Steele talks problems against Terps and previews UNC

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 18 18:57:17 GMT-04:00 2011

CLEMSON – Tiger defensive coordinator Kevin SteeleKevin Steele
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers
View Full Profile fielded questions regarding the defense’s lack of success against Maryland and quarterback C.J. Brown last weekend in College Park and previewed North Carolina, Clemson’s next opponent.

Brown rushed for 162 yards – getting loose for several big runs – and Steele’s defense gave up 38 points [seven came from Tajh BoydTajh Boyd
RS So. Quarterback
#10 6-1, 225
Hampton, VA
View Full Profile ’s pick-six], just one point shy of the high of 39 given up against Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship Game in 2009.

Steele said there were several factors in the defensive lapse.

"What happened in a nutshell is very easy to explain,” Steele said. “It's not like we didn't know what was happening. You've got the two Y-screens [tight end screens] that were big plays. And basically what happened was, the backside guy away from it, for whatever reason - and we've done it I can't tell you how many times - the guy carried the three [technique]. It happened three times in the game, two times when they ran that. What do you say? You ask him why. What do you have? The seven scrambles, which was simple stuff in terms of rush lanes, it was taking turns in being out of rush lanes and the discipline of knowing you've got a scrambling quarterback.

“You can be loose and take some chances and get wide when you don't have a scrambling quarterback in your rush lanes. If you're starting to get wide, come back into it. And the rush lanes got imbalanced five times. Three of the four sacks came on scrambles. Of the seven scrambles, only one guy was a repeat offender. It's not any innovative concept. Here are your rush lanes, you're on red alert, you have a scrambler out there, so don't be violating your rush lanes or taking chances. It's that simple.”

Steele said that Brown wasn’t running the traditional zone read.

“They ran the zone read option and they gained one yard and two yards,” he said. “They ran the zone read and gave it numerous times, no problem. They ran it and kept it, and we missed a tackle with Brewer six yards in the backfield. And then we had another player miss a tackle and we made the tackle right after he missed it. They got into the second half, into what we call the mid-line zone read. It was just a freakish deal that those six plays came on different guys except for once. It's not something we hadn't worked on. We worked on it last week. And he was very athletic. But it wasn't like, 'Oh, what are we going to do here?' I hate to say this because it is what it is. But the truth of the matter is that there were 81 plays. 14 of them were sickening to watch. The rest? An average football game."

The Tigers take on North Carolina this weekend, a team that runs more of a pro-style look, but he was asked if he thought the Tigers might see more of the same this weekend or later in the season.

“There's so much copycat in football that you never know when it'll pop up again,” he said, “It's on the script [to practice] today. I thought their guy did a great job of running it. We got down 14-3 real quick and had played six plays on defense. I think guys started trying to press a little bit. We got a bit undisciplined in what we were doing. We got calmed back down, but again, there were 14 plays that were ugly."

The Tar Heels are one of the few teams left in the ACC that still run a pro-style system, and Steele was asked if they were a dying breed in college football.

"Miami was that. I haven't seen them. I don't know what they are this year,” he said. “They were, but I don't think they're the same. North Carolina has been. Boston College has been, but they're not as much as they were when [Gary] Tranquill was there, and now he's gone. Maryland was with Ralph [Friedgen]. Now they're not. Virginia Tech still is, in a certain sense. I don't know about Duke. Don't know about Wake because we haven't gotten to them yet. Georgia Tech's not. We're not."

He said UNC will try to run the football first, then depend on quarterback Bryn Renner (129-for-172, 1,585 yards, 14 TDs, six INT) to use play-action to get the ball to receiver Dwight Jones (46 catches, 687 yards, 8 TDs).

"Run the ball, play-action pass it, take shots when they need to, run the clock, play good defense, kicking game,” Steele said. “It’s NFL-style. Their offensive line is pretty good. Their quarterback is throwing for 75 percent. They're well-coached. They've got a good scheme. Their quarterback is an efficient, NFL-style guy.”