Hudspeth happy with Cajuns' defensive scheme, coaching

[Just1More]

I know everything falls on the coaches shoulders in the end but if the DC makes the right call and the players keep
Blowing their assignment, at some point the players need to take responsibility for that. I heard it from players and coaches all season about guys playing for themselves and not doing their job. If everyone is always trying to be the hero, you will get a lot of blown assignments. Gerald commented it's hard to get guys to understand how to be gap sound at this level because a lot were dominant in high school and didn't need to be, they could overcome bad technique with raw power and skill.

The only skill that matters on a UL defense is creating turnovers. A really good apple turnover is delicious.

[moorecajun]

Cherry turnovers are very good too ... at least the first time.

[Just1More]

Cherry turnovers are very good too ... at least the first time.

Love em.

[cajunhawk]

UL coach Mark Hudspeth was pleased by UL's new defensive scheme, but creating turnovers was an issue in 2015

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Doesn't sound like a coach coming off a 4-8 season...with a defense he pigeonholed from the word go. Sounds like the same meat-head with a tight T-shirt.

[Turbine]

Touchdowns are irrelevant. The game is all about the turnover battle.

I don't see the problem.

Touchdowns are turnovers and UL got the ball plenty of times this way.

[CajunNation]

Coach Hud, the best way to force a turnover is to force a punt.

The best way to force a punt is to play solid, fundamental defense.

[CajunRed]

I know everything falls on the coaches shoulders in the end but if the DC makes the right call and the players keep
Blowing their assignment, at some point the players need to take responsibility for that. I heard it from players and coaches all season about guys playing for themselves and not doing their job. If everyone is always trying to be the hero, you will get a lot of blown assignments. Gerald commented it's hard to get guys to understand how to be gap sound at this level because a lot were dominant in high school and didn't need to be, they could overcome bad technique with raw power and skill.

Players blowing assignments is coaching. And the players blowing those assignments were recruited by this staff.

It's coaching.

[CrazyCajun]

Players blowing assignments is coaching. And the players blowing those assignments were recruited by this staff.

It's coaching.

Actually, none of those players were recruited by this defensive staff...Mario Osborne maybe?

[Ragin' Caleb]

I don't have to read the article to know Huds unhappy with how the defense played. Players ran man for what seems like the first time in their life and this was a rebuilding year anyways. I look for the defense to be much better next year

[wcd35]

A few numbers on the defense. Take them as what you will:

Yards per game: 420.8 (4th best in 5 yrs, only 2012 worse. Rush yds/gm went up over 40 ypg)
Pts per game: 31.83 (Worst, almost 6 ppg worse than last year)
Forced fumbles per gm: 0.5 (Worst, typically around 0.65 so 2 or 3 over the course of a year)
INT per gm: 0.42 (Worst, first 3 years averaged at least 1 INT per gm)
Sacks per gm: 1.83 (4th best in 5 yrs, only 2013 worse)

Red zone defense was surprisingly better in scoring and td percentage than most years.

Looking at general numbers of each year, the two Willis seasons are pretty clearly the best ones in some key areas. We allowed the lowest passing number this year, but that may be because we also allowed over 40 yards per game rushing more than last year.

Pts: Willis (26.2), Stewart (29.0), Smith (31.8)
Rush Yds: Stewart (141.2), Willis (146.5), Smith (183.8)
Pass Yds: Smith (237.1), Willis (253.2), Stewart (272.3)
Total Yds: Willis (399.7), Stewart (413.6), Smith (420.8)
Turnovers: Stewart (1.70), Willis (1.54), Smith (0.92)