Why do we need a 1B defense?

[fishwater99]

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/mississippi-state/2014/10/26/mississippi-state-b-defense-needs-work/17984941/


If we sub a whole unit vs Bama like we did at UK, it could get ugly...

[Dawgface]

We are all hoping the 1b's will be watching from the sidelines in the bama game.

[BulldogDX55]

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/mississippi-state/2014/10/26/mississippi-state-b-defense-needs-work/17984941/


If we sub a whole unit vs Bama like we did at UK, it could get ugly...

Because the 1A's will inevitably get tired and we need the 1B's to be prepared when that happens? This isn't a difficult concept.

[fishwater99]

You don't need to swap out all 11 players at one time. It's very difficult for me to understand, this isn't hockey, it's SEC football.

[CadaverDawg]

It will be a crime if Chris Jones is sitting on the sideline during all key defensive drives against Bama bc he's the anchor to the 1B defense. He should be next to Kaleb Eulls, and between Preston Smith and Ryan Brown if we are going to win in Tuscaloosa.

And I hope our team doesn't overlook Arkansas.

[BulldogDX55]

You don't need to swap out all 11 players at one time. It's very difficult for me to understand, this isn't hockey, it's SEC football.

It's because Dan wants to put them in on situations where the game is on the line and they can't rely on others to make the play for them. It's a gamble, but so far it's paid off. The only thing it has hurt is the public perception of our defense, but we're number one in the country, so that really doesn't matter.

[AlmostPositive]

1A and 1B are as much preparation for later games than a strategy for winning earlier, easier game.

1. Experience for subs.
2. Motivation/reward for subs
3. Reduced injuries/wear for actual starters.

Substitution patterns will almost certainly be altered for Bama and Ole Miss.

[cheewgumm]

Amen Cadaver... Call Chris Jones whatever you want 1a, 1b,1c. But he should be playing most snaps!

[Ifyouonlyknew]

There will be no 11 man whole substitutions against Bama or OM. Just like there wasn't any against LSU, A&M, or Auburn. We will go back to our mixing & matching of units. May have 1a DL with 1B LB & 1A DB. We've done the wholesale changes against any inferior opponent & scrapped it against any worthy opponent. That will continue against Bama & OM. The main guys played about 65-70% of the snaps in our big 3 games. That will happen in our last 2 big games.

[Covercorner2]

We are also very healthy on defense to be 7 games in....

[ShotgunDawg]

If we sub a whole unit vs Bama like we did at UK, it could get ugly...

If my Aunt had nuts, she would be my Uncle

If, "Ifs" and "Buts" were candies and nuts, we'd all be having a Merry Freaking Christmas

1B won't see the field much against Bama. 1A is the most rested defensive unit in college football.

[Political Hack]

We're #1. It's working.

[fishwater99]

It will be a crime if Chris Jones is sitting on the sideline during all key defensive drives against Bama bc he's the anchor to the 1B defense. He should be next to Kaleb Eulls, and between Preston Smith and Ryan Brown if we are going to win in Tuscaloosa.

And I hope our team doesn't overlook Arkansas.

I totally agree... What a change to be bitching about dumb things we do in wins instead of losses.

[BulldogDX55]

I totally agree... What a change to be bitching about dumb things we do in wins instead of losses.

Much better than complaining about a lack of ranked wins equalling piss poor coaching, right fishwater?

[HoopsDawg]

There will be no 11 man whole substitutions against Bama or OM. Just like there wasn't any against LSU, A&M, or Auburn. We will go back to our mixing & matching of units. May have 1a DL with 1B LB & 1A DB. We've done the wholesale changes against any inferior opponent & scrapped it against any worthy opponent. That will continue against Bama & OM. The main guys played about 65-70% of the snaps in our big 3 games. That will happen in our last 2 big games.

We did mass subs against AU. We were up 21-0 and brought in the entire 1B. AU went right down the field and got in the redzone. We brought in 1A and held them to a FG attempt.

[HoopsDawg]

We're #1. It's working.

That's kind of silly. Not picking on you, but I have seen numerous posts like this. Is our FG kicking working b/c we are no. 1? You have to address your weaknesses. We still have our toughest 2 games to play at UA and at OM. And hopefully a trip to Atlanta and the 4 team playoff. We need to get better on D and I think it's mainly a substition issue. We shouldn't be playing 9 DB's. And I cringe seeing Beni Brown and BMac on the sideline.

[mic]

We're #1. It's working.

Seriously.... Enough with this..

[Ifyouonlyknew]

We did mass subs against AU. We were up 21-0 and brought in the entire 1B. AU went right down the field and got in the redzone. We brought in 1A and held them to a FG attempt.

I went back & watched that series & we didn't substitute all 11. The front 7 was 1B but the secondary was starters. Love, Calhoun, Market, & Cox were on the field to start that drive.

[War Machine Dawg]

Much better than complaining about a lack of ranked wins equalling piss poor coaching, right fishwater?

You knew fish wouldn't give up ripping on Mullen. He's just switching tactics now that his ridiculousness about wins versus ranked opponents has been destroyed.

[Boomer15]

I'm not a fan of it. But we haven't given up a 95 yard drive to lose a game either. The Ole Miss defense was exhausted by that point. The never sub RN. Also, against Auburn Chris Jones was in on the final drive to hit Marshall and cause the game winning pick.

We don't mass sub in the second half like we do early in games.

[mic]

In the 4 SEC games we have played we have held every team under their PPG average..

[Dawgheadcheese]

I totally agree... What a change to be bitching about dumb things we do in wins instead of losses.

Are you people retarded? Do you think our coaches are going to sub defensive players against tough opponents just to say they did it? Good grief. Mullen knew on Saturday that at any time he chose, he could keep the starters in on defense and shut Kentucky down. He kept substituting because KY was not going to be able to stop our offense. It is an extremely wise strategy when the opportunity exists - and will pay off a ton in the years to come. Guys, please quit spending 90 percent of your time trying to figure out how to criticize our Number 1 team in the country. It's pathetic.

[HoopsDawg]

I went back & watched that series & we didn't substitute all 11. The front 7 was 1B but the secondary was starters. Love, Calhoun, Market, & Cox were on the field to start that drive.

We only play 4 corners. Cleveland is obviously 1B, but you are always going to have either Love, Calhoun, or Redmond on the field. Market is a 1B guy. So that's 8 of 11 1B guys.

[HoopsDawg]

I'm not a fan of it. But we haven't given up a 95 yard drive to lose a game either. The Ole Miss defense was exhausted by that point. The never sub RN. Also, against Auburn Chris Jones was in on the final drive to hit Marshall and cause the game winning pick.

We don't mass sub in the second half like we do early in games.

This is true. We change our substitution patterns in the 2nd half. If we just made a few changes, I think we would see our numbers and peformance improve pretty dramatically. For example, go to a 3 man rotation at S (Hughes, Cox, and Market); a 3 man rotation at CB (Redmond, Love, & Calhoun) And Don't mass substitue at LB. Work in Richie for a few plays, work in Jackson and Holmes for a few plays, but not all 3 together.

I'm all for the D-line rotation, you have to keep those guys fresh. I would prefer a 3 man rotation at DE with Smith, Brown and Jefferson b/c I like Adams at DT. But you have to rotate D-linemen. No issue there.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

We only play 4 corners. Cleveland is obviously 1B, but you are always going to have either Love, Calhoun, or Redmond on the field. Market is a 1B guy. So that's 8 of 11 1B guys.

I think we're just getting into semantics now. Love & Calhoun are the starters along with Cox. Market, Cox, & Hughes all rotate with the starters. Market isn't a 1B safety bc he only plays with the 1A guys. The 1B safeties are Coman & Evans. So again the front 7 were 1B guys but the secondary was 1A. Not mass 11 man substitution.

[drunkernhelldawg]

I'm not a fan of it. But we haven't given up a 95 yard drive to lose a game either. The Ole Miss defense was exhausted by that point. The never sub RN. Also, against Auburn Chris Jones was in on the final drive to hit Marshall and cause the game winning pick.

We don't mass sub in the second half like we do early in games.

I'm a huge fan of it. The 12 game season is a huge grind. Look at the OM injury report from their game 7. Our depth is the most important key factor in how we finish the season. Giving up plays is part of the game. I'm surprised that people are still complaining about it. The benefits are there for all to see.

[bluelightstar]

https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/mississippi-state-defense-chart.jpg?w=694

Unreal that we have given up 7 passing plays of 50 yards or more.

[Boomer15]

I'm a huge fan of it. The 12 game season is a huge grind. Look at the OM injury report from their game 7. Our depth is the most important key factor in how we finish the season. Giving up plays is part of the game. I'm surprised that people are still complaining about it. The benefits are there for all to see.

Yeah, I agree with you. I should be clear, I'm not a fan of the mass subs. I love how we rotate so many people to keep us fresh down the stretch of the game and the season.

[LC Dawg]

Our defense being rested is going to be huge when we have to play Oregon and FSU back to back in the playoffs.

[RAYn_Man]

While I agree our secondary is questionable, I think some of our problems are due to our style of play (which I love). Get after the quarterback and play for takeaways. I love how aggressive we play on defense and yea we get burned sometimes but so be it. We always answer.

[GreenheadDawg]

I don't mind him subbing the entire front 7 but Jesus... Cleveland, Evans, and Coman should not see the field in SEC play unless its mop up. They are clueless in coverage

[blacklistedbully]

https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/mississippi-state-defense-chart.jpg?w=694

Unreal that we have given up 16 passing plays of 50 yards or more.

Also noticed we are ranked last in every one of those categories. DB's need to do some work at practice. Coaches need to figure it out.

[Homedawg]

I don't mind him subbing the entire front 7 but Jesus... Cleveland, Evans, and Coman should not see the field in SEC play unless its mop up. They are clueless in coverage

Maybe not. But market screwed up the coverage on the td that zach Jackson got beat on.

[thf24]

I don't mind him subbing the entire front 7 but Jesus... Cleveland, Evans, and Coman should not see the field in SEC play unless its mop up. They are clueless in coverage

Cleveland is fine, he just made a lazy, unfocused play Saturday that led to the touchdown. I completely agree about Evans and Coman. They're solid against the run and will probably get better against the pass with experience, but they're a liability right now and could really get us hurt against Bama and OM.

Also, even though Jackson is Wells' backup, we need to stop treating the assignments the same when he subs in. Wells can cover WR's, Jackson can't. The touchdown he got burned on wasn't his fault; he was matched up against a WR as if it were Wells in the game, and he had no chance.

[mic]

Maybe not. But market screwed up the coverage on the td that zach Jackson got beat on.

That was a pass that is made probably 1 out of 10 times.. Perfect pass. QB just making a play.. Jackson was there just a better pass..

[Homedawg]

That was a pass that is made probably 1 out of 10 times.. Perfect pass. QB just making a play.. Jackson was there just a better pass..

I agree w that. Good coverage by Jackson. A better throw by towles. What I'm saying is, if market didn't screw up in cover 2 and junp the guy on the sideline it wouldn't have been a td! Market messed up.

[Johnson85]

https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/mississippi-state-defense-chart.jpg?w=694

Unreal that we have given up 16 passing plays of 50 yards or more.

Did you forget some sarcastericks?

[Johnson85]

That's kind of silly. Not picking on you, but I have seen numerous posts like this. Is our FG kicking working b/c we are no. 1? You have to address your weaknesses. We still have our toughest 2 games to play at UA and at OM. And hopefully a trip to Atlanta and the 4 team playoff. We need to get better on D and I think it's mainly a substition issue. We shouldn't be playing 9 DB's. And I cringe seeing Beni Brown and BMac on the sideline.

It's silly to think that being able to play 1B defense without it costing us a game is a weakness. It's Every play they play is one more play of experience they get if they end up being called on bc of injury, and one less play of wear and tear on our 1A's.

It's risky because we are letting teams hang around, but if it doesn't cost us a game, it will only help us in our more challenging games. Not to mention it will help us in future years because we'll have more experience and hopefully it will be appealing to recruits to know they will get to play even if they are behind a stud.

[MemphisDawg21]

https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/mississippi-state-defense-chart.jpg?w=694

Unreal that we have given up 16 passing plays of 50 yards or more.
Well at least we haven't given up a 90+ pass play... so that is a "silver lining"

[WPDawg]

Appears Mullen is working on us being better this year and next year and years to come by playing as many as he can. Theoretically, if you can give as many reps as possible to more people, then you are fresher in the 4th quarter and late in the season. And it does make you deeper for injuries and prepares the younger guys for years to come. Plus the more playing time for more than the top 22 makes for better camaraderie team wide which I think is a big reason we are where we are at. So what he is doing is working and is building a team that can compete year in year out.

If you are an instant gratification beatem by 4 TDs every game this year person, his plan will drive you crazy. If you can go with the flow and let his plan work out, we may be good for more than 1 "flash in the pan" year. Enjoy the ride of being considered the best team in the land.....

[HoopsDawg]

Appears Mullen is working on us being better this year and next year and years to come by playing as many as he can. Theoretically, if you can give as many reps as possible to more people, then you are fresher in the 4th quarter and late in the season. And it does make you deeper for injuries and prepares the younger guys for years to come. Plus the more playing time for more than the top 22 makes for better camaraderie team wide which I think is a big reason we are where we are at. So what he is doing is working and is building a team that can compete year in year out.

If you are an instant gratification beatem by 4 TDs every game this year person, his plan will drive you crazy. If you can go with the flow and let his plan work out, we may be good for more than 1 "flash in the pan" year. Enjoy the ride of being considered the best team in the land.....

The point that some people seem to be missing is that no one argues that we should roll players thru, it's the means by which we are doing it.

[mic]

Well at least we haven't given up a 90+ pass play... so that is a "silver lining"

Well at least we took LSU to the "woodshed"..

[Political Hack]

They may make us forfeit a game if we keep giving up these passing plays.***

[defiantdog]

Ifyouonlyknew has it correct. Against Kentucky, we had B. Brown and McKinney in there with the 1b DL. We mix and match the substitutions as the game goes on. I honestly think Cox needs to play until he passes out. We should never have Coman and Evans in at the same time. Too much inexperience back there when they are in the game together.

[GreenheadDawg]

https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/mississippi-state-defense-chart.jpg?w=694

Unreal that we have given up 16 passing plays of 50 yards or more.

Well when you have Coman and Evans covering WR that shit kinda happens. My stomach turns when I see them in the game

[FlabLoser]

Speaking of Will Redmond, he played one hell of a game against KY.

I like the play where he turned to look for the ball while boxing the WR out which his body and driving the WR closer to the sidelines. That's next level shit that our Super Bowl champion DB coach, Deshea Townsend, must be teaching him.

[Bo Darville]

https://espngrantland.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/mississippi-state-defense-chart.jpg?w=694

Unreal that we have given up 16 passing plays of 50 yards or more.

Come on son. Sheriff Buford T. Justice and Junior are smarter than that. Read the chart again.

[Schultzy]

In the 2nd half up 7 without the ball, 1a had two dominating 3 and outs when we needed it. Preston, Euells, Ryan Brown and Chris Jones smothered Towles on those series and subbing early had to have contributed to that.

I'm thinking all this subbing will benefit us on whole as we make the stretch run as well. Our guys have basically played four games so far in terms of number of plays played if you'll accept a macro argument here.

[IMissJack]

How did players play a whole game for the last 100 years? Sometimes both ways.***

[drunkernhelldawg]

How did players play a whole game for the last 100 years? Sometimes both ways.

Still have some high school kids going both ways. It's outrageous that this can still happen and put these players at risk of injury. The new idea in Football is that the players don't need to get hurt.

[bluelightstar]

Come on son. Sheriff Buford T. Justice and Junior are smarter than that. Read the chart again.

Whoops, I borrowed the stat and didn't verify. My professors in Math & Stats would definitely be disappointed

[smootness]

That's kind of silly. Not picking on you, but I have seen numerous posts like this. Is our FG kicking working b/c we are no. 1? You have to address your weaknesses. We still have our toughest 2 games to play at UA and at OM. And hopefully a trip to Atlanta and the 4 team playoff. We need to get better on D and I think it's mainly a substition issue. We shouldn't be playing 9 DB's. And I cringe seeing Beni Brown and BMac on the sideline.

It isn't a weakness. It's a substitution issue, as you said, which is easily taken care of...by substituting differently, as we have in our 3 big games.

Good grief, people. These are the exact same arguments we had after our first 3 games. Then what did we do? Changed it up and dominated 3 straight tough games. We will change things; Kentucky isn't Alabama, and our coaches aren't stupid.

[MabenMaroon]

Are we seriously discussing this again? Do you really think for one minute that Coaches Mullen, Hevesy,Collins, et al will leave one single player on the field that is not giving his absolute most intense effort and and concentration for more than one play at Bryant-Denny you are absolutely nuts. The coaching staff will know who they can and can't trust before they step foot on that field and they will only allow those that they trust to participate. Besides the coaching staff, I don't think that Dak, Kaleb, Tony, Redmond, Preston, JRob, DDay, Beckwith, McKinney ( all extremely intense leaders ) will allow the "1B's" to be anything less than "1A" on that night or in the Egg Bowl as well for that matter. So quit worrying about the "1B's" or the def.secondary for that matter, they all know what is at stake and the leadership and effort will be intense.
So for now, let us just concentrate on UPig and get past that one, then the second season will begin in earnest.

[HoopsDawg]

Are we seriously discussing this again? Do you really think for one minute that Coaches Mullen, Hevesy,Collins, et al will leave one single player on the field that is not giving his absolute most intense effort and and concentration for more than one play at Bryant-Denny you are absolutely nuts. The coaching staff will know who they can and can't trust before they step foot on that field and they will only allow those that they trust to participate. Besides the coaching staff, I don't think that Dak, Kaleb, Tony, Redmond, Preston, JRob, DDay, Beckwith, McKinney ( all extremely intense leaders ) will allow the "1B's" to be anything less than "1A" on that night or in the Egg Bowl as well for that matter. So quit worrying about the "1B's" or the def.secondary for that matter, they all know what is at stake and the leadership and effort will be intense.
So for now, let us just concentrate on UPig and get past that one, then the second season will begin in earnest.


Coaches can be stubborn. See Perkins over J-Rob as Exhibit A. Or Eulls at DE for 2 years.

[Schultzy]

How did players play a whole game for the last 100 years? Sometimes both ways.***

Very tired and on the losing end of the scoreboard. Depth issues are the reason for our lopsided series records against our SEC opponents over the decades, not the starting 22.

[MabenMaroon]

Coaches can be stubborn. See Perkins over J-Rob as Exhibit A. Or Eulls at DE for 2 years.

You mean the two SEC POW's, JRob flipped a switch during the off-season ( in terms of work ethic and development ) by both his own and the coach's admissions. Kaleb at that point in time was where we needed him didn't really have a whole lot of options. It seems to have worked itself out.

[LC Dawg]

You have to play 15 games to win the national championship so we are not even halfway through our season so I say starters getting rest while we win the game is a good thing, no matter what the final score is. I would like to see us dominate UTM and Vandy and get Dak and some of the OL some rest during the stretch run.

[Reason2succeed]

Has anyone mentioned that recruiting wise we can also sell early playing time to guys? Even if they are not the starter they can still see valuable minutes their first year if they are good enough. On most teams you are the starter or bust. Ten WRs have TDs. Backup OL get snaps. This has to help in recruiting.

[Coach 57]

Look I know this has been argued over & over. But if you want PROOF. Look no further than UM's defense. They are so banged up on defense because they have NO depth. With our 1a's only playing 60% of the snaps not only are they still fresh right now. But they stand a 40% LESS of a chance of getting injured because they aren't on the field. Plus these IN game moments Coman, Evans, Cleavland etc etc are getting will better prepare them for success next year when they MUST play! Plus as someone said earlier we can sell recruits that they can play meaningful snaps as a true freshman.

[Political Hack]

Come on son. Sheriff Buford T. Justice and Junior are smarter than that. Read the chart again.

been waiting for someone to point that out...

[defiantdog]

Look I know this has been argued over & over. But if you want PROOF. Look no further than UM's defense. They are so banged up on defense because they have NO depth. With our 1a's only playing 60% of the snaps not only are they still fresh right now. But they stand a 40% LESS of a chance of getting injured because they aren't on the field. Plus these IN game moments Coman, Evans, Cleavland etc etc are getting will better prepare them for success next year when they MUST play! Plus as someone said earlier we can sell recruits that they can play meaningful snaps as a true freshman.

I completely agree that it helps with keeping fresh legs and helps against injuries, but some personnel are killing us this year. Evans covers like a LB (he probably covers worse because M. Wells covers like a DB). We just always seem to get exposed down the middle of the field when Evans and Coman are in the game. I just wish there wasn't such a drop between Cox and Evans.

[thf24]

If it's fresh legs we're worried about, I wonder if we'd consider burning Brandon Bryant's redshirt for Bama. He obviously doesn't bring anything experience-wise over Evans or Coman, but he's more athletic and maybe more instinctive in pass coverage. Our only two safeties I feel completely comfortable with in pass coverage right now are Cox and Hughes. Market is a much better alternative than Evans or Coman, but he's blown coverages resulting in touchdowns multiple times this year.

[fishwater99]

You mean the two SEC POW's, JRob flipped a switch during the off-season ( in terms of work ethic and development ) by both his own and the coach's admissions. Kaleb at that point in time was where we needed him didn't really have a whole lot of options. It seems to have worked itself out.

I will argue that JROB was better than Perkins last year. You also can argue that DAK should have been the starting QB last year from day 1 over TR.

[smootness]

I completely agree that it helps with keeping fresh legs and helps against injuries, but some personnel are killing us this year. Evans covers like a LB (he probably covers worse because M. Wells covers like a DB). We just always seem to get exposed down the middle of the field when Evans and Coman are in the game. I just wish there wasn't such a drop between Cox and Evans.

But they're not. It may seem at times as though they're killing us, but these lapses are only happening in the games our coaches aren't worried about. You haven't seen these things in games against good teams. It's pretty obvious we're coaching differently depending on who the opponent is, so I don't know why we would be worried about something killing us until it actually starts to do that in a big game.

[1bigdawg]

I will argue that JROB was better than Perkins last year. You also can argue that DAK should have been the starting QB last year from day 1 over TR.

Dak might have started all of last year except for the fact that he was injured and missed all of spring training and was limited in fall camp. You have to have the reps to be a starter. That is why he did not play as well in the beginning of the year as he did later.

[NCDawg]

It will be a crime if Chris Jones is sitting on the sideline during all key defensive drives against Bama bc he's the anchor to the 1B defense. He should be next to Kaleb Eulls, and between Preston Smith and Ryan Brown if we are going to win in Tuscaloosa.

And I hope our team doesn't overlook Arkansas.

If we overlook Arkansas, we're going to be in deep do-do. They are a good football team and could have, possibly should have, beaten Alabama. They almost beat us last year. Whitley's strip of the ball towards the end of the game saved us.

[drunkernhelldawg]

If we overlook Arkansas, we're going to be in deep do-do. They are a good football team and could have, possibly should have, beaten Alabama. They almost beat us last year. Whitley's strip of the ball towards the end of the game saved us.

I had forgotten about Whitley's play there. He saved our ass in both games leading to our bowl eligibility. I actually give him credit over Dak for those wins.