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DC/LB Coach Jim Knowles (Official Thread)

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shetuck said:
Let me just say, up front, that I'm not defending Knowles. What he did / didn't do in Georgia's final possessions in the Peach Bowl, at some level, are indefensible.

That said... Knowles has always said that his approach is not situation specific. He has always said that his mindset is ALWAYS to stop the other team's offense and get them off the field. He has said (and I don't remember which Tuesday press conference it was) that he doesn't have a "special" up-by-X / down-by-Y two-minute-drill really-need-to-get-a-stop scheme. He says that he is an "always on" kind of guy and that's the kind of defense he wants and tries to deploy.

Maybe that's a coach being stubborn. Maybe that's a guy who doesn't do well with complexity. Maybe that's coach who is trying not to put too much on his players' plates. I have no idea.

My frustration with this is that at Knowles' pay scale, just as I'd say to whatever specialist who works for me (for example), he can't just be a one-trick pony. If his "always on" approach loses us a huge game to our rival and then, again, loses us a CFP semi-final, I'd tell him that I don't really care "always on" or "always off" or "always in flux". I'd tell him that what he gets market-best compensation to do is "always win".
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I don’t think pay has anything to do with it. Ultimately, it’s a responsibility regardless of compensation.

That said, there’s a lot to be said for balance. Just as an offense can be predicable, so can a defense. Balance, and unpredictable balance at that, makes a team harder to defeat. The aggressive nature of his calls — all the time, if anything, defeated his scheme as much as personnel.

Fix both and all will be fine.

Candidly, I appreciate an aggressive defense… but the dude has to mix it up. Fastballs become hittable until you start throwing the change up.
 
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Jaxbuck said:
Knowles does mix his pitches up, but he is like a pitcher who throws pitches over the heart of the plate with an 0-2 count.

It’s just fucking dumb. Have the sense Woody gave a billygoat and use the situation to your advantage and their detriment.
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Great analogy.

Why throw something over the middle 0-2? See if we can get strike 3 on a slider in the dirt.
 
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sparcboxbuck said:
I don’t think pay has anything to do with it. Ultimately, it’s a responsibility regardless of compensation.

…
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of course, money doesn’t matter in terms of responsibility. but it does matter in terms of expectations. and this was partly my point - ie that people didn’t expect that we’d have basic concerns about balance and mix (and situational awareness) with a guy with this level of experience.
 
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shetuck said:
but this is where the skill (or lack thereof) of his players comes in… not likely this group (as a unit) can pull off a slider, consistently, let alone in the dirt.
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Then you call the pitch you know they can throw somewhat consistently and more importantly, if they make a mistake with it will do the least amount of damage.

Knowles just asked Bronson Arroyo to sneak a fastball by someone’s three hitter.
 
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Jaxbuck said:
Then you call the pitch you know they can throw somewhat consistently and more importantly, if they make a mistake with it will do the least amount of damage.

Knowles just asked Bronson Arroyo to sneak a fastball by someone’s three hitter.
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But (and maybe this is the problem) we know that riverboat gambler Knowles is not / cannot / does not seem to have the "least amount of damage" register.

I would imagine to a guy like that, with a kind of an adrenaline addict / gambler mindset, he'd say if you want the least amount of damage then you better just fold and go home.

Imagine this, though... Knowles calls you on your headset. You're the head coach and you're calling the plays on offense. He says, "Hey boss... you want me to go for a kill shot and seal the deal right here right now, OR do you think your guys on offense are going to be able keep going toe to toe for another half a quarter?"

My guess is that Ryan Day, on that day, would tell him "go for the kill shot right now" given the way we were losing weapons on offense right, left, and center.

Again... not defending Knowles. Just speculating about scenarios.

EDIT: And I'd use Jack Morris in your analogy since I'm more of a Tigers fan from way way back in the day, but, yeah, I get what you're saying in terms of the situation and the actors. Split finger notwithstanding. I'm just talking about a guy who's a bit wild and unpredictable.
 
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Honor&Glory said:
wait…you are giving Knowles a pass for running a defense knowing he didn’t have the personnel to run it? So a coach should take an IV league school in basketball and play a Loyola Marymount run and shoot with 5 slow white guys? Gtfo. You adapt your play calling to the personnel on hand. That’s great coaching. This jackass just decided to run whatever because he’s a riverboat gambler. Da fuq out of here with that b.s.
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You jumped to a lot of conclusions with my post, amigo.

I didn’t give him a pass, I was simply saying that the defense wasn’t up to snuff from a talent standpoint. You can play soft ass zone coverage and try to hide your weaknesses but a good OC will figure you out regardless.

Ive watched a lot of football in my life and have to say that Georgias OC is one of the better play designers that I’ve seen in the past decade or so. He figured us out when it mattered.

The way you fix that is with better defensive players.
 
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daddyphatsacs said:
You jumped to a lot of conclusions with my post, amigo.

I didn’t give him a pass, I was simply saying that the defense wasn’t up to snuff from a talent standpoint. You can play soft ass zone coverage and try to hide your weaknesses but a good OC will figure you out regardless.

Ive watched a lot of football in my life and have to say that Georgias OC is one of the better play designers that I’ve seen in the past decade or so. He figured us out when it mattered.

The way you fix that is with better defensive players.
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Agreed about the UGA OC....he did all of this with Stetson Bennett too. Stetson is a fine player but he'll never be mistaken for a can't miss 5 star.
 
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I think we can all agree that it's not as binary an issue as soft or all-in. We've been assured all year that there were layers in his defensive scheme, and I don't doubt that there are, to deal with different looks and circumstances. When it mattered, though, we went with unnecessary aggression and got burned. I just think we should've been applying some of the gray depth of the scheme, especially against those two as, assuredly, neither the scum nor UGA offenses were all that complex and neither had all-pro offensive players. Did we not have the schematic depth to handle them without selling out and losing or did we just not apply it? We're hoping, of course, that it's the latter, but, damn, then, WTF? could've been?
 
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Wow, great points all. Riverboat gambler, split the plate with an 0-2 pitch. Great analogies, and probably all true....PS, I'd nibble the corner with a curve....certainly the D fell short with several games, and for certain sure the last two, but all in all, I believe that the 2022 D was far superior to the 2021 D. And most of the 2022 version was the same personnel as prior year. Hey, any HC that takes a job has a ironclad contract for at least three years, because it takes that long to implement significant changes. Why would that be any different with tOSU's D? Truly never occured to me that Knowles would dial up Day to ask - go all in? or not. Maybe the D was as good as it was because of tOSU's superior personnel, who knows. Don't fault going for the kill shot, but I'm one that would at least keep one guy as a safety valve, just because their O didn't cooperate with 'my' plans. Buckeye Nation is a tad spoiled, thankfully, with our HCs and most position coaches. Let alone the record over the years. Yes, I harken back to good old 2-10-1 Coop, and good old 9-3 Earl days. There will be a whole lot of teaching going on in the spring, so I'm arguing for waiting a bit before condemning or applauding. Finally, believe the D-line was fine, but not at the high level of previous years, the LBs showed the most progress, but the back 4 or 5 fell down (literally) somewhat. Maybe the back 5 had their warts exposed because the front 6-7 didn't excell? As Rugby said, there are layers. Anyway, and always, Go Bucks! Can't wait to see thee 2023 edition.
 
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MaxBuck said:
Honestly, the D performed better against UGA than people are crediting. If the O weren't missing like 4 of its top 5 weapons, tOSU would be national champions.
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The defense let up 42 points and over 8 yards per play.

Yes, we woulda/coulda/shuldda won but that doesn't mean the defense wasn't garbage.
 
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Jaxbuck said:
The defense let up 42 points and over 8 yards per play.

Yes, we woulda/coulda/shuldda won but that doesn't mean the defense wasn't garbage.
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They had one good quarter against Georgia. The offense had one bad qtr after Marv got hurt.

If we hold them on the drive after Marv got hurt we win that game. If we make them take 4 mins instead of 10 seconds to score on the next drive we probably also win.
 
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