I will start with the fact that I enjoyed watching Orlando’s aggressive style. However, Orlando had the benefit of having several NFL caliber players on that defense. In my eyes, the Arizona and Navy game last year told me that CMD can coach defense because his defense won both of those games. I am interested to see what he can do with the talent this year that might be on par with 2015.
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i really wish people would stop saying that. sure it helps that he had stewart, Jackson, McDonald and others but he still is a pretty damn good and highly regarded dc and the Arizona and navy game don’t prove anything. both of those wins could have been losses. people forget once the defense adjusted to navy’s offense year 1 with Orlando as dc, the defense adjusted. plus navy was a much better team back then than last season’s team.
They aren’t saying he isn’t good. They are saying he could be more aggressive because the secondary was less likely to get completely burned.
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I know. Im saying im tired of people saying he could afford to be aggressive because of who he had on defense year 1 here. That is his coaching philosophy. He was aggressive at Utah St as well. D’Onofrio has never proven to be aggressive at any stop in his coaching career. that’s why i’ll believe it when i see it if he makes the defense aggressive this year.
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If you are waiting for D’Onofrio’s D to be aggressive in the way that Orlando’s was, you are going to be waiting until hell freezes over. It is not the type of defense CMD runs.
At the same time, this contingent of posters that are still pissy about Applewhite getting hired over Orlando and use it as an excuse to knock everything CMA does need to just get the hell over it. From what the rumor mill has indicated, D’Onofrio would have been our DC anyway, because Orlando told CMA that is the DC to go with.
We run a containment D and as long as we hold opponents to under 25 pts a game on average, D’Onofrio will most likley continue to be our coordinator until CMA moves on or he moves on.
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A post was split to a new topic: A year after switch from receiver, UH cornerback Isaiah Johnson finds his swagger
Good article!
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He had Terrell Williams, Adams, Thurman, Hines last year. They are all on NFL rosters as of right now. So the cupboard was hardly bare talent-wise.
I get what you’re saying, but these guys were undrafted and are on preseason rosters. Hopefully they stick around for the regular season.
Adams was drafted in the 7th round I think. Indications are that Hines is tearing it up in San Diego. Williams looked pretty good last week and we’ll get to see him again vs. Texans on Saturday.
Yes, Adams was drafted in the 7th so I stand corrected. Now how many defenders Orlando inherited were drafted? More than one. He also inherited seasoned veterans. This doesn’t mean I’m giving CMD a free pass.
Yes this works until the defense your offense faces holds you to less. It can happen and if it does we will lose due to his “containment” philosophy. It’s not just him. There have been plenty of coaches that single handily lost the game late due to their choice to not pressure in unpredictable situations. It’s called situational football, and everything that we’ve seen last year suggests that CMD can be a liability.
Speak for yourself. I think we got rid of our biggest liability on the coaching side when Brian Johnson left. I prefer the attacking style of defense that Orland ran, but I am interested in results more than aesthetics. CMD’s defense, with similar personnel, held opponents to less points per game than Orlando’s defense did the year before.
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CKB is a upgrade, no doubt, but Johnson was just as big of a liability as CMD. Did you not see the leads we blew last year? Let me guess, “it’s on the offense to keep scoring”. You would be the greatest 11 on air coach ever. lol Who didn’t score on us? You mentioned 25 points per game earlier without understanding those numbers have context(much like situational football); the only opponents we held to 25 points or less last year that mattered were Arizona and USF. Both had offenses that played into our strengths and had QBs that couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn. Meanwhile, Tulsa put up 45 points on CMD…Tulsa. Let’s not forget we also had a 17 point lead with 6 minutes left in the 3rd quarter of the Memphis game when our offense put up 38 points and still lost. I wonder what happened(situational football)?
And here you are still quoting points per game as if that’s the only thing that matters between the hashes. No I’m not speaking for myself; I can also speak for the people who aren’t completely enamored so much with the offensive side of the ball that they choose to ignore the responsibilities of the defense. CMD took that same mentality into a bowl game with another MW team and got embarrassed. But no, he’s not a liability.
If I may step into the middle of this very spirited argument. I think I fall somewhere between you two on this. Yes, the defense had its bad moments, but the offense certainly did not help. Our inability to sustain drives coupled with the insanely high number of 3-and-outs either puts the defense in precarious spots or contributes to them being completely worn out. I blame the Memphis loss last year squarely on the defense. We should win 100 out of 100 games when we score 38 points, even if the offense did crap the bed late in that game. But most of the other times the defense looked bad, I place equal blame on the defense for lack of aggressiveness which allowed teams to dink and dunk down the field with almost no opposition, and the offense either not scoring or not able to sustain drives.
The overall picture for me last year was the defense was good, but not great, but the offense was hideous. I hope I never again see an offense at UH as bad as the one we saw last year. Good riddance to Brian Johnson and that terrible offensive line coach we had.
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I don’t think you fall between us. These are my sentiments exactly.
Orlando has been put on this pedastool that in some ways he merits and in other ways is overblown. His defense struggled with Memphis both in 2015 and 2016. He struggled with SMU, and he also struggled with Tulsa in 2016 - we won by a goal line stand that was centimeters from them scoring, and if you ask a Tulsa fan, they scored.
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And don’t forget his struggles against Maryland last year.
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The fact that offense is being brought up in topic about a defensive coordinator is an issue itself. I honestly don’t care how CMD does it, he just needs to make adjustments and not allow offensive coordinators to do as they will. His defense if far from complicated and OCs have a full year’s worth of film on him. Now that Johnson is gone, I don’t think people will be blaming CKB.
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You mean like holding Arizona, Rice, Texas Tech, Temple, SMU, Memphis, South Florida, Tulane, and Navy under their offensive scoring averages. Okay…
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FWIW, I can’t wait until actual football starts so we can talk about what’s actually happening instead of what has already happened or what might happen in the future.
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