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Get Ready to See More of the 4-2-5 Defense

+15 HS
buckeye phi's picture
July 1, 2016 at 4:41pm
47 Comments

It appears more and more college football teams are switching to the 4-2-5 as their base defense.  Ohio State will see it at least a few times this season.  The offseason seems like as good a time as any to look further in to the relative strengths and weaknesses of this defensive formation. 

To most followers of the sport, it should seem rather obvious why there's been a movement in this direction.  It's clearly a reaction to the proliferation of spread offenses college football has been seeing for quite a while. 

For many years, pretty much every football team has had a "nickel" defense they'd go to for situations in which the offense's receivers might have outnumbered the defense's viable players in coverage.  Namely defensive backs.  Typically, teams would substitute in a fifth defensive back for a linebacker.  If they started out in a 4-3-4 - obviously, that's how they'd get to a 4-2-5. 

In recent years, many teams have found themselves in their "sub packages" (nickels and dimes) more often than they were actually in their base defense.  For those teams, it makes sense to simply make the switch and go to a 4-2-5 as their base defense. 

For other programs (like Ohio State, for example) the better answer was to convert the strongside linebacker in to a hybrid position.  Kind of a cross between a linebacker and a defensive back.  Of course, the Buckeyes will use a nickel sometimes, also. 

Depending on the sort of opponents a given team will be facing, either defense can be effective.  They each have their pluses - as well as their minuses. 

Either way - as more offenses have gone to a no-huddle approach, the days of trying to make frequent defensive substitutions are definitely coming to an end. 

If an offense can catch a defense at a disadvantage in personnel - they can keep the defense from substituting out of that personnel by coming straight to the line of scrimmage between plays.  No huddle means no chance for the defense to substitute without taking a costly time-out. 

One obvious advantage the 4-2-5 has over a traditional 4-3 - or even, to a degree, over a hybrid 4-3 - is additional speed.  A better ability to cover more receivers all over the field.  Essentially, "shrinking the field", if you will.  There are other, more subtle advantages, too. 

In a 4-2-5, the defense can be split in half from front to back.  Well, close enough.  Coaches have found that by dividing the defense in to a front six and a back five, it's a little easier to simplify the units' responsibilities. 

In many situations, the front six can operate almost completely independently from the back five.  The coverages the back five are using in pass defense are not generally affected much - by the techniques the front six are using. 

In the running game, the front six are often primarily tasked with plugging up the interior gaps - forcing everything to "spill" to the outside, where the speedier DBs can clean things up.  Plus, a ball carrier running parallel to the line of scrimage is a little less challenging for a smaller tackler to bring down. 

Coaches have found they can also split the defensive backfield from side to side.  This actually simplifies their coverages - while at the same time, making them appear more complex to the untrained eye. 

For instance, a common technique is to have the strong side safety call a "robber" coverage with the corner and the other DB to his side - while the weakside safety might call man coverage for the corner on his side of the defense with perhaps some deep help - or he could roam free, etc.   

Even if each side has only three or four coverage variations, the combination of different coverages can potentially be a multiplier in perceived complexity to the offense.

Because they're dealing with more quick players - defensive coordinators can have their DBs nosing around fairly close to the line of scrimmage - creating even more uncertainty in the offense.  They should be quick enough to get where they need to be by the time the ball is in play.

The main point is that besides the increase in team speed, coaches are able to keep the basic schemes their defenders have to learn rather limited.  But because of the divisions, all the various combinations can make things seem complex to an offense.  Especially, to an inexperienced offense. 

Incidentally, there's another less common variation of the 4-2-5 that's really just a re-tread of the old 4-4-3 a few teams used back in the day.  The only major difference is that the outside linebacker positions from the old 4-4 are manned by defensive backs in this case. 

While their coverage responsibilities are naturally a little different, they line up very much like the 4-4 OLBs would - and their run responsibilites are roughly the same.  One of those "the more things change, the more they stay the same" kind of things

So why isn't everyone using a 4-2-5? 

Against some offenses, there's simply a need for more beef at the edge.  Ohio State's offense is a classic example.  While a lot of modern offenses spread the field to enhance their passing game - Urban Meyer's offense spreads the field to enhance their running game - quite often their power running game

The 4-2-5 - just like nearly every other modern defense - is a "one-gap" defense.  Every player in the front six (or seven) has a gap he's responsible for in the running game. 

Count 'em.  There's the edge, between the tackle and guard and between the guard and center.  The same goes for the other side, except there's an additional gap between the tackle and the tight end in a lot of offenses - like Ohio State's. 

Seven gaps.  That means in a 4-2-5, one of those defensive backs is going to have gap responsibility in run defense - probably at the edge.  The Buckeyes' offense is practically custom made to find that mismatch at the line and exploit it.  Especially, with an experienced quarterback at the helm. 

As a power running team, the Buckeyes will often have a pulling 300lb+ guard leading the way.  Or, at least, a 260lb tight end looking to deliver a devastaing "wham block" at the edge.  Not an ideal situation for a defensive back in either case.

To counter this, some 4-2-5 coaches will either sub in a linebacker - effectively changing back in to a 4-3 for the time being (assuming they have the personnel to do so - and have time to make the substitution). 

But most will choose to keep their personnel intact and try to sneak an eighth man in to the box for run support.  Every follower of Ohio State football is painfully aware of this tactic by now.

This is where Urban Meyer's stated desire to have a more balanced offense in 2016 comes in to play.  Naturally, eight men in the box only leaves three in the secondary.  It's incumbent upon the Buckeyes' offense to capitalize on these big play opportunities this year.  And they'll be there - possibly even more than ever. 

Considering that by definition, the 4-2-5 has an extra DB, it seems rather counter-intuitive that in many cases, it's greatest weakness may actually the deep passing game.  TCU's Gary Patterson - a big believer in the 4-2-5, has even issued the challenge:

We want you to try to throw vertical. I was a front coach for many years before I became a secondary coach. There is nothing worse than a secondary coach who is always worried about getting beat deep. We want to take away the short game, we want to take away combination routes, and we want to stop the run.” TCU’s defense does all three.

Oklahoma's base defense is also a 4-2-5.  Like TCU, in the pass-happy Big-12 it only makes sense. 

In the Sooners' play-off game with Clemson, the Tigers' quarterback, Deshaun Watson, was able to capitalize on the weaknesses of OU's 4-2-5 - resulting in several big plays. 

He threw vertical, alright - among other things. There's little reason to think Ohio State's JT Barrett will not be able to do the same. 

Indiana will be switching to a 4-2-5 this season.  And while Michigan is calling their defense a 4-3 - with a hybrid linebacker - they'll actually be playing a 5'10, 208lb defensive back in that role.  In essence, it'll just be another variation of a 4-2-5. 

The Buckeyes should match-up particularly well with any 4-2-5 defense they'll see this season.  The run should be there until the defense loads the box.  Then they'll just have to take advantage of the opportunities for big plays when they present themselves -

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