the biggest game of his career. As far as our corners on the SC WRs, I would let Walls and Wooden play them. This "revenge factor" should be most prevalent in Wooden's play. And I think Walls is the fastest of our corners.

 

[jdreardon]

And what you leave Richardson to play Nickle?!?!?!? He would be pissed I would play Richardson and Walls.

 

[Dannyboy Ayers]

cover two would kill us as the holes in the middle and on the sidelines would be open all day. a cover three or an over defensive scheme might help are LBs are fast enough to get into coverage for the cover three and going to an over will help keep the safties from cheating up making them stay in coverage helping the CBs from getting burned bad. look for USC to come out throwing the deep ball early to test the coverage and scheme.

 

[Dannyboy Ayers]

maybe some dog blitzing and delayed, the way that crum was coming against Air Force was working really effectivly and would also help disrupt Booty's throwing rythem.

 

[irishtexan]

whatever game plan they put together, they better play it perfectly for 4 quarters to beat petey the poodle and that f'n USC team out in their place.

Exactly. We had freshman WR's slaughter the secondary this year and have made bad QB's look great. The secondary better strap up to play that day because USC has excellent receivers. You can bet too that petey has noticed who in our secondary is easy to prey on and what plays have consistently worked on us. He mat be a d*ck but he can gameplan really well. Actually, you dont need much of a gameplan with the talent he has.

 

[Nardo!]

Nickel-based Tampa 2.

Cover 2 with a zone LB covering the middle.

We're going to need to have Crum and T-Train to play huge IMO.

 

[domerfor life]

We'll probably run nickel alot this game. The D-line will have to stuff the middle. The LB's will have to use their quickness to cover sideline-to-sideline as well as check Fred Davis over the middle. The corners will need help deep from the safeties. Maybe for one game the safeties won't cheat up to stop the run (yeah, right...like that's going to happen). The cornerbacks need to force Jarrett and Smith to the inside where safety help is. We need maximum effort from everybody, because we will need it. If the safeties cheat up, we will get hit for a long touchdown. Oh......and one more thing. TACKLE!! TACKLE!!! TACKLE!!! Maybe the corners should try to bait Booty into an interception. If you watched Tampa and Carolina last night, one of Tampa's corners should've had an interception when he backed off of Steve Smith making Delhomme think he was giving cushion. Jake threw it, the corner closed on it and should have had. I would like to see some of that from ND. Of course, they have to be fast enough to close on the ball.

 

[lattedatte]

SC's only "weakness" is the QB, if we don't get to him and get him flustered, we will lose. Since we can't cause pressure with our front four. We have to blitz, bottom line. If we let him sit back there all day, he'll pick us apart. I don't care if that opens us of for big plays, it's not like we are setting the world on fire right now. Just hope we get a few TO's out of it which Booty is prone to do.

 

[tommy]

zibby needs to move up next to travis if we do run nickel all day herring should be in zibbys normal spot

 

[AlbuquerqueIrishFan]

Let's not look past Army people. j/k OK, Army serves as a practice week for SC, while SC must game plan for Cal. I think that gives us a little edge, but we have matchup problems everywhere against SC.

 

[tedwick]

I'd like to see zone blitzing, probably out of nickle coverage, ala gtech but with an extra db. what works best against young quarterbacks? quick, ball-hunting defenses and confusing schemes. bring blitzes from the corners or safeties on passing downs, drop some DLs into coverage... keep bringing pressure from places booty would least expect it. Leave 2 LBs in there to play the run, preferably TT and Crum, two pretty quick guys that could stick with a TE or RB, as well as bring pressure when needed. Our strength isn't at LB, so an extra DB might not be bad. Possibly even bring Zibby up and replace him with Herring or McNeil. Put more speed and more talent on the field. I'd love to see some completely unexpected things. Even though Weis is "completely focused" on Army, he's effectively got 2 weeks to implement some crazy stuff, both on offense and defense. I'm imagining that what worked against Brady (gatech, michigan) would work against any QB in the nation, and the zone blitz is pretty tough.

 

[Irish52]

Several great suggestions for the staff to consider! I second the idea that Walls must play, the DB's must stay close to their receivers..like 3-5 feet and gamble on interceptions. In short, put Booty under continuous pressure. Force USC to become one- dimensional And I choose running vs passing. Offensively, we must run the ball and use several backs...Aldridge must carry considerably more than usual as USC is not use to him and may find it more difficult to stop him. Prince may surprise them with his speed if he can just get through the line. So, the offensive line must be ready to play their best game of the season. And finally, Brady must have a super day..like the one against the Air Force...Go Irish!

 

[kickerbg31]

As far as I'm concerned, right now the defensive plan for USC should be to beat Army.

 

[TexasDomer]

Duly noted.

I thought about posting a thread about the defensive game plan to beat Army, but that comes down to executing our base defense well.

With all the threads wargaming BCS scenarios, I thought this would be an interesting topic since everyone believes our defense is the Achilles heel for any chances of a BCS or NC game berth.

 

[TexasDomer]

I agree with the idea of zone blitz. It allows us to use the quickness of our D-lineman while not leaving our CBs out on a limb. Plus, when done well, it will confuse Booty. IIRC, the interception that Lambert returned against MSU looked like it might have been zone blitz--Landri appeared to be back in coverage!

 

[dylan020]

just from what i've been hearing in the press confrences and from watching the games....I think ole' boy Weis has some tricks up his sleeve. Im gonna go out on a limb and say we see a lot of......Aldridge, Toryan Smith (he popped the hell out of somebody couple weeks ago), Prince maybe, and Reuland gets a big play. And Im putting money on at least one little flea flicker-ish reverse type play!