good info. I hope this alignment holds up against Texas, OU, KSU and WVU who all do a better job running the ball with power than anyone we have faced so far.
Baylor's move to the 3-4 working well through six games
Baylor's defense has quietly matured under Phil Bennett into one of the Big 12's best units annually. Baylor has typically used a speedy back seven and four down linemen to great effect in the old 4-3 Over scheme. This fall Baylor has shifted their base defense to what used to be their alternate defense, the 3-4 Under. What is Bennett trying to do?
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
The 4-3 defense gets it's name from the four linemen and three linebackers while the 3-4 will have three linemen and four linebackers. The biggest difference in how Baylor plays it will be with alignment. The Bears have mainly used an OVER alignment where the interior linemen are shifted towards the strong side of the offensive formation. Now the Bears are moving to an UNDER alignment where the interior line is shifting away from the strong side. So one alignment change and one personnel change.
Below you see an overly simplified gap responsibility breakdown for each. Essentially one lineman is shifting one gap outside and being replaced with a linebacker while two linemen and two linebackers trade gap assignments. It starts with the old 4-3 Over and shows how the gaps are accounted for as the defense shifts into the 3-4 Under alignment.
This allows for some different options in personnel. Someone that may not have been big enough to every play defensive end in a 4-3 lining up on the outside shoulder of the tackle can easily play outside the tight end. The threat of being double-teamed at this alignment is minimal and creates less of a premium on size. This allows Baylor to replace a defensive end who may run about 250-270 pounds with Taylor Young (5-10, 225), Clay Johnston (6-3, 220), or even the extreme case of someone as small as Patrick Levels (5-11, 195) who is essentially a sixth defensive back.
The adjustments for the defensive line is simple. The nose tackle who typically lines up in either a one technique (shoulder of the center) or a 2i (inside shoulder of the guard) will either do the same only on the strong side of the formation instead of the weak side. Sometimes he will line head up across from the center or in a shade but generally his job is very similar.
Whichever defensive end happens to line up on the strong side will be in the C gap and usually in a 5 technique outside the tackle. The backside end is primarily a B gap player and lines up either in a 3 technique (outside shoulder of the guard) or a 4i technique (inside shoulder of the tackle) playing as the de-facto replacement for the quick defensive tackle. Occasionally Baylor will run a reduced front where the strongside end will shift into a B gap alignment so that both guards and the center have a linemen over them which can create issues for some blocking schemes. This is similar to how Virginia Tech used a Bear front (3 tech, 0 tech, 3 tech) to create issues for Urban Meyer's Buckeyes when they upset them in 2014.
The first quote I remember Bennett saying to David Smoak back in 2011 or 2012 when asked about his defense is that his three man front was based around the same principles as his four man front. During his time in Waco, Phil Bennett runs an attacking "One Gap" scheme with either defensive front. Each defender is responsible for penetrating one gap and disrupting the offense. In this clip from the 2014 TCU game you can see Baylor's defensive line, especially interior linemen Andrew Billings and Beau Blackshear penetrate their gaps and stop the tailback.
The defense is still operating on that basic idea but the number of down linemen has changed. Here you see KJ Smith and Ira Lewis attacking the A and B gaps and causing problems for the offense from the new alignment in a very similar way.
To combat the Big 12's spread teams that operate in space Bennett has built his system around smaller players with speed and is happy to trade size to get quickness. His system has a couple basic coverage schemes with adjustments built into them that has been relatively effective against spread Offenses that require defenses to play in space. The additional stress of facing a strong running game from these spread formations with the potential of also facing a running threat at Quarterback. Having enough players in position to successfully defend the pass and to also present enough bodies against the run game is a problem every Big 12 defense must deal with regularly. Bennett's scheme is aggressive with his safeties against the running game as you can see in the video below where they are used to outnumber both the run and the bubble screen which is essentially a glorified option toss on a play like this from Baylor's old 4-3 scheme.
You see the exact same idea at work with the 3-4 alignment as well. Positions have traded gaps but it's still the same basic framework for the defense as a whole.
Both defenses are relatively simple but allow for clear reads, fast legs, and the ability to get the defense called against the very fast tempo opponents that the Big 12 throws at you seven out of nine weeks.
There are several advantages to this and it allows Baylor to do several things, but also comes with trade offs.
First and foremost any decision has to be made with the players available to you in mind. This scheme allows a new way to tailor the scheme to his personnel. Even before Baylor had attrition in May the defense had shifted to the 3-4 and was likely influenced by the abundance of linebacker, safety, and nickel personnel on the roster. If by trading gap assignments you can get your best eleven players on the field it can make a lot of sense. With only two "true" linebacker positions and one Nickel in the old scheme the Bears would see capable players like Raaquan Davis or Patrick Levels on the bench. This allows them to impact the game.
The added benefit to this is also depth on the defensive line. With fewer positions and with the ability to play 260-pound players as B gap players a team can rotate fewer players with less of an issue. Instead of having four positions to fill you can fill three positions and allow your talent at linebacker to help fill the fourth spot with a simple change in alignment.
This alignment gives you one additional player who can be a valuable asset in coverage. In many coverages simply adding one player to the mix can make a notable difference in what weaknesses a quarterback can exploit.
The boundary linebacker can be used on simple tasks like dropping into underneath coverage like you see here which helps contribute to the incompletion in this clip.
Another benefit is that the additional linebacker can hold up very well individually in coverage as you see here. Oklahoma State had a successful play design here to isolate their tailback on the Baylor outside linebacker but Levels provided blanket coverage down the field which simply does not happen with most defensive ends dropping into coverage.
The altered alignment can change how well the defense is positioned to defend certain routes. Clay Johnston's interception against Kansas was a great individual effort that was helped by the new alignment. In the video below I have edited the alignment of the defensive front to show how the front's run assignments compared to the old 4-3 over front helped create that turnover. Both would have featured similar coverages and four man rush schemes but one puts the defender in a slightly better position to make a play.
Finally the other advantage is that having another quick linebacker and quicker B gap players allows for a more dangerous pass rush and increased ability to disguise where blitzes and pass rushers are coming from.
QUESTIONS
Most people are thinking of a two-gap 3-4 scheme where defensive linemen are asked to control blockers at the point of attack and defend gaps on either side of that blocker. In a one-gap scheme it's much less of a size requirement and there are defenses in the past who have made it work although it's not the ideal way to do it. I do worry about 245-pound Xavier Jones who comes in as a backup in certain situations just from being able to anchor against the run but for the most part the larger guys have held their own.
One of the big catalyst's to Baylor's late 2012 improvement on defense was sliding 265-pound end Gary Mason inside to play as the 3 technique tackle. He made a lot of plays and provided stability at a spot that Baylor had struggled with. Furthermore Baylor has experimented with KJ Smith at that spot at several points over the last two seasons and he has been solid.
TCU won the Rose Bowl with 265-pound DJ Yendrey as their 3 technique starter for the final half of the season and throughout their 2011 year. Other teams have done it so it's not uncharted territory, especially for a team that has a strong back seven and is willing to be aggressive with them.
In the last few years I can recall teams like Arkansas, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and others overcoming smaller interior guys to have solid defensive years. That does not mean an undersized tackle is not a potential vulnerability, but it does mean much of it can potentially be schemed around.
Most of the alignments and one-gap tactics that this defense employs can be linked to the old Texas A&M 3-4 defenses that earned them their "Wrecking Crew" brand. The fronts that Baylor uses this year are very similar to the ones that A&M used back then with an assortment of speedy defenders. Another team that ran a lot of under fronts was Pete Carroll's USC Trojans. He typically ran it with 4-3 personnel but in certain years he would play talented linebackers like Brian Cushing or Clay Matthews as stand up linebackers instead of the weakside end. This is similar to Baylor's weakside OLB position although some schematic particulars were different.
With so many smaller players the goal is to disrupt blocking schemes. Here is an example of a line stunt that occupies the offensive linemen and allows the linebacker to have a clean shot at the ball carrier. Two linemen and two linebackers trade gaps at the snap and the offensive line can't reach quickly enough to account for Edwards. One small wrinkle stops OSU on a 3rd-and-2.
The moving around can be a double edged sword as teams that can anticipate your tendencies can exploit it. Some of Baylor's biggest defensive lapses in 2016 have been off of this but it has also allowed the Bears to rank sixth nationally in tackles for loss per game. So as I mention above, it's a trade off.
The new 3-4 defensive alignment is one of many things that Baylor will rely on in the last half of the season. It's been mostly positive in it's early games but the more challenging games of 2016 are yet to come for this defense.
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
The 4-3 defense gets it's name from the four linemen and three linebackers while the 3-4 will have three linemen and four linebackers. The biggest difference in how Baylor plays it will be with alignment. The Bears have mainly used an OVER alignment where the interior linemen are shifted towards the strong side of the offensive formation. Now the Bears are moving to an UNDER alignment where the interior line is shifting away from the strong side. So one alignment change and one personnel change.
Below you see an overly simplified gap responsibility breakdown for each. Essentially one lineman is shifting one gap outside and being replaced with a linebacker while two linemen and two linebackers trade gap assignments. It starts with the old 4-3 Over and shows how the gaps are accounted for as the defense shifts into the 3-4 Under alignment.
This allows for some different options in personnel. Someone that may not have been big enough to every play defensive end in a 4-3 lining up on the outside shoulder of the tackle can easily play outside the tight end. The threat of being double-teamed at this alignment is minimal and creates less of a premium on size. This allows Baylor to replace a defensive end who may run about 250-270 pounds with Taylor Young (5-10, 225), Clay Johnston (6-3, 220), or even the extreme case of someone as small as Patrick Levels (5-11, 195) who is essentially a sixth defensive back.
The adjustments for the defensive line is simple. The nose tackle who typically lines up in either a one technique (shoulder of the center) or a 2i (inside shoulder of the guard) will either do the same only on the strong side of the formation instead of the weak side. Sometimes he will line head up across from the center or in a shade but generally his job is very similar.
Whichever defensive end happens to line up on the strong side will be in the C gap and usually in a 5 technique outside the tackle. The backside end is primarily a B gap player and lines up either in a 3 technique (outside shoulder of the guard) or a 4i technique (inside shoulder of the tackle) playing as the de-facto replacement for the quick defensive tackle. Occasionally Baylor will run a reduced front where the strongside end will shift into a B gap alignment so that both guards and the center have a linemen over them which can create issues for some blocking schemes. This is similar to how Virginia Tech used a Bear front (3 tech, 0 tech, 3 tech) to create issues for Urban Meyer's Buckeyes when they upset them in 2014.
The first quote I remember Bennett saying to David Smoak back in 2011 or 2012 when asked about his defense is that his three man front was based around the same principles as his four man front. During his time in Waco, Phil Bennett runs an attacking "One Gap" scheme with either defensive front. Each defender is responsible for penetrating one gap and disrupting the offense. In this clip from the 2014 TCU game you can see Baylor's defensive line, especially interior linemen Andrew Billings and Beau Blackshear penetrate their gaps and stop the tailback.
The defense is still operating on that basic idea but the number of down linemen has changed. Here you see KJ Smith and Ira Lewis attacking the A and B gaps and causing problems for the offense from the new alignment in a very similar way.
To combat the Big 12's spread teams that operate in space Bennett has built his system around smaller players with speed and is happy to trade size to get quickness. His system has a couple basic coverage schemes with adjustments built into them that has been relatively effective against spread Offenses that require defenses to play in space. The additional stress of facing a strong running game from these spread formations with the potential of also facing a running threat at Quarterback. Having enough players in position to successfully defend the pass and to also present enough bodies against the run game is a problem every Big 12 defense must deal with regularly. Bennett's scheme is aggressive with his safeties against the running game as you can see in the video below where they are used to outnumber both the run and the bubble screen which is essentially a glorified option toss on a play like this from Baylor's old 4-3 scheme.
You see the exact same idea at work with the 3-4 alignment as well. Positions have traded gaps but it's still the same basic framework for the defense as a whole.
Both defenses are relatively simple but allow for clear reads, fast legs, and the ability to get the defense called against the very fast tempo opponents that the Big 12 throws at you seven out of nine weeks.
WHY DOES BENNETT WANT TO RUN THE 3-4?
There are several advantages to this and it allows Baylor to do several things, but also comes with trade offs.
PERSONNEL
First and foremost any decision has to be made with the players available to you in mind. This scheme allows a new way to tailor the scheme to his personnel. Even before Baylor had attrition in May the defense had shifted to the 3-4 and was likely influenced by the abundance of linebacker, safety, and nickel personnel on the roster. If by trading gap assignments you can get your best eleven players on the field it can make a lot of sense. With only two "true" linebacker positions and one Nickel in the old scheme the Bears would see capable players like Raaquan Davis or Patrick Levels on the bench. This allows them to impact the game.
The added benefit to this is also depth on the defensive line. With fewer positions and with the ability to play 260-pound players as B gap players a team can rotate fewer players with less of an issue. Instead of having four positions to fill you can fill three positions and allow your talent at linebacker to help fill the fourth spot with a simple change in alignment.
COVERAGE FLEXIBILITY
This alignment gives you one additional player who can be a valuable asset in coverage. In many coverages simply adding one player to the mix can make a notable difference in what weaknesses a quarterback can exploit.
The boundary linebacker can be used on simple tasks like dropping into underneath coverage like you see here which helps contribute to the incompletion in this clip.
Another benefit is that the additional linebacker can hold up very well individually in coverage as you see here. Oklahoma State had a successful play design here to isolate their tailback on the Baylor outside linebacker but Levels provided blanket coverage down the field which simply does not happen with most defensive ends dropping into coverage.
The altered alignment can change how well the defense is positioned to defend certain routes. Clay Johnston's interception against Kansas was a great individual effort that was helped by the new alignment. In the video below I have edited the alignment of the defensive front to show how the front's run assignments compared to the old 4-3 over front helped create that turnover. Both would have featured similar coverages and four man rush schemes but one puts the defender in a slightly better position to make a play.
Finally the other advantage is that having another quick linebacker and quicker B gap players allows for a more dangerous pass rush and increased ability to disguise where blitzes and pass rushers are coming from.
QUESTIONS
I thought that a 3-4 defense needed really big linemen? How can Baylor hold up with 260-pound ends playing in the B gap?
Most people are thinking of a two-gap 3-4 scheme where defensive linemen are asked to control blockers at the point of attack and defend gaps on either side of that blocker. In a one-gap scheme it's much less of a size requirement and there are defenses in the past who have made it work although it's not the ideal way to do it. I do worry about 245-pound Xavier Jones who comes in as a backup in certain situations just from being able to anchor against the run but for the most part the larger guys have held their own.
One of the big catalyst's to Baylor's late 2012 improvement on defense was sliding 265-pound end Gary Mason inside to play as the 3 technique tackle. He made a lot of plays and provided stability at a spot that Baylor had struggled with. Furthermore Baylor has experimented with KJ Smith at that spot at several points over the last two seasons and he has been solid.
TCU won the Rose Bowl with 265-pound DJ Yendrey as their 3 technique starter for the final half of the season and throughout their 2011 year. Other teams have done it so it's not uncharted territory, especially for a team that has a strong back seven and is willing to be aggressive with them.
In the last few years I can recall teams like Arkansas, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and others overcoming smaller interior guys to have solid defensive years. That does not mean an undersized tackle is not a potential vulnerability, but it does mean much of it can potentially be schemed around.
What other notable teams have run similar schemes?
Most of the alignments and one-gap tactics that this defense employs can be linked to the old Texas A&M 3-4 defenses that earned them their "Wrecking Crew" brand. The fronts that Baylor uses this year are very similar to the ones that A&M used back then with an assortment of speedy defenders. Another team that ran a lot of under fronts was Pete Carroll's USC Trojans. He typically ran it with 4-3 personnel but in certain years he would play talented linebackers like Brian Cushing or Clay Matthews as stand up linebackers instead of the weakside end. This is similar to Baylor's weakside OLB position although some schematic particulars were different.
Baylor moves around a lot in this scheme. What's the reason for that?
With so many smaller players the goal is to disrupt blocking schemes. Here is an example of a line stunt that occupies the offensive linemen and allows the linebacker to have a clean shot at the ball carrier. Two linemen and two linebackers trade gaps at the snap and the offensive line can't reach quickly enough to account for Edwards. One small wrinkle stops OSU on a 3rd-and-2.
The moving around can be a double edged sword as teams that can anticipate your tendencies can exploit it. Some of Baylor's biggest defensive lapses in 2016 have been off of this but it has also allowed the Bears to rank sixth nationally in tackles for loss per game. So as I mention above, it's a trade off.
The new 3-4 defensive alignment is one of many things that Baylor will rely on in the last half of the season. It's been mostly positive in it's early games but the more challenging games of 2016 are yet to come for this defense.
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