I like the 3-4 with a modified 85 Bear’s look. With people dropping in & out as a call dictates, which only confuses a quarterback and buys precious split seconds which only helps a pass rush. Its the difference between a QB being able to make the correct read and being rushed to force a throw or take a sack.

One of problems on D, FWIW, we do not disguise our coverages well in the pre-snap. Our guys seem to be tipping off blitzes and various coverages by being too jumpy. Toss in an over abundance of zone coverage and we get the nightmare scenario when dealing with a hot or experienced QB.

I wasn’t serious about buying out Dantonio, FYI.

I keep waiting for Robert Rose to “click,” but haven’t really seen that out of him, either. I hate to think he’s the Corey Pargo of the 2000s.

Poe wrote:
“Do you recommend we buy out Dantonio at Michigan State and rehire him?”

I think he was the best defensive coordinator in OSU history, bar none. That said, he’s gone for good. No one leaves a D-I coaching job at a major school (it’s Sparty, of course, but they’re a good-sized program) to go back to a coordinator position at a former employer. Dantonio’s gone, and he should be - he’s a talented coach who deserved a shot at a job, and now he’s got it. It’s a credit to Jim Tressel that Dantonio forms a branch from the OSU tree. If anyone can turn Sparty into a solid 8-4, bowl-bound team, year in and year out, it’s Dantonio.

I think OSU has to play more man, and more aggressive coverage. They will indeed be burnt from time-to-time (that’s the nature and risk of man coverage), but they’ll also create more turnovers - something that’s been lacking lately - and work within a system that creates more blitzing opportunities. You can blitz from a zone, of course (the Steelers have made a tradition of it), but not so well from a 4-3, in my opinion (others would strongly disagree). If we were a 3-4 team, we could talk - and Gawd knows they’d be a fabulous 3-4 team with some defensive end help. They certainly have enough linebackers for it. I’m not sure why it’s never been considered. As deep as they are at linebacker, I’d be in a holy rush to get as many of those guys on the field as possible.

Switching defensive philosophies takes time, though, and is an institutional thing - kind of like Nebraska shucking (pardon the pun) decades of the option in favor of a West Coast offense. If a transition like that isn’t prepped carefully, and bought into from top to bottom, it crashes like the Hindenburg. Switching philosophical approaches to the game is not a process that can be hazarded willy-nilly.

I’m not sure what the answer is, or if the answer isn’t lying within the minds of the current defensive staff - it may well be, and I hope it is. I just think that what they’re doing in big games against teams with comparable talent isn’t working, and needs fixing - quickly, before week #3.

Also, I second the bring back Dantonio motion.

Do you recommend we buy out Dantonio at Michigan State and rehire him?

I do. He coached high risk, high reward. That’s why the pass defense was so bad in 2002 and 2003. But teams were also scared of them. You could catch it, but you knew your were going to get hit. QB, RB, WR, hell even TE, you were getting hit.