I caught up to co-defensive coordinator Jason Rollins after practice. Here's the Q&A.
You held Navy to 133 rushing yards and fewer than 300 total yards, something no team has done in the Keenan Reynolds four-year era except for a game when he went out with a concussion in the first quarter. What can you apply from that defensive performance to non-option opponents?
"It just let us know that we actually are a good, fundamentally sound, disciplined defense. In order to play against them, you have to have great eye discipline, great team discipline and great mental discipline. We were able to take from that that we can play four quarters of disciplined football and play hard."
Why did you decide to install that five-man line with three defensive tackles, and had you ever done that before?
"No we had not. We wanted to use our strengths against their strengths, so their strength was the inside run with their fullback and our strength was our defensive line. So we had to match strength on strength and see which team is the strongest."
The defense started slowly this year, but do you feel good about the rest of the season now?
"Yes, for sure. They actually are getting their confidence up. We were moving guys in and out and around, and some of them were unhealthy. Now they are all getting healthy at the same time, so we found just the right combination of how many snaps each guy should get so they could play with a maximum effort for the full game."
Memphis is a totally different challenge than Navy for the defense, and the Tigers have pretty much destroyed everyone offensively. What's the toughest thing about that offense?
'It's just the tempo. They move so fast, and they are playing with a lot of confidence. It's really a tempo and what they do out of it, and the quarterback, he is really good."
The pass coverage has struggled this year. What needs to change in the secondary?
"The more you play. A lot of it is maturity and experience. We lost a lot of experience back there, and the more they play, the more experience they are going to get. When you play those young guys, each game is a different game and a different type of offense, so they have to see it more than once. It's going to be better."
Are you going to go back to your regular defensive alignment against Memphis, with Roderic Teamer at free safety and Jarrod Frankln at nickelback?
"Probably so, yes, we are."
Teamer has made some mistakes since getting into the starting lineup after a good performance against UCF. What does he need to work on?
"When we played Houston, we started the game with two true freshmen. He needs to make his play and not play outside of himself. You can't try to make a play. You have to let it come to you."
Without Darion Monroe, the defense showed no discipline against Georgia Tech's offense. With him, it played with discipline for 60 minutes. Talk about that difference.
"When you lose your leader in the back end and you are two to three guys down on the defensive line with sean Wilson not playing and you are playing a converted cornerback (Donnie Lewis) at free safety and then a true freshman (Teamer) comes in after, it tends to make a difference in the discipline. And when they move faster, you start to lose your eyes and it snowballs from there."
You held Navy to 133 rushing yards and fewer than 300 total yards, something no team has done in the Keenan Reynolds four-year era except for a game when he went out with a concussion in the first quarter. What can you apply from that defensive performance to non-option opponents?
"It just let us know that we actually are a good, fundamentally sound, disciplined defense. In order to play against them, you have to have great eye discipline, great team discipline and great mental discipline. We were able to take from that that we can play four quarters of disciplined football and play hard."
Why did you decide to install that five-man line with three defensive tackles, and had you ever done that before?
"No we had not. We wanted to use our strengths against their strengths, so their strength was the inside run with their fullback and our strength was our defensive line. So we had to match strength on strength and see which team is the strongest."
The defense started slowly this year, but do you feel good about the rest of the season now?
"Yes, for sure. They actually are getting their confidence up. We were moving guys in and out and around, and some of them were unhealthy. Now they are all getting healthy at the same time, so we found just the right combination of how many snaps each guy should get so they could play with a maximum effort for the full game."
Memphis is a totally different challenge than Navy for the defense, and the Tigers have pretty much destroyed everyone offensively. What's the toughest thing about that offense?
'It's just the tempo. They move so fast, and they are playing with a lot of confidence. It's really a tempo and what they do out of it, and the quarterback, he is really good."
The pass coverage has struggled this year. What needs to change in the secondary?
"The more you play. A lot of it is maturity and experience. We lost a lot of experience back there, and the more they play, the more experience they are going to get. When you play those young guys, each game is a different game and a different type of offense, so they have to see it more than once. It's going to be better."
Are you going to go back to your regular defensive alignment against Memphis, with Roderic Teamer at free safety and Jarrod Frankln at nickelback?
"Probably so, yes, we are."
Teamer has made some mistakes since getting into the starting lineup after a good performance against UCF. What does he need to work on?
"When we played Houston, we started the game with two true freshmen. He needs to make his play and not play outside of himself. You can't try to make a play. You have to let it come to you."
Without Darion Monroe, the defense showed no discipline against Georgia Tech's offense. With him, it played with discipline for 60 minutes. Talk about that difference.
"When you lose your leader in the back end and you are two to three guys down on the defensive line with sean Wilson not playing and you are playing a converted cornerback (Donnie Lewis) at free safety and then a true freshman (Teamer) comes in after, it tends to make a difference in the discipline. And when they move faster, you start to lose your eyes and it snowballs from there."