Room to improve

[NewsCopy]

The opponent rolled up 292 of its 522 yards in total offense on the ground.

But the issue of his secondary was UL coach Mark Hudspeth’s primary concern after his Ragin’ Cajuns opened their 2013 season with a 34-14 loss last Saturday at Arkansas.

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[DaddyCajun]

Geaux get'em Hud, make it happen, adapt and overcome!

[ULGrad@HOU]

I am a little surprised Coach Hud is focusing on the back end (secondary) so much. From what I could tell, stopping the run seemed to be our biggest problem. He explains that we couldn't stop them from running therefore we had to bring people up in the box, leaving the corners exposed some. It sounds like he anticipated having a hard time stopping the run, then after adjusting, he wanted better man coverage from the secondary and didn't get it. Ark would hand off several times in a row, and still get the first down. Oh well, I'm not all that worked up about it, just wondering out loud.

[Big Buds]

I am a little surprised Coach Hud is focusing on the back end (secondary) so much. From what I could tell, stopping the run seemed to be our biggest problem. He explains that we couldn't stop them from running therefore we had to bring people up in the box, leaving the corners exposed some. It sounds like he anticipated having a hard time stopping the run, then after adjusting, he wanted better man coverage from the secondary and didn't get it. Ark would hand off several times in a row, and still get the first down. Oh well, I'm not all that worked up about it, just wondering out loud.

I was thinking the same thing. IMO, our issue was the DL.

[GeauxCajuns]

Playing a 3 man front against a team who likes to pound it is a recipe for disaster. It means a linebacker has to walk up and take on a tackle. An sec tackle will toss our outside linebackers around like its nothing, I thought that's where we had problems. And they got sucked into the middle way too much instead of keeping leverage on the edge

[Just1More]

I was thinking the same thing. IMO, our issue was the DL.

It was. It's just easy to give an interview about an inexperienced secondary. We could have the best secondary in the world... but if they have to tackle RBs bowling downfield at crack neck speed AND cover wide outs that get the luxury of a QB taking his time to throw unpressured... Saturdays are going to be extremely tough.

But again... it's easy to talk about shuffling the backfield... when they're the biggest element of inexperience.

[Just1More]

I am a little surprised Coach Hud is focusing on the back end (secondary) so much. From what I could tell, stopping the run seemed to be our biggest problem. He explains that we couldn't stop them from running therefore we had to bring people up in the box, leaving the corners exposed some. It sounds like he anticipated having a hard time stopping the run, then after adjusting, he wanted better man coverage from the secondary and didn't get it. Ark would hand off several times in a row, and still get the first down. Oh well, I'm not all that worked up about it, just wondering out loud.

Yep. You know what makes a DB look good? A QB taking the snap... instantly having to scramble for his life... just before he gets slammed to the turf... and coughs up the pill. I call that a perfect secondary.

[zephyr]

I am a little surprised Coach Hud is focusing on the back end (secondary) so much. From what I could tell, stopping the run seemed to be our biggest problem. He explains that we couldn't stop them from running therefore we had to bring people up in the box, leaving the corners exposed some. It sounds like he anticipated having a hard time stopping the run, then after adjusting, he wanted better man coverage from the secondary and didn't get it. Ark would hand off several times in a row, and still get the first down. Oh well, I'm not all that worked up about it, just wondering out loud.

This is correct. We were just simply not physical enough to play with them up front but there was some poor play in the secondary plus I suspect that the CB position will be the most in flux of all positions. I guess he just wasn't seeing what he thought he'd see there and it is troubling.