This week’s big game is Michigan State-Oregon, so make sure you don’t miss Chris Brown’s “one defense to rule them all; one defense to bind them” analysis of makes Dantonio and Narduzzi so good at what they do.
This is a lesson for every defensive coordinator:
What’s more, they know that great D isn’t the function of a magical scheme; it’s about mastering fundamentals and playing with discipline and effort. The scheme is there merely to channel the players’ energy and help them play fast and without hesitation.
Get The Picture 
There’s no doubt that Narduzzi is one exceptional defensive coach. I wondered several times last season how his defense would fare in the SEC, and I came to believe that it would be one of the conference’s elite units. They run well, tackle well, and play with discipline. And they win with defense. Narduzzi is easily one of the two or three best defensive coordinators in college football.
And we’ve got one of the other ones. 🙂
LikeLike
Yeah, +1. That was a fascinating read. Good stuff, especially about the quarters man/zone.
Yeah, we last saw this with BVG, whose system was a very basic 4-3. And we’re seeing it now with Pruitt, even though he is already doing some different things schematically. But no matter what Pruitt does scheme-wise it still comes down to fundamentals, discipline, and effort, which is something we haven’t seen in a long time, until we got a little taste last Saturday.
Good post.
~~~
LikeLike
The Mark Dantonio-Pat Narduzzi combo reminds me a little bit of the Vince Dooley- Erk Russell combo. When VD lost Erk he was never the same. Dantonio needs to move heaven and earth to keep Narduzzi.
LikeLike
They are fundamentally sound. If you aren’t fundamentally sound, it doesn’t matter what scheme you play, you aren’t going to have a good defense (see Grantham, Todd and Martinez, Willie). I don’t think MSU has faced the quality and quantity of pure athletes they will face in Eugene against Nike U. Sparty has to win ugly – first team to 30 wins IMO.
LikeLike
Certainly playing in a conference that is still mired in the 70s enhances MSU’s stats, but you are correct, they are fundamentally sound. SEC mirrored that league until Spurrier brought the Fun and Gun in and forced a change that moved us to another level. I have seen Narduzzi adapt to spread offenses before but they will face the ultimate test this weekend. The Ducks not only have a variety of ways to attack, they have great talent at RB and an exceptional QB. Add a significant home field advantage in Eugene and I think Oregon could win by double digits. I cannot wait to see both of these PAC12 matchups this Saturday…most intriquing and impactful games of the day.
LikeLike
That was a great read Senator!
LikeLike
I like Dantonio and Michigan State (even to the point of expecting them to win this weekend), but when I look at the teams they’ve played over the last several years, I’m just not impressed. I don’t see an A&M or Auburn type offense on that schedule.
The use of their safeties is also interesting and I think a must to be effective against today’s offenses. The Saints, for example, are loading up on safeties as they become more integral to their schemes.
LSU under Chavis also runs basically a base defense, albeit with 11 great athletes.
LikeLike
They couldn’t consistently win sec games with their players. If they were in sec and had sec caliber players they would be successful. It does remind me of lsu coming into Sanford in 2004 and playing man all day. With green and Reggie and Fred, they had no chance. If your recievers are better than the corners and you have a qb who can put it on the money, this scheme gets torched. If their corners are better or equal and your qb won’t pull the trigger it will suffocate an offense. If you want to know why we struggled so much after Malcolm and Scott-Wesley and Bennett went down just read the article. The adjustment we made to finesse to finish last season and start this one has been in large part because we aren’t able to stretch the defense. Bobo knows this and is trying to fix it. You have to convince the other teams dc that his corners are going to need safety help. If you can get those guys out of the box you can run all day long with the backs we have.
LikeLike
Good comment
LikeLike
Yeah, Bobo knows we have to get the verticle passing game going, and with the people we’ve got (no JSW or Mitchell). Can’t wait to see how Bobo goes about doing it. It’ll help a ton if Conley can get healthy.
~~~
LikeLike
One ingredient he didn’t mention was a grad assistant with a towel.
Idiot.
LikeLike
It’s all about tackling and blocking, always has been always will be. Those toss sweeps Saturday night were like the old Dawgs. The Olinemen and the FB along with the WRs were GATAs in an old school way. After a shaky start our D seemed to tackle better too.
LikeLike
I think MSU has one of if not the best Ds in CFB, I don’t care who they have or have not played. They’re big, fast, physical and well coached. Or have been. If it’s anything like it has been, I see them as one of the four playoff teams. Defense like that can carry you far.
LikeLike
I think everyone can agree MSU has a good defense. For the Big Slow, they have an excellent defense, but I don’t think we can say they have a “great” defense if they don’t prove they are geared to defend against an offense that is utilized by a pretty large number of college offenses. Saturday will show us how adaptable their personnel and scheme are.
LikeLike
If they can get by Oregon
LikeLike
That was a very interesting read. I would think the key to breaking down the defense is the fact that each side independantly “transitions” from cover 2 to match-up quarters when there are two vertical routes to one side. If you run a seam route and a go route to one side, this leaves 1/3 zone responsibility underneath. You should then be able to run option routes off the underneath defender, an OLB, all day… until they change from their base defense.
LikeLike