Our defense is bizarre

[Cylo]

Duke gained 46 yards on its last 5 possessions. What did we or they do differently? Baffling!

Malik Murphy became Malik Murphy. He eventually became who he has been for the whole season. Same thing happen against Mendoza too, he was red hot fire but couldn't hit anything in that 4th quarter.

I remember a quote from Guidry and it was teams scheme for the first half and by the 2nd half the offenses revert back to what they were expecting. I think thats why our defense plays better in the 2nd half cause the other teams OC is out of tricks

 

[Caneadian]

It's fairly obvious in 2024 football that lack of tackling in practice is very evident. All teams have these guys jog around a tap each other in practice then when gametime rolls around the tackling and maybe more important the ANGLE taken to try and tackle is atrocious.

In 2024 the defense needs to just try and limit TD's. Make them kick FG's, have a timely sack or turnover.

Then when you team that with a really good offense you can win the whole thing

 

[Cylo]

Duke scored 10 in the 2nd half. They took the opening kickoff of the half right down the field and scored. But from that point on, we smothered them.

I’m planning to make a thread this week highlighting the 2nd half performances of both units in the 2nd half of games. It’s pretty staggering.

As I mentioned, Duke got the ball out of the half yesterday, went down, and stuck it in the endzone. And Miami still won the 2nd half 36-10. Wtf.

I think Louisville the only team that trashed that defense in the 2nd half...I think since they did have a kick off for a TD and a fumble that was an easy TD too...neither was the defense fault. Every time we go into halftime, I have confidence the defense will play better but its the first half that's a true stress test

 

[Cylo]

Na, he had a few good games and made some impressive adjustments (3-3-5 comes to mind) but the D was leaky and got cooked plenty.

Last year the secondary got cooked as well and had very little depth.

Also I don't think the film was out on how to attack Guidry defense like it is now. Everybody knows how to attack this defense right now, which they didn't last year. Brohm showed the way from last years Louisville vs Miami game or even go further back when UNC went up tempo in those drives in the 3rd quarter, Guidry was lost

 

[Rellyrell]

The 27 sacks for 11th rank is the one that pops out to me, because I feel like our DL, and pass rush in general, is really lacking through the last 4 or 5 games.

16 of those 27 sacks came from the 1st 4 weeks of the season.

We’ve generated 11 sacks over the past 5 games, boosted by our game v. FSU. Ur eyes aren’t deceiving u.

 

[coffeecane]

I'm sure other people will use more colorful adjectives to describe it LOL

The stats do not match the eye test.

On paper, we look like an average/above average defense.

Total defense: 310.7 ypg (19th)
Scoring defense: 22.6 ppg (52nd)
Rush defense: 95.2 ypg (8th)
Pass defense: 215.4 ypg (63rd)
Pass efficiency defense: 113.1 rating (18th)
Yards per play: 5.0 (37th)
3rd down defense: 30.1% (12th)
Takeaways: 15 (31st)
Sacks: 27 (11th)

Some of the those metrics are even elite.

But it's no surprise that the problem is we give up way too many explosives.

Scrimmage plays over 40 yards: 10 (90th)
Scrimmage plays over 50 yards: 7 (112th)

And while we're really good on 3rd down, we often have to stop teams four times.

4th down defense: 57.9% (83rd)

We've also faced the 30th most 4th downs (19; the leader has faced 27), so teams are going for it a lot in order to keep pace with our offense.

We all know what the problems are. The question is are there any big fixes this late in the season?

Jadais Richard going down hurts. Hopefully Damari Brown can come back before the ACCCG. Getting competent nickel play would make a world of difference with OJ emerging as a solid outside corner.

Porter needs to go back to his natural position outside.

Patterson seems to be earning minutes at SS. He gets knock-back when he's in the game, which is refreshing when other guys are getting carried for 3-4 yards.

Did Kiko put on weight this offseason? He looks sluggish this year. Might need to limit his snaps.

We dropped 8 a few times, and Murphy looked confused. I know we struggle in zone, but we're going to have to mix it in if for no other reason than to make the QB think for a half a click.

Pray to Jobu that Damari Brown can return healthy and settle things down in the secondary.

We limit the explosive plays, and we have as a good a shot as any team to win it all.

Explosives are key to everything. The two most critical stats are explosives and turnovers. We are not very good in either. Our offense is just so good we've over come it. At some point we'll pay the piper I'm afraid.

 

[flips]

That last part about 3 games left to figure it out

It’s not happening. We will all be better off if we just accept this is how it is

You don’t play 9 games one way and then suddenly change

If we haven’t solved the issues over the last 6-7 months we aren’t gonna solve it before Georgia Tech. We might have a fluky game here or there (Guidry held GT in check last year) but it will only be because **** happens in college

Good news is the defense will let Cam shatter every record imaginable at Miami and probably win him a Heisman so there’s that

Think it's more accurate to say we played one way for 3 games (FAMU not count), then another way for the last 5 games. I don't think all hope is lost, because the most glaring issue with our defense in ACC play has been it's propsensity to give up explosive plays - @ 10.1% rate in ACC play versus 4.4% OOC. Our offense, which is historically explosive is at around 11% rate for the entire season.

We've pretty much made all our ACC opponents appear as explosive as our offense, which is ******* nuts.

We're not going to turn into the '85 Bears by the end of the season, but we shouldn't be giving up explosives at the rate we have. We limit explosives and with our offense I suspect we see positive knock-on effects for our defense, since we'd be playing from ahead by multiple scores for longer periods of time.

 

[BigWindyCane1]

That last part about 3 games left to figure it out

It’s not happening. We will all be better off if we just accept this is how it is

You don’t play 9 games one way and then suddenly change

If we haven’t solved the issues over the last 6-7 months we aren’t gonna solve it before Georgia Tech. We might have a fluky game here or there (Guidry held GT in check last year) but it will only be because **** happens in college

Good news is the defense will let Cam shatter every record imaginable at Miami and probably win him a Heisman so there’s that

From watching the Louisville and SMU defenses play last night, I saw two defenses that seem to be getting better as the season goes along. The SMU team is doing it with players like Jarari Harvey, Jared Harrison-Hunte and others that are not as talented the Canes. I will hold out some hope for Guidry to do the same.

 

[mcnaire2004]

Also I don't think the film was out on how to attack Guidry defense like it is now. Everybody knows how to attack this defense right now, which they didn't last year. Brohm showed the way from last years Louisville vs Miami game or even go further back when UNC went up tempo in those drives in the 3rd quarter, Guidry was lost

I see what your saying. Definitely a great point.

My only response to that is this: Why was he figured out so quickly?

By quickly I mean even year 1.

 

[The canesman]

If not for our D we wouldn’t have the number one offense in the nation.

 

[JHallCanes]

From watching the Louisville and SMU defenses play last night, I saw two defenses that seem to be getting better as the season goes along. The SMU team is doing it with players like Jarari Harvey, Jared Harrison-Hunte and others that are not as talented the Canes. I will hold out some hope for Guidry to do the same.

I guess thats probably the most frustrating part for us fans right? The problems are pretty clear and sometimes it looks like we’ve made strides

But ultimately I don’t see any real solutions (I don’t for a second believe playing the backups fixes things)

And I thought your posts on the whole thing are really good, just at some point I found the games easier to watch if I find things to do while the defense is playing around the house while listening and hoping

 

[Cylo]

From watching the Louisville and SMU defenses play last night, I saw two defenses that seem to be getting better as the season goes along. The SMU team is doing it with players like Jarari Harvey, Jared Harrison-Hunte and others that are not as talented the Canes. I will hold out some hope for Guidry to do the same.

Stuff like that frustrates me. We know the answer and its not a good one. LOL btw how bad is FSU offense when they can't even get in the 20s against us

 

[edge]

Guysm,
Here is the thing about the first half yesterday. Duke was throwing up prayers and catching everyone one of them. Two of the catches being the best we have seen all season. At some point the law of averages took over and those plays not only quit working but OJ picked one to completely turn the game around. We all know we have sub standard corners. They can’t play the ball in the air to save their lives. And Duke somehow made that work to their advantage in a big way. That’s not on Guidry. Now what is on Guidry is several plays we were not even lined up correctly that led to easy plays. And we still can’t figure out how to defend misdirection. Until we get those things fixed we will suck. For some reason either the other team runs out of gadget plays in the second half or we finally figure out how to adjust to it. But I am with you. This business of Guidry having a team look totally unprepared in first half is getting old.

 

[407cane]

it's because we have historically bad first halves and then incredibly good second halves

love that the D has tightened up but they are putting us in too stiff a hole.

clearly Guidry has a good game plan for what teams like to run (typically second half is more true to a team's offense) but the wrinkles that OC's are putting in are killing us in the first half

 

[mirvin88]

Yea we are in man every time the other team scores or makes a big play. I can think of one play where it looked like we were maybe in cover 4 and one of the safeties stupidly dropped down in the box leaving his zone open for a touchdown.

Wasn’t that against Louisville? Harris snuck up for no reason and gave up an easy TD. If he just stays in his area the play was blanketed.

 

[amanan28]

Malik Murphy became Malik Murphy. He eventually became who he has been for the whole season. Same thing happen against Mendoza too, he was red hot fire but couldn't hit anything in that 4th quarter.

I remember a quote from Guidry and it was teams scheme for the first half and by the 2nd half the offenses revert back to what they were expecting. I think thats why our defense plays better in the 2nd half cause the other teams OC is out of tricks

The Guidry quote should not be an excuse anymore, the gameplan has been the same for every OC…gain leverage off motion and attack the boundary. We act like we have no idea what they are going to do but we do..and we have seen it for weeks.

 

[lurker]

Wasn’t that against Louisville? Harris snuck up for no reason and gave up an easy TD. If he just stays in his area the play was blanketed.

Yea I think so. Good memory.

 

[Cane30]

I would have already gone to Patterson at free, Powell at nickel and Porter back to boundry. I didn't like Powell at nickel coming into the season. I have found I like him less in match-up's at free. They aren't benching him. Get Damari ready yesterday. I would make Popo the starter and Kiko the backup. No 3rd downs for Kiko. They aren't benching Kiko. Pruitt has to get more snaps every game. The DL starters need more rest. Give Mesidor a bunch of Baron's snaps at DE. Mesi will outplay him at DE. I would be seriously considering a DC change after the season and I don't like the staff turnover this quickly. You simply have to be able to adjust to what you have. It's a chess game and our boys aren't being coached well enough. Way more issues than talent and calling man 80% of the time. We are 9-0, go Canes.

 

[Squid Bumciorek]

Also I don't think the film was out on how to attack Guidry defense like it is now. Everybody knows how to attack this defense right now, which they didn't last year. Brohm showed the way from last years Louisville vs Miami game or even go further back when UNC went up tempo in those drives in the 3rd quarter, Guidry was lost

Guidry 2nd half- sees what he studied on film

Guidry 1st half- sees things that aren’t on film

 

[mosthated305]

I agree with everything said. Jekyll and Hyde defense. One minute we look solid and then the next we can't stop giving up big plays. Very weird. Teams are attacking our obvious weaknesses like Kiko matched against RBss and Porter against literally any slot WR. At the end of the day Guidry needs to figure it out. Mix things up and not just stay in man coverage all game. Murphy is a one read QB and we never changed things up until the second half. Why let him cook you for a quarter and half before you change things up?