The "read and react" defense

I agree. As much as fans and talking heads like to say it, there is no such thing as an offense or defense that "doesn't work". There's a corny saying that I learned in coaching, "it's not always about the X's and O's, it's usually about the Jimmies and Joes". Boy was that evident last night.

It's not something you can implement slowly though. You are either RNR or attacking. You spend the whole time working one or the other

All I can go is results. We've lost our teeth. Our edge and more importantly our identity. DLineZou is no longer.

We've turned a very good defense into absolute dogshit. While it's true we don't have the talent we have in '13 (that's the most talent we've ever had and maybe will ever have), we still have four guys on the DL that have a shot at the NFL. Completely unacceptable what we've become.

The players are bad. The coaches are bad. Their is mutiny amongs the ranks. Whatever. It doesn't really matter. Bottom line is that we are shite, and there is absolutely no reason for that to be the case.

We couldn't have played any worse run defense last night if we were specifically trying to. Awful.

I think Mizzou will be better than they currently are on defense. The days of dominant defenses like we've had in the past are gone. The days of having DLineZou are gone. The days of Shane Ray, Aldon Smith, Charles Harris of old, Jacquies Smith and so on creating havoc for other QB's is gone. They will become a solid D but in a sense a more boring D, if that makes sense.

As for this year...yeah, we were all over the place, not maintaining nor filling gaps. We'll be ok as long as you don't expect us to be a top 1/2 of the SEC defense this year and as long as squeaking into a bowl game is your only expectation.

For whatever it's worth, saw that he benched Hilton and didn't start Penton because he didn't like how they prepared in the 24 hours before the game. Since there were no practices in that time, just a walk through, what I'm hearing is he didn't like the fact they had too much fun Friday night.

I've been pissed and probably overreacting but i'm going to offer a sensible analysis...

Schemes give coaches more control. Cross can dial in a scheme depending on the situation. Kul taught technique and turned the players loose. I think it is tremendously underrated how good Mizzou had gotten using Kul's techniques. He could go deep into his bench and get similar results. The DL also disrupted zone cutbacks because of penetration, which only left the edges, where Gooden, Spoon and Brothers thrived. It's no accident Mizzou produced tremendous up field rushers and speedy sure tackling OLB's for the NFL.

Without Kul to teach the technique, did they really have a choice but to change to a scheme defense? With that said, does the staff have the recruiting chops to recruit big, fast LB's who can fight off pulling guards and still defend their gaps, and safeties that can come up and tackle on the edges. Coach Ford always had DB's that tackled very well in space, but he coaches RB's now, should he go back to DB's? What do you think?

Reminds me of a great Van Morrison song.

Dude, your moms calling you...your Hot Pockets are ready.

Wow, you ate the Hot Pockets fast, mommy give you some Nestle Quik to wash it down. Isn't there a video game calling your name, cuz i'm sure no girls are.

Besides the D-line getting pushed out of the stadium every play, I noticed the LB's were getting pushed on their asses also.

I don't think Kul is the only DC that can teach or run a defense like Kul ran when he was here. I just think it's a matter of accepting the fact that your taking players that want to run up field and now telling them to stand their guy up and react. It's hard to maintain gaps when you're getting bulldozed into the secondary. There is only one answer to that. Take a gap and get up field. It won't work every play, but it's effective. It's why the LB's were getting knocked on their asses. They were trying to just fill a gap and not trying to penetrate the line through the gap. Unless you outweigh the guy running full speed at you through the gap, you're gonna get your arse blown up every time. The only time I can think you really want a read and react defense is when you're playing a dual threat QB. Other than that, attack.

Maybe this game was a blessing in disguise. It will certainly give Cross plenty of material on how to NOT run his scheme.

But in the end, this game wasn't all on the defense either. The offense has plenty of blame to share in this loss. Josh has his hands full also.