Saturday, September 13, 2014

Rutgers Small Defensive Line Could Work in the Big 10

One of the narratives both locally and nationally heading into the Pinstripe Bowl was that playing Note Dame would be a "Big 10 preview" for Rutgers. While the Fighting Irish are not Big 10 members themselves, they play a very similar style of football as most teams in the conference, relying on their big offensive and defensive lines. Add in the fact that they are from the midwest, play a bunch of Big 10 teams every year and have a tendency to lose BCS games, you can see how this comparison works.

While Rutgers stayed competitive through out the contest against Notre Dame, they were some red flags raised about how they would hold up in the Big 10 next year. The Fighting Irish ran ravage over the Scarlet Knights defense in the second half behind future first round draft pick Zach Martin (who actually wrecked the 49ers too last Sunday) and the power run game. The easy conclusion to draw from that is Rutgers can not rely on small, speedy defensive lineman like they have in the past in the Big 10 moving forward. I do not agree with that assessment at all.

The reason Rutgers struggled to defend the run in the second half in that game in the Bronx was a matter of two things: lack of depth and their own inability to pick up first downs on offense to give the defense a breather. The depth concern was mostly due to a large number of injuries up front suffered through out the season, and as good as Dave Milewski is, he can not be a defensive tackle under any circumstance like he was in this game. He is just to small for that. The offense issues are well documented, but there is hope that they will improve there and that has nothing to do with the defense.

People focus too much on the negatives of having a small defensive line against bigger offensive lines, and ignore the positives. Rutgers' defensive lines are not only smaller, but a lot quicker than those massive offensive lines too. The Scarlet Knights have played a few teams over the years who adopt this big lineman philosophy and they have generally had a lot of success. The most notable example is obviously Eric Foster giving Louisville's big line a bunch of problems in that 2006 epic with his quickness, and they have consistently held the Cardinals' running game in check despite the size disadvantage over the years. They've also played well against Arkansas' big offensive lines the last two years. Remember that last year's Razorback staff had just migrated from Wisconsin of the Big 10 and had a very Big 10 mentality. Quickness can be just as dangerous, if not more so than size and power.

Sometimes you can have success when you change the status quo philosophically in a new conference. You don't have to go back that far, just look at Texas A&M in 2012. The Aggies came to the SEC from the Big 12 with their high tempo, wide open second generation air raid attack and tore the conference up, inducing the big bully on the block Alabama in Tuscaloosa. They of course had a ton of talent on the offensive line and at receiver and a Heisman winner at quarterback, but Kevin Sumlin and Kliff Kingsbury's scheme played just as big a part in their success. They even caused Nick Saban to publicly complain about up tempo offenses. Being at the other end of the philosophical spectrum from most of the teams in your conference seems scary in theory, but those other teams are often illequipped and maybe don't know how to handle your new and different style.

To make having an undersized defensive line work, you need great players, just like any other scheme in the history of football. Darius Hamilton was a five star recruit playing the three technique in high school, and Rutgers' scheme allowed him to have great freshman and sophomore years inside, when most people projected him at end. Defensive end Kemoko Turay is also considered undersized by normal standards, but he can be a dangerous speed rusher thanks to the Scarlet Knights embracing speed over size. Preferring a different type of player can work to your advantage in recruiting, since you are maybe not going head to head with the Michigans and Ohio States fort he top players you identify for your scheme.

Defensive line depth is important for everyone, but it's even more so when you are small up front. Since Rutgers is going to be a lot smaller and faster, they are going to need to sub liberally to stay fresh and continue to use their speed and quickness to their advantage thorough out the game. They will at minimum have to roll eight deep on the front four, and while they have eight quality lineman now, injuries could derail that. Recruiting at this position will be very important moving forward because of this. It also wouldn't hurt if they stopped moving every defensive lineman over 270 to guard.

Personally, I love Rutgers having small quick defensive lines. Being fast and attacking is the defensive identity Rutgers has had since Greg Schiano took over, and they have had a ton of success doing it over the years. You don't change who you are and what has made you successful just to fit into your new league. It's ok to be different sometimes, and I think Rutgers defensive line will perform well in Big 10 play, beginning tomorrow.

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