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Eric Sanders New DC

nicktaber58 said:
For the most part, everyone screaming about the 3 3 5 conveniently forgot about the dominant defensive years we had under the 3 3 5. I will say, personnel matters, and we had key guys in key spots during the dominant years.

Unfortunately this season either were an injured player away from developing into an elite defense. Had loud been healthy all year, we were going to be pretty damn good.
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2021 and 2023 were the only dominant defensive years you've had under that scheme, wouldn't you say?
 
nicktaber58 said:
For the most part, everyone screaming about the 3 3 5 conveniently forgot about the dominant defensive years we had under the 3 3 5. I will say, personnel matters, and we had key guys in key spots during the dominant years.

Unfortunately this season either were an injured player away from developing into an elite defense. Had loud been healthy all year, we were going to be pretty damn good.
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The 3-3-5 is the same as any other defensive alignment in that it works with the right personnel and against the right type of offense. Anyone deriding the 3-3-5 as a gimmick or poor scheme on its own without acknowledging personnel matters is wrong and not a student of the game.
 
Bobcat99 said:
Sure!

For starters, Macdonald doesn't stay in the 3-3-5 all game long. It's a package that he uses, in order to be flexible. They're doing a lot more in the defensive backfield to confuse an offense than what Hauck did. Now some of that is because it's a pro team and they can study and practice all of those concepts A LOT more than what a college team has. It is a confusing defense to play against, but also to learn.

Macdonald also has some war daddies on the DL. Yes, I know that it's the NFL and there are more options available, but if he wanted smaller DL, he would get them, he's clearly doing this by choice. Hauck on the other hand preferred smaller defensive lineman because at this level, they're typically the only ones quick enough to do what he wants. Which is, shoot gaps rather than control gaps. Hauck's 3-3-5 defense is about confusion and chaos. I have seen multiple teams comment on how they knew that defense wasn't gap sound and they just needed to weather the storm. I know Tommy Mellott commented on it, pretty positive NDSU and SDSU have mentioned it as well. That is by design rather than lack of talent. I know you guys like to say that you just can't get good DT's at this level, but it's far from true. Hauck recruited what he wanted in terms of players. Macdonald's defense might be confusing, but it's very, very, gap sound. His defenses also don't blitz that much, which is a stark difference from what Hauck does.

This quote is from a Ted Nguyen article prior to the SB: "“We’re really kind of turning into like a 4-3 base team with a crazy athletic sam (linebacker), is what we are,” Macdonald told reporters earlier in the week." Another quote: "Macdonald has transitioned his Seattle scheme into a less aggressive and simpler one....That’s not to say the scheme is simple, but the complexity is in the nuances of the scheme rather than trying to run a bunch of pressure schemes 10 different ways." Ted Nguyen, btw, is an awesome read for any football fan. Highly recommend his stuff if you're an NFL fan. Now, this doesn't mean they're a simple defense, especially in the backfield, but they're also not doing crazy stuff like what Brian Flores is. Most, if not all, of the confusion for Seattle comes from the defensive backfield which I would say is the opposite of what Bobby did in Missoula.

I think the largest difference though is that Macdonald adjusts his defense to what offenses are doing, and Hauck rarely does. He stays in the 3 man front except for short distance and goal line. He sticks with what the defense does regardless of opponent or situation. For all of the confusion and chaos involved in the scheme, he's extremely rigid with what he does. Which is the opposite of what Macdonald does. I also think that for the 3-3-5 defense to be successful, you need at least one of two things: 1) Better athletes and personnel than everybody. You need some high level athletes at LB and on the DL. Hauck struggled with the latter of that portion. 2) You need a metric butt ton of time to be good at this scheme. It's just not something that college athletes are given a lot of. It's why, in general, you see defensive coaches preach that their schemes allow their players to play fast and physical, and the best way to do that is to keep the schemes simple relative to what the players can do.

Hope that explains some.
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Something of interest with Eric Sanders is it looks like he does adjust his defense based on what the offense is doing more so than most teams. This will be a stark contrast to the Hauck defense, which as you described, was not as flexible based on what the offense is doing.
 
nicktaber58 said:
Yep. 2019 and 2025 were close. 2018, 2022, and 24, were... less than dominant. 😭🫠
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The stats don't back this up.

'19 and '25 had worse scoring, total, and passing defensive numbers than the '22 team (2019 was the worst pass defense we've had since 2012, including this last season), and only slightly better rushing defense stats.

Compared with 2021 and 2023, none of the other years were all that close, especially in scoring and run defense.
 
uofmman1122 said:
The stats don't back this up.

'19 and '25 had worse scoring, total, and passing defensive numbers than the '22 team (2019 was the worst pass defense we've had since 2012, including this last season), and only slightly better rushing defense stats.

Compared with 2021 and 2023, none of the other years were all that close, especially in scoring and run defense.
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This is actually true... '22 was actually a pretty decent defense... lots of talent, we were headed for a dominant season and the Lucas johnson went down at sac st with a concussion on that cheep shot. Our offense se struggled mightily down the stretch that season, and we ended up getting derailed with some injuries that season too, specifically paddy O'Connell with his ankle injuries.

Feel free to correct me statistically, I was going on recollection mostly!
 
mtgrizrule said:
I talked with someone very close to GRIZ Football at the Brawl basketball game.
We both agree, our offense will be elite this year. It'll take a handful of games to get the OL in sync. The OL coach and S&C cosch will have green lights to develop personnel.

Defensively, we're both not sure of tbe EWU hires. Apparently, BK really likes the EWU coaching upside potential. Better talent to work with should be beneficial. Also, they're natural fits with the existing staff. BK believes in unity a lot.

Don't be surprised if the secondary turns out to be s strength this coming season.
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Interesting and thanks for sharing. I have been watching to see if Colonel Sanders brings in some beef up front. Was hoping he had an ace or two up his sleeve that he might just bring along with him. Possibly someone he previously recruited that ended up at another school and now thinks, “hmm, sure would be nice to be part of a good program that has a chance to compete for a natty!”
 
mthoopsfan said:
And you leave out all the good games.

And you go back to NDSU in 2022 and leave the later Bison game in 2023. 175 yards, 4.4 per carry, and a playoff win.

And you know more than the Ill coach and Rocky Long.

And Georgia sometimes runs a version of the 3–3-5.

Got it. Some of you cite only bad games or bad plays to try to support your narrative.
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Like using Idaho's experience as the be all/end all litmus test for moving up.
 
AZGrizFan said:
Like using Idaho's experience as the be all/end all litmus test for moving up.
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I mean App State, JMU, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State and even Costal Carolina have had decent success after moving up. Seems to be more FCS programs doing reasonably well then not.
 
Ut-Grizfan said:
I mean App State, JMU, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State and even Costal Carolina have had decent success after moving up. Seems to be more FCS programs doing reasonably well then not.
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Idaho was only one that wasn’t traveling across the country for conference matchups in one of the lowest level FCS conferences which is exactly what Sac State is doing. Everyone else including NDSU was more strategic about moving up.
 
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Ut-Grizfan said:
I mean App State, JMU, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville State and even Costal Carolina have had decent success after moving up. Seems to be more FCS programs doing reasonably well then not.
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Yes they have. I believe the Montana schools could also. Programs you mentioned come from larger population areas, but, they do have more recruiting competition from other schools in the area than the Montana schools who are the main teams in Montana.
 
5280Griz said:
I don’t know enough about what the Seahawks are doing to comment on their scheme.
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But you think you know enough about Bobby’s version? I wish posters would post as if they have knowledge or expertise when they don’t. I like to learn things. Not sort out posts that aren’t accurate.
 
Bobcat99 said:
2021 and 2023 were the only dominant defensive years you've had under that scheme, wouldn't you say?
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Even if accurate, that shows that the D can and does work very well. I like the D. It’s fun to watch. It has nice flexibility. I often don’t no agree with criticisms of the D on egriz. And yes, I played D in college and pay attention to D.
 
mthoopsfan said:
Even if accurate, that shows that the D can and does work very well. I like the D. It’s fun to watch. It has nice flexibility. I often don’t no agree with criticisms of the D on egriz. And yes, I played D in college and pay attention to D.
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i agree, the d is fun to watch. it creates a lot of turnovers and often pressures opposing qbs into bad throws. on the down side, it seems like it gives up a lot of big plays, and drives that last a long time. it does look to me that a team would need to have a lot of unusually big/strong/fast guys to play the front 6, though, at least to win a championship. but then again, that goes for any defense.

ps - hey greenie, i heard you played defense in college. any truth to that, or is it just rumor?
 
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