Air Raid Defense

[Utebeam]

Some one please help me understand why we struggle with Air Raid defenses and what needs to be done to defend against them. Every year we hear and see how Whit stuggles with AR defenses. If this is so hard to defend against why doesn’t Utah adapt that offensive game plan? If you say becasuse Whit is a defensive minded coach and hates the thought of turnovers then I say he better figure out how to stop AR d’s or change his mindset about offense. Year after year we get beat over the top. Is this a recruiting issue or a coaching issue or something else?

[palos_verdes_ute]

I’m not sure if we struggle that much against Air Raid, more about not scoring enough to beat them.  As I recall, we still keep wazzu below their average numbers and make it a competitive game.  What I want to know is…..did UCLA and Chip find something that Wazzu couldn’t defend? DTR seemed to find open receivers… and I hope AR can exploit that.  

[chinngiskhaan]

who is AR?

[salty-ute]

Aaron Roderick haha

[UtesRule]

AL? TH? DL? JS?

[chinngiskhaan]

JC?

[EagleMountainUte]

Utah teaches man press very effectively which prepares guys for the NFL. Utah has been inconsistent with zone for a very long time. We know this from late TD’s being scored. Guys just settle into space and the QBs make reads. I think Utah was better with guys like Norris or Hansen helping out. 

As much as I want to be upset with the defense I feel like they do enough. I do feel more could have been done against USC in the form of interceptions/batted but overall they do enough. Utah’s offense needs to score more but I am not sure they ever will with Whitt as head coach. It is just a weird thing with him, in the PAC you have to score points. 

[chinngiskhaan]

Again, I disagree. If you lose, you didn’t do enough. Yes, our offense in the redzone is pathetic as usual, but that doesn’t excuse the 2-3 plays the defense absolutely should have made that would have resulted in us winning the game.

[Charlie]

I think…  Whitt works so hard to stop the run to make opponents one dementional.  But WSU gives that away negateing one of our strengths.  Leach then makes a great effort to get rid of the ball in about 2.5 seconds, which is a way to negate a pass rush, another strength of ours.  Next, Leach is better at the air raid than others.  They try to force you to change and have a plan for each change you may try.  Defenses have to try changes because base defenses are geared to also stop the run and are not effective against air raid.

I think to defeat it, you need to keep the WSU offense guessing how we will defend and it needs to continue a second past the snap.  You need to have enough pass rush to force 2.5 second releases.  You also need to be able to cover 5 elegible receivers every play that are often only looking for 5 or 6 yards.

One thing I always liked against air force (a different animal) is the ocasional defender running into the play from outside in as a way to blow up some plays.  It can’t be consistent.  I would like to see a safety ocasionally running downhill into receivers or opposite crosses on crossing paterns.  I think this could upset their rythem and give the QB and receiver something else to think about even when not occuring.  It could also lead to quite physical hits that are troublesome for both sides.