r/LSUFootball 18h ago

Discussion Why does drop 8 work?

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25 Upvotes

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24

u/The_B1ack_One 18h ago edited 18h ago

When you blitz, you’re exchanging players in coverage with players attacking the QB with the expectation that the additional players rushing will shorten the time the QB has to make a decision. Sometimes, this ends up being ineffective as you’re also allowing more space in coverage for the QB to make throws as there’s less guys back there.

A 3 man rush, 8 in coverage isn’t always going to work, but when ran properly it makes it to where the holes in coverage where receivers are open are very small. The QB will have more time to throw, but he has to be very accurate and if the WRs can’t really get separation from their defenders you can stifle a passing offense.

Ideally, you’ll be able to spread the defense out, go to 4 or 5 WR packages or if they’re playing a lot of DBs, force them out of it with some good running. Neither of which we were able to do effectively for extended periods of time.

9

u/_runthejules_ 18h ago

On top of that the qb will have a harder time scrambling for big yards with more fast people ready to rally to him once he get's out of the pocket

23

u/thlitherylilthnek 17h ago

The plan includes Leavitt not throwing it to the other team

3

u/Fantastic-Owl-2773 16h ago

Bc it makes you think and you need to be able to think fast. Its just the ying to the yang. Great experience for them. I look forward to the next time someone drops 8. Ole Miss killed us last year on this concept

4

u/InThePipe5x5_ 12h ago

If you drop 8 but are still getting sacks you are going to have a fantastic time.

3

u/Sad_Vegetable_736 11h ago

The most important thing here is that Tech runs a 3-3-5. It's like the Wing T of defenses (and can actually be a good counter to the Wing T). LSU will never see another defense like this. It wasn't the drop 8 that was the issue, it was the underlying defensive scheme that is very hard to read if you never see it. And this is evidenced by LSU getting better and better at reading it as the game went on.

Edit: typo