Will Auburn's Defense Look Different In 2010?

It is no secret that Auburn had severe defensive problems in 2009.  There was a shortage of healthy players at defensive end, linebacker, and safety. This drastically limited the defensive options available for the team.

There is no need to rehash the 2009 season. It was a simple case of do the best with the players available. This defense bore no resemblance to previous defenses run by Ted Roof or Gene Chizik.

What I have written up until now is simple facts. What I am about to write is speculation and has no bases in fact. It is speculation Auburn fans should take as thought provoking. It is not speculation that should be taken as spot on.

Ted Roof has always been known for running a multiple defense. He came directly from the run centric Big 10 conference. He came from a team that was near the bottom of the talent pool in the Big 10.

A quick look at the 2008 Minnesota defense does not look spectacular at all. In fact we must take a look at the 2007 season and compare it to the 2008 to see anything at all.

Statistic	Minnesota 2007	Minnesota 2008
Total Defense	518.67 ypg	383.62 ypg
Passing Defense	289.33 ypg	240.31 ypg
Rushing Defense	229.33 ypg	143.31 ypg
Scoring Defense	36.67 ppg	24.77 ppg
Turnover Margin	-1.25 per game	.92 per game
Tackles For Loss	5.17 per game	6.69 per game
Sacks	.92 per game	2.54 per game
Pass Defense Efficiency Score	150.06	131.7
	Offense
Total Offense	407.50 ypg	322.92 ypg
Passing Offense	245.75 ypg	219.08 ypg
Rushing Offense	161.75 ypg	103.85 ypg
Scoring Offense	26.25 ppg	23.23 ppg

Minnesota won six more games in 2008 than in 2007 with a similar schedule. A quick look at the statistics shows that it was defiantly the defense that improved.

While every defensive statistic improved between 2007 and 2008, the important parts are often overlooked. Turnover margin, tackles for a loss, and sacks shows the real story in this case.

Minnesota actually got no better statistically in Ted Roof’s first year. The defense performed similarly to the year before or even gets worse in a couple of areas.

For the most part Auburn has always used the same defensive scheme and swapped out players in that scheme. The cross training of linebackers and addition of several impact players to the team has made the multiple defense possible for 2010.

This would mean swapping in players to change the defensive scheme instead of swapping in players within the defensive scheme. We could see a 3-4, 4-3 or Tampa Two defensive scheme depending on the players on the field. There could easily be all of these sets within a single game.

This would force offensive coordinators to prepare for a wide array of defensive sets when playing Auburn. It would also make offensive adaptation during the game very difficult.

What is the benefit of such a defense? First it forces mistakes by the opposition offense that produces more three and outs as well as turnovers. It also forces opposition offenses to be very proficient at position playing and blocking schemes.

To make a multiple defense work, the defensive players must be very proficient at fundamental football. Tackling skills in space are a necessity. Players must learn to simply get the opposition player on the ground as quickly as possible.

What is the down side of a multiple defense? Any team will be better at something they do more often. If a team practices and plays one scheme every day, the team will become very proficient at its execution.

To counter the down side of a multiple defense some things have to be standardized and repetitive. I believe this is why Auburn fans are seeing cross training at positions as well as fundamental work.

There are certain fundamental skills that can be used universally within any defensive scheme. It appears that Ted Roof is attempting to teach these fundamental techniques to the entire defense.

Looking at the current roster, Auburn has the combination of players to comfortably run a3-4 defense , 3-4 hybrid defenses, 4-3 defense , Tampa Two defense. The one common factor of the ability to run these multiple defenses is the ability to apply pressure with four players on every down.

Here is a really good explanation of a hybrid multiple defense . It could be that Auburn will have their version of this in 2010. If pressure can be applied with only four players without blitzing, this will upgrade Auburn’s defense dramatically.